Airbnb safety guide - how to look after guests, neighbours and your home

Renting out your home or a property on Airbnb is a great way to make some extra cash and meet people from all over the world. But when you host on Airbnb, safety is an important issue. You have to balance reducing the risks towards your own property with your responsibilities towards your guests and neighbours.

Making sure your property is safe

Insurance

You’ll need to make sure that your property is fully insured for short-term rentals - both in terms of damage to your property as well as covering your guests in case they get injured. A lot of regular household insurance policies won’t cover short-term rentals, but luckily there are short-term rental specialist providers such as Guardhog who can cover any level of host.

Knowing who your guests are

Check your guest references fully, so that you know who is staying in your home. Most Airbnb guests will be respectful to you and your property - but there are a very small minority that might have booked your property for a party, and, particularly on booking.com, fake bookings are a big issue. Check if their account has been linked and verified through Facebook, check their prior reviews from other hosts and see what they’ve written about themselves on their profile.

Laying down the rules

Clarify your house rules when you list on Airbnb. If there’s an area of the house where your guests aren’t allowed, then you’ll need to make them aware of this. Is your property no-smoking? Then make this clear - after all, guests can’t abide by rules if they don’t know they’re there. It also helps to include an explanation of why the rules exist - guests will be more likely to follow them when they know why they’re following them.

Creating a safe environment for your guests

Fire safety

When you have strangers in your house, you’re responsible for their well-being - and that means that ensuring your property adequately conforms to fire safety standards. Having a working smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector is compulsory to get your listing into Airbnb’s work collection - and Airbnb will even supply an all-in-one detector and alarm, for free, to anyone with an active listing. Make sure you’ve got fire blankets and fire extinguishers in the property - particularly in the kitchen. You should also contact your gas and electricity supplies for an up to date safety inspection and make sure all of your electrical appliances are working safely.

Making guests feel welcome

When you can’t meet your guests in person, you’ll still want to make them feel welcome in your home. That’s where a welcome book comes in - you can print off a guide explaining how the electronic appliances in your home work, where the best restaurants in your area are, and the most popular tourist attractions nearby. A number of new companies, such as Touch Stay, enable you to give guests a more professional remote welcome through an app, which can also include interactive features such as maps.

Creating a safe environment for your neighbours

Following local regulations

We’ve written a guide to Airbnb regulations in London, but make sure that you check your local short-term rental regulations wherever you live, as they might restrict the total amount of time you’re allowed to rent out your home on short-term rental websites like Airbnb. You’ll also need to check your lease and mortgage to make sure they both allow you to rent out your home on a short-term basis.

Maintaining a good relationship with your neighbours

When you’re renting out your home on Airbnb, it’s essential that you’re a considerate neighbour. Whether you live in the Airbnb property or not, you should share contact details with your neighbours so that you’re their first port of call in an emergency or in case guests are being too noisy. Companies like NoiseAware provide a small device which can monitor the sound levels in your apartment and notify you when they get too loud, letting you intervene before your neighbours complain.

Providing secure property access

There are a few ways of providing property access remotely, but some are more secure than others. Lockboxes are surprisingly easy to break into, and can be unsightly if installed on the entrance to a communal building - plus keeping a communal key in a lockbox won’t go down well with your neighbours. Smartlocks are another alternative, though you can’t install them on communal buildings and they can be hacked.

Using a key exchange alternative like KeyNest is your best bet for keeping your property safe whilst minimising the impact on your neighbourhood.

KeyNest keys are stored away from (but nearby) the property in partner points - who benefit from the extra footfall of guests, ensuring that local business benefit from short-term rentals. The staff in KeyNest points welcome your guests personally when handing over the keys and can give them advice or directions around your local area. You’re also provided with update notifications every time your keys are picked up or returned. And if you’re worried a guest might be a problem guest, you can delete a collection code to make sure the property can’t be accessed.