Anyone host on Airbnb?

[Red Squirrel]

Been toying with the idea of buying acreage land for a while now.... and been thinking it would be cool to setup a couple private cabins to rent out on Airbnb. Is that a thing? Or is that mostly just for hotels and stuff? Or is there a better site to put it on? Essentially I'd want some kind of management company to handle all the booking and all that so that's why Airbnb comes to mind.

Anyone ever use that service as a host, how does it work, is there any gotchas? It seems like a great way to make money without having to manage all the tedious stuff, but wondering if there's any catches, like if they require any kind of licensing or business insurance, or other weird stuff like that? If I buy this land I have in mind I have over 100 acres to play with and it's in an area that does not require building permits, so I could setup a pretty skookum campground without worrying about all the red tape and make it as a getaway spot to go camping. I don't know how much money I'd truly make as I don't expect something like that to book solid or anything, but even if I get a couple rentals here and there it would be extra money for rather low effort. It seems too easy though so I assume there is some kind of catch or everyone would be doing it. Or is there? Anyone more familiar with this sort of thing and is there anything I might be missing?

I suppose it does come with risks too, such as getting really terrible renters, like someone that decides to start a forest fire or burns the whole place down or something. I guess that's where insurance would come in but it would probably fall under business use and be crazy expensive. I guess that might be the catch and why nobody does this?

 

[Dr. Detroit]

I could setup a pretty skookum campground

Had to look that word up - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skookum

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hahaha it's basically interchangeable with awesome. It's AvE slang.

 

[sdifox]

Hahaha it's basically interchangeable with awesome. It's AvE slang.

More like Doug McKenzie slang.

Typical airbnb people are more interested in a room, not a shed.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Actually looks like it might be a thing, not sure how well they do but it's something worth exploring though. Did more research and looks like Airbnb actually provides insurance too. You can even setup automated check in processes. Could just do an electronic door code or something.

Airbnb | Vacation rentals, cabins, beach houses, & more

Get an Airbnb for every kind of trip → 7 million vacation rentals → 2 million Guest Favourites → 220+ countries and regions worldwide

www.airbnb.ca

I'd be curious to rent one myself as a guest just to see how the process is, some of these actually look quite nice.

 

[clamum]

I can't comment on Airbnb as I have never used it but man, I would never rent out something to the general public. Yikes. I think I'm too organized/neat of a person to do that and have to put up with people fucking shit up and getting it all dirty and breaking shit and whatnot (it'll happen; guaranteed).

I take care of my apartment (or a house if I had one) and that's enough for me, lol.

 

[herm0016]

we hosted in extra bedrooms in a couple of houses, had many guests and only a couple weirdos. never anyone dangerous, just odd. we made some good extra cash. we also, almost exclusively use airbnb when we travel both in the US and outside of it and have not had any huge issues.

i would not rent out unimproved camping spots, i would fear you would end up with human waste and trash all over the place.

 

[highland145]

Started a VRBO the end of 2018. 2019, 24 stays, no problems, netted $4300. Would be $1700 less if we paid a cleaning person. And each stay equated to about 4 trips for us(laundry, cleaning, roll out cart, lock box, etc). Furnished it from estate sales in the higher end hoods. Intended it to be longer term rentals for contractors working at the DOE facility, 3-6 months. Didn't quite work out that way. If you don't have the free time to see about it, don't bother. Friends have 2. They use digital locks and a cleaning service so they only go over if there's a problem.

I'll pm you a link.

 

[deadlyapp]

You may also want to look at a service called hipcamp - it's basically just the same thing as airbnb but generally even more low-tech allowing people to just pull an RV onto some land that is promising.

Personally, if you just have some shitty cabins set up without any other amenities, it wouldn't be attractive to me whatsoever as a camper. You need to have something worthwhile - maybe a river or stream nearby, firepits, potable water, bathrooms, charcoal grill racks, picnic tables would be some of the minimum things I'd be looking for.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Oh yeah these would be setup with the purpose of renting and be separate from my own. At first it would be rather basic, a 2 bedroom cabin with basic kitchen, bathroom and shower, and firepit, eventually add more stuff like water access features. Maybe canoes etc. Essentially it would be for those that just want a getaway in the bush, I would charge cheap enough.

Would allow to bring your own camper too and then can plug in to the cabin for power. (solar)

Going to look into those other services too. I'm very far from this, just kinda looking into if it's even doable and looks like it is, so it's good to know.

If I buy the land I have in mind it comes with a couple run down setups, I'd probably even rent one of those for cheap until I build something proper. Though I don't want to go too cheap/crappy as it attracts the wrong kind of people, so I'd be best to wait till I build something decent.