Hello team short-term rental secrets this is Richard founder and airbnb super
host on this week's question and answer session we're gonna be answering
questions from viewers just like you and just as a reminder if you have a
question that you'd like to see answered go ahead and leave a comment below let's
get right into it okay here's a slightly long-winded question and I've read it
I'm gonna just summarize it basically somebody's that a short-term rental host
has somebody staying for 20 nights they've had a family situation an
emergency and they want to cancel in the middle and the question here is what
should she do and I think that the first thing to recognize is that each one of
these situations is personal it's between you and that other person I
think ultimately air B&B will get involved if you need them to but first I
would you know show empathy and try and be understanding and ask what that
family situation is if it's just a matter of I'm homesick and I want to get
home then you know that's one thing if it's my son is in the hospital or my
house roof caved in or something like that and a little bit of empathy goes a
long way and in that particular case you might be able to negotiate between and
amongst you and you know I always try and get the guests to come back right I
try not to issue refunds what I try to do is give somebody the same amount of
money in terms of credit and say listen you have 12 nights left why don't you
come back in the summer a year from now whatever it is and if they don't use it
it you keep all the money and yet you have got goodwill right like you gave
them a really good viable option if it really is a family emergency the guest
is likely going to reach out to Airbnb and seek full refund and my gut tells me
knowing how Airbnb values and prioritizes the guest and the guest
experience they'll likely give it to them and I think that that's reasonable
in certain circumstances in other words again if it's a real family emergency
somebody's sick something drastic has happened Airbnb is going to give them
the money back rightfully it gets a little vague in the middle like what's
an emergency and that's where I sort of get the sense that Airbnb used to be
with the hosts when they were trying to get more hosts on board and now that
they have enough hosts in every single city in every single part of the world
now they're really prioritizing the guests and that's where it gets a little
bit tricky but I think a bigger question is why are you accepting a 20 day rental
right that's not exactly short-term I understand the security and the safety
and so on I hope you didn't discount it you've got other videos where I talk
about not giving weekly discount or a monthly discount
and my bigger question about this is you know is 20 days something that really
makes a lot of sense if it's your slow season yes did it come back and bite you
maybe now yeah maybe you only rent it for ten days I try and keep all of my
stuff to seven days or less in extenuating circumstances I'll go to 14
or even 21 but that's the exception I rarely do it I'm in the short-term
business and I think you should be to you will make more money with less
headaches and avoid stuff like this Richard I've been getting a lot of value
from your channel keep up the great work can I ask you which standing desk use
huh it's a great question I just moved to a standing desk when I moved into the
studio and I loved it I'm gonna go ahead and include the link below but much more
importantly than that the desk itself which I highly recommend is that you get
yourself one of these mats Charles can you film this down here this is really
critical when you're standing on hardwood floors the little bit of you
know balance and cushion makes it so I can stand much longer it helps my back
I love the standing desk for my core and stuff highly recommend it check it out
okay great episode love that you're putting
up so many episodes a week I have a question
and now I'm going to summarize it basically these people bought a Airbnb
home the people that were living there before had a successful air B&B down in
the basement that's one of the reasons they bought this home and they want to
go ahead and start air B and being it but they have two Siamese cats they say
they can be loud at times and they also have a baby so their question is how do
they air B&B in the basement suite and also make sure that people are okay with
the fact that there's Siamese cats that can be loud and a baby upstairs and the
first thing I would say is you have to make sure that you disclose it if you
get the right people there it's not going to be an issue but don't minimize
that don't hide it don't overlook it I think you're doing a great thing just by
asking the question means that you're cognizant that this is cool for some
people are not cool for others so the way that I would do it is I would put in
some sort of qualifications like great place for cat lovers people that love
cats and love babies is a great place for you if there's no interaction and
it's not clear from your question here I can't tell like if literally that's
upstairs and they're downstairs and I'll never see the cats or the baby and
you're just worried about hearing them then I would try and quantify it a
little bit like just so you know there's two cats upstairs that can be loud
and a baby however I can't hear it downstairs and either have our prior
guests or whatever now if it turns out that you can hear it then I think you
have a bigger issue and I guess the question is how much can you hear maybe
try and record it maybe ask your friends to be down there maybe get some feedback
from friends and family like I was down there and this is what I heard and then
you'll have to reassess but the main thing is and I say this time and time
again whatever your problem is your liability your concern be very
forthright be very clear about it bring it to people's attention so
there's no like mistakes and then if you can turn it into a positive like great
for cat lovers then it's even better because now all of a sudden you have
people that are like-minded come in to stay with you and the more people like
you and like your place and think like you the more they're gonna give you five
star reviews which after all is what we're all shooting for my city charges
the hotel occupancy tax and I'm supposed to pay it directly or the city what
proper way to collect these fees and also pass these fees on to the guests
please help I'm so confused about how to handle this look it is confusing and
it's really important that you do this right you don't want to mess with any
fees or taxes or anything like that again I want everyone to think of
ourselves as like running a business and it has to be repeatable and sustainable
so you have to create a methodology and a process that you charge the guests
properly and also then pass it on to you know the city or whatever the department
is so let me just give you what I do in the case of Airbnb they don't allow me
to actually charge the tax and break it out so what I have to do is manually
calculate it so by way of example if I charge $100 per night and the tax is 5%
I'll go ahead and show the person booking a hundred and five dollars
that's the hundred dollar nightly rate plus the five percent tax that equals a
hundred and five dollars and I just know in my own head that that five dollars
I'm gonna pay forward so it's a liability that I owe to the city or the
state or the hotel occupancy tax and then what I do is I create a system
again I use a virtual assistant where we have on the calendar when it's due I've
trained her on how to go to the website and fill in all the forms I have her
coordinate with my bookkeeper to make sure that her math matches his math and
once the two of them have signed off on it
they notified me and then she goes ahead and does
filing if you don't have that system in place try and replicate it but instead
of using a virtual assistant and a bookkeeper use yourself but think about
a system and a process that's sustainable and repeatable HomeAway
makes it a little bit easier because they allow you to charge a tax and then
they break it out for the guests that way and that makes the guest experience
easier and life has a host a little bit easier too but you still have to go
ahead and file it and keep on top of the calendar and all the paperwork's so I
hope that's helpful I hope you found these questions and answers helpful as
always if you have a question please go ahead and leave your question below in
the comments and we'll go ahead and answer them and now I have a personal
favor we are really thrilled at how fast our audience is growing both on our
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subscribed please do so thanks so very much have a great day and happy hosting