Holiday Home Rental - AirBnbB vs Agency

tombrown

Hi,


I have a holiday home in Donegal and want to let it as a holiday rental for next year. I am considering a letting agency but would also want to look into AirBnB as an option. I am trying to build a list of pros & cons for each to make a decision, so am looking for inputs/advice if anyone can help?


Off the top of my head, advantages are:


Agency;
- handles all bookings, including payments
- wider advertising reach & more professional look & feel
- Will manage a weekly let schedule (making changeover easier)



AirBnB:
- Less commission
- Flexibility of length of lets (though does add the burden of less predictable changeover schedules)


If anyone can add to these lists (including disadvantages) I would be grateful


Tom

Fian

tombrown wrote: »

Hi,


Agency;
- handles all bookings, including payments
- wider advertising reach & more professional look & feel
- Will manage a weekly let schedule (making changeover easier)



AirBnB:
- Less commission
- Flexibility of length of lets (though does add the burden of less predictable changeover schedules)


If anyone can add to these lists (including disadvantages) I would be grateful


Tom

I completely disagree with you that agency have wider advertising reach or more professional look and feel, it is the opposite imo.

the other advantage of airbnb is that potential renters are confident that they can hand over money in advance securely, will be much more wary of an agency.

you are more likely to be attractive to foreign tourists than Irish in Donegal. Airbnb is an international brand.

I would go airbnb all the way.

tombrown

Thanks Fian,

The agent we are looking at claim to have 32 million web visits per year and they work with "more than 500 partners, including Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Expedia and HomeAway" - that's where I got my "broader reach" from.

For AirBnB, my impression was that part of the attraction was that you can book homes for flexible periods - from 1 day at a time, starting & ending on any day of the week (at least that's why I use it when I a looking for accommodation). My preference would be to list my cottage such that it can only be rented for a week at a time, Saturday-Saturday, so I can manage changeover and cleaning. I know its possible to do that on AirBnB, but would it not massively reduce the appeal to the typical AirBnB user?

SusanC10

tombrown wrote: »

For AirBnB, my impression was that part of the attraction was that you can book homes for flexible periods - from 1 day at a time, starting & ending on any day of the week (at least that's why I use it when I a looking for accommodation). My preference would be to list my cottage such that it can only be rented for a week at a time, Saturday-Saturday, so I can manage changeover and cleaning. I know its possible to do that on AirBnB, but would it not massively reduce the appeal to the typical AirBnB user?

Yes, I think it would reduce the appeal. We use Airbnb when we travel as a Family (apart from going to European Campsites). We started using it for a Wedding abroad as our Kids were invited too and the Wedding Accommodation was both unsuitable with small Kids and expensive. We prefer to self-cater and 2 Hotel Rooms anywhere really work out v expensive.

We would very very rarely fit into 7 nights Sat-Sat.

The appeal for us of Airbnb is the flexibility of changeover days and number of nights, it is usually much less expensive than a Hotel for us as a family, the ability to self-cater and also the security of paying through Airbnb.

SusanC10

Also, we find that most places where we stay, if the actual Owner lives abroad or far away from the property that they employ a local woman (rather than a company) to clean and if necessary to let Guests in.