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Handling Monthly Rental Queries

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 Our Airbnbs are in an area close to a large industrial construction project, which draws labor crews for contracts that may be weeks or months in length. These folks often find our Airbnbs an attractive alternative to hotels. They appreciate the home-like environment, and can be economical compared to hotels when the cost is split among individuals. They also like the additional privacy they gain in everyone having their own bedroom, compared to sharing a two-bed hotel room with a coworker. We generally appreciate these folks as guests. They tend to hit the job very early, come back mid-afternoon, cook dinner, and fall into bed. And lots of these folks become repeat guests after they've had a first successful weekend with us. We've had a few hiccups with muddy boots being worn in the house, but emphasizing a house rule around that tends to solve it. Recently we've been fielding a lot of questions around longer-term stays - multiple months at a time. This has turned a littl...
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Your Moment of Airbnb Zen

@bee_n_beetle_hosting ♬ Aesthetic - Tollan Kim
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Airbnb Newbie Advice Grab-Bag

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For your Sunday reading pleasure, here's a bit of random hosting advice I gave a young fella seeking to get started in the Airbnb business. Hope you get something out of it! Some thoughts, in no particular order: First and foremost, check city and HOA regulations. If they're not friendly to this use, you can try to wing it for a while, but there's a strong chance the rug will get yanked from under you after you've committed to this business. If they're good with it, make sure you understand your city and state requirements for registering your unit and paying hotel tax, as that'll be something you'll need to do. Make sure your location REALLY lends itself to STR use. If you're super packed in with neighbors, some of whom are weird or hostile, and you're targeting a lower-end guest mix who'll throw parties or bring hookups home or whatever, it's a powder keg. On the other hand, if the place is on a generous lot giving good separation from neig...
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Here's Why We Do a Final Quality Check on Our Airbnbs

Your Airbnb guests will always find a way to surprise you! Keep your critical eyes open when inspecting your place, as it's too easy to let little flaws find their way to subsequent guests .... @bee_n_beetle_hosting This is why we do a final quality check after the cleaner is done. #airbnbhost #airbnbhosting #airbnbhostlife #vrbohost ♬ The Evil That Men Do (2015 Remaster) - Iron Maiden
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FIXED! Keurig K-Express Essentials Pod Coffeemaker Not Turning On, No Power

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I offer a Keurig K-Express Essentials K-cup (pod) coffeemaker in one of my Airbnbs. It's a sleek little inexpensive machine that I believe is exclusive to Walmart, and has been a great choice for this unit. Last week, a guest told me upon check-out that the K-Express Essentials coffeemaker wasn't turning on. So, during the turnover, I put on my fix-it hat and went into troubleshooting mode. Turns out the root cause was pretty easy to find: Every 250 brews, the machine will request that a descaling procedure be done - essentially, putting a cleaning solution in the tank and "brewing" it to run it through, cleaning out built-up mineral deposits inside the machine, followed up by a couple tanks of fresh water to flush out the solution. This "descale mode" is indicated by a light on the front panel of the unit, and if you don't attend to this soon, it can trip a little thermostat switch inside the machine, which leads to the coffeemaker not turning on. The ...
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Airbnb hosts be crawlin' under the bed

As some of you know, one of my recurrent pet peeves with hosting on Airbnb, Vrbo, etc. is needing to crawl under the beds to re-plug the power strips and lamps my guests have unplugged (and LEFT unplugged) for their own chargers for their phones, tablets, etc. So, the creative urges welled up in me, and I penned this song. I hope you enjoy.  @airbnbeetle #airbnbhost #vrbohost #airbnbhosting #airbnbhostlife ♬ original sound - Bee -n- Beetle Hosting
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And the furniture color for 2023 is ... GOLD!

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I never thought I'd be saying this, but here toward the end of 2023, gold furniture is in again! I'm working with a client on outfitting a former long-term rental as an Airbnb, and she selected this bed : I like it! Especially how the 'saplings in the forest' headboard could easily inform the wall art and overall theme of the room. As a host, I like that there's no footboard, which makes making the bed easier. She paired them with these nightstands : ... which I also adore, because, again, GOLD ... but also because they have power outlets on the FRONT, where people can actually find them. Hopefully this solves for a pet peeve of mine - I've been providing multi-device power outlets sitting on top of each of my Airbnb's nightstands, but for some reason, people keep crawling under the bed and unplugging them so they can plug their stuff in. They never re-plug them, so I keep having to crawl under the bed and plug stuff back in.  Hopefully with this "in yo...
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