Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
Uncover the truth about Airbnb: the good, the bad, and the unexpected. Find out if it’s the right choice for your next vacation or rental.
An Airbnb Is A Vacation Home Rental Haven
You’re probably wondering what Airbnb is unless you’ve heard of it or used the growing popular service.
I had never looked into what Airbnb was because the word ‘vacation’ has not been on our radar for years.
When I lived in the U.K. and traveled, I typically stayed at a hotel to mingle with the locals rather than at a resort.
Now that I’ve learned about Airbnb, I may have used this service, although it wasn’t available then.
I’ve seen Airbnb all over the internet when other personal finance bloggers have written about the service, but I never needed it until yesterday.
Unfortunately, I went searching because of a news article horror story I read where the renters trashed an Airbnb rental house.
This service has pros and cons, although I don’t think this story will deter people from hosting or renting in the future.
Airbnb Hosting
You could quickly become an Airbnb host if you’ve got extra space in your house.
If you don’t mind having people in your home or you travel and are hardly home, this may be a great option to earn spare cash.
Essentially, you list your space for rent with photos, price, and other listing specifics.
Potential renters can search by city and request to rent their space via the Airbnb website.
Costs Involved As An Airbnb Host
How much will the Airbnb service cost you as a host?
When you confirm a reservation, Airbnb will charge you a 3% service fee.
That’s not too bad since they cover eligible hosts up to 1 million dollars with their Airbnb guarantee.
In the horrifying rental case below, which I will talk about today, this guarantee has come in handy for the homeowners.
Airbnb is also available 24/7, which is excellent if you need support from them.
When you become a host, Airbnb has all sorts of recommendations, from house safety to writing the best ad to take top-notch photos of your rental space.
Judging by some of the costs, I’m betting many rental hosts can make a FORTUNE with this service.
It is lucrative but also comes with uncertainty when strangers are in your home.
On the plus side, as a renter, you can also read reviews, if available, under each accommodation to learn about the rental owner and how well others who stayed liked it.
Cons As An Airbnb Host
The downside for the owner is they don’t get to learn too much about the renter.
What I would suggest is if you rent out the home you live in, then get rid of all personal items you can’t replace.
I’d keep nice stuff that wouldn’t break my heart if it was broken or went missing. I certainly wouldn’t want people going through my wife’s underwear drawer.
Most of the host ads I read that rented out homes had the owners living on the lower level and the owners renting the middle or upper level.
This is smart because you can pay down the mortgage or earn extra cash if the mortgage is paid while you live on the premises.
So, what is Airbnb all about for the renter?
I had to look into this more.
Airbnb Rentals
What is Airbnb for the renter?
So you want to go somewhere on holiday but don’t want to stay in a boring hotel? Airbnb is a great option to get you out of the commercial frenzy of vacationing.
Suppose you want to live like the locals for a day, two days, or even a month. Airbnb is the place to check out.
I had no idea it was such a widespread service with Airbnb vacation rentals in over 90+ countries.
If you want to visit a country and need a vacation home to stay in, Airbnb is the place to search.
I quickly searched Airbnb Toronto and was amazed at how many people offered to rent a private room in their house, condo, apartment, or entire home.
Some prices range from $24 a night to $ 1000 a month, depending on the area and the accommodation.
If you plan to stay in a mansion, be prepared to pay the big bucks for a luxury vacation home rental.
It also depends on how many people will be staying in the rental.
Security Deposit To Rent Airbnb
Most Airbnb hosts ask for a security deposit and offer cleaning services.
Some started at a mere $12 an hour and went up to $150+ to clean the entire space.
Airbnb, which started in 2008 out of San Fransisco, California, is a trusted community where people list their space. This is also called hosting.
Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences at any price point in more than 34,000 cities and 190 countries.
With world-class customer service and a growing community of users, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.
Using The Airbnb App
There is also an Airbnb iTunes app, which makes searching easy if you live on your smartphone, like half the population.
If you search the web, you may even find Airbnb coupon codes, which will help save you a few dollars.
As for scoring Airbnb accessible accommodations…I doubt you will find that unless a very lonely person is willing to pay to have you stay with them.
Airbnb Rental Disaster For Owner
I was interested in Airbnb yesterday because I read an article on Yahoo about this service that blew me away.
This couple rented their home via Airbnb in Calgary to 4 people who said they would attend a wedding.
Only because of text messages from neighbors was the rental owner staying in town alerted to a party bus with over 100 people who showed up at their residence.
It didn’t take too long for the damage to be done.
You only have to watch the walkthrough video to see how much damage was done and how disgusting the renters left this beautiful home.
Video Walkthrough Of Airbnb Damage
The Yahoo article states, “Their house is full of biohazardous material and could take months to repair.”
Damage to the Calgary home is estimated at $50,000-$75,000 by inspectors. Police called what happened in the house a “drug-induced orgy.”
I have never seen anything like this in my life. Since we are hoping to go on vacation in June or July to the U.K. and Spain
I thought I’d read more about Airbnb even after this homeowner’s nightmare.
This is probably more of an isolated incident,, so I would take it seriously from a homeowner’s perspective, but on the other hand, this is a reputable company.
They also have up to a million dollars of insurance covering damages from renters like the above.
Airbnb is working to sort this situation out and get this home back as it was.
When police catch the guy who rented the house via Airbnb, they will charge him with mischief over $5,000.
I do hope he is found and they give him the maximum for doing this to a lovely homeowner who opened their home.
Discussion: Would you become an Airbnb host or rent one?
CBB Week At A Glance
Hey everyone! Thanks for dropping by this week again.
Thankfully, the Income Tax deadline has been extended to May 5, 2015, because I haven’t finished my taxes yet.
I know… bad, Mr.CBB. I’ve had them in the works for weeks but no time to finish them.
The good news is I’m done with my second job for a few months, which will free up some time for me, and I will get our taxes done along with many other chores I’ve put aside.
I have so much work to get done around this house, including finishing the bathroom renos, outside landscape lighting, deck refinishing, new fence (I’m not doing this on my own), gardening, garage door opener, planting seeds for herbs… that’s just some of the stuff.
You’ll be happy to know I finally fertilized the lawn, so at least that is out of the way.
This Week On The Blog
I have decided, though, that I will no longer blog on Monday. I don’t have the time right now.
If I do that, I have the time; I’m not worried.
The blog is doing so well; I’m sure some of you could do with a break from me. Insert a silly grin here.
The excellent news is Katrina will be doing some writing for CBB this summer, which I’m thrilled about.
She’s been so busy with her new job, but I’m happy to get her back on board with the CBB crew. We’ve missed her!
The blog was a bit wonky with my new mobile site, which seems to have worked itself out. I’m still monitoring it.
If you notice that the blog looks different on your cell phone, I’ve had to go mobile to keep up to date with Google.
I like the new look, and I hope you do too.
You can toggle between mobile and desktop on your smartphone. At the bottom of each blog post, there is the option.
You will be able to read my blog without having to scroll in.
That was my week…
Published This Week
This week on Canadian Budget Binder:
- Why financial advice from wealthy people makes sense
- 25 Healthy Snacks to Stock in Your Kitchen
- Why a healthy relationship takes more than just money
- Homemade donuts gone wild!
Budget Brags
Submit your Deal or Brag:
Saving money while grocery shopping is essential in the CBB family, so we share our grocery shops every week in The Grocery Game Challenge 2015.
What I love the most is when my fans share their excellent shops with me, whether it be groceries or other deals they find at a garage sale, online, or freebies!!!
This week, CBB fan Colleen shares some deals she was able to get.
Hi Mr.CBB and Fans,
The photos above are the deals I was able to get this week.
None of this was from a garage sale…I have some fantastic people in my life.
The friend that sent the $200 blender I haven’t seen since Jr High School.
The honey has regular price of $10.47 a kg, and I paid $3.00 a kg with a savings of $44.82. The kitten heel flip-flops were regular $ 14.99 a pair, where I spent 25 cents a pair on clearance with a savings of $59.26.
-Colleen K.
Making A Difference (MAD)
Hi there, CBB and readers,
My name is Ryan Modesto from the 5i Research blog. Over at 5i Research, we are providing a more niche topic coverage within the personal finance universe: Investing in Canada.
We have felt like the stock and investing category in the Canadian blogosphere is being underserved compared to the amount of content in the U.S.
We are trying to create more awareness of current events within Canada and how they affect the investment landscape and educate our readers on why things are happening and how to invest.
Saving is significant,, but if you are not investing, you are losing out to inflation, which is an equally important part of the retirement puzzle.
Don’t worry; we are not trying to pitch you stocks.
Instead, we are performing investment research on topics of interest, sometimes company-specific and other times more related to a broad market.
Often, we are simply trying to provide our readers with the tools and knowledge to perform this research themselves.
Regular readers enjoy our monthly stock filter, bi-weekly Financial Post column, and weekly top-five investment-related readings.
We own no Canadian stocks (ETFs excluded), so if we write about a company or event in Canada.
You can be sure there are no ‘back-room dealings’ where we would benefit from discussing a specific topic.
Top Recipe
Food and grocery shopping is a BIG part of CBB because food is a large part of the budget people struggle with most.
If you would instead buy convenience meals or products, consider cooking homemade meals or baking from scratch.
Not only will you save money, but you will be proud of what you accomplished, and you’ll see that from the smiles on those you feed.
If you don’t know, I have a second Facebook page called The Free Recipe Depot, where I share recipes from other Food Bloggers worldwide.
I created this second Facebook page because I love food so much, and I wanted to showcase only food 24/7, and this is where I do it.
This week, our Top Recipe Pick goes to Jocelyn over at Inside Bru Crew Life, where she shares this amazing Salted Caramel Oreo Icebox Cake.
Now, if you have never had an icebox cake before, might I suggest trying this recipe? It looks delicious, but I’ve had many, and they are so good.
Editor’s Pick
Every week, I will pick a blog post of the week from around the web that I found interesting and want to share with you and an Editor’s top blog post pick.
Editor’s blog post this week goes to Squawkfox Blogger Kerry K. Taylor, who also writes over at The Globe and Mail and shares the inside scoop on House Hunting in Toronto.
If you thought a million dollars was lots of money to spend on a house, wait until you see what it will buy you in T.O. Not much.
Google search terms
Every week, thousands of people visit Canadian Budget Binder because they did a search online and found my blog.
Remember any spelling errors below because I share with you the exact way they typed their search engine query to land on my blog.
- Is cooking for your woman sexy– My wife doesn’t seem to mind it.
- A friend cashed 3 GST cheques that weren’t hers- Well, I hope it was worth it when she gets caught.
- Should people still be stocking up on food and water just in case something happens in 2015– What? Did I miss a news flash?
- If I forgot to pay at a store, should I go back?– It’s on your conscience, but you should.
- Dumpsters full of good stuff- I bet it’s hard to walk away from that.
Thanks for reading The Saturday Weekend Review.
-Mr.CBB
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- The Saturday Weekend Review #116: When should your child get a cell phone?
- The Saturday Weekend Review #117: How getting rid of junk will make you happier and richer
- The Saturday Weekend Review #118: Can your budget handle the new TFSA 2015 Increase?
Wow that video is insane! That is very sad.
I know… I can’t even begin to imagine. I keep picturing it as our house and it just blows me away.
I grew up in Stratford, home of the Shakespeare Festival and I worked with a woman that rented out rooms in her home to patrons of the festival. I remember her telling me all the hoops they had to jump through to be cleared to rent the rooms and all the stuff they were expected to do for the people that were there to see shows at the Festival or Avon Theaters.It would be similar to this but the home owners acted as hosts to the people using the home as a Bed and Breakfast. She never had any problems beyond the work load that I heard about. Wow… This is so far over the top what these people did to this house…… Clearly they rented the place with the intention of partying and didn’t care. I, too, hope they find the guy and throw the book at him.
It will be nice to see Katrina back here again and I look forward to her posts!! Her boyfriend lives here so I have run into her around town a few times and she looks great!! Usually it’s the grocery store but once we saw each other at the Home Hardware.
Colleen got some great deals!!! I read Kerry’s column the other day and it was a good read. Love her sense of humour!!
That recipe looks so good!! Hope you have a great weekend!!
Yes, We are thrilled to have Katrina writing a bit this summer. Oh I didn’t know you had met Katrina before. One of these days I should get around to meeting her and Jen… 😛 One day.
Yes Kerry has a great sense of humour hence her large following. She says what’s on her mind and that’s it. That’s the way it should be. Thanks for popping around and oh if you make that icebox cake you will love it. We use icecream sandwiches as a layer in ours.
I’ve seen a few stories where Airbnb rentals went bad. I guess the good thing is that Airbnb has insurance and supports the homeowner? Unfortunately I’ve also seen that some owners will only rent to people with positive feedback, which makes it difficult for new people to try Airbnb.
It’s for reasons like that video above (among others) that I would never rent out my house (or a room in my house) to strangers. I think most people renting on Airbnb are decent people (I rent on Airbnb, and I don’t destroy things!) but it just takes one insane posse of people to destroy your home… and, probably like most people, I don’t have 50k floating around to fix a completely destroyed house!
The Airbnb house that got trashed is about 10 minutes away from my house. The police were there for days after. I feel bad for the homeowners, and I don’t think I would ever rent my place out for a couple hundred dollars given the risks involved
WOW pretty close to home for you then. It’s amazing how some people turn out in life. It makes you wonder just where they went wrong and why.
We have stayed all over the world thorugh airbnb and just love it. This summer, we are taking our vacation home and renting it through airbnb. I have a sell out summer and will gross over $17k if all goes well. Anytime you rent your home, have boarders etc, you need to be prepared for what could happen.
I work in the industry, and have had several rental properties as well with traditional arrangements. I have seen the horrible messes left, and damages caused by irresponsible humans on both sides…owners and renters. Expect the best but prepare for the worst. We have met wonderful hosts everywhere we have stayed and many of our tenants are still in contact long after they have moved on. I have to believe most people are good, even in the face of the bad stuff you hear everyday. Airbnb can be a wonderful experience too!
Hi,
That’s what I was saying in the post. My parents own rentals in the UK as well and have had minimal damage although my wife’s parents used to own properties and they’ve seen it all. One spare room was used as a place for the dogs to do number 2 in because they were too lazy to walk them. It was pretty disgusting she said. I think every business has bad customers so we have to look at all the good that has come from Airbnb and go with it. Thanks for sharing your experience.