For rent via Airbnb: Outdoor bed, other quaint locales to lay your head

Airbnb has been big out West and in other parts of the country for years. Now, it’s taking off in South Carolina.

What is Airbnb?

The premise is simple: Airbnb is a website where hosts around the world rent out their spare rooms or other properties to guests.

Property-listers can specify booking periods, set rules, upload photos and charge what they want. The website is intuitive, with search criteria and results that display next to pictures and a map. A guest can look for a private or shared room, among other search filters.

Airbnb makes money by taking a cut on bookings – about 3 percent from hosts and 9 percent to 15 percent from guests, say area listers.

The company’s growth has been extraordinary.

A Wall Street Journal report last month said 400,000 people a day use Airbnb across the globe.

Many in the industry compare the service to Vacation Rentals By Owner, or VRBO, a larger online service.

There are a few differences.

VRBO listings tend to belong to second-home owners. It’s likely a VRBO guest will not share space with a host. VRBO also charges an annual listing fee. Airbnb only gets paid when a booking occurs.

Another difference is the typical lister. Many VRBO listings are run by rental companies, which manage the property for the owner. Meanwhile, Airbnb rentals are usually controlled by the owner.

SC offerings

A check of South Carolina listings on Airbnb yields a range of places, from popular areas of the Lowcountry to places off the beaten path.

Just what’s out there?

For $77 a night, Glenda Gilbert offers travelers a chance to sleep under the Bluffton stars. She rents a swing bed attached to a large live oak tree that sits next to her Old Town carriage house.

Edward Carpenter, a Marine stationed in Hawaii, rents his 32-foot boat, “Gypsy Danger,” at Lady’s Island Marina in the Lowcountry.

And Lucy Scardino and Peter Lamb rent their Bluffton cottage on the banks of the May River. Lamb offers woodworking classes for guests.

Here’s a sampling of more than 250 places listed as available around the state this weekend. Listings change frequently, so check the web site: airbnb.com.

Hilton Head Island: A spare bedroom with queen bed in a three-bedroom condo on Hilton Head Island. Quiet neighborhood with 2 swimming pools, a lake and a golf course. $99 a night, $400 for the week, $1,000 for the month (excludes fees).

Florence: A one-bedroom craftsman home in a quiet downtown neighborhood near Timrod Park. Feel free to help yourself to the pantry and kitchen. Full-size bed. $44 a night (excluding fees), $250 for the week, $900 for the month (excludes fees).

Greenville: A room in a home in Greenville, where a “real chef will cook for you.” Hosts will take you places, too. Worth noting: “We can provide beautiful authentic Chinese and Italian lunch or dinner, $10/a person.” $52 a night, $320 a week, $1,180 a month (excludes fees).

Columbia: Rent one or two rooms with an attached bathroom off Devine Street in Columbia markets itself as an option for those going to the VA hospital or USC. $49 a night, $275 a week, $899 a month (excludes fees).

Ridgeway: A plantation farm lodge where visitors can “relax with “a weekend of art workshops in our barn pottery studio or mountain bike or ride a horse or just relax and let us take care of the details. Single rooms or bunk with five friends.” $80 a night (excludes fees).

Reviews

Airbnb has made its peer-review system one of its linchpins.

Both hosts and guests – some people act as both – leave reviews for each other on the web site. A user’s success depends on those reviews. Neither hosts nor guests can edit what a reviewer writes.

“It means everyone has a vested interest,” Biondo said. “It keeps the riffraff out.”

Rockford, Ill. residents Matt and Laura Sandberg married earlier this month and traveled to Hilton Head for their honeymoon. They say their Airbnb experience was great and privacy was not an issue.

Besides a few conversations, the couple’s hosts, Tuzy and Steve Wall in Sea Pines, “have been like ninjas,” Matt Sandberg said.

For some hosts, there’s something special about giving strangers keys to their homes.

Gilbert, who rents the outdoor bed, also lists her carriage house on Airbnb. In the past few months she has rented to New Hampshire snowbirds, German travelers and Midwestern honeymooners.

Hosts say this blend of travelers – those not likely to stay in hotels and those unwilling to commit to the seven-day vacation home rental that is typical in Beaufort County – means Airbnb brings something different to the tourism market.

“This taps into a market that I don’t think we saw here before,” said Mira Scott, who rents part of her home on Hilton Head Island. “For some people, it’s the best way to travel.”

Contributing: The Island Packet

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 11:35 PM with the headline "For rent via Airbnb: Outdoor bed, other quaint locales to lay your head."