Caution about Airbnb

[Ky hills]

explained, in the 1st 20 seconds:

Showed that King of the Hill clip to my wife she laughed and said yep.
When she told me what she found and where it was kind of a moment like that but not really. I told her that wasn't something they were making to cook, nobody would put baking powder on a magazine on a marble top wash stand that's not in the kitchen.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have used both as a customer, numerous times. Always a great experience.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I find it is best to stay away from people. At this place on the South Coquille, river running below, green pastures mountains and forests all around and not one single other house in view as far as the eye can see. Our neighbors, we all look out for each other.

 

[Springfieldsimm]

We have a house on Airbnb and Vrbo for about 3 years and we have had good experiences with people staying. Just a few minor issues but overall positive. We make enough to pay loan payments and all expenses plus usually enough for an upgrade like a stamped patio this year.
We did however recently have a last minute booking. They booked at 11 pm for check-in the next day. They only had one 1star review about an earlier stay at a different place that said it was a work crew and they left it a mess. We didn't feel comfortable letting them stay so we called Airbnb and they canceled the booking no questions asked because they had bad reviews.
I can't believe that Airbnb would not be on your side in this case. They say they cover you for any damages up to I think a million dollars.
That being said Vrbo is much better to work with in my opinion.

 

[Ky hills]

We have a house on Airbnb and Vrbo for about 3 years and we have had good experiences with people staying. Just a few minor issues but overall positive. We make enough to pay loan payments and all expenses plus usually enough for an upgrade like a stamped patio this year.
We did however recently have a last minute booking. They booked at 11 pm for check-in the next day. They only had one 1star review about an earlier stay at a different place that said it was a work crew and they left it a mess. We didn't feel comfortable letting them stay so we called Airbnb and they canceled the booking no questions asked because they had bad reviews.
I can't believe that Airbnb would not be on your side in this case. They say they cover you for any damages up to I think a million dollars.
That being said Vrbo is much better to work with in my opinion.

Thanks for your response. Our overall experience had been overall positive too, we were completely blindsided by how Airbnb responded. They first said they had taken care of it and we would be paid, then received a text message saying they would be withholding future payouts as well as what we were supposed to get for damages until the reimbursement was fulfilled. My wife has screen shot all of the text messages with Airbnb and supposedly they record all phone conversations. So we have their representatives communications saved at least in text form. We haven't been a part of VRBO for long just recently have a few upcoming bookings through them, so now we're hoping to get more through them, good to hear that they are better to work with. We hadn't had any direct issues or problems with Airbnb until this.
One thing we haven't liked about Airbnb is the current review categories. The one of value is extremely subjective. We offer quite a few amenities and extras in comparison to some we have stayed at and especially more value than a motel considering the space and furnishings. Yet the value category is sometimes a stumbling block to some who naturally want something for cheaper, We made it to super host status but your business really does live and die by the reviews.

 

[50/50Farms]

My other place in Oregon is on the Elk River up by the national forest and the fish hatchery. My cabin is up the hill in the woods. But the property across the road was bought by some people and they advertise on Airbnb it as a "vacation rental" also known as a party house. As many as 15 people can stay there. Sometimes the people are quiet but mostly its late night noisy parties, screaming kids and barking dogs. This is not why I moved to the woods so now I have to sell the place. I guess I'll sell it to some rich fisherman from out of state. Thank God for the other place on the South Coquille in the next county. Better pastures too.

Yeah, selling to out of staters will always improve your issue.

 

[Little Joe]

@Ky hills ,I'm glad you posted this thread. I've been considering building another house, probably a 2br 2 bath, to AirBnB. I have 10 acres that I currently have 2 rent houses on that has a place in the back in the woods with a nice spring fed pond where I was thinking of putting something. We are 10 miles from Greers Ferry lake and about 10 miles from the Little Red river, the lake is booming in the summer with boaters ( alot of them from Memphis area) and the Little Red has some fine trout fishing. My thought was stocking the pond well so people could take their kids fishing if they wanted a break from the lake or just wanted to get away period. If/when I decide to pull the trigger I'd like to pick your brain for what to do and not to do as far as renting platforms. Hopefully you get this issue resolved in your favor. I feel like there is less risk with short term renters than long term but this has me questioning that. I've used VRBO quite a bit in the past and always felt they were protecting the property owner, at least the ones we've stayed in had some pretty stringent rules that as a property owner I would want in place.

 

[Ky hills]

@Ky hills ,I'm glad you posted this thread. I've been considering building another house, probably a 2br 2 bath, to AirBnB. I have 10 acres that I currently have 2 rent houses on that has a place in the back in the woods with a nice spring fed pond where I was thinking of putting something. We are 10 miles from Greers Ferry lake and about 10 miles from the Little Red river, the lake is booming in the summer with boaters ( alot of them from Memphis area) and the Little Red has some fine trout fishing. My thought was stocking the pond well so people could take their kids fishing if they wanted a break from the lake or just wanted to get away period. If/when I decide to pull the trigger I'd like to pick your brain for what to do and not to do as far as renting platforms. Hopefully you get this issue resolved in your favor. I feel like there is less risk with short term renters than long term but this has me questioning that. I've used VRBO quite a bit in the past and always felt they were protecting the property owner, at least the ones we've stayed in had some pretty stringent rules that as a property owner I would want in place.

I would be happy to share any knowledge or experience that I can with you about short term rentals. Feel free to pm any time.
In our situation the short term rental seems like a better fit than having a full time renter/s in our front yard.
There's problems with both long term and short term.
We had an older house on another small farm across the road that we had rented out long term conventional rental. That has its issues too. A few years ago tenants caused it to burn down by carelessly throwing down cigarettes.
I think that with the size house you are thinking, that is a good size for that kind of short term venture in terms of number of people.
Ours is the house that my parents built. It is 4 br, 3 bath, and we have it where other rooms can have additional bedding too. It is a larger listing so we have to try to be selective with our bookings with larger numbers of people.
Most of our guests have been great.
The larger and/or longer bookings are always cause for concern.
We will never host work crews again.
We have had problems or concerns with every work crew we've had.
We've also had several issues with large family gatherings, in that oftentimes they sneak more people in.
We have what we thought to have been strict rules and policies, and up to that point had the belief that Airbnb would stand by us. They totally overruled and ignored our rules.
Going forward we are going to cut out large and/or longer bookings.
Another area that we cut out a while back was instant booking, you have to be careful around here of local folks wanting a hook up or party place. Those folks often don't read the house rules and think they are renting a place that is isolated with no one around.

 

[Travlr]

@Ky hills ,I'm glad you posted this thread. I've been considering building another house, probably a 2br 2 bath, to AirBnB. I have 10 acres that I currently have 2 rent houses on that has a place in the back in the woods with a nice spring fed pond where I was thinking of putting something. We are 10 miles from Greers Ferry lake and about 10 miles from the Little Red river, the lake is booming in the summer with boaters ( alot of them from Memphis area) and the Little Red has some fine trout fishing. My thought was stocking the pond well so people could take their kids fishing if they wanted a break from the lake or just wanted to get away period. If/when I decide to pull the trigger I'd like to pick your brain for what to do and not to do as far as renting platforms. Hopefully you get this issue resolved in your favor. I feel like there is less risk with short term renters than long term but this has me questioning that. I've used VRBO quite a bit in the past and always felt they were protecting the property owner, at least the ones we've stayed in had some pretty stringent rules that as a property owner I would want in place.

Do these services have any kind of rating system for the hosts to review the clients? I'd think that would be useful info if renting to short term people.
Sadly, there are just some people that seem to lack any care at all in using any kind of equipment, and that includes housing. They are destructive because they are intentionally abusive... or they are just ignorant and don't realize how rough they are on things.
I've seen both kinds with vehicles. People that will run into a boulder just to see how fast a truck will break. And others that are unconscious and don't even realize how they are stomping on brakes or swerving and hitting curbs or where their cigarette butts are going, sometimes lit.
I look at people's cars/trucks a lot and notice how they take care of them. Noticing interiors gives a lot of good information.

 

[Ky hills]

Do these services have any kind of rating system for the hosts to review the clients? I'd think that would be useful info if renting to short term people.
Sadly, there are just some people that seem to lack any care at all in using any kind of equipment, and that includes housing. They are destructive because they are intentionally abusive... or they are just ignorant and don't realize how rough they are on things.
I've seen both kinds with vehicles. People that will run into a boulder just to see how fast a truck will break. And others that are unconscious and don't even realize how they are stomping on brakes or swerving and hitting curbs or where their cigarette butts are going, sometimes lit.

They do have a system for hosts to review guests, it's pretty much required of the hosts to review guests. There is also an option to opt out of renting to particular guests in future. We have exercised that option a few times

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I've had an 3br 2b AirBnB on the beach here for about 4 or 5 years. Its about 12 miles from the farm. Overall the experience has been good but I've learned to have pretty low expectations of guests and the way they treat things. The house is setup as a rental with no personal anything in the house and very little breakable. We budget for things like sheets, towels, dishware, etc as they get "lost" and broken frequently. Every time I drive down there I'm relieved that it isn't burned to the ground.

We had a similar issue where we had to kick guests out and cancel their stay as well a have to make some repairs. AirBnB didn't withhold any payment or anything. We turned the repair bill into our insurance company and got paid within a few days, then the insurance company went after AirBnB for the money.

 

[callmefence]

Do these services have any kind of rating system for the hosts to review the clients? I'd think that would be useful info if renting to short term people.
Sadly, there are just some people that seem to lack any care at all in using any kind of equipment, and that includes housing. They are destructive because they are intentionally abusive... or they are just ignorant and don't realize how rough they are on things.
I've seen both kinds with vehicles. People that will run into a boulder just to see how fast a truck will break. And others that are unconscious and don't even realize how they are stomping on brakes or swerving and hitting curbs or where their cigarette butts are going, sometimes lit.
I look at people's cars/trucks a lot and notice how they take care of them. Noticing interiors gives a lot of good information.

I've got a couple of trucks out there 5-6 years old and probably never been washed. Lots of dents, scratches, broken lenses, one has the windshield wiper blown off. A testament to the muzzle blast of a compensated 556 laid across the hood. I just don't drive it when it's raining..so how would you judge me.lol

 

[Son of Butch]

Overall the experience has been good, but I've learned to have pretty low expectations of guests and the way they treat things.

Satisfaction in life is most often tied to expectations.
Those who want a rose garden, without pulling a weed end up dissatisfied.

 

[Son of Butch]

I've got a couple of trucks out there 5-6 years old and probably never been washed. Lots of dents, scratches, broken lenses, one has the windshield wiper blown off. A testament to the muzzle blast of a compensated 556 laid across the hood. I just don't drive it when it's raining...so how would you judge me? lol

Since you asked... as a Texan.

 

[Travlr]

I've got a couple of trucks out there 5-6 years old and probably never been washed. Lots of dents, scratches, broken lenses, one has the windshield wiper blown off. A testament to the muzzle blast of a compensated 556 laid across the hood. I just don't drive it when it's raining..so how would you judge me.lol

Like I said... interiors say a lot. You can tell abuse as opposed to neglect. Broken knobs and door handles, and a back seat full of dry trash, or worse wet, stains, and smells.

Or people with everything in its place, organized, but they don't worry about dust... but nothing is filthy.

I've had some rental properties and I've learned to look at vehicles.

I've been driving for over fifty years and owned all kids of cars/trucks. In that time I've never blown up an engine. I've replaced a few bad wheel bearings, one master cylinder, and two transmissions, and one of those happened right after I bought the car so think it was bad before I bought it. I broke a door handle on a truck known for weak handles. Other than that I've only done tires and brake pads/shoes. And I don't baby my vehicles. I travel back roads in the national parks often. Everything I sell is running fine.

I ran around with a kid just after high school that borrowed vehicles from people. He could not drive anything without breaking it.

 

[Ky hills]

Satisfaction in life is most often tied to expectations.
Those who want a rose garden, without pulling a weed end up dissatisfied.

Welcome to the jungle, to anybody that believes there's a rose garden without thorns and weeds.

 

[callmefence]

Like I said... interiors say a lot. You can tell abuse as opposed to neglect. Broken knobs and door handles, and a back seat full of dry trash, or worse wet, stains, and smells.

Or people with everything in its place, organized, but they don't worry about dust... but nothing is filthy.

I've had some rental properties and I've learned to look at vehicles.

I've been driving for over fifty years and owned all kids of cars/trucks. In that time I've never blown up an engine. I've replaced a few bad wheel bearings, one master cylinder, and two transmissions, and one of those happened right after I bought the car so think it was bad before I bought it. I broke a door handle on a truck known for weak handles. Other than that I've only done tires and brake pads/shoes. And I don't baby my vehicles. I travel back roads in the national parks often. Everything I sell is running fine.

I ran around with a kid just after high school that borrowed vehicles from people. He could not drive anything without breaking it.

I look at interiors and exteriors to. I like to know who's one of the cowboys that never leave the blacktop.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

"Yeah, selling to out of staters will always improve your issue."

My issues don't need improvement since the place I live in is a paradise. I personally built the cabin and, barn, fenced and improved that property. Now I don't want to stay at 'the camp' anymore. That place across the road is like living in suburbia complete with screaming kids, loud music, lawn mowers, leaf blower and car alarms. A rich fisherman from Cal would really improve my issue with the property tax bill. North Cal is the next county over. Heck, a rich fisherman from Oregon would do but there aren't many. My issue with these airnb, etc. places is what about the neighbors? Those properties are not zoned for free standing motels.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Interiors say a lot. This reminds me to clean up my truck

 

[50/50Farms]

"Yeah, selling to out of staters will always improve your issue."

My issues don't need improvement since the place I live in is a paradise. I personally built the cabin and, barn, fenced and improved that property. Now I don't want to stay at 'the camp' anymore. That place across the road is like living in suburbia complete with screaming kids, loud music, lawn mowers, leaf blower and car alarms. A rich fisherman from Cal would really improve my issue with the property tax bill. North Cal is the next county over. Heck, a rich fisherman from Oregon would do but there aren't many. My issue with these airnb, etc. places is what about the neighbors? Those properties are not zoned for free standing motels.

My apologies, I'd have sold anything that borders California as well.