20 Airbnb Hosting Tricks - guide discussion
MSE_Jenny
Posts: 1,312 MSE Staff
Hi all,
We've written a new Airbnb Hosting guide and would love your feedback.
How did you find the info? Was it useful? Do you have any other tips you'd add?
Thanks for your help!
MSE Jenny
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Comments
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Hi Jenny and everyone else on MSE!
I have been hosting on AirBnB for a few months now and I absolutely love it! I have met some wierd and wonderful people from all over the world and made some money. :beer:
My question is this: I rent my flat. Can the rent I pay be deducted from my AirBnB income? Does my rent count as part of my expenses?
Any info would be gratefully received!
P.S. My landlord knows I'm doing AirBnb and doesn't mind as long as I pay my rent and don't bother him about repairs etc.!0 -
Speaking as a frequent traveller, I hate staying in places with domestic-quality fixtures. They wear out more quickly, and a 'spare bed' really does only suit occasional use, not to be let and slept on several nights a week. They tend to creak more, sag more, wobble more, etc.
If you're trying to compete with other local accommodation, get commercial quality fittings and advertise the fact!0 -
We found the tips about AirBnB really valuable as we had recently started hosting and also needed to renew our home insurance.
What we didn't anticipate was having our premium doubled! Then discovering that some underwriters won't insure you. What became clear was the advice from MMS was spot on as doing this will invalidate any future claims if not declared and added to the policy. We managed to find another policy through our bank and took advantage of a reduced rate (but mindful this could jump significantly next year). I wonder if many other hosts are just winging this and may get a shock when possibly making a claim or should they mention this when renewing?0 -
My boyfriend and I are discussing moving in together but he owns his flat. The market in our area is especially difficult at the moment and I wondered if AirBNB was an option.
There's nothing in the guide about whether you need to register as a landlord for AirBNB rentals, does that only apply to longer rentals that have a lease agreement?0 -
After struggling to get insured last year, your guide was so useful giving me some pointers of who actually knows what Airbnb is! I advise phoning your preferred insurer either with a quote, asking to add Airbnb cover, or directly for a quote as non of the online forms/comparison sites have an easy way of putting it in (and when I tried to on 2 sites, I apparently did it wrong).
Here are a few things I've found:
Towergate - will insure for a maximum of 30 nights only. They will not insure you for anything over this.
Churchill - they check "eligibility" on a case by case basis. They have certainly improved since last year, when I had to explain to the guy on the phone what Airbnb was! He kept trying to tell me I ran a B&B so I needed business insurance! They said they would insure me for my 60 nights/year, max 2 people staying in one room. They won't insure for any damage or theft by the paying guests.
Home Protect - I went with them last year, and had no problems. They've added things like basic legal cover in the last year. However, they won't cover for any accidental damage at all if you host. They don't insure for theft unless forcible entry is evident.
Admiral - several different levels of cover available. You can do a quote online and then phone to add Airbnb, or just phone straight up. It cost me around £5 extra to add Airbnb when I did the comprison. The top level cover includes theft of up to £5000 of valuable items (jewellery, TV etc) by a paying guest, as well as legal cover. Damage caused by the guest is not included, but I think the Airbnb "insurance" covers this.
If anyone else has found any other insurers that cover accidental damage, please let me know! I have until Saturday to renew...0 -
I'm a bit confused about the tax situation. I work full time and rent one of the rooms in my house through airb&b. I wouldn't earn anywhere near £7500 from renting it as it's infrequent. Do I have to declare it to the Inland Revenue as it isn't my sole income? I have a relative telling me she thinks I do. Thanks0
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I'm pretty sure that you're right - as long as you earn less than £7,500 and this qualifies under the government's "Rent a Room" scheme, then it is exempt from taxation and you don't even have to tell them you're doing it. However, there is a clause about if you share the income with someone-else, then the allowance is halved (because it's between both of you). Just read up about it on the HMRC website (and point your relative to the right page so that she can read it for herself).I'm a bit confused about the tax situation. I work full time and rent one of the rooms in my house through airb&b. I wouldn't earn anywhere near £7500 from renting it as it's infrequent. Do I have to declare it to the Inland Revenue as it isn't my sole income? I have a relative telling me she thinks I do. Thanks0 -
contrarymary9 wrote: »Hi Jenny and everyone else on MSE!
I have been hosting on AirBnB for a few months now and I absolutely love it! I have met some wierd and wonderful people from all over the world and made some money. :beer:
My question is this: I rent my flat. Can the rent I pay be deducted from my AirBnB income? Does my rent count as part of my expenses?
Any info would be gratefully received!
P.S. My landlord knows I'm doing AirBnb and doesn't mind as long as I pay my rent and don't bother him about repairs etc.!
I guess the other question you could ask is: Would someone's mortgage be counted as an expense against Air BnB earnings? I'm 99.9% sure that the answer is no, so I don't see why your rent would be. Sorry. (And if you earn less than £7,500 by renting out a room, you don't need to even tell HMRC you're doing it - it's tax exempt - so the whole question of being able to claim expenses disappears. See "Rent a Room" scheme on the HMRC website). Hope this is helpful.0 -
Hello,
I have been hosting on Air BnB for over a year and have finally taken the home insurance issue by the horns. I was with Endsleigh previously who do not cover for Air BnB hosts. I have since moved to Admiral for contents only (as I live in a block of flats). They allow you to host on Air BnB as long as you don't have more than double the amount of people as you have bedrooms (I rent out one room and am allowed up to 3 guests in my 2 bed flat). Guests are also not allowed to stay more than 3 months each time.
I have just helped my mum to renew her Home Insurance as she does Air BnB too and have done so with Nationwide. They allow Air BnB as long as it is occasional and no more than 2 rooms (she didn't know that my mum has a 4 bed house). The adviser said that we could get a quote online and wouldn't need to do anything to let them know that we are hosting. The details would be in the policy, which we are yet to receive. However we were encouraged by this from them.
So all in all, 2 small wins for the everyday person trying to earn a bit more cash!
PS In swapping the insurance provider of my mum away from Payment Shield we also saved £210 and got a £30 Amazon Gift Card on top, booking direct. WIN!!0 -
A major omission -- surprising, really -- in this wholly unexpected MSE promotion of Air BnB is the fact that unless you can demonstrate the same moral certitude as its, er, leaders, and unless you feel yourself to be significant enough a World Figure to merit your American faux piety being publicised worldwide, then best not to bother.
There's also the fact that -- surprise, surprise -- many who, though they may never have heard of Air BnB co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk, have cause to rate its reputation as less than stellar:
http://www.airbnbhell.com
Still, good of MSE to offer such valuable free publicity.0
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