I used AirBnB a couple of times, I think is a good idea. Prices aren't cheap at all, but you get an appartment with utilities and not a B&B room. However, I too keep wondering on the risks associated with renting. They are just difficult to estimate. The renter may put a bomb in the appartment, how do you protect yourself financially from this?
For this to make sense the number of the appartments (or cars) destroyed or damaged must me low enough that the cost for repairing is way lower than AirBnB revenues. Not sure this is possible with only 10% fee on renting although.
I'm in the same boat, been staying in Airbnb's 100% of the time and haven't had a bad experience yet. But I'm always worried that one day it'll happen to me. Until then, I'll keep risking it I guess.
I'm guessing at this point, the savings I've made will cover the eventual problem where I need to book some super expensive hotel in an emergency.
When someone first told me about AirBnB I immediately dismissed it - just like Fred Wilson did. It fell in the group of ideas which I just find puzzling because the concept is totally alien to something I would want to do/buy/participate in.
I don't get why anyone would want to rent out their couch or spare room to a transient stranger - even 'vetted' within a community (and we can see that vetted is very lose here).
Sure, I sort of get the appeal for the renter but I'm lost as to why a homeowner would want to do this - especially considering the risk/reward here. The upside is a few dollars here and there, the downside is $10k's of damage - like this.
If you've never owned a house, you won't know that it's a labor of love and something you invest more than just your money into. Why you would want to risk someone destroying it, I don't know.
AirBnB needs to offer insurance as part of the deal - just like the car sharing programs seem to have negotiated their own insurance for the duration that the other person is driving your car. Otherwise it just seems an unwise risk to offer accommodation on AirBnB.
Airbnb could kill it if they offered
an insurance to book you a hotel if the appartment is no good.
My fear in using Airbnb is prebooking in locations that sell out (skiing for example) so that if the landlord cancels or the place is bad
you are stuck having paid all the other costs and there is no where else
to stay or it is insanely expensive.
AirBNB landlord are probably more ordinary people with lives, not professional hospitality operators so I get a bit nervous.
AirBnB gives the illusion that you can just rent out your apartment without any precautions. I've stayed in a few dedicated holiday apartments and almost without fail:
1) They are furnished with the basics and that's it. No valuables and nothing that can not be easily replaced.
2) The owner or an employed managing agent interacted with us (either at the apartment or when we fetched the keys) when we arrived and left.
3) They had insurance in place and 80% of the time when I signed for the apartment I was also signing my own liability.
If you are prepared to rent out a fully furnished (and in this case full of valuables) apartment to strangers you need to be prepared for the potential massive downside. 99% of your guests may be hassle free but it just takes that 1% to wipe out any financial upside and even then they may not even do it on purpose - accidents can and do happen.
Agreed, though I see a lot of people using AirBNB for guesthouses, rooms in their house (where they'll at least be at the place), or investment houses. Those scenarios seem less risky.
I've used AirBnB as a renter, and I plan to rent out my spare room in the future (although not 'til January). While I'll take additional safeguards to make sure my stuff is protected, I'm not worried.
I don't understand the whole value proposition of Airbnb; and would never use it willingly myself. The prices are often more than what you'd pay for a hotel, the security and reliability is often less, and then if these sorts of things happen, you then have to haggle with case managers for a he-said-she-said type of situation.
Same thing with Uber — at least there, you get the convenience compared to having to call a taxi. What exactly do you get from Airbnb?
I travel for business lots, and the last thing I need to worry about is having to deal with these sorts of issues. Having a hotel and a car rental is so much easier and reliable.
If you aren't comfortable renting your home to random people then don't use AirBNB, plain and simple. Buy a second home for commercial purposes and AirBNB rent it out instead (and if that gives you pause then maybe you should reconsider the whole idea of being a small-time landlord with AirBNB).
And if you are renting your home with AirBNB and _don't_ have some type of commercial rental insurance or coverage through your main policy you are skating on very thin ice. Even the nicest looking person in the world could ruin your place, or at the very least hurt themselves seriously in your home and bankrupt you with a massive liability lawsuit. If you aren't ready to be a landlord and abide by their rules, regulations, etc. then don't rent out with AirBNB.
Well, it's pretty much a textbook case for insurance: a very small risk spread across a large number of rentals where the worst case is bad. AirBnB has the advantage that they could tailor the premium based on the exact parameters of the rental.
I think this only works if the benefits outweigh the potential costs. Crashing a car, getting a rental, and purchasing a new car are all unwanted headaches that are more likely in this model vs some screwing up a room in the airbnb model.
To me, this underscores one of the key risks to having an AirBnB room for rent.
I think if you are going to do it, you really have to be careful.
1. You should probably be someone that works from home / is home often. At least then you can monitor your place more often. You wont be seeing inside the room, but you could at least hear if anything insane is going on in it.
2. You should not have much by way of valuables around your place, nothing easy to steal. The first place I rented on AirBnB was like this. There was no TV/dvd player/ps3, the host had a laptop which he took with him. It consisted mostly of cheap Ikea-ish furniture. This works in my mind because it mitigates what can/can't be stolen.
I've attempted to stay at an AirBnB several times. It definitely feels like a niche market. I use it because I think it's cheaper. But, people on AirBnB(the ones that seem safe) seem to charge regular hotel rates that I end up choosing a hostel instead.
Occasionally you find some hidden treasures and friends of mine have reported having an entire apartment to themselves in NYC for a fraction of the cost of a hotel.
- Want to rent an entire house in some specific area
- Want to rent something as cheap as possible / on a strapped budget.
Very cheap travel/plane tickets and accommodation has made international travel very accessible for a lot of people around the globe. So I can absolutely see why some people swear to using airbnb - but for me? I'll rather pay the extra $50 for a hotel room. That's chump change for peace of mind, IMO.
I'm an Airbnb host who has been doing it for close to 6 months now. I'm currently renting out a studio apartment unit (around 550 sq feet) with an annualized rental yield close to 10% (one reason the yield is so high is because I bought the place 3-4 years ago while it was still under construction).
Airbnb is relatively straight forward. Check-in and check-out can be done via a key drop (typically the mailbox with a combination lock). The main thing you have to worry about is cleaning up after every guest... some guests don't know how to clean up after themselves. Get second hand furniture to save costs.
I really recommend that you try it. The business model behind Airbnb is quite brilliant.
Oh sure, I was thinking in the context of renting property long term. I've never used Airbnb because hotels seem a lot more straightforward and hassle-free.
For this to make sense the number of the appartments (or cars) destroyed or damaged must me low enough that the cost for repairing is way lower than AirBnB revenues. Not sure this is possible with only 10% fee on renting although.
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