Air Bnb or Homestay? Safe to do with children?

Northcote Baby · Postby **Northcote Baby** » Mon May 25, 2015 1:18 pm

Hello all

We have just built a lovely new room onto our home which is a good sized double room with ensuite bathroom. It is lying empty up there and I really think we should put it to good use to make some income from it. We have two very young children 2.5 years and 7 months so I am unsure how best to do this as safety is obviously paramount with children in the house too.

I just wondered did any of you have any experience of doing this with children? Is it possible to just rent out the room without having to give them access to the house? Any advice or tips you could give me would be really great. I am thinking of contacting some offices I used to work in and offer it out to rent for a corporate mum for example who may need to stay in London for work.

boonkoh · Postby **boonkoh** » Tue May 26, 2015 11:50 pm

Neither site vets customers who want to rent, but they do give you the option to vet any requests that come through and decline them. So you could see if they have had lots of positive feedback from previous hosts they've rented from, if they have uploaded a copy of their ID to AirBnB, and so on.

Of course, its no comfort if something does go wrong.

Renting out to a corporate audience could be the way to go, if there is a dedicated service for that kind of thing.

Bear in mind though - from the renter's side - unless the room has its own entrance and there is good soundproofing, you might find it difficult as not everyone wants to rent a room with two young children nearby. Especially if there are other choices nearby which are children-free.

nanny_kitty · Postby **nanny_kitty** » Wed May 27, 2015 7:46 am

From my experience with AirBnB that's not really how it works. The whole point is to "live like a local" so by essentially making the entire house out of bounds it'll come accross as unwelcoming and earn you bad reviews. Similarly, just because someone has a verified ID does not vouch for their common sense. I know of guests not locking doors properly, giving their keys to a friend to drop off a bag (!), and coming back to the house in the middle of the night.

None of this really works when you have children to think of too, and as I guest I wouldn't really consider a family home with babies - too much risk of being kept up all night by a teeting infant.

A corporate avenue might sit better with you and in fact suit you better.

sw11_ · Postby **sw11_** » Wed May 27, 2015 7:58 am

What about nannies working locally? Some may not want to live in with the family they work for but would like the benefit of local accommodation.

That would be a more trustworthy lodger type, and they will be CRB checked too.

Historytutor · Postby **Historytutor** » Wed May 27, 2015 9:24 am

We used to do airbnb when we lived in the Netherlands. We had a spare room and it was a good way to make a little extra money. Our kids are now 3 and 4 1/2, but this was 6-ish months ago.
We put in our ad that it was a family home, so all the people coming knew that it was likely to be crazy at mealtimes, have toys around etc. We offered breakfast, which most of the guests took us up on. Then they went out for the rest of the day, and didn't come back until after dinner. Usually, we only saw them for an hour a day (breakfast and evening). It was really a lot less imposition than we thought it might be. There was only one guy who wanted to join us for watching tv and having a beer in the evening, and we had more than 15 visitors in the few months that we hosted people.
It's not a bit deal with kids, honestly. It's a bit self-selecting, I guess. If you clearly put that you have kids, you're not going to wind up with party people anyway.
Also, how much were you thinking of charging? If you put it at a sufficiently high price, then you're not going to get backpackers anyway.

Northcote Baby · Postby **Northcote Baby** » Wed May 27, 2015 12:36 pm

Many thanks for all your replies - really helpful. It is a quiet room away from the noise of the main house so other than the crazy mealtimes in the kitchen, it would be a lovely peaceful room. We will look into getting a microwave and setting up a tea/coffee making facility so it would be more suited to someone who just needed a nice room to stay in and come and go as they please.