I Rent a Room in my House on Airbnb, and These are the Questions Everyone Asks About It
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For the past couple of years, my wife and I have rented a room in our house on Airbnb year-round, and generally it’s been a great experience. With relatively little maintenance and hassle, we’ve turned a spare bedroom into an asset, and created a significant revenue stream for ourselves.
When our Airbnb room comes up in conversation, we get lots of questions about it. Even if people are familiar with Airbnb, they don’t know much about hosting, and even less about how hosting works when the rental space is part of the host’s own home.
Here are the questions I get most often, and the answers based on my experience. If you’re considering renting part of your home on Airbnb, these are probably the things you’re wondering about.
Do guests share any space with you?
No, our Airbnb guests don’t share any of our living space, and in fact they don’t even walk through it. Our rental room is essentially an in-law suite, and it has its own entrance so guests can go in and out without entering the main part of the house. We installed deadbolts on the two internal doors that connect the rental bedroom to the main living space, so when we have renters we can lock the room off.
Most houses don’t have an in-law suite, but if yours does it’s a particularly good option for Airbnb. If not, you can also rent a room that shares living space with the rest of the house. However, having the separate entrance definitely provides greater privacy and sense of security for everyone involved. I suspect that many people renting on Airbnb would feel awkward walking through someone else’s living space, just as much as you might feel awkward about having them there.
Did you have to do any updates to the rental space?
