This post is about work, but not about software engineering. It’s about another type of work, we’ve been doing with my wife over the last 5 years. We’ve been hosts on Airbnb.
A few years ago, we decided to take a loan to buy a small apartment nearby. We calculated that it could pay itself if we rented it during the academic year to a student in combination with short-term rentals to tourists during summer. As we used to live a 10-minute walk away from this apartment, we could easily manage it. While I was working from the office, it was up to my wife during business hours to meet people and mostly to me outside those hours.
With remote and flexible work this slightly changed and made things even easier.
But at the beginning of this summer, we moved to another town and providing a flexible Airbnb experience became more difficult especially given that only one of us drives and that the traffic is often hellish in this region making a 10km route sometimes an hour. So it’s time to look for long(er)-term tenants and also to conclude this experience.
2019, the beginning
Our first year was 2019. We knew a couple of things we wanted:
- we didn’t like listings with hidden costs, such as cleaning fees, extra fees for bedlinen or for additional people. We wanted to keep it simple for our guests.
- we wanted to keep it cheap because we needed reviews and guests who would take a place without reviews
- we also knew that our place was not fancy, but we wanted to provide something comfortable and clean
We had a good start. During the first summer, we hosted either some young couples or - to our surprise - some small families. We didn’t expect families with 2 kids to come and rent a 21 m2 studio. But apparently, our low price and closeness to some attraction parks was a magnet to families on a budget.
We had a good experience. People were so friendly! I still remember a French family where the father was a plumber and drove hours a day to work in Switzerland to make a bit more money for calmer older years. They brought us some Swiss chocolate as a gift! Who brings nowadays gifts to their Airbnb hosts?
2020, the year of no travellers
Then next year Covid hit and we were happy to keep our tenant during summer as well. That let us take summer holidays, something we don’t do otherwise as hosts.
2021, more work, more money
In 2021, we increased our Airbnb revenue by about 30% led by two factors:
- we could start the business at the very beginning of July
- we raised our nightly rate by about 15 per cent.
We still had a good experience. Although it was a lot of work. We tried to maximize occupancy. In the beginning, we only accepted at least 3-night long booking requests, but we also tried to fill up the gaps. I think we had 2 free nights over the summer that year. It was a lot of work for both of us, but the people were nice.
I firmly remember one family. An Eastern European family, where the father was a diplomat in Brussels. They came with a BMW 740 and arrived very late in the night. Then they could barely find a parking slot for such a huge car, but after I moved my car it tightly fit. They were so respectful and once again, we got some presents as hosts.
If I remember well, 2021 was the first and only year - so far - when we became superhosts.
2022, a long, ordinary season
In 20222, our total AirBnb revenue almost doubled. It doesn’t mean though that we raised our rates so much - though we did raise it quite a bit. Our tenant left a month earlier than usual, so we had the whole June as well on Airbnb instead of only July and August. Though it was not as busy as the other months, it still brought much more revenue than a normal rental. At the same time, obviously, it also meant significantly more work.
I try hard but I don’t remember any remarkable experience from that year. Most people were simply kind and nice. The way people should be.
I do remember a group of young travellers who called me like 6 times during the night - my phone was on silent mode. They left a message that the fridge stopped working. It was almost brand new. When I tried to call them around 10 AM, they didn’t answer. I went over around noon and I realized that while they tried to charge all their devices they managed to unplug the fridge. What a bummer. They felt bad, but I had such a good laugh also trying to ease the situation. I clearly don’t count this as a negative experience, I still smile over this.
2023 made us rethink whether we want this
In 2023, we only did two months of AirBnb with beyond 100% coverage. No, it’s not like overbooking on aeroplanes. We had some last-minute cancellations (so no refund) but we still managed to partially rent the apartment.
Regarding prices, I raised only a bit. But you might ask why the why the constant raises?
There were three reasons:
- if people are willing to pay (we were always fully booked), why wouldn’t we raise?
- inflation was high, and life didn’t get any cheaper for us either.
- others raised their prices too, and even with the raise, we stayed in the cheaper segment.
This year made my wife completely question whether we should continue the Airbnb business at all. As a consequence, we made a few changes for this year. But before getting into those changes, what were those negative events?
First, I wrote them down in detail. But it made this post way too long. Basically, there were some people complaining about the lack of things that we mark on our page that we don’t have. One person complained about the lack of A/C, while I even told her before booking that if that’s important to her, she should look for another place. But obviously, she couldn’t find anything like that within our price range.
I don’t think it’s fair to complain about the lack of things that are not promised.
But there was one specific event, I still don’t understand.
After a late cancellation, I got a new request. They said they’d be there in an hour. Perfect. I went over on time.
They called me and said that I was not there. I respectfully told them that I was waiting for them at the corner, but let me look around. I didn’t see anyone seemingly looking for someone.
I asked them what they saw. He said he saw next to a butcher’s shop. There is no butchery anywhere close to our place. He got angrier and angrier.
He told me that I was a scam.
I think it’s very hard to set up a scam on Airbnb and get dozens of reviews dating from different years, but whatever. When I asked them to tell me the type/colour of their car or to send me a screenshot of their maps app so that I could look for them, he refused to do so.
He kept telling me that I was a scam and that I wouldn’t help him because of his accent. He hung up.
I was very confused and angry at the same time. I called the safety and harassment line of Airbnb and described what happened. I wanted to report this as soon as possible because I felt that this guy would also call them and complain.
Later he also left a complaint about me and asked for a refund. Obviously, I refused. Airbnb was very kind throughout this process
So yes, 2023 left us with some negative experiences.
2024, a great last year
Yet, in 2024 we did even more Airbnb. Our tenant who rented the apartment from September 2023, decided to come back for the new academic year. Sadly, she left in January because she got an internship in Paris. For the winter semester, we only found a student who’d rent the apartment for three months, until mid-April. We still didn’t want to engage with a long-term rental.
French laws do not protect owners very well. It’s long and difficult to get rid of tenants who don’t pay their rent. While certain people are complaining that there are not enough apartments for long-term renting and it’s because of Airbnb, they fail to see that long-term renting is just simply too risky compared to other forms of rentals. It’s true that short-term renting is more lucrative, but it’s also a lot of work.
So in mid-April, in the middle of our renovation works of our new home, we were without a tenant. We decided to give an early start to our Airbnb season.
But we also decided that our goal is not to maximize profits and occupancy rate. Instead, we wanted to make a decent amount of money and make up for the loss of tenants in April and May. We were not sure how that would go outside of the summer season.
Following this mental change, we imposed a minimum of a 4-night stay by default. If there are shorter gaps in between some reservations based upon our availability we open them up
Besides, I became extremely selective in accepting reservation requests. If I felt that the apartment was not a good match for someone, I declined without hesitation. If I felt that there was a chance that the check-in would hinder our personal plans, I declined. If I didn’t find the person kind and polite, I declined. If communication was too difficult, I declined.
When I opened up the gaps, I declined the shorter reservations for more than 2 people, especially for more than 2 adults. In fact, I barely accepted 4 adults. I think I refused more reservation requests than during all the years before and I definitely declined more than I accepted.
With all these changes implemented and doing Airbnb for 4.5 months this year, the following things happened:
- I haven’t gained any particularly bad experience. I mean there were some unfortunate events, but nothing outstanding.
- Nobody complained about the size of the apartment. Even though those who complained earlier were not groups of 4 adults, but rather 2 adults with a kid or two.
- Our ratings went up once again and we almost finished our Airbnb journey by becoming superhosts again.
We earned less during the same periods than for earlier years by 10-15%. But we had a much better experience.
Conclusion
Did I enjoy doing Airbnb over these years?
First of all, it’s for a good cause. We made an investment to ensure calmer old years.
But did I enjoy being an Airbnb host?
Most of the time, I did.
Most people were friendly and we only 2 evaluations below 4 starts, which means that most people left satisfied.
We were part of their good experience and that makes me happy. Our highest ratings were check-in and communication (both 4.9/5) and nothing was below 4.5. I think we could recommend places that they wouldn’t have visited otherwise, hidden gems a bit further away from the sea.
I think if we still lived almost next door, I would be happy to continue on the terms we started this year. Obviously, that’s not the case, so I just consider this a nice end and try to use as an engineer what I learned in communication, problem-solving and patience as a host.
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