Interview with an Airbnb Host from Selden, Kansas - S2 EP35
Welcome back to another episode of Into The Airbnb, where we chat with Airbnb hosts about their short-term rental experience.
Today’s guest is Maureen Bruggeman, a super host based in Selden, Kansas; she owns and manages a small studio, which she built in a compact portion of a big barn. In this episode, she’ll tell us about her experience and journey as a host of the only Airbnb listing in town, some numbers and demographic insights of her area and how the market behaves through different seasons.
This episode is sponsored by Airbtics, short-term rental analytics for high returning comprehensive data for insights, ideas and inspiration. Go to app.airbtics.com to find precise Airbnb data such as occupancy rate, revenue, average daily rate and so on. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!
Into The Airbnb Podcast S2 EP 35: “The LQ Studio” – 100% CoC, $8K Yearly with a small rural studio in Selden, Kansas
You can also listen to this Into The Airbnb Podcast Episode on Otter.
Delia:
Can you please tell us how did you get started on Airbnb and short-term rentals?
Maureen Bruggeman:
When we bought our farm, I think it was in 2013, there was an old barn here and we were going to restore the barn, but it costs more to do that than to put on a new shop. So we put up a new shop and at the time, we had a hired hand, so we built living quarters for him inside the shop. Then he decided he wanted to go more over the road stuff, so he left us which was fine, you know, he left it was good. So then it sat for a little bit and we rented it long-term to somebody who was working on some wind turbines. Then it sat for a while and then I offered it to the Sheriff Department as a place for domestic violence situations where people come hide out or whatever, I just wanted it to be used. They never used it in a whole year, so then I decided, “well, what the heck, let’s try Airbnb”.
Delia:
Okay and how did you discover Airbnb? How did you decide to try it out?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Actually, our higher hand told us about it because he uses Airbnb a lot when he travels places.
Delia:
Okay, you started renting this old barn, is that?
Maureen Bruggeman:
We don’t have it in the barn, we’ve leveled the barn and built a brand new building in the place.
Delia:
A brand new building, is it inside the barn, in the barn?
Maureen Bruggeman:
The living quarters is on the east side of the building and then we got a shop that goes down the middle of it and then the barn is on the west side of the building. So there’s a shop in between the animals and the LQ and the Airbnb.
Delia:
Oh, I see now. What year did you started Airbnb with that building?
Maureen Bruggeman:
It will be two years in July, I believe, so 2020.
Delia:
So July 2020?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Right.
Delia:
In the middle of the pandemic and how was your experience starting to rent, you know, with the current situation at that time?
Maureen Bruggeman:
To be honest, we went into thinking that, you know, we’ll go ahead and list it in July because we figured that mostly we would get hunters because this is a big place where people would come hunt and immediately it started getting booked by travelers who were just traveling through. So it went really well actually, we were just so surprised.
Delia:
Also, there were many travelers still around your area around that time?
Maureen Bruggeman:
We live right on a major highway and people travel a lot, but mostly it’s truckers. But yeah, there’s nothing really around here for people. There’s no sightseeing anything here. So I’m surprised people stop.
Delia:
So they just stop to stay like night and then continue their road?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Right. Now I did have one lady come stay a whole week just because she wanted to get out of the big city and get away for a while. In fact, that was cool.
Delia:
Okay, that’s cool. So since the very beginning, it has been short-term rentals? You do one night minimums and things like that?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Correct.
Delia:
Okay, that’s great. So you told me there is a barn, so I assume there’s animals. Do you also offer like an experience with those for people who might stay longer?
Maureen Bruggeman:
We tell them if they want to meet because we do have one very friendly cow that you can pet. If they want to meet it they have to let us know and we will, we won’t let them in the pasture, but we’ll bring her up to the fence, so they can pet her because liability, when they go in the pasture, could be outrageous. And same with the chickens. I mean, I’ve had some that really wanted to hold the chickens so, yeah, okay.
Delia:
And do they just request it or you also offer it as an Airbnb experience?
Maureen Bruggeman:
I don’t offer it. They see them and they asked about them and then yeah, I’ll let them.
Delia:
Okay, so around there in Selden, Kansas, are there many Airbnbs or short-term rentals in general?
Maureen Bruggeman:
There’s getting to be more. I was the first one in Selden and now, there’s a gentleman redoing an old Victorian house in Selden. I think he’s thinking about Airbnbing it. But his nephew, bought another house in Selden. He actually lives in Colorado and he comes out here for, we have a big Fourth of July fireworks, huge and he’s part of that and so they’re out here part-time. So he thinks he’s going to Airbnb his house while he’s not there. So.
Delia:
So by now, how many would you say are there?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Right now, I’m the only one, but probably by the end of the year, there might be three.
Delia:
You’re the only one Airbnb there.
Maureen Bruggeman:
In Selden, yes, there’s one about eight miles away.
Delia:
So you told me you mostly get travelers and…
Maureen Bruggeman:
And hunters.
Delia:
Travelers and hunters. So is there any seasonality really, for you?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Yeah, I’m really busy from like September through the first of February because it is hunting season and I do offer some pretty good amenities for hunters. We’ve got a hanging game gambrel, so if they shoot a deer, they can bring it into the shop and clean it and cut it up and package it if they want or keep it out or whatever they want to do. Same with peasants. We’ve got a place where they can clean them and then we’ve got, you know, warm water and whatnot in the shop. And they’re not putting it down my sink in the oil in my Airbnb and they’re not, you know, the one guy says, “oh, I’ve cleaned the deer in a hotel bathtub before”. Let’s not do that. So I just have the amenities for them to be able to do that. So.
Delia:
Okay, it’s great that you offer those amenities. Do you think about getting those just along the way when you started doing Airbnb? Or did you already have it before for personal use?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Not the gambrel. I mean, we did have the sink in the shop for cleaning birds because we do have regular pheasant hunters that come out once a year. So yeah, the gambrel was something else and it’s been used a lot. It’s okay.
Delia:
Okay, that’s great then! And can you tell me, how much would be your occupancy rate during, you know, these high seasons?
Maureen Bruggeman:
I generally try to keep it about the same. It’s about $85 at night.
Delia:
And you get booked during all the month?
Maureen Bruggeman:
I get booked frequently, yes, as much as I want to. A lot of times, I’ll go in and block off dates because I know I’m working and I don’t want to have to deal with turnover a room or whatever. Or when my mom was going through cancer treatments, I would be taking her to and from Hays, which is like a two hour and 50 mile round trip, something like that. So, you know, on those days, I would rock things off, so I didn’t have to worry about people. Our community is only 200 people, so finding somebody who come and clean to my standards.
Delia:
Yes, that’s right! Okay, so for the days you have opened your monthly book during the high season and during the low season, how would you say it’s the occupancy rate?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Probably once or twice a week.
Delia:
And you get the calendar open during all the months if you don’t have, you know, anything to do?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Right. Yes, yes.
Delia:
That’s great. So you talked about cleaning, you just do it yourself. Right?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Correct.
Delia:
Okay, so is it, you know, a hard work, is it a big place or is it easy to read for you?
Maureen Bruggeman:
It’s 15 by 15 foot square and then it got an attached nine by eight bathroom or something like, I can’t remember the size of it, so it’s fairly small, but I wash everything. I wash the beds all the way down to the mattress cover, I wash the curtains, I wash the shower curtains, I wash the rugs, I wash everything, every turnover, you know and then I have an ozone machine that I run to kill off any germs. Then I run an air scrubber and then I, you know, wipe everything down with microbiome just to be safe because, you know, COVID.
Delia:
Cleaning, even cleaning the curtains in between stays.
Maureen Bruggeman:
Yes, I clean all everything because you don’t know what people touch.
Delia:
That’s right. I agree with that. So you told me about your average daily rate being $85, you keep that during all year?
Maureen Bruggeman:
Pretty much yeah.
