The Complete Guide to Setting Your Airbnb House Rules

Whether you’ve been a host for years or you’re just starting, you should know that Airbnb property listing tips (including highly descriptive, high-quality photos, catchy listing headlines, and so on) are just part of a whole system. The Airbnb house rule also contributes a significant chunk to Airbnb’s success. 

While Airbnb listing attracts bookings and maximizes profit, the Airbnb house rule contributes to the system by helping set clear rules for the property’s use. The house rules also attract the right tenant and reduce casualties. 

Although both factors (property listing and housing rule) are significant to Airbnb success, we’ll only be discussing how to set your Airbnb housing rules in this content. So without ado, let’s dive in!

What Are Airbnb House Rules?

The Airbnb house rules are guidelines provided by the host to guide the renters in the correct use of the house. It’s an opportunity that the host has to professionally provide the tenant with what they can and what they cannot do while using the rental property. The house rules usually also include what is expected of the tenant and the consequences of breaking the house rules. 

What Makes Rules So Important?

Airbnb rule is a significant factor that can either make or damage your short-term property investment. While we’ve emphasized that it defines the rules guiding the home, you should understand that’s not the only advantage of setting Airbnb house rules. Here are the other reasons.

1. Avoid Unnecessary Confusion

Setting rules and regulations to guide property use can prevent any form of confusion and disagreement. Like we said in the previous section, the Airbnb house rule is an opportunity for the host to professionally provide the tenant with the set of rules guiding the house use. And with the house rules, you can clearly define what you want and what you don’t want in your rental. 

2. To Attract the Right Renter

Setting a house rule can also attract the right renters. Since Airbnb house rules list the guidelines for the property’s use, renters will only book if they feel they can obey the rules. If not, they’d move on to find a property that suits them. So, instead of dealing with incompatible tenants, the set of guidelines will scare them away — which is better. 

For example, If you add a no pet rule to your house rules, no prospective renter traveling with pets will book your property because it doesn’t align with their requirement. And instead of running into a bad situation, they’ll steer clear of your property.

3. To Educate the Property Renters

Another reason for setting a house rule is to educate the tenants. Remember that your prospective renters are vacationers or travelers, likely from other states and even countries. And that shows most of them might not know the way things work in your community. 

With the Airbnb house rule, you can educate them about what’s acceptable and not acceptable in your locality. For example, the tenant may come from where there is no restriction in using the parking lot. So it’s your onus to enlighten them about the parking lots’ usage rules and guidelines.

Factors to Consider When Setting Your Airbnb House Rules

You’ve understood what a house rule is and why setting an Airbnb rule is significant. So in this section, we’ll discuss some of the factors you need to consider when working on your Airbnb house rules. Do you want to learn more about these factors? Read on!

1. Type of Guest You Want to Attract to Your Property

Airbnb house rule, if done appropriately, can attract the right tenant. So before writing your house rule, understand the type of tenants you want to attract. Will your home be pet-friendly? What’s the age group you’re willing to allow in your Airbnb? Are your prospective tenants, grandparents, family with young children, or the under 25 party-types? Answering these questions makes it easier for you to develop the rules and guidelines that align with the tenants you want to attract.

If you prefer a family with children, for example, your home is likely to be prone to wear and tear more often. So, you need to set rules that protect your Airbnb without overwhelming prospective tenants. Alternatively, if you want your home to be pet-friendly, your house rules will differ from when you want to rent out to a family with children or the under 25 party types.

2. Keep It Simple and Clear

Airbnb rental is entirely different from the long-term rental strategy. That’s because both real estate strategies attract tenants with different aims. Airbnb attracts tourists, business people, vacationers who are here to have fun and relax. And the long-term rental property attracts renters who want to make your home their primary abode for some period — a minimum of six months. 

So you should know that your rules should be simple and to the point. Do not bore them with dull, endless house rules. Provide concise rules and easy-to-understand sentences.

Moreover, also remember that your Airbnb house rule is also a form of marketing. So if it’s complex and hard to understand, a prospective tenant may discard your house and go for properties without ambiguity. 

3. Personality

An Airbnb house rule has no set rules that guide the writing style. Whether you want to be serious, formal, or funny depends on the personality you want to present to prospective tenants. You’re responsible for how you write the rule. Remember that: no matter the style you choose, you should be flexible with how you write. Don’t be rigid! 

Moreover, write in flexible styles to showcase your fun-to-be-with personality — and not your technical, ambiguous side. Like we’ve been emphasizing, a house rule is also a form of marketing. So instead of being boring, write for the tenants you want to attract. Nobody wants to interact with a boring person.

For example, if your prospective tenant is a business person, you should lean towards a formal but funny writing style. Likewise, if your tenants are millennials or the under 25 party-types, you need to make it fun and fascinating.

4. Strike a Balance Between Protecting Your Property and Encouraging Booking 

While the Airbnb house rule aims to protect your property from vandalism and destruction by unscrupulous tenants, you also need to be careful with how you write your house rules. If the rules are not done right, it can discourage booking and scare away prospective tenants. 

So when setting your rules, you should try to find the sweet spot between protecting your property and encouraging booking.

Here are some points that can make you discover that sweet spot:

• Don’t overwhelm prospective tenants with rules
• Try to avoid a long list of don’ts by rephrasing them and writing the Dos
• Ensure your rules are direct
• Avoid adding unrelated points

5. Personalize Your Messages

One way to bore prospective renters is to sound like a robot. Writing a generalized message can put off the tenant and scare them off. Instead of writing a generalized message, personalize your information to the tenants. Providing personalized rules makes it easier to address and give definite rules to prospective tenants. 

For example, instead of using “a few,” when writing the rules about the number of people that can visit a property, you can be definite by writing five to ten people can visit the property. That creates clarity and avoids ambiguity. If you write a few, there is no specific meaning, and so, a tenant can argue that 15 is a few and still be correct. So be definite!

6. Don’t Overthink It!

Remember that Airbnb house rules aren’t cast in stones — they can be edited and updated. So don’t overthink it! If you don’t know what to write, ensure you work on the essential rules, like the number of visitors allowed, the pet-friendliness, and others. 

Once you gain experience and insight, you can come back to update the previously written rules — remember, updating your house rules is no crime and attracts no consequences. 

7. Check the Local Rules and Laws

Finally, consider the local rules and the HOA laws when writing the Airbnb house rules. This way, you can develop Airbnb rules and regulations for guests that align with these rules.

For example, If the HOA home occupancy limit law states that not more than five people should occupy a house, your house rule should also consider that. This means your Airbnb occupancy shouldn’t exceed five, or else you risk paying fines for breaking the law.

What You Should Include

Setting the Airbnb rules for renters can be overwhelming because of the different things you need to include. Just like any other rules and regulation, the rules need to be crafted with care to strike a balance between what you want and what your prospective renters want. So, in this section, we’ll talk about the essential things you should add when setting your Airbnb house rules template.

1. Parties and Events

Since your home is not an event center or a garden, don’t forget to include the “no party rule” in your Airbnb house rule. That will prevent tenants from messing up your home from a wild party with family and friends. Remember your tenants are here to relax, and partying is also a form of relaxation. And if you don’t give a specific rule barring party, your home could turn into a complete mess after the renters leave.

2. Define the Number of Visitors Allowed

Never also forget to define the number of visitors allowed on your property. Do you allow tenants to bring visitors? If you allow the registered renter to come with visitors, make sure that you define the number of visitors they can invite. 

Also, you should set the rate for late-night accommodation of visitors in your property and avoid using general terms like “a few” or “many” to define the number of people allowed in the property. 

3. Neighborhood and Noise

Put your neighbors into consideration by setting the rules for late-night activities. Make sure you highlight rules against late-night partying that can disrupt the neighborhood. Set and define the hours the registered tenant should keep noise to its nearest minimum. And ensure you also explain the penalties they may face if they break these rules.

4. The Pet Rule

Never also forget to include the restriction as regard pets. This rule is essential because it helps the prospective tenant to determine if your property is right for them or not. If you allow the furry friends, what’re the rules regarding these categories of tenants?

Remember that your property may be prone to wear and tear, and so, it may require maintenance often. So, set your rates regarding the property maintenance rate.

Other things you need to consider when setting your Airbnb guest policy are laundry, eating area, damage, and breakage, swimming pool/hot tubes, vehicle parking, emergency contact details, checkout arrangements, security, etc.

What’s Next?

Airbnb is a profitable real estate investment strategy. Its profitability depends on different factors, including listing and house rules. While these are not the only factors that determine the profitability of these properties, these factors (listing and house rules) take a large chunk. 

So if you want to profit from your property, or increase your profitability, as an Airbnb investor, use the above guide to create a personalized house rule for your property. Set the rules that attract the types of tenants your want to attract, and wait for bookings to rush in!

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