STR by the room?

Question

Have you tried STR by the room? Tell me your experience 👇

Otherwise have you thought about it, why or why not?

Andrew Steffens · Answer

When I started out I had a small mansion on the beach that had a 4/2 main house and a 2/1 casita. Main house (under)rented at $1200 a night average and the casita $300 a night. Shared pool. Typically families occupied main house and younger renters often in the casita. It was a nightmare with people sharing amenities and complaining one of the parties were being too loud, or drunk, etc.

Not exactly comparing apples to apples but that turned me off to trying to do any more shared spaces. I do manage some small apartment complexes and generally there are not too many issues, but not zero.

Also, for me as a PM I have fixed costs per unit, so to have 5 listings in 1 house would be cost prohibitive.

Just food for thought, good luck!

John Mason · Answer

Best to give guests privacy and alone time rather than spend time with strangers who may or not be to their liking but if people are desperate and not have much money this idea may appeal

Jake Andronico · Answer

@Keith Mintz

Way too much to deal with. I rent by the room to long term tenants and that's enough.

People chase cash flow but receive a lot more of a headache factor to (maybe) get it.

Sarah Kensinger · Answer

Nope, too much of a security issue!

Madri Koppe · Answer

Hi! You should always do research to see if this is viable in your target market but generally this is less common as many people want private spaces instead of shared. There also might be other legal/insurance considerations you want to factor in as others have pointed out. You should also think about who you are trying to target and if this type of experience aligns.

Garrett Brown · Answer

I think it is a tough model to do sharing amenities in common spaces. One of the glamp sites I manage has a shared pool and it gets complaints at least once a month on someone being upset with another guest at it. If you have the thick skin and patience for it, you may be able to make it work, but it wouldn't be something I would recommend.

Mike Shemp · Answer

That is how Airbnb began, but not something I would personally touch just for the liability aspect of it.

If you do, you should consider consulting an attorney to discuss what you should have in place, and make sure your insurance company understands the setup as well and the potential increase for that scenario.

Hope that helps.

Mike

James R. · Answer

Keith, I started out house hacking in 2014 using the Airbnb platform. For the first 4-5 years, people were great. Appreciative, friendly etc. We often cooked meals together etc.

In the last 5 years that changed. Guests were rude to my face, made unreasonable demands to the point that I felt uncomfortable in my own home. For example: I accepted a woman and after she checked in, she said that she would be "cooking up a storm" for her elderly father. She took over my kitchen and started cooking early in the morning and into the afternoon. She filled the freezer with the meals and then the next day, took them to her father and put them in his freezer.

I told her that she was using a lot of utilities and if I had known that this was what she was going to do, I would have declined her request. This went on for a week!!! I was so happy when she left. She gave me only 4 stars too! So ungrateful and when I called Airbnb, after she declined to pay $40 towards the utilities, Airbnb said that I should have called during her stay and now there was nothing that they could do.

Now, I only own and manage entire houses for STR and it is MUCH better. I never want to have to deal with guests in my home ever again!!!

Michael Baum · Answer

Hey @Keith Mintz, this was the standard AirBNB model when they started.

It isn't something I am interested in, but if you do a search, you can find more info.

STR by the room?

STR by the room?

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