Why Corkonians are sharing their homes with tourists using Airbnb
Would you rent out your spare room to strangers? A room in your home or a vacant holiday house can be the source of a handy income stream for householders who sign up with Airbnb, the online marketplace and hospitality service that enables people to rent short-term lodging.
Cork-based Michelle Whelan, who rents out two bedrooms in her four-bedroom home in the Togher area, says that August can be a lucrative month for bookings.
“August is when all the French and Spanish families, often teachers, go on holidays,” says Michelle who works as a co-ordinator of foreign students who stay with families in Ireland.
“It ties in nicely with Airbnb.”
She says her income from Airbnb varies but recalls making “a couple of thousand euros one summer month.”
Like many Airbnb hosts, Michelle first experienced the service as a guest – and became a host quite by accident. In 2013, she and her partner were planning a trip to Italy and wanted to spend a couple of nights in Milan.
“Not realising it was Milan Fashion Week, we discovered that nothing was available to us for less than hundreds of euros. A friend suggested Airbnb and we managed to get a place for €50 a night.
"We went down the coast from there and got an apartment, again through Airbnb. It wasn’t the most fashionable place but it was half the price of agency apartments. When we got home, we told everyone how wonderful Airbnb is.
"And then I got a phone message from a guy called James who said he was coming to stay in my house. After that, I got an email saying ‘James is coming tonight and will pay €50.’ It turned out that I had accidentally signed myself up as a host when I was on Airbnb in Pisa.”
James, an English businessman, turned out to be a very easy guest who just wanted somewhere to lay his head after going to a Bruce Springsteen concert. He was following ‘the boss’ around Europe and had to leave Michelle’s house at 5am the following morning.
“I was so embarrassed about the €50 that I paid for his taxi to the airport. He didn’t even have breakfast.”
These days, Michelle charges €35 for the first person and then about €20/€25 for the second person. She lets a double room as well as a low ceilinged attic room suitable for up to two children.
As well as being advised by Airbnb about charging guests, she bases her fee on the cost of hostels in her area and adds on about €5. (Airbnb charges hosts 3% and guests up to a 12% service fee.)
Michelle is a member of the Cork Home Sharing Club which was recently launched in the Blue Angel Bar of the Cork Opera House with about fifty hosts in attendance.
Home sharing clubs have been established in many cities around the world as a forum for networking and supporting “fair home-sharing legislation.
Michelle feels there should be a distinction between Airbnb hosts letting out “a couple of rooms in their house or their holiday home, and people who are letting out say thirty bedrooms in different apartments around the place and pretending they’re being rented by one person for themselves.
"When I say ‘home sharer,’ I mean there should be a direct connection between the person who owns the dwelling (and the guest).”
As well as welcoming the extra income from being an Airbnb host, Michelle appreciates meeting people from all over the world, informing them about places to see in Cork.
“Everyone wants to go to the English Market,” she says.
Giving tokens of appreciation enriches the experience.
“When we were in Croatia, we were invited to help ourselves to salad leaves and herbs from the garden. In return, I keep a stock of Shandon Sweets and locally grown apples for guests.”
A pitfall to be aware of is over-use by guests of Wi-Fi.
“Once I had a French woman and her two daughters staying. The daughters were streaming French TV on their laptop and I ended up with a bill for €240. I got a dongle after that.”
Eamonn O’Leary and his wife, who live in the Lough area of Cork, make about €4,000 a year from renting out two bedrooms in their four-bed home through Airbnb. Eamonn, who is a researcher, says the extra income is welcome. A double room in the couple’s home costs €40 for one person and €45 for two.
“We love to travel so a lot of our Airbnb money is going back into travelling in other parts of the world and being Airbnb guests abroad. We describe what we’re offering as ‘a nice house with hostel prices.’
"If we had to cook breakfast, we wouldn’t do Airbnb. We provide tea and coffee, cereal and bread. We allow the guests to cook in the house as well. We treat them like one of the family.”
Eamonn says, “A small percentage of people do it on a more commercial basis. A friend of mine considered doing Airbnb. He had a three-month booking request. He asked Revenue if this could be covered by the rent-a-room scheme (which has a tax-free threshold of €14,000) but they said ‘no’ if the booking was through Airbnb. So my friend ended up not taking the booking.
"This to me seems bizarre. Someone could book for 12 months through Airbnb and that would not be covered. That apparently is the current position. Airbnb income is considered to be trading income, so it’s just taxed at the marginal rate. This is not necessarily unreasonable, but bookings of one month or longer should fall under the rent-a-room scheme.”
Opening your home to strangers seems a little daunting. Eamonn’s advice is “to only take a guest that you feel comfortable with. In our experience, people’s messages tend to give you a reasonable idea of what they’re like.
"The way it works is that they’ll request to stay in your place through the Airbnb website and will typically include a message. If they don’t include a message or don’t give any information about themselves, you should stay on the safe side (and not take them.)
"The first thing I’d say to people starting off is to look at the reviews (of the potential guests) if they’ve used the service before. If they have been given ten positive reviews, they’re almost certainly decent guests.
"Hosts are also reviewed. It’s hugely valuable for both sides. The reviews we’ve received have been typically fine. But there was one woman who complained that it took her two hours to get to our house.
"She came the weekend of the marathon and got lost and couldn’t get across the city. But we had told her to get a taxi from the airport to our place which would have taken ten minutes”
The lesson is to follow the advice of native hosts who know their city.
In the period from September 2015- August 2016, 960 hosts have hosted in Cork.
Annual earnings for a typical host in the south-west region, taking in Cork and Kerry, were €3,900.
The estimated total economic activity in the region was €42m.
(Figures are from the Airbnb report, ‘Home Sharing: Empowering Regional & Rural Ireland.’)
www.airbnb.ie
www.facebook.com/corkhomesharingclub
