Question 1

How much time does self-management cost?

Accepted Answer

Answering guest enquiries alone adds up, according to hosts’ accounts, to around 180 hours a year — more than a month of full-time work. In high season the total effort rises to 15 to 25 hours a month; in quieter months it runs at 2 to 3 hours a week. On top of that come cleaning coordination, damage reports, complaints and maintaining the listings. These figures come from German-speaking countries, not from Zurich in particular; as an order of magnitude they serve, because the effort depends on the number of bookings, not on the location. What they do not capture is availability. The problem is not the sum of the hours but their distribution — guest enquiries arrive in the evening, at weekends and from other time zones, and an enquiry left unanswered at 11 p.m. is a lost booking.

Question 2

How quickly do you answer guest enquiries?

Accepted Answer

Around the clock, and that is not a service formula but an economic necessity. The platforms rate response time and let it feed into placement; anyone who answers slowly is displayed worse. More important still: guests looking for a flat usually write to several hosts and book with whoever answers first. An enquiry left for twelve hours is generally lost — not because the guest is dissatisfied but because they have booked elsewhere in the meantime. For your own enquiries a different undertaking applies: a reply within one working day. The difference is intentional. A guest enquiry at midnight is time-critical; your question about a statement is not — and we do not claim to be equally fast at both.

Question 3

Who takes care of the cleaning?

Accepted Answer

It is carried out by partner companies we engage and check — not by us. It is billed as a flat rate per changeover, staged by size of flat: CHF 110 for a studio, CHF 160 for three rooms, CHF 215 for 4.5 rooms. The amount is fixed in advance and does not change if a clean takes longer; that risk is ours, and that is where our margin sits. Market amounts run from CHF 80 to 130 for a studio and CHF 160 to 250 for three rooms; billing is usually by time spent at hourly rates of CHF 70 to 90. What belongs to it and is often missing from the calculation: laundry, replenishing consumables, and checking the condition before the next arrival. That last point is where one clean differs from another — a changeover without a condition check means damage is first discovered by the next guest, and then it can no longer be attributed. Which is why we document the condition at every changeover; you need that record if you want to bring a claim.

Question 4

What happens if a guest damages something?

Accepted Answer

We document the damage and report it through the platform, within the deadlines that apply there — they are short, and a late report can cost you the claim. Airbnb’s AirCover covers property damage on its terms, up to USD 3 million, plus liability cover up to USD 1 million for injury or loss suffered by guests. Also covered are damage by guests’ pets, lost income from cancellations due to guest damage, and deep-cleaning costs. What AirCover expressly does not replace, Airbnb says itself: building insurance, tenant’s insurance and liability insurance. It comes in addition, not instead — and household contents policies regularly exclude commercial use. What decides enforcement is the documentation: condition before and after the stay with photographs, the time, the items affected. Without those records a claim is hard to substantiate, because it cannot be shown when the damage arose. Which is why the condition check at every changeover is the basis of any later claim.

Question 5

Does my household contents insurance cover letting?

Accepted Answer

Not as a matter of course, and this is the insurance gap most people are unaware of. Household contents policies as a rule exclude commercial use — and anyone letting a flat to changing guests in a planned way is operating in commercial territory. It does not automatically follow that there is no cover, but the existing policy does not necessarily cover the new use. And you notice that in the event of a claim, not before. Swiss insurers are clear on this point: the advice is consistently to establish with your insurer whether adequate protection exists. With subletting there is a subtlety: your own contents remain protected, provided the damage was not caused by the person subletting. Contents a subtenant brings with them are normally not covered by your policy.

Question 6

How do you deal with bad reviews?

Accepted Answer

We answer factually and publicly, and we do not claim there are none. A single bad review does less harm than a defensive answer to it: anyone who justifies themselves or contradicts the guest does not convince future guests — they show how they deal with criticism. What works: acknowledge the criticism, name what has been changed, and leave it there. More important than handling a bad review is avoiding one, and the most frequent causes are avoidable: cleanliness, a gap between the listing and reality, unreachable hosts. The second is the underestimated one — a listing with photographs from three years ago leads to disappointment on arrival, and that comes through in the review even where the flat is objectively fine.

Question 7

What happens with a double booking?

Accepted Answer

It is the most expensive mistake in this business, and therefore the reason multi-channel distribution is work. Anyone offering on Airbnb and Booking.com without synchronising the calendars risks two bookings for the same night. The consequence: one has to be cancelled, and a host cancellation affects placement on the platform — sometimes for months. At Airbnb, fees and a note on the profile come on top. In practice this means calendar synchronisation is not a tick in the settings but something that has to keep working, with short update intervals. We therefore work with a central calendar rather than mutual synchronisation between platforms — the detour via two channels querying each other is exactly where gaps arise.

Question 8

How is the price set?

Accepted Answer

Continuously, not once — and this is the lever with the strongest influence on the return. The starting point is a base price by location, size and fittings. Acting on it: season, day of the week, how far ahead the booking is, events in Zurich, and the prices of comparable properties nearby. An example of the order of magnitude: during a trade fair in Oerlikon the achievable price sits distinctly above the weekly average — anyone who does not know the calendar leaves money on the table on precisely those days. Conversely, for weakly booked periods: a price that has produced no booking three weeks before the date is too high. Anyone who does not adjust prices does not lose visibly — no invoice arises, just a booking that does not come.

Question 9

What is the best minimum length of stay?

Accepted Answer

It is the most effective lever, and most people underestimate it — and the answer depends on cleaning costs. At CHF 80 to 250 per changeover, a single night is distinctly less profitable than three nights at the same nightly rate: the same clean, three times the turnover. Two nights minimum is a customary and usually sensible setting in Zurich. In favour of longer minimum stays: fewer changeovers, less laundry, less coordination, and a guest selection that follows by itself — someone staying a week is less likely to be coming to party. Against: lower occupancy, because short bookings fall away. The right number depends on the location: in Oerlikon with its trade fairs, short stays are the demand; around Lake Zurich, the longer ones are.

Question 10

What do you do about parties in the flat?

Accepted Answer

Prevent them, because there is little to be done afterwards. Three measures that work together: a minimum length of stay that makes weekend parties unattractive — that is the most effective. Clear house rules in the listing with quiet hours and an express ban on events, so that a breach can be evidenced. And checking every enquiry for its purpose and the number of guests relative to the size of the flat; a booking for six people in a two-room flat is declined. What we do not claim: that it can be prevented entirely. Booking platforms limit how strictly a host may select, and anyone declining too many enquiries loses placement. If a party does happen, we document it and report it to the platform — rules apply there that we could not enforce ourselves.

Question 11

How does handover to guests work?

Accepted Answer

Best without anyone present, via an access code that changes with each booking. The reason is practical: guests arrive at times that cannot be planned — delayed flights, other time zones, late-evening arrivals. Anyone who has to be on site at every arrival ties themselves to their guests’ travel plans. What belongs to the handover even without personal contact: directions with pictures of the front door, clear details of the access code and when it is valid, Wi-Fi access, how to operate the heating and the cooker, waste disposal rules. What we additionally provide: a number that is actually reachable if there is a problem. An access code that does not work is the worst first minute of a stay — and the most frequent occasion for a bad review despite a good flat.

Question 12

Can I see who stays in my flat?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You see the name and stay dates of every guest, because both arise in processing the booking. Further details come through the platforms: profile, previous reviews, purpose of the stay where it has been given. What you do not see and may not see: more than is needed for processing. The data is subject to data protection law, and collection beyond the purpose is not permissible. No guest database for marketing purposes arises from it. On the guest notification duty: in the canton of Zurich the recording of overnight guests is prescribed, and the duty falls on you as the owner. Which notification applies to your property, and by what route it is filed, you establish with your municipality. We provide you with the occupancy data you need for it — we do not file the notification itself.

Question 13

Who is liable for damage — the owner, the management company or Airbnb?

Accepted Answer

Towards third parties the owner is liable, because they are the host and the owner of the property. A management company does not change that: we act in your name on your account. What differs is the order of cover. For damage a guest does to your furnishings, the deposit or the damage claim through Airbnb applies first, then AirCover for hosts. For damage originating from the flat — water damage at the neighbour’s — your building or private liability insurance applies, and that is where the most common gap sits: many policies do not cover commercial letting unless notified. For mistakes in our work we are liable. This delimitation belongs in the contract, and the cover is to be settled with your insurer before the first booking.

What does running an Airbnb flat look like day to day?