Post by High Priestess on Oct 4, 2015 4:55:47 GMT
Xavier shared in June 2015:
Free accommodation for hosts
Hi all, I’m an Airbnb host from Barcelona since 3 years. Meantime I launched site called www.mytwinplace.com/hosts to let us all exchange our places with other hosts getting free accommodation for our travels.
The concept is very simple. You can host another member when your place is available and in return you can choose to stay in any other host’s house for when you travel.
That way we get the perfect mix. We keep renting out with Airbnb and when our place has not been rented out or it’s available we use it to host another host and get free accommodation when travelling.
Hope you find it useful. Any comment will be more than welcome.
BTW if you ever want to come to Barcelona, you can start swapping with me ;-)
Have a nice day!
Nancy:
Hi Xavier, thanks for your posting. I have been thinking we should do this very thing. I was thinking Airbnb should do it-and I would even be willing to pay the Airbnb service charge (given they provide the infrastructure). And, I look forward to checking out your site. I've wanted to visit your beautiful city! thanks for the creativity.
Gina:
I suggested to Airbnb several times that they should launch an exchange site for Airbnb hosts, and access a fee just like My Twin Places does, but Airbnb has just ignored my suggestion so I am using My Twin Places for exchanges. I really like them because for a fee, they have insurance coverage so that if the party who has agreed to the exchange bails out, their insurance makes it so that My Twin Places will cover finding you another exchange host or putting you up at a hotel. Plus it does not really have to be an exchange per se. You get points if and when you share your home in an exchange which you can then use the accumulated points towards finding another place to use if you travel to another country or area in the USA.
Keith:
one thing to note about San Francisco specifically (this may be true in other cities as well). Our Treasurer views exchanges as having value and warrants payment of Transient Occupancy Tax.
for example.. if you offer a room for free to someone in exchange for staying at their house, tax is computed based on the value of the exchange.. In other words... if the place you stay costs $50/night and you stay for a week, you owe occupancy tax based on $350 value.
they consider exchanges of anything of value is a form of payment.
So this is a nice idea, but since we're exchanging things we normally charge for, it's problematic.
Also, under US tax law, if you do this you may not be able to deduct your fractional cost of the room from your taxes.
If you have a room dedicated 100% to your homesharing business, then you can deduct a relative proportion of your housing costs from your taxes.... However, if you use it for personal use (even one time), then they don't allow the deduction--it must be 100% dedicated to the use.
for this reason, I suggest instead of exchanges people just offer super discounted rates (charge $5/night if you want) but make sure it's a legal and financial transaction---this reduces the tax burden and preserves your tax deductibility.
So perhaps you could gear the site for some people to facilitate the agreed "professional discount" rate and, as Nancy suggests, AirBnB gets a small service fee for facilitating the transaction without having to change any code.
Free accommodation for hosts
Hi all, I’m an Airbnb host from Barcelona since 3 years. Meantime I launched site called www.mytwinplace.com/hosts to let us all exchange our places with other hosts getting free accommodation for our travels.
The concept is very simple. You can host another member when your place is available and in return you can choose to stay in any other host’s house for when you travel.
That way we get the perfect mix. We keep renting out with Airbnb and when our place has not been rented out or it’s available we use it to host another host and get free accommodation when travelling.
Hope you find it useful. Any comment will be more than welcome.
BTW if you ever want to come to Barcelona, you can start swapping with me ;-)
Have a nice day!
Nancy:
Hi Xavier, thanks for your posting. I have been thinking we should do this very thing. I was thinking Airbnb should do it-and I would even be willing to pay the Airbnb service charge (given they provide the infrastructure). And, I look forward to checking out your site. I've wanted to visit your beautiful city! thanks for the creativity.
Gina:
I suggested to Airbnb several times that they should launch an exchange site for Airbnb hosts, and access a fee just like My Twin Places does, but Airbnb has just ignored my suggestion so I am using My Twin Places for exchanges. I really like them because for a fee, they have insurance coverage so that if the party who has agreed to the exchange bails out, their insurance makes it so that My Twin Places will cover finding you another exchange host or putting you up at a hotel. Plus it does not really have to be an exchange per se. You get points if and when you share your home in an exchange which you can then use the accumulated points towards finding another place to use if you travel to another country or area in the USA.
Keith:
one thing to note about San Francisco specifically (this may be true in other cities as well). Our Treasurer views exchanges as having value and warrants payment of Transient Occupancy Tax.
for example.. if you offer a room for free to someone in exchange for staying at their house, tax is computed based on the value of the exchange.. In other words... if the place you stay costs $50/night and you stay for a week, you owe occupancy tax based on $350 value.
they consider exchanges of anything of value is a form of payment.
So this is a nice idea, but since we're exchanging things we normally charge for, it's problematic.
Also, under US tax law, if you do this you may not be able to deduct your fractional cost of the room from your taxes.
If you have a room dedicated 100% to your homesharing business, then you can deduct a relative proportion of your housing costs from your taxes.... However, if you use it for personal use (even one time), then they don't allow the deduction--it must be 100% dedicated to the use.
for this reason, I suggest instead of exchanges people just offer super discounted rates (charge $5/night if you want) but make sure it's a legal and financial transaction---this reduces the tax burden and preserves your tax deductibility.
So perhaps you could gear the site for some people to facilitate the agreed "professional discount" rate and, as Nancy suggests, AirBnB gets a small service fee for facilitating the transaction without having to change any code.
