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I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

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Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#311

Post by NovemberWest »

shawnee_ wrote: post #296

Find a great property manager / cleaner -- Without one of these doing this remotely would be impossible. I managed to find a great local cleaner on craigslist. She charges a flat fee of $200 per month which covers unlimited cleanings. And she's probably illegal . . . But even if she's not illegal, how can this "property manager" live with himself, taking advantage of people who don't "know" enough (whether of the lan…

You apparently have no fucking clue why some people come to the U.S. The overprivileged assumptions so many Americans make are just completely out of touch with what goes on in many parts of the world. There are plenty of people not eating who would be happy to work hard so they live better than that.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#312

Post by rdl »

maxwell wrote: post #224
JackFr wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, travel agents were an obsolete industry. Hotels are not obsolete, AirBnB is 'disrupting' the industry by ignoring local laws and regulations. It may be that these regulations exist to protect an obsolete business model but it also might not. When your path is blocked by a fence before you tear it down, its a good idea to understand why it was put up in the first place.

I worked in hospitality for 5 years, and right now I'm staying at a hotel in downtown Vegas, a few miles from the author's Airbnb place. Hotels are obsolete. It's not the business model, short-term housing and hospitality certainly have no risk of obsolescence ever, it's the industry. Service sucks, rooms suck, tech really sucks. You have awkward kids in bad suits and clip-on ties at the front desk who're trained to…

I love hotels (specifically, Starwood and Inter-Continental, especially in Asia), and spend about 50-100 nights/year in hotels.

I infrequently use VRBO to rent a house somewhere without great hotels (and have tried AirBnB but outside SF, never worked out really well), but otherwise, the hotel experience is basically awesome for me. There is one set of tweaks I'd like to do (maybe to make a brand-within-a-brand for Westin or something), where guests get a standard network config in any room once they sign in, with MFC device in-room, VoIP phone, their own wifi settings, etc.), but otherwise it's awesome.

Being able to basically trust an international 5-star hotel to have a certain level of physical security and functionality (or to be able to add it) even in a place like Myanmar or Pakistan is great.

Being able to show up at 0200 and reliably know there will be people to check me in, that my stuff won't get stolen, that I can leave luggage and equipment, that a meeting with ~16 people won't be a problem with short notice, that the building meets basic fire safety, ...

The crappy hotels like Motel 6 or Super 8, sure, suck, but I avoid those.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#314

Post by rodgerd »

encoderer wrote: post #274
mbreese wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's probably an insurance coverage issue, so ignoring it wouldn't be a good idea. Especially if the insurance company feels that you should have known about it.

Wait, why does my insurance company care about my HOA rules? You've clearly got a bit of a nanny mentality about this. Maybe that's unfair.. But you have strongly criticized this and posted rebuttals to anybody disagreeing with you. All on the grounds of "this is probably bad, don't make your HOA [or govt, or insurance company]" mad at you. I have to confess I feel a bit of... revulsion... in your advocacy of docile…

> You've clearly got a bit of a nanny mentality about this.

How is espousing that the right to swing a fist ends at another's nose "nanny mentality"? An apartment is in a shared property structure, with rules contracted into voluntarily, and in close proximity to the property of others. Insurance is offered as a contractual arrangement. No-one is forcing you to buy an apartment, but if you do so on the basis of a legal agreement around how you will use it with the co-owners of the building, breaching it justifiably attracts sanctions.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#315

Post by Shinkei »

shawnee_ wrote: post #296

Find a great property manager / cleaner -- Without one of these doing this remotely would be impossible. I managed to find a great local cleaner on craigslist. She charges a flat fee of $200 per month which covers unlimited cleanings. And she's probably illegal . . . But even if she's not illegal, how can this "property manager" live with himself, taking advantage of people who don't "know" enough (whether of the lan…

It's even more abusive because the listing says, "$35 cleaning fee." If he rents it to 6 different people, he has already recouped his costs and the rest will be profit.

Edit: I don't think I communicated my meaning well here. Bottom line is, Hilton doesn't charge me to clean the room--it's a cost of doing business and is rolled into the cost of the room. The practice of adding on a 'cleaning fee' reeks of profit grabbing... similar to an airline charging for checked bags, except that this is a fee that is a requisite for staying in the room.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#316

Post by Shinkei »

kordless wrote: post #309
shawnee_ wrote: post #296

Find a great property manager / cleaner -- Without one of these doing this remotely would be impossible. I managed to find a great local cleaner on craigslist. She charges a flat fee of $200 per month which covers unlimited cleanings. And she's probably illegal . . . But even if she's not illegal, how can this "property manager" live with himself, taking advantage of people who don't "know" enough (whether of the lan…

As others are pointing out, your original comment is rife with blaming statements: "probably illegal", "live with himself", "people who don't know", "everything that is wrong". If you don't understand what that means, it means you are making up shit and saying it for someone else. How about doing a real analysis on this? The screenshot had $90 a night with 13 nights highlighted. Assume $100 so I can do math late, and…

I agree that the 'hate' is unnecessary on the OP's part, but you are grossly underestimating the labor/time/costs of doing someone else's laundry, managing a property and cleaning a unit. Have you ever hired someone to clean your home before? $200 even for 5 visits is a steal... not to mention that he has tacked on the $35 cleaning fee per the actual listing. If he has 6 separate stays, he makes a profit on the cleaning.

I understand 'it's just business' and I personally don't have an ethical 'beef' with what he's done... but he really is getting a great deal on the cleaning service and his margin was already pretty amazing on the property. I think he could afford to spend $300 on cleaning/managing and he would probably still break even from the fees. This is a microcosm of the inherent problem with 'trickle-down' economic principles... the person with capital will not spend more than is necessary.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#317

Post by res0nat0r »

maxwell wrote: post #224
JackFr wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, travel agents were an obsolete industry. Hotels are not obsolete, AirBnB is 'disrupting' the industry by ignoring local laws and regulations. It may be that these regulations exist to protect an obsolete business model but it also might not. When your path is blocked by a fence before you tear it down, its a good idea to understand why it was put up in the first place.

I worked in hospitality for 5 years, and right now I'm staying at a hotel in downtown Vegas, a few miles from the author's Airbnb place. Hotels are obsolete. It's not the business model, short-term housing and hospitality certainly have no risk of obsolescence ever, it's the industry. Service sucks, rooms suck, tech really sucks. You have awkward kids in bad suits and clip-on ties at the front desk who're trained to…

Doomed? You've obviously never stayed in a Four Seasons or any other five star hotel...

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#318

Post by eriksank »

shawnee_ wrote: post #296

Find a great property manager / cleaner -- Without one of these doing this remotely would be impossible. I managed to find a great local cleaner on craigslist. She charges a flat fee of $200 per month which covers unlimited cleanings. And she's probably illegal . . . But even if she's not illegal, how can this "property manager" live with himself, taking advantage of people who don't "know" enough (whether of the lan…

Before destroying jobs that people -- such as the cleaning lady -- may need to feed their families, can you try to back up your accusations with something more than racial remarks?

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#319

Post by tiatia »

maxwell wrote: post #224
JackFr wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, travel agents were an obsolete industry. Hotels are not obsolete, AirBnB is 'disrupting' the industry by ignoring local laws and regulations. It may be that these regulations exist to protect an obsolete business model but it also might not. When your path is blocked by a fence before you tear it down, its a good idea to understand why it was put up in the first place.

I worked in hospitality for 5 years, and right now I'm staying at a hotel in downtown Vegas, a few miles from the author's Airbnb place. Hotels are obsolete. It's not the business model, short-term housing and hospitality certainly have no risk of obsolescence ever, it's the industry. Service sucks, rooms suck, tech really sucks. You have awkward kids in bad suits and clip-on ties at the front desk who're trained to…

OK, asshole here:

"Then, there are the guests. As soon as someone stays at a hotel, they think they're entitled to act like an asshole."

You know, you may have a tremendously challenging job, are jet-lagged and still have to give 100%. Then you pay 400 Euro for a hotel and they charge you another 30 or 40 Euros per day for Wifi. You get annoyed but you don't care because you will get reimbursed. Wifi will be unreliable and you can only connect four devices at a time. And while this did not bother me, it bothered some of my colleagues that were travelling with an extended family (I mean, Computer, Phone and eReader may eat up already 3 out of 4).

And then you have the fancy shower. I tried for five minutes to get it to work. Manged to get water for a few seconds twice. Finally, while having a PhD in engineering, called the front desk to send somebody to show me how the shower works. No, it was not me. "plumbing problems, please wait 15 minutes". And another 15 minutes, and another 15 minutes. Finally it was time to go to bed without a shower.

So, yes, hotel guest can be annoying and can be "picky". But if I pay 400 Euros for a night then a working shower with preferably warm water and a reliable internet connection can be expected.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#320

Post by lxmorj »

Shinkei wrote: post #315
shawnee_ wrote: post #296

Find a great property manager / cleaner -- Without one of these doing this remotely would be impossible. I managed to find a great local cleaner on craigslist. She charges a flat fee of $200 per month which covers unlimited cleanings. And she's probably illegal . . . But even if she's not illegal, how can this "property manager" live with himself, taking advantage of people who don't "know" enough (whether of the lan…

It's even more abusive because the listing says, "$35 cleaning fee." If he rents it to 6 different people, he has already recouped his costs and the rest will be profit. Edit: I don't think I communicated my meaning well here. Bottom line is, Hilton doesn't charge me to clean the room--it's a cost of doing business and is rolled into the cost of the room. The practice of adding on a 'cleaning fee' reeks of profit gra…

Seriously? It's abusive because he makes a profit and doesn't do all the work himself?? Watch out, all of business, ever!!
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