A Making It Anywhere guide

The definitive guide to getting the most out of Airbnb

Airbnb Pro

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1: Breaking you in gently...

Our Airbnb story

Getting the most from this book

Why Airbnb is awesome

A quick Airbnb primer

Rookie mistakes made by guests

2: Getting started as a guest

Unearth bargain accommodation (even in expensive cities)

Weigh up how good each property (and host) is likely to be, before you even

contact them

Get accepted by a host

Be a great guest (and get great reviews)

What to do if something goes wrong

3: Getting started as a host

Attract guests

Attract the “right” guests

Be an awesome host

Tips for “remote” hosts

4: Costs, fees and staying safe and protected

Communication

Payments, fees and legalities

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Without Airbnb, we wouldn’t have been able to run our business while traveling the

world – which is what we’ve been doing for the past two years. We wouldn’t have been

able to even take a vacation in the vast majority of cities we’ve visited, let alone

actually spend time living there like locals. We wouldn’t have had our blog (Making It

Anywhere) – which in turn means we wouldn’t have made friends with the amazing

assortment of people we’ve met through it.

So we kind of owe Airbnb everything. But don’t tell them, or they might charge us

more than 3% on each booking.

Our Airbnb story started when we’d just got married. At the time, we both had jobs in

our hometown of London, but we wanted to move to New York City for six months as a

“career break” – to give us some thinking space in a city we loved, in order to work out

what to do with the next phase of our lives.

Without Airbnb, our only options would have been staying in a hotel (impossible) or

trawling Craigslist to find somewhere that (a) existed, (b) wasn’t super-shady, and (c)

they’d give a six-month contract to foreigners like us with no legal documentation

whatsoever.

Instead, we used Airbnb to live in other people’s apartments – choosing to move to a

new location every few weeks to try new districts and keep things fresh. We lived in

amazing apartments in the Upper East Side, Chelsea, Upper West Side, East Village,

Lower East Side, Astoria, Park Slope and Williamsburg…and we had a blast.

So much so, that after a few months we decided not to go home.

That trip kicked off almost two years of living solidly in Airbnb apartments while we

traveled and built our business, with only a brief gap while we were in Asia. We’ve

lived like a local in London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Budapest, Sofia,

Washington DC, Boulder CO and New York City so far.

We’re not just Airbnb guests though...

We also own an apartment in London, which we originally rented out to students

when we decided to continue traveling. When they left, we started hosting Airbnb

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guests ourselves; it meant we had a home base when we needed it, and it subsidized

our travels the rest of the time.

So far, we’ve stayed in over 30 different apartments and we’ve learned a lot about how

Airbnb works. As guests we’ve found hidden gems in expensive cities, and developed

a sixth sense for whether the photos and written description will match up with

reality. As hosts, we’ve figured out how to propel our own property up the rankings,

how to deal with the logistics, and how to minimize the chance of having a bad

experience.

Friends started asking us for tips on how to find the best places to stay, how to get

their reservation requests accepted, and whether they could expect to have towels

provided for them – plus about a zillion other things relating to whether they could

rent out their own place on Airbnb. Eventually we got a bit sick of it (sorry, friends),

and compiled everything we knew into this book.

So here we are.

In this book you’ll find real, tried-and-tested tips from our 500+ nights living in and

renting out Airbnb accommodation.

If you haven’t already signed up to Airbnb and would like to give us a high-five when you do, please use this link: Airbnb will send us $25 credit as a thank you when you first make a booking (and of course, you won’t get charged anything extra!).

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Whether you’re intending to use Airbnb as a host or a guest, most of this book will be

relevant for you – we’ve avoided splitting it out into separate guides because it’s

important to know the factors that the other party will be thinking about.

That said, you can definitely skim-read this book, safe in the knowledge that you

won’t miss anything important: we’ve repeated some key points that are relevant to

both hosts and guests in case you didn’t read everything in order. We’ve kept the

repetition to “got to know” info only, so you shouldn’t find it annoying if you’re reading

through from start to finish.

You’ll also notice that there aren’t any screenshots of Airbnb in action. That’s because

the people at Airbnb fiddle with their website like you wouldn’t believe – seriously,

everything moves from one day to the next. Sometimes it’s different for different users

on the same day, as they “split-test” different changes.

As a result, anything we printed here would be out-of-date within minutes of the book

going live. We’ve relied on written descriptions instead, and links to Airbnb’s help

pages where appropriate (where they seem to keep pretty much on top of their own

tinkering).

However, you will find some screencasts in the bonuses that come along with this

book, which show us using the Airbnb interface. By the time we finish typing this

sentence they’ll probably be out-of-date, but hopefully you’ll be able to make use of the

ideas we’re talking about even if the buttons are in different places.

Other than that, just dive in – and if you’ve got any questions that we don’t answer, our

contact details are at the end. We’d love to hear from you!

Happy reading!

Mish & Rob

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Airbnb started as an example of “collaborative consumption”: you have an apartment

or a room that won’t be used for a couple of weeks, so you can let someone else use it

for a fee.

That’s pretty brilliant in itself, but as the service has grown it’s become so much more

than that. In popular cities for business and tourism, people have bought apartments

specifically to rent out on Airbnb. Airbnb gives those property owners a huge

marketplace on which to advertise, protects them from having to worry about damage,

and saves them the hassle of taking payments. And the review system keeps

everyone honest.

For guests, meanwhile, accommodation is cheaper than hotels – meaning they can

stay longer. They can also enjoy the experience of living “like a local” in residential

areas, rather than be shoveled into a specific hotel district.

Some guests – including us – have taken it even further and are living Airbnb semi-

permanently instead of having a permanent home base. It gives us the flexibility to

stay in a country/city as long as we want and move on whenever we get bored. It also

removes a whole heap of hassle: there are no bills, there’s no maintenance to do, and

we just pay our rent by PayPal. And after accounting for all the bills, taxes, furniture,

sheets, towels, cookware, etc., associated with long-term rentals, Airbnb can often end

up cheaper (not to mention more flexible).

So with Airbnb you can have less boring business trips, longer vacations, or even

move around the world while you enjoy the ultimate lifestyle flexibility.

If you’ve got an apartment already, you can rent it out when you go on vacation – thus

subsidizing (or perhaps even covering the cost of) your entire trip. Or if you’ve got a

spare room, you can turn it into an extra income stream. You can even start your own

small business by buying a place specifically to rent out.

In short, Airbnb takes something that traditionally ties you down, and gives you a

range of options that would have been unimaginable five years ago.

That’s pretty cool. So let’s find out more about how you can make the most of it!

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Airbnb functions as a marketplace that introduces people with a space to rent with

people who need somewhere to stay. Airbnb doesn’t own the properties, and no one

from Airbnb itself has visited the property to vet it. Instead, hosts and guests leave

reviews for each other so you can be confident that you won’t be ripped off. (Airbnb

has implemented a number of other “verifications” to make sure people are who they

say they are... more on this later.)

All dealings happen directly between the host and the guest – Airbnb will only step in

if something goes wrong. (But be reassured that Airbnb really does help out if

something goes wrong – it’s not an empty gesture.)

While all communications happen directly between the host and the guest, payments

do get processed through Airbnb. As a guest, you’ll pay Airbnb at the time of booking.

Airbnb will only release that money to the host 24 hours after you’ve checked in, as

long as you haven’t reported any problems.

In return for bringing both people together, processing payments and arbitrating if

they need to, they take a small fee from both sides of the booking. You’ll find out more

about fees later.

There are two main types of listing: individual rooms, where the guests and hosts

share communal spaces; and entire apartments, where the guest has exclusive use of

the whole place. Individual rooms are cheaper, of course. There is a third option:

“shared room,” which means the guest shares a bedroom with someone else (as well

as the communal areas), or the guest sleeps in a communal area itself. You won’t

normally find many “shared room” options on Airbnb, so we don’t discuss them in this

book.

Another, informal, distinction is between properties that are someone’s home and

those that are rented out to guests full-time. We’ve stayed in both, and these days we

can tell just by glancing at a listing’s photos if it’s a home or rented out full-time.

There are pros and cons with each –we discuss these later.

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As a host, this gives you three choices: you can either rent out a spare room, or make

some money from your own home while you’re out of town, or go the whole hog and

buy a place specifically to let out.

The main thing to remember, on both sides, is that Airbnb is about personal interaction. As a guest, you can’t just book a room like a hotel – you’ll need to tell the

host a bit about yourself, and they get to decide whether to accept your reservation

request or not. And because you might be staying in someone’s home, it might not be

convenient for someone to host you on the dates you want even if no one else is

staying.

That’s all you need to know about Airbnb in order for you to understand the rest of this

book. We’ll get into the details in a minute. First though, we want to cover some rookie

mistakes that guests make on Airbnb... and we’re going to help you avoid them. (Hosts:

you may find some tips in here on how to make guests’ lives easier.)

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…

Airbnb relies on hosts keeping their property’s calendar updated and getting back to

everyone who enquires to say yes or no. But just because somewhere has come up in

your search results for the dates you requested, it doesn’t mean it’ll definitely be

available: the host might not have updated their calendar, or they might only be

looking for longer stays so they can get out of town. Or they might just not be that into

you…

As a guest you’ll either share the host’s space, or have a set of keys to their property

when they’re not around. That means that if you’re new to the site, you need to win

their trust – and despite your best efforts, some hosts won’t want to take a chance on

you. It probably isn’t anything personal…but then again, it might be: Airbnb hosts are

under no obligation to host everyone who applies or give a reason for rejecting you.

Later on, we’ll cover ways of getting your request accepted when you’re new to the site

and have very little history.

…

With all this talk of personal interaction being important, you might think it’s

dishonest to contact multiple people and say that you want to stay at their place. But

it’s really just pragmatic: otherwise it could take weeks to book somewhere while

you’re gradually rejected from each place in turn.

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The best way is to strike up a dialogue with the host in advance, and not hit “Book it!”

until they’ve told you you’ll be accepted. We go into much more detail about this

process later.

OK, we actually have no idea why people do this. If you put in your dates and other

details, Airbnb will tell you the exact price. So why ask the host? We have no idea, but

people do, and it annoys us when people do it to us as hosts!

To make matters worse, the host doesn’t even know the price for guests! The host only

knows the amount they’ll get from the transaction after hosts’ fees have been

deducted. And guests will be shown a different price, because they get charged guest

fees (which range between 6% and 12% depending on the number of nights booked). So

don’t ask!

You might be a paying guest, but the host still has a life to organize you around. If

you’re arriving at midnight, you’ll need to check that’s OK first. You also won’t have

every possible amenity, daily cleaning, or someone on call to answer your every query.

Hosts do their best, but they aren’t hoteliers.

If you want to, you can check with the host in advance if they provide a bar of soap,

some shampoo, washing-up liquid, etc. (We recommend that they do, but some won’t.)

Remember that even if they do provide this stuff, they won’t replenish it if it runs out

– that’s up to you.

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Once you’ve researched the city and figured out which areas you’d like to live in, use

the map view to find properties that are very near your desired location but might be

listed as being in a different area. These properties might also be cheaper because

they aren’t inside the tight boundaries of a desirable location, so the host needs to

keep prices lower to attract demand.

When we were in Paris, we stayed in the 11th arrondissement – practically on the

border with the 3rd arrondissement (which is FAR more expensive). It wasn’t until we

used the map view that we realized just how close the 11th was to the 3rd – which was

where we’d originally wanted to stay.

With apartments, photos rarely give away how high up they are (and thus how many

steps you’ll have to climb if there isn’t an elevator). And for all properties, the photos

generally don’t give an accurate representation of the size either. (The photos by

Airbnb photographers are overexposed and use wide-angle lenses, so can make even

the pokiest places appear bright and massive. See below for more information on

Airbnb photographers.)

So check out the description to find out how many square meters it is, which floor it’s

on, and if there’s an elevator. (Remember also to read the information in the

“Amenities” tab for some of this information too.)

Hosts often don’t include the square meter size of their properties, so you can always

send them a message to find out.

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The “Amenities” tab really doesn’t give much away when it comes to what’s available

at the property. For example, a host can tick “kitchen,” but people have very different

opinions on what a kitchen is!

We’ve come across plenty of properties that say they have a kitchen, when actually

they mean a sink, a kettle, and a microwave. So be sure to check out the photos and

description to see what you’re really getting.

The same goes for things like electrical items (kettle, fan, etc.), bedding, and towels:

take a good look at the photos and description to see what you’re getting.

Here’s the problem: for some reason, hosts go to all lengths to provide fabulous,

imaginative, and witty descriptions; they upload a gazillion photos of their beautiful

properties... and then they don’t bother to complete the “Amenities” section for the

listing. What does this mean for you? It means that if you select some amenities, those

properties won’t appear in the search results – even if they have every amenity you

could ever want.

If you’re struggling to find somewhere suitable, you may as well remove any of the

check boxes you’ve ticked and manually check if they meet your requirements

(especially as the “Amenities” section can be misleading anyway). But if you’re

overloaded with options, leave the boxes checked as a useful filter – just be aware that

some listings will be filtered out wrongly.

If you see a “Verified photo” watermark on the photos of the property, it means that a

professional photographer has been hired by Airbnb to take photos of it. Verified

photos have good and bad points:

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Good:

They meant that someone contracted by Airbnb has also seen the property and

can verify that it exists.

They make the property look more enticing. Property interiors normally look

far worse in photos than they do in real life because it’s hard for an amateur to

take decent interior shots.

Bad:

Professional photographers are experts at making ugly spaces look better and

smaller places look bigger. For that reason, don’t automatically assume that a

listing with beautiful professional photos is any better than a listing with more

amateur and dull photos. A good tip is to check if the photo is distorted in any

way. If so, the photographer has used a special lens to make the place look

bigger.

There are two distinct parts to the “Reviews” section: written reviews by guests, and

star ratings for “Accuracy,” “Cleanliness,” “Check in,” “Communication,” “Location,” and

“Value.”

Airbnb reviews are different from reviews on sites like Amazon, because the only

people who can write them are those who’ve actually paid for a stay. You can be quite

sure they weren’t written by other resentful hosts or family members who wanted to

give the place a boost.

The host is also given the right to reply (on the page) to a review they deem unfair –

meaning that when you read reviews, you should have a good idea of the property and

the host.

The star ratings provide a decent overview (they’re a sort-of average of the star ratings

left by individual guests). But if the star ratings are low (below four stars for any

category), be sure to read the reviews to find out why. A low “Location” rating might be

because all other guests wanted to be in the thick of things, for example, whereas you

know you’d rather be a bit more cut off from the hubbub.

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According to Airbnb, once search filters have been applied (like dates, number of

guests, price, amenities, and location), “listings are weighted by a host’s aggregated

activity on the site during the past 90 days. Activity during that time frame may

include: a host’s message response rate, the number of nights booked at the listing,

the number of expired or declined reservation requests at the listing, and the number

of host cancellations at the listing. Some of the host’s activities beyond 90 days may

also be weighted, such as the total number and rating of reviews and bookings a

listing has received. The weights of each activity vary and are not disclosed.”

All of this means that you should keep scrolling down your search results listings for

some undiscovered gems! If a host is new to the site and hasn’t received any reviews

or accommodation requests, their place is unlikely to be near the top. So not only

might you find something exceptional towards the end of your search results, but you

might get it at a lower rate because the host wants to get some good reviews on their

page.

Many guests are wary of staying in places that have no reviews, and for good reason:

they only have the host’s word to go on.

BUT as mentioned above, you can get some great deals on new-to-Airbnb places: hosts

are encouraged to price low to begin with, in order to get a few guests and reviews

under their belt.

So how can you be sure you’ll get somewhere wonderful? Well, you can’t. But here are

some tips to get a better feel for the place and the person:

Do they have other properties? You can see other properties and their reviews

in two ways. 1) Click on the “Other property reviews” tab; 2) There’s also

sometimes a “My other listings” section on the right-hand side of the page.

Click into these and see what the reviews are like.

How about references – does the host have any of these? You can find these by

clicking on the “Friends” tab at the bottom of the page, or by clicking into the

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host’s profile and scrolling down to the “References” section. Here you’ll see

some written references.

Even if the host has no other properties or references, it’s not necessarily a bad

thing: if they’re serious about renting their place out, they’ll appreciate your

interest and may even be willing to lower the price even further. Hosts can

offer special prices to you via the message thread when you get in contact with

them.

And remember:

You can (and should) send a message to the host and ask a load of questions

before you commit to staying at their place. You’ll find out later why this is so

important.

Regardless of how far in advance you make the booking, your payment (which

is taken in full at the time of the reservation being confirmed) stays with

Airbnb until 24 hours after check-in; at that point it’s transferred to the host.

This gives you time to arrive at the property and make sure everything is OK. If

the property description was misleading or it seems to be some kind of scam,

you can contact Airbnb and get their help in resolving the situation and finding

alternative accommodation. (More on this later.)

You can see how many verifications the host has on their profile. Airbnb

provides verifications for both hosts and guests to help them prove they are

who they say they are.

Not before time, Airbnb recently introduced a keyword search – you can find it by

clicking “More filters” on the search results page and scrolling down.

If you DEFINITELY want a kettle, for example, type “kettle” into the search box. You

may miss out on plenty of places that do have kettles but don’t mention it, but it’s a

quick way of getting the amenities you want without trawling through all the listings

and looking at the photos and descriptions.

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We usually want to know that there’s a supermarket within walking distance, so we’ve

started typing “supermarket” into the search box. (It’s likely that if a host mentions a

supermarket, it’s because there’s a good one nearby.) We obviously miss out on plenty

of places where the hosts simply don’t think to mention it, but when we’re in a rush or

can’t be bothered to trawl, it’s a quick shortcut.

Note: the keywords filter only works for the property’s title and description – it doesn’t

get applied to any of the reviews.

Airbnb has a little-known URL called www.airbnb.com/sublets. This collates JUST the

apartments where the host has set a monthly rate. It’s a good way of filtering out

apartments that are pricier by the month because the host hasn’t set a monthly rate.

If you see that the host of your ideal property has a low response rate, don’t be too

concerned – this in itself doesn’t mean much. Many hosts ignore messages and

reservation requests if the guests’ required dates aren’t available – and that’s why

their “Response rate” is low. While you might find this approach a bit rude, it doesn’t

necessarily mean that the host never responds to messages or requests.

(Also, we’re always tempted to ignore inane messages along the lines of “I want to stay

at your place. Tell me your best price or I won’t bother.” We usually send back some

sort of reply, but it’s easy to understand why some very in-demand hosts just don’t see

the point.)

If you’re enquiring about a date range that the host likes, they’ll probably reply to you

very quickly. Basically, don’t pay (too much) attention to the “Response rate.” The

“Response time” can give you a good idea of how quickly you can expect to hear from

them if they do decide to respond.

If a particular host updates their calendar regularly but their response rate is low, it’s

likely they’re the type of host described above: they only responds to messages about

dates they can fulfill.

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Again though, don’t pay too much attention to the “Calendar updated” section – it’s

always best just to make an enquiry and find out for certain if your dates are available.

We work while we travel, so decent wifi is a huge deal for us. If it’s a big deal for you

too, here are some things you can do to ensure you’ll be staying somewhere with good

wifi:

Obviously, only pay attention to Airbnb properties that state they have wifi.

Look at the description for further reassurance about the wifi and its speed, e.g.

“The apartment comes with blazing fast wifi, and I’ll send you the

username/password information before you arrive.”

See what the reviewers say about the wifi.

If there’s no information about the wifi in the description, ask the host about it

when you message them. You could tell them that you rely on the internet, so

you just need some reassurance that the wifi is fast and isn’t temperamental!

Also ask them when you’ll be given the wifi password (if you’re not going to be

living with them).

Our friends recommend asking the host to run a speed test on their internet

connection and report back! The host can use www.speedtest.net or a similar

service.

If you’re renting out an entire property and meeting the host there, don’t let

them leave until you’ve successfully connected all your devices to their wifi

network!

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Hosts naturally don’t want just anyone with access to a PayPal account getting a set of

keys to their front door, so Airbnb provides verifications to help you prove that you are

who you say you are. (It works both ways: you’ll want the hosts to be verified too.)

There are many different types of verification available to Airbnb hosts and guests:

Email address

Phone number

Offline ID (verify your identity using knowledge-based authentication or an ID

scan)

Online ID (verify your identity by connecting to Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn,

or by having pre-existing reviews)

Reviews (you can’t get these until you’ve stayed somewhere)

All these verifications appear on your profile page for other Airbnb members to see.

When you’re new to Airbnb, it’s worthwhile getting verified in as many ways as you

can: no one will have reviewed you as a guest, so you need to show you’re trustworthy

in these other ways.

The Holy Grail is the “Verified ID”: a badge that appears on your profile, which states

you’ve completed a specific set of verifications (which are offline ID, online ID, email

address, phone number, plus a profile photo). Visit www.airbnb.com/verify to get your

Verified ID.

Airbnb aims for all users to have a Verified ID soon. Certain situations (like last-

minute bookings) already require a Verified ID.

Hosts can request that you have certain verifications in place before you book with

them – including a Verified ID.

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A photo really helps, regardless of what you look like, so this is no time to be camera

shy. It’s human nature to want to see the person we’re interacting with, so pictures of

cute puppies and beautiful landscapes just won’t rescue you this time. A smiley photo,

on the other hand, always makes a good impression!

Hosts will also trust you more as a guest if you’ve written some information about

yourself, because it shows you’re genuine and helps to build a connection.

Hosts are able to set reservation requirements that require guests to have a profile

photo before they can book.

Another way to reassure potential hosts is by getting some references. You can ask

your friends to say nice things about you – and these will appear on your profile.

(Hosts have references too. You can find them at the bottom of their property listing –

in a tab called “Friends.” You can also see the references on their profile page – down

at the bottom, in a section called “References.” Confusing, right?)

Here’s how you get references:

Go to Edit profile > References > Request references.

Once your friend has written the reference, go to Edit profile > References >

References about you. You’ll then be able to accept the reference and allow it to

go public, or ignore it to keep it from posting to your profile.

Bear in mind that the person you’re asking must have an Airbnb account too. And

they need to have a profile photo.

(FYI if you want to leave a reference for someone else, you can’t do so proactively –

they need to send a reference request to you first.)

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This Q & A on Quora shows how Airbnb hosts have no qualms about doing as much

searching as they can about their future guests. And it makes sense: they want to be

as certain as they can that the person is who they say they are.

So make sure everything matches up. If you say you want the property for your

honeymoon but it’s clear from your Facebook profile that you’re very single and very

much into partying, the host may start to get suspicious.

(Unless the host specifically tells you to in the description, or if the “Instant book”

feature is enabled on the host’s page. You can find out more about Airbnb’s “Instant

book” feature on this help page.)

Here are some reasons why not:

You should probably find out a bit more about the place before you commit: the

information on the page will never tell you everything you’ll want to know

about it. For example, you might not be able to see from the photos or

description whether there’s wireless internet. Or you might want a better idea

of the precise location. While the host shouldn’t give you the exact address (for

security reasons), they might be willing to tell you the cross street, or how far

away the property is from a certain shop, subway station, etc.

In most cases, hosts hate to think of the whole thing as a hotel-like transaction:

it’s impersonal, and it gives the impression that the guest will leave the

property in the state that they’d normally leave a hotel room. (There are some

hosts who operate in a more transactional way and just want you to book

without bothering them; they’ll normally say so in the description.)

Hosts don’t just accept anyone who has cash to spend. They want to be sure

that the person staying at their place is trustworthy, reliable and a generally

nice person.

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The host might offer you a special price (for one reason or another) after you’ve

engaged in conversation with them.

And before you do so, read the property description thoroughly.

Do these things sound like common sense? Well... here are some messages we’ve

received as hosts:

“I want to stay at your place. Tell me your best price or I won’t bother.”

"am keen to rent your apartment over the Xmas season but is there a chance

you can hvae a telly installed pls? Also how do i get to your place from

Heathrow, can i take the Heathrow Express?”

“i wish to rent your flat in august may be more but it's a little bit expensive can

you make an offer?”

“Hi, how close is this to Central Saint Martins Kings Cross? Are towels,

shampoo and soap provided? Washer and dryer as well? thanks.”

“I need to know is your apartment independent- only for us to stay and will not

share anything with nobody?Which underground tube is CLOSER TO THE

APARTMENT?”

Here’s the problem with these messages:

They ask questions about things that are clearly answered in the description of

the apartment.

When they ask for a discount, they don’t give ANY good reason why we should

give them one.

They’re rude.

When we get messages like these, we don’t even want to answer them – let alone let

these people stay in our apartment.

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Another message we get CONSTANTLY is “How much will it cost?” for a given block of

dates. We’re always dying to say, “Put your dates in, and look at the effing number that

appears right there on the page.”

Not only does asking the price seem lazy or like they don’t understand how to use

Airbnb, we don’t know the total price because it depends on Airbnb’s variable guest

service fee (guests get charged a service fee of anywhere between 6% and 12%,

depending on their length of stay). All we know is the amount we would make from

the booking – which is an entirely different amount.

If you’re new to Airbnb and don’t have any reviews, some great verifications and

recommendations will get you far when it comes to reassuring the host you’re a

responsible individual. What might also help is raising the issue in your message –

you could say something like, “I’m brand new to Airbnb but I’ve done lots of reading

around the subject and I know what it takes to be a great guest. I’ve also got my

Verified ID and some recommendations from friends. Feel free to ask me any

questions if you have any concerns.” You could also mention that you’ve read this

book!

Airbnb discourages it in the FAQs: “We encourage all hosts and guests to complete

their booking through our website before meeting in person to best ensure their safety

and privacy.”

But more than that, you risk annoying the host. The host doesn’t have time for it, and

it’s easier for them just to move onto the next potential guest.

Airbnb’s systems (reviews, withholding payment from hosts until the guest has

checked in, insurance, etc.) are there to protect both the hosts and guests. Most hosts

prefer to pay the fee for this protection, and they’re usually mighty wary of guests who

would rather make the transaction out of the website.

It isn’t fair on Airbnb, and it isn’t fair on you or the host: if you’re a terrible guest, your

host can’t leave a bad review and warn others off you, and vice versa if your host is

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terrible. Also, hosts rely on guest reviews in order to get higher up the search

rankings.

You shouldn’t feel guilty about contacting multiple hosts at once. Remember: many of

the hosts you contact might ignore you anyway. You’re not deceiving them by saying

that you love their property and would love to stay there – even if you’re saying the

same thing to five other hosts.

Although Airbnb is more of a personal marketplace than, say, a hotel booking website,

it’s still a marketplace. The host still wants to make some money and you still want to

find a fantastic place to stay that’s cheaper than a hotel.

You should of course be polite and kind in your message, but there’s no need to put all

your loyalties toward one particular host.

Hosts HATE it when people say, “Can you give me a discount?” You need to give a

reason for asking – even if it’s a bit of a random reason! Some of our (truthful) reasons

have been:

“As we’ll be staying for four months and you won’t need to arrange for cleaning

– or deal with correspondence and the general hassle that goes with multiple

occupancies – while we’re there, would you be willing to give us a discount?”

“You don’t have a monthly rate, but as we’ll be staying over a month, would you

be willing to give us a discount on your nightly rate?”

“We’d love to stay at your place, but it’s just a bit too expensive for our budget at

the moment. If you get no other enquiries, we’d love it if you’d be willing to

consider us for a discount.”

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The host has probably planned their day around your arrival time, so be sure to let

them know (with as much notice as possible) if you’re going to be late. Even if the host

isn’t there to let you in (and you’re expected to pick the keys up from somewhere), it’s

courteous to inform them.

It really upsets hosts when they set house rules and the guests aren’t thoughtful

enough to abide by them. Many hosts explicitly state “No pets,” for example, for good

reason: they might have a family member who’s allergic, or they might want to make

sure the place is suitable for any other guests who have allergies. It might be that pets

aren’t allowed in the entire apartment block – and they’ll get into serious trouble if

anyone finds out.

Or lots of hosts don’t want people to smoke in the apartment, or to have parties (out of

respect for the neighbors or concern for the furniture), or to allow other people to stay

overnight.

The hosts’ rules might not seem particularly sane to you, but they’re there for you to

see before you book – so you can decide in advance if you’re willing to deal with them

or if you should contact a different host.

If you’ve been asked to pay a cleaning fee, this doesn’t mean you should leave the

place a right mess. In our experiences, the cleaning fee is used by hosts to get the

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place looking absolutely spick and span after a guest has left (polishing the surfaces,

cleaning the mirrors, etc.).

So take a few minutes before you leave to put things back where you found them, strip

the bed, and take out the trash. You could even take photos when you arrive, so you

can refer back to them upon leaving to help you put everything back as you found it.

We once told our guests that they could take all the food we’d left in the fridge and the

cupboards, but “please leave our food in the freezer” – it was for when we’d return to

the apartment after a late flight once they’d left. They used up every single last bit! It’s

not so much the cost or the hassle – it’s the principle and the feeling that you’ve gone

out of your way to be nice and they’ve taken advantage.

If the host hasn’t made it clear what you can and can’t touch in the property, do ask.

Whenever we stay in properties that are clearly the host’s own home, we’ll ask them

“Is there anything in here you’d rather we didn’t touch or use?” They appreciate the

gesture, and we make sure we don’t accidentally annoy them.

If you’re not living with the host, they’ll always appreciate you telling them that you’ve

moved in, you’re loving your time there, and you’re taking good care of the place.

Hosts understand that accidents happen. And unless the breakage/damage was

significant, they’re likely to let it go (or extract a small amount from the security

deposit – if they requested one).

But the worst thing is when the guest keeps schtum, and the host comes to clean up

and finds a massive stain on the carpet – a few hours before the next guest is due to

arrive. The host then runs the risk of the next guest leaving a bad review – and you

run the risk of a bad review from your host.

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Better to admit, apologize, and offer to cough up for the damage. Your host will

definitely appreciate the honesty.

You could ask them when they tend to use the bathroom in the morning, so that you

can plan your routine around theirs. And you might like to enquire what time they

cook/eat – and if they’d rather you used the kitchen at a different time.

Don’t wait until review time to say “There weren’t enough towels” or “The place was so

hot and stuffy I couldn’t breathe.” Give them the opportunity to rectify the situation –

it could have been an innocent oversight that they didn’t show you where the spare

towels were kept, or forgot to get the fan out for you.

If you’re reading this book, we’re guessing you’re not the type to turn your host’s

property into a pop-up brothel; nor will you start up a meth lab. (Both have happened

to hosts in the past; the culprits were duly punished and the hosts were

compensated.) So we’re not going to say, “Don’t steal your host’s identity,” “Don’t

ransack your host’s home,” etc. – we hope it goes without saying.

But plenty of Airbnb guests download movies, music, and TV shows illegally, and

that’s just not fair on the host. The consequences for illegally downloading content

will vary from region to region, so you don’t know just how much trouble your host

could get into.

Just before or after you check out, leave a note or send the host an email with

anything they should know about your stay. There’s often something that’s worth

passing on: a neighbor who popped over with a message, or something you’ve noticed

that needs fixing.

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Even if there’s not much to report, send a note of thanks and let them know if you

particularly enjoyed any of their recommendations.

It’s pretty much your duty to leave a review! After all, you probably chose where to

stay based on the reviews from other people. And if the host was great, they deserve a

great review that pushes them up the search results rankings. Airbnb will notify you

24 hours after checkout to ask you to leave a review; they’ll then send you automated

reminders if you don’t leave one right away.

So many people ask us this question, and we always say no – although if you’ve had a

particularly wonderful time, you might like to leave a small gift instead.

A tip just seems a bit odd to us. This isn’t a hotel, after all, and your host hasn’t (we

imagine) been changing your sheets or cleaning your bathroom every day.

It’s also worth considering that one of the main reasons Airbnb created its own

internal payment system was because hosts and guests were feeling weird about

accepting/giving money before or after their stay – it just seemed a bit too much like a

cold transaction. So the payment side of things now gets sorted “behind the scenes”

so that you and the host don’t even have to mention it.

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If you’ve arrived at the listing and you can’t get hold of the host, contact Airbnb to help

you get in touch with your host; they’ll also help with making alternative

arrangements (e.g. finding you another Airbnb host in the area, or putting you up in a

hotel) if they can’t contact the host either.

Airbnb’s Guest Refund Policy (more on this later) means you’ll get a full refund if the

host fails to give you access to the listing you booked: Airbnb can either fully refund

you, or transfer your payment to a new reservation at a different listing.

Airbnb will send you an automated email to tell you, and the Guest Refund Policy

means you’re entitled to a full refund, including all fees. In general, refunds issued to

credit cards can take 5–7 business days to be reflected on your statement. Some

refunds issued to international credit cards occasionally take up to 30 days to be

reflected. Refunds issued to PayPal accounts occur within 24 hours.

Rather than withdraw your refund, you can also transfer your payment to another

listing on Airbnb; all you have to do is send a message to the new host to confirm

availability, and book it. On the checkout page, your account will be credited with your

previous payment. If your reservation costs more than the original, you may see an

additional Airbnb credit to help cover the difference. If the new place costs less, you’ll

be refunded the difference from your original payment total.

Sometimes you might need extra help to find a new place at extremely short notice.

Airbnb is there to help! Just follow the link in the automated email you receive, and

Airbnb will contact you directly.

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To be honest, we’ve never heard of this happening. If it does happen though, here’s the

deal according to Airbnb:

A full refund is not guaranteed since you may have to pay for the nights you

stayed at the listing. Airbnb will reach out to you directly if this is the case.

If your reservation includes a security deposit, it’ll remain authorized until 48

hours after the original checkout date, and it may take five business days for it

to appear on your statement.

It’s seriously rare for a host to cancel while you’re staying there, and we’d hope that

the host would tell you the reason why they had to. If they don’t though, you can

contact Airbnb for clarification.

Take photos, then contact Airbnb, then talk to your host about it! Even if all you say to

Airbnb is, “Hey, I have X issue and I just wanted to let you know that I’m working on it

with my host. I thought it best to keep you in the loop,” it means you’ve positioned

yourself as the rational one who’s trying to sort things out. You could also send Airbnb

the photos, so that they can see the difference between the listing photos/description

and yours.

Then if your host is unreasonable when you raise the issue with them, well, Airbnb

already knows what’s going on and can help more quickly to sort something out.

(Hopefully it won’t come to that though – hopefully your host will either provide the

amenities you expect, or provide an explanation, or something else that makes you

happy.)

(Super-nifty trick: when you book the property, take screenshots of the listing on

Airbnb and save them to your phone. Then when you arrive, you’ll have them

immediately to hand to compare with the real thing.)

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There’s no such thing as “too much information” when it comes to Airbnb listings, so

mention as much stuff as you can.

Here are some useful things to mention:

The appliances and equipment in the kitchen (microwave, pots, and pans,

stove, etc.).

What they’ll get in the bathroom (soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc.).

Any other electrical appliances they’re free to use (hairdryer, vacuum cleaner,

etc.).

Proximity to shops and local attractions.

Public transport in the area (and how easy it is to get to/from the airport).

If the outside of the building doesn’t look fantastic, or the view isn’t wonderful, say so.

By being honest about these things, guests will instinctively perceive you to be honest

about everything else you mention. If you say, “The view isn’t spectacular, I’m afraid,”

but then talk about the comfort of the awesome futon, they’ll have no reason to

disbelieve you (which is pretty amazing, considering most futons are insanely

uncomfortable).

Also, it means they’ll look ridiculous if they make negative comments about the

“terrible view”: they’ve been warned in advance and shouldn’t have booked the place if

view was such a major factor.

Many of your guests will rely on a fast internet connection, so please be honest if

you’ve got a particularly slow or cranky connection. If it’s a good connection, however,

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go all out in the description – you have no idea how excited certain guests will be to

hear it!

Also, don’t be offended or alarmed if your guests email you with specific questions

about the wifi, e.g. “I know your place has wifi, but can you confirm that it works well,

and that it’s fast?” Lots of Airbnb guests work while they travel, and they rely on a

good internet connection where they’re living.

If you see a “Verified photo” watermark on the photos of the property, this means that

a professional freelance photographer has been hired by Airbnb to take photos of it.

You can get the same service for your property too – and it’s completely free. Just visit

Airbnb’s help page on the topic.

Professional photos are great because amateur interior photos often make a property

look worse than they do in real life. Another thing to consider is that Airbnb says that

“professionally photographed listings can rank higher in search results.” Seems a bit

unfair to us, but it might be worth considering.

On the downside though, Airbnb photographers are known for doing a very good job of

“property airbrushing”: they overexpose the heck out of every photo, making

properties look a lot larger and brighter than they are in real life. As a result, some

properties get negatively reviewed on “accuracy.”

We still think it’s worth getting an Airbnb photographer in. But if you can, ask them to

rein in the overexposure and clever angles!

Just as guest reviews and guest verifications give peace of mind to hosts, the same

works the other way around – ESPECIALLY for new properties that have no/few

reviews.

Guests aren’t willing to sacrifice their safety by staying at just anyone’s property –

they want to make sure you are who you say you are.

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There are many different types of verification available to Airbnb hosts and guests,

and they all appear on your profile page for others to see. Here are the different types

of verification:

Email address

Phone number

Offline ID (verify your identity using knowledge-based authentication or an ID

scan)

Online ID (verify your identity by connecting to Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn

or by having pre-existing reviews)

Reviews (you can’t get these until someone’s stayed at your place)

Verified photos (if you invite an Airbnb photographer to take pictures of your

place, you’ll see a “Verified” watermark on each one)

The Holy Grail is the “Verified ID”: a badge that can appear on your profile, which

states you’ve completed a specific set of verifications (which are offline ID, online ID,

email address, phone number, plus a profile photo). Visit www.airbnb.com/verify to

get your Verified ID.

Another way to reassure potential guests is by getting some references on your

profile. You can ask your friends to say nice things about you – and these will appear

on the bottom of your property listings – in a tab called “Friends.” They’ll also appear

on your profile page – down at the bottom, in a section called “References.” Yep,

confusing.

(Guests have references too. You can find them on their profile page.)

Here’s how you get references:

Go to Edit profile > References > Request references.

Once your friend has written the reference, go to Edit profile > References >

References about you. You’ll then be able to accept the reference and allow it to

go public, or ignore it to keep it from posting to your profile.

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Bear in mind that the person you’re asking must have an Airbnb account too. And

they need to have a profile photo.

(FYI if you want to leave a reference for someone else, you can’t do so proactively –

they need to send a reference request to you first.)

As Airbnb states, no one’s renting from your dog! Your guest will want to know who

they’re interacting with, so this isn’t the time for cute puppies or beautiful landscapes.

Guests will also trust you more as a host if you’ve written some information about

yourself, because it shows you’re genuine and helps to build a connection.

Many guests are wary of staying in places that have no reviews, and it makes sense: if

they only have your word to go on, they can’t be sure your place is anything like what

you say it is.

If you’re pricing yourself alongside similar Airbnb properties in your area, you may

well struggle to get enquiries. After all, a guest is far more likely to go for an equally

priced place that has heaps of great reviews.

So how do you start to get reservation requirements as a newbie host? Price low!

Airbnb actually encourages this, because it’ll help you get a few guests and a few

reviews under your belt. You can even mention in the description (and many people

do) that the only reason you’re giving people such a great deal is because you’re new

to Airbnb - this may reassure potential guests that it’s not because you have dodgy

plumbing or the bed feels like a rock!

The more reservations you get, the faster you’ll rise up the search rankings. So if you

want to really get up there quickly, try to accept as many short stays as you possibly

can (over any requests for longer-term rentals).

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At the time of writing, Airbnb’s algorithm doesn’t pay attention to how long guests

stay, so a review from someone who’s stayed for one night is given equal weight to a

review from someone who’s stayed two months.

It’s a pain, sure, but it’s something to consider if you really want to get high on the

search results page. Once you get a few nice reviews from short-term guests, you can

then move on to accepting bookings from longer-term guests.

According to Airbnb’s help pages, “Make sure to ‘tweet,’ ‘like’ and ‘+1’ your page, and

don’t be shy asking your friends to help! Get your listing’s URL from the address bar on

your public page. If you or your friends have websites, be sure to provide the link

there. Relevant links to your listing from other websites can help you rank higher in

major search engines.” [Our emphasis.]

We hate to recommend it because we think it’s annoying how social media has to get

involved in everything these days, but there you go – it might help you get higher up

the search rankings.

Believe us, we’re not fans of this rule. When we get a sucky question like “Please tell

me your best price to stay and give mattresses for my 8 friends,” we don’t feel

compelled to reply. But we do, because otherwise our “Response rate” goes down –

and this affects our visibility in the Airbnb search results. That means fewer people

will come across our apartment, which means fewer enquiries, which means we’ll

either have vacancies or can’t be as choosy about who we accept.

Another side effect is that Airbnb guests might not bother to contact us if they see a

low response rate. Although we argue in this book that guests shouldn’t judge low

response rates (they should contact the host anyway), there are many guests out there

who’ll see a low response rate and immediately assume the host is bad at replying –

and by extension a bad communicator with guests in general.

This rule is even more important when someone sends you a reservation request

(rather than just a message). In most locations, you have 24 hours to officially respond

to a reservation request before it expires. You can respond by clicking the “Accept,”

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“Decline,” or “Discuss” button. If you don’t respond within the timeframe, the

reservation request will expire and Airbnb explicitly says, “your placement in search

results may be negatively impacted.”

Interesting fact: if your listing is based in Montreal, Miami, Chicago, Dublin, Berlin,

Venice or Rome, you only have 12 hours to respond to reservation requests –

apparently because guests looking in those areas have been getting dissuaded due to

the time it takes them to receive a confirmation of booking.

We’ve mentioned a few of the ways throughout this book, but here’s the lot of ‘em

(based on what we’ve figured out through trial and error, friends’ experiences with

Airbnb, Q&As on Quora, etc.):

The number of positive reviews

Your response rate to messages and reservation requests

The frequency with which you update your calendar

The number of nights that have been booked at your place (a high number of

bookings indicates you’re an active host who frequently accepts booking

requests, so you get pushed up the search rankings)

The number of host cancellations at the listing (i.e. if you cancel your guests’

bookings, you’ll be penalized)

Having photos of your property taken by a professional Airbnb photographer

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(I.e. the right guests for you and your property, and guests who won’t be a nightmare!)

Use subtle, clever wording to attract the types of guests you want. Don’t want

party animals? Then suggest it’s the perfect place for a romantic retreat. Would

you prefer large groups to stay – so that you can make more money out of each

additional guest? Then make a big deal of the fact that although there’s one

double bed, there’s also a futon, a spare blow-up mattress, a table that seats six,

etc.

If you’re renting out a room in your property, talk a lot about your personality

and hosting style. So if you really want to get to know your guests, take them

out and about, etc., say it. If you want your privacy, say that you’ll respect their privacy, won’t intrude, they won’t even know you’re there, etc.

Make use of the tick boxes in the amenities section! There are tick boxes for

“Suitable for events,” “Family/kid friendly,” “Smoking allowed,” and “Pets

allowed.” Use them to indicate the sorts of people you want staying at your

place.

Set reservation requirements for your property. Guests won’t be able to attempt

a reservation request until they fulfill your specified requirements. These

requirements can include Verified ID, a verified phone number, profile photo,

and trip description. You can set/change your reservation requirements by

going to Your listings > Reservation requirements.

Screen your guests’ profiles and their reviews. Look for verifications and

references, and be sure to read any reviews left by other Airbnb hosts (if they

have any). You can also ask them to complete some profile verifications before

booking if you feel you don’t have enough information about them.

Complete your house rules. (Go to Your listings > Manage listing > Address and

description.) Then ask your potential guest to review these rules and check

they’re happy with them before they book.

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We’ve stayed in a LOT of Airbnb places. Some of them are the hosts’ homes when

guests aren’t staying there, while others are rented our year-round. We don’t stay in

any shared apartments (i.e. we don’t rent a room in someone’s home while they’re

living there), but we know plenty of people who do.

We’ve noticed some pretty big differences between homes and places that are rented

out year-round, and there are definitely pros and cons to each. We’ve spoken to many

other guests for the purposes of this book, and put together the “ideal Airbnb property”

– which combines the pros of homes with the pros of rented-out places:

Think about what you use when you cook and clean, and make sure all that

stuff is provided. So there should be a sufficient number of saucepans, plates,

crockery, utensils, tea towels, etc. And there should also be floor cleaner, a mop,

a vacuum cleaner, a broom/dustpan and brush, toilet brush, sponges, washing-

up liquid, surface cleaner, kitchen paper, trash bags, etc. For items like kitchen

paper and washing-up liquid, you don’t need to provide enough to last the

duration of the trip – you just enough for the first few days/week of their stay.

Don’t clutter the place up! We once stayed in a beautiful old city-center

apartment, but ornamental shells and pebbles took up every inch of shelf

space. There were photos on all the tables (including the desks), and the only

place to put our clothes was on the floor or across the books of the bookshelf.

Lots of other guests we know have had the same thing. And when there’s

nowhere to store our own stuff, the apartment becomes very cluttered and

untidy very quickly. It’s fine to store some of your items in there, but guests

really need some room for their own things.

Have trash cans in (at least) the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom.

Provide a shelf in the bathroom for guests to put their deodorant, razor, etc.

Also, pleeease have a mirror in there too!

Provide at least a couple of rolls of toilet paper.

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Guests will really appreciate it if you provide international plug adapters –

even if they’ve brought their own. It just shows an extra level of awareness on

your part.

On looking through reviews of Airbnb properties, it seems that the level of cleanliness

preoccupies guests the most – and it’s what hosts are most likely to get lower ratings

for.

So have everything in tip-top condition when guests arrive! If it means getting a

cleaning company in, we say DO IT! Everyone has their own standard for what

constitutes a “good” level of cleanliness, but a good-quality professional clean should

cover you for all but the most persnickety of guests.

To a large extent, the answer to this question depends on whether you’re sharing your

living space with guests or renting it out to them. It also depends on the guest’s length

of stay, and the type of contact you want to have with your guests.

If you want a general “rule of thumb” for all scenarios, here’s what we suggest:

At the bottom, say something like “Even though we’ll be sharing a house, I want you to

feel like you have your own space and your own privacy. So I won’t bug you and start

inviting you out with my friends or anything – you don’t need that pressure from me

when you’d far rather go out sightseeing with your own buddies.” Or alternatively, “I

LOVE to show my guests the sights and the sounds of the city. Of course it’s fine if

you’d rather be left to your own devices, but if you’re up for it I’ll cook you a meal, take

you out to a show and take you to all the best places to catch a gig while you’re here.”

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They’re free to ignore it if they don’t want to, but you can’t ever be accused of being an

uncommunicative, unhelpful host! So...

Leave them a bumper “guide” on using the apartment – things like tricks on opening

the washing machine door if it sticks, or how to work the three remotes so that the TV

actually turns on and makes pictures alongside relevant sounds. (Yes, we’ve struggled

with this one in the past...)

The guide can also contain information about great local restaurants, supermarkets,

bars, and so on – as well as good local transport links.

You might also want to email them occasionally and just check everything’s OK.

No, it’s definitely not an expectation. However, plenty of hosts do offer the service for

free, while others charge a small fee. It’s completely up to you whether you do it or not

(and whether you charge a fee), but bear one thing in mind: stay consistent!

Why? If you give a free ride to someone and they mention it in the review, you’ve now

created an expectation among all your other potential guests.

None of these things is essential, but they’re hugely appreciated by guests –

especially after a long day of travel.

Provide some sort of treat, like a bottle of wine, some local sweets, or a freshly

baked loaf of bread.

Provide soap, shampoo, and conditioner in the bathroom. And guests always

appreciate it if you leave laundry detergent if there’s a washing machine.

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Write down some tips of where to go in the local area – restaurants, bars, parks,

etc. (You can actually create an online “guidebook” within Airbnb for your

properties – just go to the “Guidebook” section in “Manage listing.”)

You can apply to become an Airbnb “Superhost.” At the time of writing, the

program is on hold while it’s being revamped. Find out more about the program

(and get updates on when it’ll be back) on the Airbnb help page.

It’s your duty as a host to leave a review of your guests. If you had a wonderful guest,

you should review them highly so that others can feel more confident about hosting

them. And vice versa: if they were unclean, if they made heaps of noise and upset the

neighbors, if they broke the bed and didn’t even tell you... say so. Other hosts deserve

to be warned.

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There’s a chance your guest won’t have access to a phone or data while they’re

traveling (although ideally they’d have warned you about this!). So if they have some

travel delays, they might not be able to contact you – and you might not be able to get

hold of them.

Try as many methods as possible to contact them:

Call them on their provided phone number.

Send them a message via Airbnb.

Send them a personal email.

If none of these work, contact Airbnb.

To reassure you...Airbnb states on its help pages, “As long as the reservation shows as

‘accepted’ in your Airbnb account, the reservation is considered active. You can verify

the status of the reservation in your host confirmation.”

If the guest simply doesn’t show up (or cancels), Airbnb will uphold your cancellation

policy and your payout will still be released – as usual – 24 hours after the originally

scheduled check-in date/time – as long as your obligations as host were upheld. (The

check-in time is determined by the time you specified on your listing – or 3pm in your

local time zone if you didn’t specify a time.)

Accidents happen, and ideally you should be able to cut your guests some slack if they

crack the odd glass or accidentally burn the bottom of the saucepan. (And if you want,

you can always make a claim on a portion of the security deposit if your guests’

actions ever warrant it. Remember that you’ll have needed to specify a security

deposit before they booked though.)

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But when the damage is far more extensive... what do you do then?

Well, Airbnb has a Host Guarantee. We’re not sure how much the Host Guarantee will

actually protect you if extensive damage has been done, because there are heaps of

exceptions. More on this later.

So here’s what we recommend: get great homeowner’s or renter’s insurance (and

make sure your insurer knows that you’re renting out your place on Airbnb)!

DEFINITELY contact Airbnb if extensive damage has been done – hopefully their

insurance will cover you. If it doesn’t though, it’s useful to have backup insurance. But

be reassured that cases of extensive damage are extremely rare!

Firstly, remember that it’s totally up to you who stays at your place – and your

placement in search results is never impacted by declining a reservation request.

But if someone is already staying at your place and you feel uncomfortable about

them, the best thing to do is contact Airbnb and let them know your concerns. They’ll

be able to tell you your options.

If the guest is doing something illegal or dangerous, contact the emergency services

before you do anything.

We once arrived at a teeny tiny apartment in Queens at the height of summer, and the

bed didn’t come with any pillows! Not only that, but the air conditioning unit flooded

the floor every night because there wasn’t an external drain pipe. The shower in the

tiny bathroom was missing its shower curtain, so the bathroom floor was perpetually

flooded too.

After two days, we decided to say something to the host rather than spend the rest of

the week annoyed – we thought it only fair to let her rectify the situation.

She came over immediately and was full of apologies about the fact that she hadn’t

been able to vet the apartment after her assistant prepared it for us. She put up a new

shower curtain, brought over a much bigger bucket for the air conditioning pipe (!),

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and gave us so many pillows we could probably be propped up to a standing position.

She also gave us a $10 Starbucks gift card each as an apology.

Being remarkable when things go wrong is the way you can really prove yourself as a

host. If your guest is unhappy for legitimate reasons, use it as an opportunity to prove

how awesome you are – they’ll appreciate it and will no doubt leave an excellent

review.

If, however, you feel that your guest is unhappy for reasons that are outside your

control or totally unreasonable (and they’re clearly not going to budge on their

opinion), it’s probably best to contact Airbnb and get some advice from them (they’re

normally awesome at this sort of thing).

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Be clear in advance that you won’t be there. Nervous new guests might want to

be able to meet the owner at the apartment, for example. Of course plans can

change, but it’s best to state your intentions in advance.

Have someone “on the ground” near your property to deal with check-ins,

check-outs and any problems guests might have during their stay. If you’re

struggling to find a friend or family member to do it, here’s a great tip: look

through the other Airbnb listings in your area and see if the same name/face

crops up on multiple listings. That person may well host on behalf of other

homeowners, or they may own a heap of their own properties. Either way, they

might be willing to host on your behalf for a small fee. Remember, that “person

on the ground” will need to get guests’ sheets and towels washed, and make

sure the place is clean and presentable for the next set of guests.

Provide as much detail about the apartment as possible, in advance. The more

you can tell your guests about the details and quirks of your place (like how to

switch on the oven, how to work the TV remote control, and where the trash

goes), the fewer calls you’ll get from them – good anyway, but especially

important if there’s a big time difference between where you are and where the

apartment is.

If your guests tend to arrive at inconvenient hours for your person on the

ground, you could always leave the keys in a wall-mounted key storage box.

The storage box has a combination lock, so all you have to do is tell the guest

the combination so that they can unlock the box and get the key. Here’s a great

one from Amazon (affiliate link). Or if you’d prefer, you could get a key storage

box that is just as secure but can hang from your doorknob instead. Here’s one

from Amazon (affiliate link).

Have a locked cupboard in your property that’s dedicated solely to “stuff for

guests” – lots of toilet roll, soap, chocolates for when they arrive, spare towels,

etc. Then whoever you have “on the ground” will find it a lot easier to get things

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ready for the next guest – and you can ensure there’s a consistency in the

quality you’re offering each guest. You might also find it useful to have a “stock

control” Google Doc spreadsheet that you share with your person on the ground

– that way you can know when it’s time to restock.

Be easy to communicate with! If it’s your face, name and contact information

on the profile page, you must be communicative and easy to get hold of for your

guests. It’s also beneficial for you: guests are more likely to treat your place

with respect (and leave you a good review) if they feel like they’ve got a

personal relationship with you, despite not having met you.

Email/text/phone your guest on their day of arrival. Check they’re happy with

everything and find out if they’re struggling to figure anything out.

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If you keep all communication within Airbnb, all your messages are in one place and

easy to find if you need access to some details.

It’s also useful if there are any disputes or disagreements: you both have access to

exactly the same set of messages (no emails that went AWOL for one of you but not

the other, for example).

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This is SO important. You might be tempted to complete the payment process outside

of Airbnb in order to avoid fees, but it just isn’t worth it.

Here’s why (taken from Airbnb’s help pages):

You can set a cancellation policy, which means you can choose to demand

some/all of your money if a guest cancels. Airbnb has a great “Cancellation

policies” help page, which lays out (with diagrams and all) what all the

different cancellation policies mean. Note that for anyone requesting a stay of

more than 28 nights, the “Long term” cancellation policy applies, regardless of

the policy that’s been set for shorter stays.

You can have a security deposit.

There’s also the Host Guarantee, which “provides protection for up to $1,000,000 to a

host... in the rare event of guest damages.” To be honest, we’re not sure if this is a valid

reason for booking through Airbnb: there are way too many exceptions. For example,

only certain countries are covered. Plus it doesn’t cover “cash and securities,

collectibles, rare artwork, jewelry, pets or personal liability. The program also does not

cover loss or damage to property due to wear and tear.” And it is “not insurance and

does not replace your homeowners or renters insurance,” yet – as Airbnb points out –

your own insurance might not cover damage or loss to property either.

There are plenty of other good reasons to make sure all payments go through Airbnb,

but we don’t think this is one of them. (If you’re worried about loss and damage, just

make sure you have a security deposit instead. And if you want to get

homeowner’s/renter’s insurance, be clear that you’re renting out your place to Airbnb

guests!)

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The Guest Refund Policy protects you if a) the host cancels the reservation

shortly before check-in or fails to provide access to the listing booked; b) the

listing booked is misrepresented or lacks in promised amenities or items; c)

the listing is not generally clean or as described.

Here’s how it works: When you originally made your reservation with the host,

the host didn’t receive the money: it’s kept by Airbnb until 24 hours after you’re

supposed to have checked in. So if you notify Airbnb of any of the issues

mentioned above, you’re entitled to a refund. You can find out more on this

help page.

If the host cancels your reservation at any time before your stay, you get a full

refund – including Airbnb fees. Alternatively, you can ask Airbnb to hold onto

your money until you use it to make another reservation.

In general, refunds issued to credit cards can take 5–7 business days to be reflected on

your statement. Some refunds issued to international credit cards occasionally take

up to 30 days to be reflected. Refunds issued to PayPal accounts occur within 24

hours.

When payments are made through Airbnb, you both have access to the 24/7

customer service team. This came in incredibly helpful for us once: our host

had left the keys with someone for us to collect on the first day of our stay. But

that person claimed he’d never been given the keys – which meant we had no

way of accessing our new apartment! We couldn’t get hold of the host, so we

contacted Airbnb. They in turn contacted one of our old hosts in the same city

to see if he’d be able to host us for the night – just in case. And they also

promised to find us another Airbnb apartment OR a hotel room for us to stay in,

free of charge, until we could get into our apartment.

You have the opportunity to review and be reviewed. If you’re a fantastic guest

and you want to stay in more Airbnb properties in the future, a great set of

reviews will help you get those properties. If you’re a fantastic host, your great

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reviews will encourage others to stay at your place too. (Plus, you can gradually

put your prices up.)

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It’s up to the host whether they ask for a security deposit. If they do ask for one

though, it means that Airbnb will “hold” the amount they specify in the guest’s

account (called an authorization charge). The money won’t actually leave the guest’s

account, but they won’t be able to use it. This “hold” on the amount begins 24 hours

prior to check-in, and it will end 48 hours after the check-out date if the host reports

no damages.

If the host feels that damage has been done to the property while the guest was there,

they can apply to keep some or all of the security deposit to compensate for the

damage done (they must to do this within 48 hours of the guest checking out). They’ll

have to send evidence to Airbnb of any damage and the reasons why they think they

should keep the security deposit. Airbnb will then extend the hold on the security

deposit funds and will gather any extra details from both the host and the guest, in

order to reach a resolution. If Airbnb decides that the host deserves any compensatory

money, they can collect however much is needed from the security deposit and send

it to them; the guest will receive back whatever’s left.

To start the process of making a claim, the host needs to go to Your listings > Your

reservations > Report a problem and follow the steps from there. There’s also more

information for both hosts and guests on Airbnb’s help page.

Hosts can also add a security deposit independently – outside the Airbnb system. If

they do this, they must disclose this in their listing’s description, and they must also

inform every guest before they book. The host can’t collect this security deposit until

after the guest has checked in.

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Hosts can charge a cleaning fee if they choose to. The cleaning fee is a one-time fee,

not nightly, and it’s included in the price guests see displayed in the search results.

Guests can see if the host has included a cleaning fee underneath the “Book it!” button

on the property’s page (and it’s also listed in the table to the right of the description).

Some guests get a bit annoyed about the cleaning fee – and we’ve heard that a few

guests actually ask the host to remove the cleaning fee if they promise to return it

spotless. We just say, “Get over it” (sorry – we mean it politely). We leave places very

clean indeed, but we don’t polish the wood, dust the ornaments, make the bed as if it’s

a hotel bed, etc. Most other guests probably wouldn’t either.

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Guests: take note of the cancellation policy of each property, because it might mean

you don’t get a full refund if you cancel your booking (even if you’re canceling many

weeks in advance).

Airbnb has a great “Cancellation policies” help page, which lays out (with diagrams

and all) what all the different cancellation policies mean.

Be aware that all long-term stays (longer than 28 nights) are automatically subject to

the “Long term” cancellation policy, regardless of what the host had previously

selected as their cancellation policy.

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Hosts and guests are charged different fees by Airbnb:

Airbnb charges you a 3% host service fee every time someone makes a booking for

your property.

Bear in mind that you may also be charged VAT on the service fee (over and above the

total 3% service fee). This depends on the laws of the jurisdiction involved; the service

fee shown to you on the website will include such VAT when applicable.

You can see the amount of your service fee in your host confirmation by clicking on

the reservation code in your transaction history, and also when you receive a

reservation request by clicking on the link next to the subtotal (the subtotal is the

complete price of a reservation before service fees have been added).

Here’s an example from Airbnb, for a four-night reservation at a listing with a nightly

rate of $100 and a $50 cleaning fee:

Subtotal: (4 x $100) + $50 = $450

Payout: $450 – (3% x $450) = $436.50

Host service fee: $13.50

Airbnb charges you a 6–12% service fee for every reservation you make. The exact

percentage depends on the subtotal of the reservation: the higher the total, the lower

the percentage. The subtotal is the complete price of a reservation before service fees

have been added.

You’ll see the service fee quoted under the property’s “Book it!” button once you’ve

entered the dates you want to stay there. The exact fee can be found on the checkout

page before you submit a reservation request. It’ll also be on your billing receipt once

you’ve booked.

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Bear in mind that you may also be charged VAT on service fees (over and above the

total 6–12% service fee). This depends on the laws of the jurisdiction involved; the

service fee shown to you on the website will include such VAT when applicable.

If a reservation request is retracted, expires, or is declined, Airbnb doesn’t charge the

service fee. If you choose to be refunded after a host cancels your reservation, you’ll be

refunded the service fee too. If you alter your reservation, the service fee adjusts

according to the new subtotal. If you cancel your reservation, you won’t get your

service fee refunded (and the amount you’re refunded for the reservation itself will

depend on the cancellation policy set by the host).

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As mentioned above, you might be expected to pay VAT on both the guest and host

service fee, depending on the rules in the host’s locality.

The service fee shown to you on the website will include such VAT when applicable.

Hosts are sometimes required by their locality to charge a tax (and it’s up to the host

to know this). If hosts are required to charge a tax, Airbnb recommends that they

include the tax in the rates for their listing, and that they make it clear in their

listing’s description and communication with guests that they’ve included this tax.

Hosts can ask their guests to pay the tax in person. But they need to state this clearly

in their description and in their message thread with the guest. Airbnb also states

that guests shouldn’t be expected to pay this tax until after they’ve checked in.

You can find out more information on the following Airbnb help pages:

What kind of tax information does Airbnb require from US persons?

What kind of tax information does Airbnb require from non-US persons?

Hosts: you might also be interested in the following help topic: What if the income

from my listing is split between multiple people?

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Before you start renting out your place (or a room within it), you’ll need to check

whether anything is preventing you from doing so:

If you have a mortgage or loans secured against your property, renting all or

part of it could be against your lender’s terms.

If you rent the property, your lease might prevent you from renting it out or

taking in paying guests.

If the property is in an apartment block, the terms of your contract with the

building’s freeholder might prevent you from subletting.

In certain cities, short-term letting isn’t allowed unless you have a license.

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If we were to boil down these 15,000 words into just a few, we’d probably say:

Airbnb is awesome.

Being nice, considerate and a good communicator will solve almost every

problem.

Nevertheless, something will go wrong occasionally, but don’t freak out when it

does because help is at hand.

So if you’ve never used Airbnb as a guest before, give it a try on your next trip: you

could halve the cost of your vacation, and maybe even discover that long-term travel

can be more affordable than you think – without giving up any home comforts.

By all means, ease yourself in gently: stay somewhere that has tens of amazing

reviews, where the host is clearly running it as a pseudo-hotel. Then once you’re

comfortable with how the process works, use the tips in this book to seek out

undiscovered gems that you can secure at great prices.

If you’re not traveling to somewhere that has an abundance of reviews already…hey,

our first Airbnb experience was flying to the other side of the world with all our

belongings to move into somewhere with zero reviews, where the host was just

moving out for a month to stay on his buddy’s couch so he could make some extra

money. We survived – and we’re generally useless at life, so you’ll be totally fine.

Or if you’ve got a spare room or you’re going out of town for a couple of weeks, give

hosting a try (after checking that you’re allowed to do so). It’s scary handing over your

keys to a relative stranger for the first time, but use the advice in this book to

minimize your risk and give your guest a great experience. It’s far from a “passive”

source of revenue (there will always be messages to reply to and cleaning to arrange),

but it’s an amazing way to subsidize your own housing costs or even make a profit.

And, if you’re sharing your space, you can get paid to meet interesting people from all

over the world.

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We’ll leave you there – but if you’ve got any questions or there’s anything that this

guide didn’t cover, let us know! We’re always more than happy to help, so just drop us

an email: mishandrob@makingitanywhere.com

Happy Airbnb’ing,

Mish & Rob

p.s. If you haven’t already signed up to Airbnb and would like to give us a high-five

when you do, please use this link: Airbnb will send us $25 credit as a thank you when

you first make a booking (and of course, you won’t get charged anything extra!).