Thinking of using my place as an AirBNB next year- I am only here for 3-6 months per year but have 3 spare bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an un-utilised large attic and am in a nice location (Trebes near Carcassonne). Appreciate and comments (for or against) and input (eg taxes)
Depends on where you live! In our village we pay the tourist tax by the end of the year. If we’re were in Aix-en-Provencd, it would be very different. Lotsa papers to fill in + a visit by a couple of people from the tourist office, sooo not straight forward! But do find out who, what, where you need to inform the local authorities about your plans! Good luck! 
I think you might find that the Marie’s office will have to give you permission no matter what as you have to provide statistics to them each year of how many bookings/tourist have visited sorry to say but you can understand they need to collate info for potential grants etc
I caught a bit on the news about air bn b - the bit that interested me was that if you do 4 months max, 'particulier a particulier ' you don't have to register with authorities can anyone confirm or tell me how to find this information, I dont' want to declare my home as chambre d'hote if I can avoid it but think I would just have to pay income tax on the earnings
We have ‘been with them’ since last summer. Having said that we only opened our little B&B late last summer, so only one booking via them!
However, this year we have had a good stream of bookings via Airbnb.
You can only communicate with potential guest via them, which can be a bit of a pain, and if you do decide to go with them, make sure, if you are busy with more than one booking site, which I do not think you will be, is that you never have the ‘instant booking’ on, as them people can book right there and then if your calendar is not up to date, as ours never ever us, as we deal with more booking sites than Airbnb!
Despite they set ‘instant booking’ for us be last summer, despite I told them, we did not want this on, I didn’t know this was on, it’s been nearly a year, and having only used them the once, last year, this year was like starting all over again!
We had a lady booking done says with us, while we were fully booked (+ we do not accept children, which she did not even read), I had to cancel her, which she was fine with, however, this now means that one of my reviews on our Airbnb page says that I cancelled this lady 3 days before her arrival…she booked 3 days before her arrival, but looks like we are ‘bad’. I was furious, but they will not remove it…so just be aware, and any of you who has a busy ie B&B.
Other than that, it works, even with the annoying restrictions + the are fifticult to contact incl ‘fitted replies’ and they only take a very small % of the full price, which they deduct from the total, and you decide with payment system you want to use, which also secures you as well as the guest!
Good luck!
Hey Steve,
I use AirBnB to rent my 40 properties in Paris (and 50 other homes outside of Paris). I have had great luck with it because they promote their brand to people all over the world.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly.
Joseph
Holidays France Rentals
www.holidays-france-rentals.com
Simon thank you. However, as mentioned elsewhere, I am Australian so often the rules are different than for those from UK. Do you have a reference to the "second home" rules so I could review its applicability to my circumstances
Yes, Dory, but only if you are letting a "second home". If you are letting a room in your "domicile principale" there is no authorisation needed and earnings are not taxed before you cross a threshold of €128 per sqare metre let per year. The people getting prosecuted are in Paris or the Riviera where the hotel lobby is strong. AirBnB have an option (they have hundreds) whereby you can get paid through PayPal which is very handy. The big plus is that no money changes hands between landlord and tenant ... and that makes for much easier relations.
I have used it for a while now and find that customers are much more friendly and easy-going than other sources ... probably because they know you can leave a comment about them.
Thanks all for the help and advice. One thing I should have mentioned is that I am not a resident here and am Australian (but would like to spend 6 months a year here -max for Aussies) which means the rules can be not only be different than for the many UK people here but also hard to find out. Thanks again.
One comment that did intrigue me was the carte vitale (sp?) may have been available if the income from any AirBNB provision was taxed. I am an unwilling (long story involving corruption in Africa) early retiree and as an Aussie do not have access to either the NHS or reciprocal French health schemes and private cover appears to be both required and very expensive. Anyone know more about that side of things
Hi Steve
We ran a b&b for 2 years and although we were registered with Airbnb we only received one booking. 90% of our bookings came from Cybevasion. We enjoy using Airbnb when we want to visit places, in fact we have just had a 2 night stay in England but now we are back home in France. Just declare your earnings when you do your annual tax return & if you register as an auto entrepreneur you will pay your 'charges social' every 3 months. The good thing about Airbnb is you control the calendar yourself so can block out dates when you aren't there. Good luck in your venture and hope it gives you an income.
HiSteve
We are on AirB&B and it does not have to be for a night or two you can stipulate, you can if you like during July and August only take weekly bookings, or indeed for any period you like only weekly bookings and ffor the rest stipulate a minimum stay - 2 o 3 days You do not have to provide breakfast so long as there is somewhere they can make ther own,. Ours is an apartment so we just provide a welcome pack on arrival and the rest is up to them. It was a little difficult to set up - fiddly, but once done you are good to go, we have had some lovely guests and it fills the areas that HomeAway miss.
When you are setting it up you can say what type of client it is suitable for, you will have to set up each room individually. If you have family coming you can block your room out as unavailable during that time. I suggest you take a look at the sight, it is very flexible giving you the ability to charge different rates according to the season. We charge more for weekend stays.
It would seem that you are not resident here, so would monies have to be declared in the UK? Perhaps you could set up some costs to offset paying tax, setting up charges, wear and tear etc.
Good luck on whatever you decide.
Morning Steve,
I have been using AirBnB for 16 months now with my gite, and have been very pleased with them. So much that they now take 99% of my bookings.
Guests have to have an account, and AirBnB verify their ID.
Other hosts can leave reviews, you can read these before deciding if to accept the booking.
You can opt for instant book, which can reduce your option to say no, or leave that turned off and guests have to request availability putting you in control.
Payments are prompt, usually hitting your account within 3 days of the guest departing.
Customer service can be a bit patchy by email, but very responsive by phone and available 24/7.
AirBnB now take tourist tax from your booking sna d pay on your behalf if applicable in your region (not in mine).
So, heres the thing for you to consider:
If you are not on site full time then a Chambre d'hote probably isnt the right avenue for you, as the host is expected to live on site and have one meal (usually breakfast) with the guest. This is quite strictly managed and forms part of the registration process with the Marie.
Renting out your entire home may be a more attractive prospect, you can get someone local to set up and meet and greet, including their fee in your daily or weekly charge.
Also you can set the length of stay in AirBnB from one night upwards, so if you wanted longer lets its not a problem.
I'm not sure how you register for tax if you are a non resident. I live here permanently and registered my gite through the Auto entrepreneurs scheme and pay 14.3% tax and social contribution (reduced rate because I provide towels, linen and cleaning). There is no concept of 'claiming back' against capital outlay in the French system, it is assumed that you should have factored in all of your costs like linen replacement in to your charges.
I have some friends who have gone down the Brittany Ferries route, they take over your bookings completely and run your calendar for you. They tend to be longer lets, 7+ days, and have an agreed cost with you allowing them to market sales through their margin. Might be worth a look.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do, as an AirBnB host I have had an excellent start to the world of Gite owner, and wish you every success.
Paul.
We signed with Airbnb this year after 10 years with Owners Direct as OD had got too expensive for just one or two rooms. So far, we had a booking with Airbnb which cancelled before arriving but I had a strict no refund policy so got paid anyway. When you sign up they put a couple of euros into your bank to make sure they have the right details and notify you by SMS and email when you have an enquiry which you can accept or decline within 24hrs. You can block any dates (we have our own website so get bookings from their or by phone so need to be able to manage that) and also have the option to get a last minute booking by reducing your room rate (not done that as their proposed rate was far too low). Their fee is small in comparison to the aforementioned company which would have taken all our profit for the year just to pay them with no guarantee of filling the room. It's been a funny ol' year this year but I will stay with them as I think they may good for us.
Hi Steve, I am running a B&B just 3km from Trebes and would be very happy to give you some pointers as I use Airbnb. I have been using them for a couple of years and I like the mutual reviews - which is the only place that this happens - give me a call on 0468 780985.
You require to check with your Marie First and then register with them as running a Bed & breakfast, you require to get Insurance cover before even thinking of airbnb, and yes you can choose to Not take people, and I think you can state for adults only or not suitable for children, the thing is to charge by the room for say 2 persons and do not have beds for anymore than that as family's want to be together in 1 room !! usually.
Take it from me Steve, you don't have to be in your twenties to be a beer swilling insomniac yobbo....hic !
I use Airbnb as a host and also a visitor, only good experiences thus far! You can block off dates for your accommodation easily for when you have family or friends staying. Can only recommend it.
I am doing much he same as Joseph and find Airbnb very easy to use. It gets us a lot of business though as others have said it tends to be short breaks rather than whole weeks. But with your location you should do well. I believe there have been prosecutions of Airbnb hosts who were letting their property without declaring income, so if you want to sleep at night it is important to run your lettings as a legitimate business!
Hi Steve, I started using airbnb,holiday lettings by trip advisor and chambers d’hôtel.org for the last three years for my three rooms, my experience is that you only have to go with Airbnb, they vet the people that are registered to use it and you can read comments about them left by others before you accept their booking or decline it. The money is in your bank account the day after they arrive and is simple for you to manage your tax returns from.you can shut rooms down individually whenever you want ,also you can allow instant booking, you should do well near carccassonne it’s beautiful there. We had to register with the marie before opening a chamber d hotels and also with the authorities (RSI) it’s about 26percent social charges out of every euro we take as a micro entrepreneurs but it allows us a cart Vitale, if you want to ask anything else just get in touch, Maison brigoulet, sornac