Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: AirBnB in Cohos?

[Eris Weaver (eris]

R Philip Dowds asked:

> If any of you out there have had, or are approaching, experience with
> AirBnB, could you help with some questions:
> In general, does it feel like a plus or minus?  Does it add life and
interest to your
> community, or do you feel mostly puzzled, like, Who the hell was that?
> What are your rules for transients using the commons?  Can they use the
exercise
> room, or let their child join your children?s playgroup?
> How do you control access to the commons?  

We had a very unhappy experience with AirBnB here at FrogSong. 

First, some background on our guest policies. Anyone here can host a guest
in our guest rooms, which are located in the common house. The host is
expected to inform them of community rules, clean up after they leave, etc.
Guests, whether staying in your home or in the guest room, can use common
spaces like the playground and hot tub, but again host is responsible for
making sure rules are understood and followed. General custom is to inform
the community about your guests by email, both so they aren't subjected to
too many "Hi, who are you?" comments from other residents and we all feel
safe by knowing who's onsite legitimately. (We are smack downtown surrounded
by several bars so have occasional trespassing, vandalism, etc. issues.)

Members who have been away for a month or more - vacation, sabbatical, etc.
-- have sublet their units. Someone on-site served as the host, and everyone
is informed in advance. In general, everyone's been great about carefully
vetting their guests/housesitters/catsitters/subletters to make sure they
are not a negative impact on the rest of the community. Many of these folks
have become friends, have become fulltime residents, or subsequently sublet
other units.

Our front door keys all also unlock the common house, the hot tub, and other
shared spaces.

So, on to the AirBnB experience. 

One of our members listed her entire home on AirBnB without informing
anyone. Her family vacated while a group of 3-4 AirBnB guests came and
stayed in her home. It was a total surprise to the rest of us to have a
group of strangers arrive, ask where the AirBnB was, smoke on our pathways
(which while not expressly forbidden, is never done), create some noise
issues in the parking lot, etc. Her listing did mention that community
facilities were off-limits to AirBnB guests.

It was hard to separate the actual action - listing on AirBnB - from the way
it was done - just doing it without any discussion. Many residents felt
extremely violated. We discussed a proposal to formally ban such rentals;
some of our members did not want to formally regulate how others use their
homes.  (Such rentals actually violate our city codes.) Some felt there is a
qualititative difference between using something like AirBnB  to rent a room
while you are home versus renting your whole home while you are gone. The
homeowner in question removed her listing. 

At this point, even without a formally consensed policy, I doubt anyone here
would list their units on AirBnB again!

------------------------------
Eris Weaver, Founding member, FrogSong cohousing in Cotati, CA
Graphic Facilitator & Group Process Consultant
eris [at] erisweaver.info • 707-338-8589 • http://www.erisweaver.info



fa cil i tāt: to make easier