Airbnb: Covering Your Rent While You're Out of Town
We've spoken previously about the perks of the gig economy. Smart phones have revolutionized many things, including how we rent rooms and find places to stay. Airbnb is a great source of filling your room when you have to leave town on a gig. Getting started on Airbnb is pretty easy, but you'll want to make sure that you do everything you can to avoid potential legal trouble. Penalties can be steep (even eviction) so make sure you do your research!
While Airbnb is designed to be run by someone who is going to be present, it's primary benefit to artists is that it helps them take lower paying gigs out of town to build their resume. If you're able to take these gigs without losing money because of rent, then it becomes a much easier calculation.
Have Roommates? No Problem
If you've got roommates, then it will be pretty easy to fill your room using Airbnb while you're out of town. However, you're going to want to be sure to avoid them. When a guest is renting your room, it is your roommates who are going to have to deal with that person. As such, you want to make sure of a couple of things.
First, that your roommates are okay with you using Airbnb to fill your room. Second, that you are compensating them in some way. If your roommates are also artists who need to go out of town from time to time, then you'll probably be able to work out a straightforward agreement to cover them when they're gone, and they'll cover you when you're gone. However, if they aren't, you should ensure that you cover your rent and compensate them in whatever rental fee you are charging.
No Roommates? Potential Solution
If you don't have a roommate, but want to fill your apartment to cover your rent when you go out of town, you'll need to hustle a little harder to make this happen. You should seek out a friend (ideally one who is in town most of the time with whatever work they're doing), and go into a partnership with them for when you are out of town. It's sort of like house-sitting, but with an income stream.
If you're friend agrees to manage your Airbnb for you, again, make sure that you're splitting the income in an equitable way - and make sure you put it down in writing. Nothing can ruin friendships faster than a disagreement over money. That can also have a negative impact on your Airbnb business if bad blood develops between you and your manager. Once you decide on a split, it is quite easy to split payments between parties on the Airbnb platform.
Conclusion
Using Airbnb can be a great way to make those out of town gigs more affordable. Finding and setting up a true sublet for a short term gig can be a challenge, and Airbnb takes a lot of that challenge away. The platform is set up to meet the unique needs of artists in getting their rooms and homes filled on a short term basis.
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