Airbnb availability question

[MrGreen]

We did two month-long Airbnb stays in 2021 and we're about to do another 30-day stay later this month. I think this is going to become a pretty regular thing moving forward. One of the things I've been trying to figure out is when there is typically the most availability. From using the platform I can tell that hosts are able to set how far out they'll let their place be booked, but I'm not a host so I don't know for certain what those intervals are. It seems like 6 months and 12 months are common?

Obviously looking to book a place in any location that might be near high season, one needs to be looking well in advance because just one short weekend booking can eliminate a place from our search if there is a specific window where we're looking to be in the area.

Are there any Mustachians who could share some intel, if there's any to be had?

[reeshau]

I don't know from the hosting side, but can say that we worked a 3 month stay during some construction recently.  We worked a lot "offline" with the host, both inquiring as to availability and pricing.  Even if you end up doing this through the platform (so as not to cut them off from their percentage) a lot of landlords would drool at a stay that long, and be flexible.

Also, in the negative column:  AirBnB's are a ripe target in a housing affordability discussion.  Dublin has effectively banned AirBnB stays of this kind of length.

[snic]

I think it's going to depend a lot on the host. I don't have an AirBnB, but a friend does (a room in his house), and he wants to make sure he's going to be around when the AirBnB is rented. Because he doesn't know what exactly he'll be doing 6 months from now, he opens his calendar only for the next two months. But a host who is not doing the work himself/herself, and is paying someone to take care of the property, might open the calendar for an entire year. Most travel reservation systems go at most one year out, so I assume that's the max on AirBnB as well.

[uniwelder]

We host occasionally with Airbnb, so I just looked up the scheduling settings.  I needed to check in anyway, so this was a good reminder.  There is a pulldown menu that lets you choose how far in advance to make your place available--- 24 months, 12 months, 9 months, 6 months, 3 months, and unavailable by default unless specifically selected.

Since we only host for a handful of weekends, I set it to unavailable and then select dates whenever the football and graduation schedule (college town) is available.  Most local hotels get filled a year in advance, so people looking on Airbnb get frustrated that no place is available, when in actuality, the hosts just haven't opened their calendars for booking yet.  I think a lot of people here set it for 6 months ahead.

[MrGreen]

I've started to play around with dates to try and see listings that might not be available in a particular date range. Often we have some flexibility in the dates we book so we look for places that best meet our needs. I find it incredibly frustrating that there's no option to see unavailable listings. I like to build a list of favorites for an area we're considering visiting and this makes it more challenging to see all the potential Airbnb's out there.

That's a nice function, being able to set a listing to unavailable by default. I'd considered putting our place on Airbnb and possibly making it available while we're gone but I wasn't sure. I'd imagine you need to have a certain acceptance of the possibility of higher than normal wear and tear on things.

[uniwelder]

I find it incredibly frustrating that there's no option to see unavailable listings. I like to build a list of favorites for an area we're considering visiting and this makes it more challenging to see all the potential Airbnb's out there.

I’m not sure how to handle that within Airbnb, but there is a site called Airdna that aggregates all listings and let’s you see everything. There are some functions free to use.

[iris lily]

I don't know from the hosting side, but can say that we worked a 3 month stay during some construction recently.  We worked a lot "offline" with the host, both inquiring as to availability and pricing.  Even if you end up doing this through the platform (so as not to cut them off from their percentage) a lot of landlords would drool at a stay that long, and be flexible.

Also, in the negative column:  AirBnB's are a ripe target in a housing affordability discussion.  Dublin has effectively banned AirBnB stays of this kind of length.

In my tiny tourist town there’s constant chatter about how every time a house comes out for sale, somebody snacks it for an Airbnb, or an out an out B&B Inn. I can’t really see how the business is sustainable across the entire town, but so far it appears to be. It’s shutting out people who want to rent houses are even apartments, although there’s very few multi family dwellings here.

[NV Teacher]

[/quote]

In my tiny tourist town there’s constant chatter about how every time a house comes out for sale, somebody snacks it for an Airbnb, or an out an out B&B Inn. I can’t really see how the business is sustainable across the entire town, but so far it appears to be. It’s shutting out people who want to rent houses are even apartments, although there’s very few multi family dwellings here.
[/quote]

The same thing is happening in my area.  A family member buys smaller older homes and rather than renting to a family for $2000 a month they rent it out for a nightly rate of $200-$250 a night.  The low budget motels have all converted to monthly rentals for families that can’t afford local rent prices.

[Villanelle]

In my tiny tourist town there’s constant chatter about how every time a house comes out for sale, somebody snacks it for an Airbnb, or an out an out B&B Inn. I can’t really see how the business is sustainable across the entire town, but so far it appears to be. It’s shutting out people who want to rent houses are even apartments, although there’s very few multi family dwellings here.
[/quote]

The same thing is happening in my area.  A family member buys smaller older homes and rather than renting to a family for $2000 a month they rent it out for a nightly rate of $200-$250 a night.  The low budget motels have all converted to monthly rentals for families that can’t afford local rent prices.
[/quote]

And isn't that fascinating.  The hotels have becomes homes so that the houses can be hotels. 

[MrGreen]

I'm not sure if we'd ever find ourselves looking to Airbnb a place in a small town with those kind of STR vs. locals issues. We want a long stay and a lot of variety. I have no interest in being some place like Breckenridge or Park City for a month. So far we've always stayed in a house that someone is living in and we've rented a basement or mother-in-law type apartment. Unfortunately, the math doesn't really work out for us to buy a second house vs. doing Airbnbs. We'd have to really fall in love with an area and not care about the math. If there were furnished apartment complexes that rented monthly I'd consider it but to my knowledge there are none.

[reeshau]

If there were furnished apartment complexes that rented monthly I'd consider it but to my knowledge there are none.

There are lots of them!  Look for "catered apartments" or "corporate serviced apartments."  As the names imply, these are targeted to business travellers, so the prices and service are higher than you might be looking for.

[Catbert]

In my tiny tourist town there’s constant chatter about how every time a house comes out for sale, somebody snacks it for an Airbnb, or an out an out B&B Inn. I can’t really see how the business is sustainable across the entire town, but so far it appears to be. It’s shutting out people who want to rent houses are even apartments, although there’s very few multi family dwellings here.

The same thing is happening in my area.  A family member buys smaller older homes and rather than renting to a family for $2000 a month they rent it out for a nightly rate of $200-$250 a night.  The low budget motels have all converted to monthly rentals for families that can’t afford local rent prices.
[/quote]

And isn't that fascinating.  The hotels have becomes homes so that the houses can be hotels.
[/quote]

In my city there is even another round of idiocy.  The city is buying and renovating those budget hotels to provide permanent housing for the homeless.  Everybody needs a kitchenette, right?  And a renovated bathroom.  Cost per unit after renovation is ~500K.  Yes, half a million dollars.

[Villanelle]

I wonder if all these people (or entities) buying properties for the sole purpose of making them short-term rentals are factoring in the growing discontent about that kind of situation, and the zoning changes that can occur.  Is someone who is considering buying a property based on the fact that they can gross $6000 a month ($250/n, 24 nights a month) also considering that if zoning changes so the minimum rental is 30 days, they may only be able to get $3000 in rent? 

I'm seeing so much pushback on short-term rentals.  I suppose some more conservative areas that are anti- government regulations may not make changes, but it seems many liberal areas and plenty of moderate areas are doing away with these, in some way or another.  (The exception that seems to be most common is if it is an ADU on a property with a long-term rental or owner occupation.)  So it seems like the market for these Airbnb-only properties could collapse, and these investors might be in serious trouble.  OTOH, that would be a great thing for housing affordability for both renters who finally have options and buyers who can scoop up these distressed former-AirBnBs for cheap(er). 

[MrGreen]

I wonder if all these people (or entities) buying properties for the sole purpose of making them short-term rentals are factoring in the growing discontent about that kind of situation, and the zoning changes that can occur.  Is someone who is considering buying a property based on the fact that they can gross $6000 a month ($250/n, 24 nights a month) also considering that if zoning changes so the minimum rental is 30 days, they may only be able to get $3000 in rent? 

I'm seeing so much pushback on short-term rentals.  I suppose some more conservative areas that are anti- government regulations may not make changes, but it seems many liberal areas and plenty of moderate areas are doing away with these, in some way or another.  (The exception that seems to be most common is if it is an ADU on a property with a long-term rental or owner occupation.)  So it seems like the market for these Airbnb-only properties could collapse, and these investors might be in serious trouble.  OTOH, that would be a great thing for housing affordability for both renters who finally have options and buyers who can scoop up these distressed former-AirBnBs for cheap(er).

$250/night is kinda crazy to me. The places we book are $70-80/night all in.