[booshala]

Airbnb is starting to collect transient occupancy taxes (hotel taxes) for lots of cities now. Usually start around 12% although it's closer to 20%+ in New York. Makes it a lot less attractive when that $200/night shared room in a Brooklyn loft is now $250 a night plus cleaning fees. Always good to have some hotel points on deck.

Not trying to be a wet blanket, but I'm almost positive that 100% compliance is coming soon. My last three months at work have been figuring out how to change municipal codes to address this lost revenue to cities/counties.

[jamaicabound]

(03-21-2015 11:05 PM)booshala Wrote:  

Airbnb is starting to collect transient occupancy taxes (hotel taxes) for lots of cities now. Usually start around 12% although it's closer to 20%+ in New York. Makes it a lot less attractive when that $200/night shared room in a Brooklyn loft is now $250 a night plus cleaning fees. Always good to have some hotel points on deck.

Not trying to be a wet blanket, but I'm almost positive that 100% compliance is coming soon. My last three months at work have been figuring out how to change municipal codes to address this lost revenue to cities/counties.

I've noticed the same thing. I was recently looking at some properties on Folly Beach in South Carolina just outside of Charleston and there's a bunch of fees and taxes tacked on by the city for rentals. If you live in the place while you rent I think you can skirt the taxes but on top of taxes they require a business license as well for you to have a rental...

4) Sales and Accommodations Taxes

The rules for when you are required to collect sales an accommodation taxes are complicated and depend on whether your house is a primary (4%) or secondary (6%) residence and how many days of the year it is rented. There are several types of taxes that must be collected, and some are paid to the State of South Carolina and some to Charleston County. Please contact Lisa Stokes, (803) 898-5223, or Shannon Attaway, (803) 898-5037, with the State Department of Revenue with specific questions about which taxes you owe. Below are some basic guidelines for taxes, but we encourage you to contact the State or Charleston County about your specific property.

If your home is your primary residence and it is taxed at a 4% property tax rate:

You may rent your primary residence and continue to live in it during rentals (ie: having a roommate or boarder) without paying sales or accommodation taxes.
You may rent your home without living in it for up to 15 days per year without charging accommodation tax or collecting state taxes. However, you must obtain a business license and complete a rental registration form with the City of Folly Beach.
You may rent your home without living in it for up to 72 days per year and keep your 4% exemption, but you must collect all Sales and Accommodations Taxes, as outlined below for second residences. You must also obtain a business license and rental registration license. Failure to collect and pay the appropriate taxes will result in three years of retroactive penalties during the annual audit.

If your home is a second residence or taxed at a 6% property tax rate:

In addition to the business license, rental registration, and beach rules above, you must collect the following taxes. Even if you hire a property manager, you as the property owner are ultimately responsible for collecting these taxes from the renters and submitting them to the appropriate state and local agencies. You may itemize the taxes on rental bills as shown below. Failure to collect and pay the appropriate taxes will result in three years of retroactive penalties during the annual audit.

State Sales Tax 5.0% Remitted to State
State Local Options Sales Tax 1.0% Remitted to State
State Accommodations Tax 2.0% Remitted to State
County Transportation Tax .5% Remitted to State
School District/ Education Tax 1.0% Remitted to State
County Accommodations Tax 2.0% Remitted to County
Folly Beach Accommodations Tax 2.0% Remitted to County
Total Taxes on Accommodations 13.5%

[Philly215]

Yeah, eventually this will go back to supply/demand and the government will eventually regulate it.

Since people have started making money from renting, and travelers are finding cheaper rates, its only a matter of time until the supply gets larger, demand gets smaller, and margins get thinner. Throw in new taxes and restrictions, and possibly higher fees, if rates on average get lower, its much less appealing.

This will all even out in the end with hotels, just like Uber will even out with cabs once the government and basic economics correct it.

[Clint Barton]

"Eventually" and "starting to" and "even out"...

No risk no reward. After a few good months its all gravy anyways. Plus if you live in the unit you can always just get a roommate for the rest of the lease in the worst case scenario of the Airbnb thing being shut down.

[tallandblonde]

Just like to add a quick note about my recent experiences to the thread. My room mate and I moved in to a 3 BR in downtown New York City about a month ago. Two rooms were significantly bigger than the others, which we took. The 3rd room was a glorified storage closet, which we ended up putting a lofted bed in there. We've been using Craigslist to rent on a monthly basis, and here are some reasons why we decided not to go the Airbnb route:

1. Taxes. Pretty self explanatory but craigslist doesn't file a form to the IRS telling them out how money you've made. Depending on your salary from other jobs and how much you can deduct on your tax return, this alone could save you 30% or so.
2. Fees. CL you just collect the money and that's the end of that.
3. Turnover. Airbnb guests generally stay about a couple days to a week or so. Room mate and I didn't feel like dealing with this. Our first guest has been staying for the past month and will be staying for the next. No cleaning sheets or anything like that or meeting people constantly to hand off keys.

I think that if you wanted to rent a room for a couple days at a time, then Airbnb is the way to go. But if you have a space that's consistently vacant (and you don't like dealing with the hassle of Airbnb), my room mate and I have found that Craigslist is a viable alternative.

On a side note if you're looking for an apartment in New York city and come across a room similar to ours (two decent sized room with a glorified storage closet as the third) I HIGHLY recommend making use out of that room if it can fit a loft bed. As opposed to paying $1400 a month in rent my room mate and I are paying somewhere around $800 depending on the rate we can get someone in the 3rd room at.

[Flying Dutchman]

(12-01-2014 01:18 AM)Safado Wrote:  

This guy has a blog and podcast dedicated to the art of making more money from AirBnB. Got some pretty good tips in there for anyone who wants to make a serious go of this thing.

http://getpaidforyourpad.com/

That guy happens to be me, thanks for the mention .

I've been traveling the world for almost three years, completely financed by my 2-bdr apartment in Amsterdam. This month I raked in 5700 euros. As a comparison: I used to rent it out long term for 1400 a month.

I wrote a book about my experience which you can find on Amazon (Get Paid For Your Pad.)

I'm now looking sign several long term leases in cities throughout Asia to rent on Airbnb so that I can just bounce around between these cities staying at my own pads and live rent-free

I recently launched a video course on Airbnb hosting btw, if you're interested PM me and I'll give you a 80% discount code.

Also happy to answer any questions here.

[pitt]

I usually rent my room on airbnb when I am in London but when I am travelling I don't really like to rent the room because I am worried that somebody may just rob some of my stuff at home, my brother lives there but sometimes he is just too naive and I get worried that someone may take advantage of that.

Am i over worrying? Any of you ever heard anything about airbnb guests stealing goods?

[DJ-Matt]

Does AIRBNB work for smaller markets? There are only about 10 properties in my area and the population is around 250k for the metro. Plus this isn't really a tourist destination so I'm worried nothing will come of listing.

[tallandblonde]

I would check the other properties in the area and see if they have a decent amount of reviews. If that's the case then there are people coming through the area. This will also give you an idea about how much to charge.

[DJ-Matt]

Great idea! Three of the properties have 14 or 17 reviews at $40 a night.

[Flying Dutchman]

(04-29-2015 10:08 AM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  

Does AIRBNB work for smaller markets? There are only about 10 properties in my area and the population is around 250k for the metro. Plus this isn't really a tourist destination so I'm worried nothing will come of listing.

You can also check their calendars to see how many future bookings they have.

I just wrote an article on this topic:

http://getpaidforyourpad.com/blog/airdna...nb-rental/

[Flying Dutchman]

(04-29-2015 01:03 AM)pitt Wrote:  

I usually rent my room on airbnb when I am in London but when I am travelling I don't really like to rent the room because I am worried that somebody may just rob some of my stuff at home, my brother lives there but sometimes he is just too naive and I get worried that someone may take advantage of that.

Am i over worrying? Any of you ever heard anything about airbnb guests stealing goods?

I think you're over-worrying, although it's a legitimate concern that all Airbnb hosts have. It is rare for people to steal, I've hosted over 200 groups and never got anything stolen.

Here's a few things you can do though:

1) Check the profile of your guest and see if they have any positive reviews
2) Check their verifications
3) If you're in doubt, ask for some more information from your guest. What's the purpose of the visit, who are you coming with etc.
4) If you're still uncomfortable, you can just decline the request. You are under no obligation to accept all requests and Airbnb does not penalize you for it.
5) After accepting a booking, make sure to build a bit of rapport with your guests. This will increase the chance that they'll treat your stuff nicely.

Good luck!

[Flying Dutchman]

(04-27-2015 08:13 AM)tallandblonde Wrote:  

Just like to add a quick note about my recent experiences to the thread. My room mate and I moved in to a 3 BR in downtown New York City about a month ago. Two rooms were significantly bigger than the others, which we took. The 3rd room was a glorified storage closet, which we ended up putting a lofted bed in there. We've been using Craigslist to rent on a monthly basis, and here are some reasons why we decided not to go the Airbnb route:

1. Taxes. Pretty self explanatory but craigslist doesn't file a form to the IRS telling them out how money you've made. Depending on your salary from other jobs and how much you can deduct on your tax return, this alone could save you 30% or so.
2. Fees. CL you just collect the money and that's the end of that.
3. Turnover. Airbnb guests generally stay about a couple days to a week or so. Room mate and I didn't feel like dealing with this. Our first guest has been staying for the past month and will be staying for the next. No cleaning sheets or anything like that or meeting people constantly to hand off keys.

I think that if you wanted to rent a room for a couple days at a time, then Airbnb is the way to go. But if you have a space that's consistently vacant (and you don't like dealing with the hassle of Airbnb), my room mate and I have found that Craigslist is a viable alternative.

On a side note if you're looking for an apartment in New York city and come across a room similar to ours (two decent sized room with a glorified storage closet as the third) I HIGHLY recommend making use out of that room if it can fit a loft bed. As opposed to paying $1400 a month in rent my room mate and I are paying somewhere around $800 depending on the rate we can get someone in the 3rd room at.

You make some good points. There is definitely a lot less hassle involved in renting on a monthly basis.

A few points to consider:

1) You can get the taxes down quite a bit by deducting expenses. I recently interviewed a CPA who specializes in taxes for shared economy users, you can check it out here.

2) I think in the end you need to weigh the extra hassle vs the extra profit, it depends on the situation. One thing to consider as well is that if you have a someone staying for a few months and that person ends up being annoying, you'll have to deal with him or her for a while.

[Flying Dutchman]

(10-16-2014 09:52 AM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

(10-14-2012 10:53 AM)speakeasy Wrote:  

I think something like this could possibly work. My main concern would be making sure that your landlord would approve of it. I know that neighbors would probably hate the idea of seeing strangers constantly coming and going and may complain, especially if it's a building with secured access. If they do any serious damage to the unit like start a fire or something, the landlord is coming after you. I wonder if there is any insurance you can buy that would cover such a mishap.

This is an interesting idea and something I may even have to consider trying myself. If you could get several of these going at once, it could be enough passive income to not have to work.

Some things to keep in mind, it must be in a high demand area where you will have few vacancies. You will want to have great decor and amenities there to make the place very attractive visually so you stand out.

Edit - -

What do you guys think would be more profitable? A studio, one bedroom or two bedroom?

And some other questions, if you are out of town, how would the renters get the keys? Is there a convenient way of doing that without having to drive out every few days? What about cleanup and washing sheets? Do you do it yourself or hire someone? Insurance if one of them forgets to lock the door and all your shit is stolen?

You bring up a great point. Though I know business travelers use airbnb in my experience a good percentage of people who use it are younge rpeople traveling in groups looking for a place to party for the weekend in any given city. I imagine probably 50% on the low side or more of your "tenants" are younger people pregaming in the room and heading out to the nearby night spots. I can only image what the neighbors will think of noise, strange people comming and going, pizza boxes clogging the garbage shoot, etc.

Also the issue of getting keys to people I mentioned in a previous post unless your going to be meeting up with all these people on a daily basis and cleaning the room yourself you'd probably have to cut the doorman in on hte action to let this fly.

There are few solutions to the key-problem. One is a service called Keycafe, lets your guests pick up the keys at a nearby cafe.

Another option is a keyless entry system, the coolest one I've seen is Open Sesame. Another one is called Lockitron.

[Irish]

A quick update on how my apartment is doing

In summary I have a two bed bachelor pad in the heart of Glasgow (UK) city centre, next to a trendy area for bars and restaurants. A great location for anyone visiting for a weekend. I am currently living in Singapore tho having quit my job back in December I have since been travelling around Asia for the past 6 months.

I put it up on airbnb at the beginning of March after cutting a deal with my buddy who lives with his wife 3 minute walk away. For a % cut of the net payout of each booking, they agreed to help manage things on the ground for me. That includes co-ordinate with the guests to hand over keys on arrival. Arrange cleaners to sort the place out in between bookings and deal with any other ad hoc issues that come up or handy man jobs that need to be done. We have a whatsapp group with him, his missus and myself to co-ordinate and they have access to my airbnb profile via web and mobile app.

We are approaching the 3 month mark thus far and I can tell you that it has been more or less a rip roaring success. I did start off initially being quite apprehensive about the bookings going through without a hitch being on the otherside of the world and constantly having the feeling of not being able to do anything should anything go tits up. But as time has gone on and as we have got a number of bookings under our belt I'm a lot more relaxed.

I was renting out the apartment originally on 6-12 month leases with my old flatmate occupying one room while I advertised on gumtree for tenants in the other room. I lived with him for a year before I left for Asia and we are good mates, so I trusted him to be able to look after the place and to vet the other potential tenants. So I operated without using an angent and saved fees on that front. Roughly I was getting approx GBP 1k per month in rent.

After 3 months of airbnb, net of additional expenses (council tax, utilities etc) and management comms I am making twice what I was when renting conventionally. At least. That's taking an average over the 3 months it's been up, but the earnings have been fairly volatile ie within the first week a dude took the place a whole 6 weeks, tho I gave him a bit of a discount. Then things were a bit slow during end April and May (however I was back staying here for a couple of weeks of that). Then June has really taken off, probably as now I have a fair number of reviews under my belt.

So is too early to really draw any conclusions on how much more I am earning than conventional renting. But I am pretty sure I'm going to be doubling my money AT THE VERY LEAST. As I expecting things to pick up more given that I now have a number of reviews under my belt (and seeing this being reflected in increase in demand in June).

So far things have gone more or less without a hitch, every group of guests bar one have been no problem bar one group who took the keys home with them by accident (but promptly posted them back). The one issue we did have was cos our cleaner fucked up and missed some obvious big things. After that the guests went looking for issues and were pretty fucking anal about stuff. But had the cleaner done her job in the first place I dont think they would have been an issue.

The good news tho was despite that the guy still didn't leave a bad review, he just let me know in private. i gave him a bit of a kickback as an appreciation (and to ensure he didn't leave a bad review) but I can see the trend that most guests want to leave glowing reviews likely as they don't want to risk a bad review themselves. In theory this shouldn't matter as you can't see the other persons review until you have submitted a review yourself. But still there's a real you-kiss-my-ass-and-I-will-kiss-yours approach to the whole reviews process.

Other things I've learned since starting out.

Airbnb really isn't that well know in the UK still. Came as a surprise as hardly anyone I have spoken to has heard of it. Also reflected in my guest enquiries as most have one or zero reviews to their name. However they've now started advertising on TV here so awareness is growing. Which will only increase my business

You need to respond to queries quickly. If you leave it too long then they usually end up booking with someone else. Luckily the airbnb phone app is excellent (probably event better than the website in fact) that you get queries coming through in real time and you can respond to straight away. Given I'm in Asia and usually +8 hours ahead then more often than not I am responding to bookings while in a nightclub fucked off my face. But I've managed to hold it together thus far luckily.

You can use the place yourself. An awesome side benefit which I didn't realise when I initially put the place on airbnb. Previously when I was renting the place out I was crashing on friends couches when back in Glasgow. But now I can just black out the calendar and stay in the place whenever I decide to fly back. After travelling around for months nothing beats staying in your old place, sleeping in your old bed I can tell you. Sure there's an opportunity cost there of not being able to take bookings, but if you're flexible you can just stay in the place when there's downtime anyway

It's been going so well in fact that my apartment manager buddy and myself have been in discussion about ramping it up. Setting up an airbnb outsourcing management company and potentially adding another couple of investment properties to the portfolio. Perhaps subleasing some more (tho need to look into the legality of it more).

Will keep this thread updated as time goes on. But certainly so far so fucking good...

[jamaicabound]

One question for anyone doing the AirBNB hustle. Do you have a legit homeowners insurance policy that covers renting for a single night?

Reason I ask is no standard homeowners policy is going to cover someone getting injured on property. When I started to rent out my primary residence I had to change my policy to one which I was renting to a tenant and even that had specific language which pretty much made it clear it was for a long term tenant.

The few people I know who have sought out policies to cover an AirBNB business have not had luck finding one. Also, I forget if it was this forum or another but I recall hearing someone say someone had broken a leg in their place and insurance was refusing to cover it because of it being rented on a nightly basis as a business.

[sammybiker]

Good work, Irish. As someone who uses airbnb constantly, lightening quick responses and being flexible on things like checkout time, etc...will go a long way in looking past minor hiccups. This is a relationship business...I'll go back to the the host that maybe doesn't have the nicest place on the block but I know he's reliable, friendly and will ensure I'm taken care of.

And don't forget, you have a lot of upside with this model. As you continue to nail down your model, plug your leaks and increase 5* reviews and thus status, you can start bumping that nightly rate up slowly. By being a good host, you can really "force equity" into your business model.

So, uhhh, the big question: when are you going to go out and lease another apartment; rinse and repeat?

[sammybiker]

This is a good question. I'm not yet an Airbnb host but I had thought that Airbnb provided some sort of liability coverage...up to $1mm, if I recall?

Relayrides provides a similar level of protection for their owners/hosts.

(05-28-2015 04:26 PM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

One question for anyone doing the AirBNB hustle. Do you have a legit homeowners insurance policy that covers renting for a single night?

Reason I ask is no standard homeowners policy is going to cover someone getting injured on property. When I started to rent out my primary residence I had to change my policy to one which I was renting to a tenant and even that had specific language which pretty much made it clear it was for a long term tenant.

The few people I know who have sought out policies to cover an AirBNB business have not had luck finding one. Also, I forget if it was this forum or another but I recall hearing someone say someone had broken a leg in their place and insurance was refusing to cover it because of it being rented on a nightly basis as a business.

[tarquin]

I just googled "bed and breakfast insurance." I don't know what the going rates are, but it appears as if you can get insurance for running an airbnb hotel from your house.

[jamaicabound]

(05-30-2015 06:54 AM)sammybiker Wrote:  

This is a good question. I'm not yet an Airbnb host but I had thought that Airbnb provided some sort of liability coverage...up to $1mm, if I recall?

Relayrides provides a similar level of protection for their owners/hosts.

(05-28-2015 04:26 PM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

One question for anyone doing the AirBNB hustle. Do you have a legit homeowners insurance policy that covers renting for a single night?

Reason I ask is no standard homeowners policy is going to cover someone getting injured on property. When I started to rent out my primary residence I had to change my policy to one which I was renting to a tenant and even that had specific language which pretty much made it clear it was for a long term tenant.

The few people I know who have sought out policies to cover an AirBNB business have not had luck finding one. Also, I forget if it was this forum or another but I recall hearing someone say someone had broken a leg in their place and insurance was refusing to cover it because of it being rented on a nightly basis as a business.

You are correct I believe they do have a 1 Million Dollar coverage, the story I recall hearing about a women breaking her leg airbnb would not cover it, his insurance would also not cover it so this guy was on the hook for hospital bills and whatever other money she wanted.

Also, on a totally seperate note lifelock has a million dollar insurance policy if your identity is stolen but I hear its impossible to cash in on, not saying you should get a million bucks but even being compensated for fraud charges and headaches and whatever expenses come along with it.

I'm too lazy to pour over the TOS, however just doing a quick google search here's what comes up as the preview on AirBNB site regarding their gurantee...

The Host Guarantee is not insurance and should not be considered as a

I couldn't find the actual section on there site where that continues but seems they are really covering themselves and giving themselves an out to paying claims. Also many items are not covered in the TOS as well.

I'm curious to get into AirBNB and would do it if I had a vacant spot I wanted to make a little money off of during a lag between tenants, however I have no desire to go buy a place specifically to try to make it an Air BNB biz.

[jamaicabound]

(05-30-2015 07:04 AM)tarquin Wrote:  

I just googled "bed and breakfast insurance." I don't know what the going rates are, but it appears as if you can get insurance for running an airbnb hotel from your house.

I have a fair bit of experience trying to get insurance and merchant policies for out of the box businesses or even businesses deemed high risk.

For ecommerce for example something as simple as having a brick and mortar along with your ecommerce biz for some reason makes insurance companies and/or merchant processors alot more comfortable with you. I guess they view you as more established, more professional, more vested.

I would imagine when it comes to b&b insurance, someone who actually has setup a real b&b buisness is viewed differently than someone who took 2 minutes to setup an account on an AirBNB site and is now renting their place.

I would imagine one of the questions on forms would be do you have a website, how to you book your place. Someone who is on all these different b&b booking sites, orbitz or similar sites etc is going to have an easier time than someone just on airbnb.

I'm just speculating here but I would guess thats the case.

Just doing a quick google search there's many a blog post that people say the AirBNB gurantee is empty and is menat more to supplement your own policy, not to be thought of as insurance.

[tarquin]

(05-30-2015 09:55 AM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

(05-30-2015 07:04 AM)tarquin Wrote:  

I just googled "bed and breakfast insurance." I don't know what the going rates are, but it appears as if you can get insurance for running an airbnb hotel from your house.

I have a fair bit of experience trying to get insurance and merchant policies for out of the box businesses or even businesses deemed high risk.

For ecommerce for example something as simple as having a brick and mortar along with your ecommerce biz for some reason makes insurance companies and/or merchant processors alot more comfortable with you. I guess they view you as more established, more professional, more vested.

I would imagine when it comes to b&b insurance, someone who actually has setup a real b&b buisness is viewed differently than someone who took 2 minutes to setup an account on an AirBNB site and is now renting their place.

I would imagine one of the questions on forms would be do you have a website, how to you book your place. Someone who is on all these different b&b booking sites, orbitz or similar sites etc is going to have an easier time than someone just on airbnb.

I'm just speculating here but I would guess thats the case.

Just doing a quick google search there's many a blog post that people say the AirBNB gurantee is empty and is menat more to supplement your own policy, not to be thought of as insurance.

If that is correct, I bet that setting up a basic website for your enterprise would save money over the long run in insurance costs and may also increase revenue with additional rentals. I think it's worth setting something up prior to talking to an agent if this is the case.

[joecolombia]

(05-28-2015 04:26 PM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

One question for anyone doing the AirBNB hustle. Do you have a legit homeowners insurance policy that covers renting for a single night?

Reason I ask is no standard homeowners policy is going to cover someone getting injured on property. When I started to rent out my primary residence I had to change my policy to one which I was renting to a tenant and even that had specific language which pretty much made it clear it was for a long term tenant.

The few people I know who have sought out policies to cover an AirBNB business have not had luck finding one. Also, I forget if it was this forum or another but I recall hearing someone say someone had broken a leg in their place and insurance was refusing to cover it because of it being rented on a nightly basis as a business.

I own a couple of apartments down in south america. As long as I know, Airbnb has an insurance in case they damage something or if someone gets hurt. The other alternative is to make them sign a document in which they state they`re responsible for whatever they do or suffer during their stay, but I don`t think that would look nice for the guests.

During my whole experience, I have not experienced a customer getting hurt in my complex, so i don`t buy a insurance for them.

hope it helps!

[Cattle Rustler]

I forgot to update (increase) my prices as my cash flow problem was solved. I have a 3 day returning guest tomorrow....and an IRT just fucking booked my place for the night. From the gust of it, he seems like a nightmare....first message he's already demanding the place be ready in 30 minutes. The dude just booked it 10 minutes ago, give me a fucking break.

[BoneDaddy]

(11-02-2016 02:29 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

I forgot to update (increase) my prices as my cash flow problem was solved. I have a 3 day returning guest tomorrow....and an IRT just fucking booked my place for the night. From the gust of it, he seems like a nightmare....first message he's already demanding the place be ready in 30 minutes. The dude just booked it 10 minutes ago, give me a fucking break.

I've done AirBnB (and other booking platforms) on multiple properties for a while now. One thing I have noticed is a strong correlation between the short-notice of the guests booking and the guests' neediness. To prevent that, I've configured my listings to disallow same-day booking, so guests can't book and expect to check in immediately.

Another thing I do is to politely decline any request for discounts, or basically any concession requested by my guests. I have found that guests who ask for discounts or other concessions are the ones who will cause issues.

I provide a premium product as evidenced by double-digits of five-star reviews, therefore I have no need to bend to the whim of any guest. I keep my pricing at the high end of the market for the same reason.

I would rather sit vacant than to host a problem guest.

Adopting this hard line on concession has the further benefit of garnering guest respect. Once guests figure out I don't play that, they often back off their requests and book anyway, thus accepting my frame.

CR, totally agreed that guests like this are potential nightmares. Above are some of the steps I take to avoid this kind of guest.