AIRbnb experience

I put my apartment on Airbnb for a while, it was good at bringing in renters but does little to nothing to protect you if anything goes wrong. Ended up with a $400 water bill one month (only possible if the renters decide to leave the water running the whole time) and when I found a long-term renter I stopped listing it on Airbnb.

In general I'd say it's a great way to get short term rentals but that short term rentals inherently come with headaches.

I've only had experience as the renter, but I've generally been very happy with Airbnb. I've tried various other options too (VRBO, Home Away, FlipKey) and from the renter's perspective I greatly prefer the Airbnb interface.

I haven't had a reason to test any of their protections, and have been completely law-abiding (I'm truthful about how many are in my group, I leave the house with more toilet paper than when I arrived, that sort of thing). So I'm not sure how good Airbnb is if things go bad in one way or another. When I was in deep research mode, though, I decided Airbnb was better on those counts than other options out there. FlipKey for example is really hands-off.

I love it as a renter too (don't hate it as a way to rent out, just short term comes with headaches). It's a race to the bottom in pricing (many people just trying to break even on their mortgages like I was and often aren't paying the taxes etc as its new and poorly regulated) that often beats hotels and I always try Airbnb before any hotel. A much better experience to rent an apartment for the same price as a good hotel.

Yep! In Amsterdam we rented an entire, super-nice apartment that was literally on the same block as the conference E.G. attended, with plenty of room for all of us and a little attic aerie for sozlet for less than the cost of a sterile two-bed hotel room. And our host was the nicest guy ever too.

And the kitchen brings additional savings, don't have to eat every meal out. The internet is better...

It's just a better way to travel and they do their platform right (all my qualms with them are just inherent to renting short term to strangers and renting from strangers).

We Rented an apartment in the middle of Paris and loved it.
Also in Hawaii, we rented a huge house for several families, nothing but good memories. This fall we'll go to a beach house in Florida and I think it will be good too - reviews were great!! However, I would never rent out my own house - even tough I live in a tourist spot and could make quite a bit - no thank you!

I cand´t spend the whole summer in the summercabin, so I do rent out.
It would be a shame if it is empty.
There is the house and a cabin next to the house. There are not that many neighbours close by and I do not like to be there alone, which does happen.
The ocean - 32 steps away - is a perfect place to surf when it is stormy. Sometimes I have the feeling every surfer who gets up early in the morning parks on my property.
So I got the idea to rent out to surfers - I can´t quaranty storm but a parking area and breakfast and close to the ocean.
About 20 minutes away nightlife and beachparties.
Would Airbnb be a good place to find surfers do you think? Others also ok.

Airbnb is likely the best place to find any type of short term renter, I've seen plenty of rentals targeting surfers here in Costa Rica. Sozobe already mentioned the main competition (VRBO, Home Away, FlipKey) and you can add craigslist's vacation rentals section to that.

But Airbnb is far and away the leader in this space.

Thanks a lot for your good advice. Makes me more confident in trying to do something like that.
Just had another idea. Printing small ads about BnB for surfers. Put them under the windshield wipers and see what happens.

If they are already there won't they have accommodation? In my experience Airbnb is the only thing worth the effort, doing it right should mean pretty steady occupancy and I quickly stopped spending any time on their competitors (and posting on their sites is a lot easier and cheaper than flyers).

It was more or less a joke.
When a good surfer´s storm is coming up they are there between 6 am to 10pm and some come from several 100 kilometres away.

But Saab just what is it

I can't access Google since my LB Alias quit

Hope this helps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbnb

Saab thanks for that link, a huge project I'd never heard of. It's not everyday....