AirBNB as a Venue - Does anyone have experience doing this?

ClareAndRob · September 2016

My fiancé and I are very non-traditional. We want something more homey feeling than a typical banquet hall which brought us to AirBnb. Anyone have experience researching or planning a wedding with an AirBnb home as the venue for the ceremony & reception? We're planning on 150 guests.

#hudsonvalleyny #ny #airbnb

kahluakoala · September 2016

Why don't you try Splacer if you're in the New York area?

www.splacer.co

southernbelle0915 · September 2016

If I had my house up on airbnb and someone hosted a 150 person wedding there, I would PISSED.

AirBnB is literally one of the last places I would look unless the tag line said something like "wedding venue for rent". Otherwise you'd probably spend hours sifting through hundreds of listings only to realize no one wants to have you 150 person party on their property.

missfrodo · September 2016

I would be very clear upfront with the airbnb homeowner about your plans, as lying to them about your plans for the house (not that you would do this, but someone might try it) would be sure to backfire on you, and you'd be liable for any damages that were to occur on the property. My understanding of airbnb is that most people rent to a single person or family, and don't rent out for events. I imagine the insurance would be different. If you find someone who rents for events, ask them what their insurance covers, and what insurance they recommend you get. Also discuss how parking/tent/catering will work, as you're likely to have a LOT of traffic and could easily tear up someone's lawn (or even damage their driveway if it's not in good condition). I'd also check with caterers before you book anything, just to be sure THEY'RE covered, liability-wise, to work at an airbnb rental.

climbingsingle · September 2016

Yeah, I have to agree with PPs. I don't know that a lot of houses listed on Airbnb would be approved to host such a large event. 150 is a lot of people. You'd probably have to put down a very large deposit if you found a place to agree to this. And then you'd have to rent/bring in every single thing you needed. Also, what about bathrooms for 150 people? Unless you're renting a house with 10 bathrooms.

Where in the Hudson Valley are you? Have you researched any other venues?

levioosa · September 2016

ClareAndRob said:

My fiancé and I are very non-traditional. We want something more homey feeling than a typical banquet hall which brought us to AirBnb. Anyone have experience researching or planning a wedding with an AirBnb home as the venue for the ceremony & reception? We're planning on 150 guests.

#hudsonvalleyny #ny #airbnb

This seems like a definite potential disaster, and it seems very dishonest as well, unless there is full disclosure between you and the owner. Almost every AirBnb I have ever seen had a max person rate (6, 8, 14), so I can't see how they would be okay with a 100 person party. That's a lot of liability for the owner to bear. There has to be a better option.

And ditto a PP who said they would be pissed if you hosted an event with over 100 people at their house without disclosing it. If I was the owner, I'd probably follow some legal recourse. We agreed to 10 people at the house, not 150.

Jen4948 · September 2016

Assuming you can even find anyone on Airbnb who would allow their property to be rented for a wedding venue, you need to be completely open with the owners about what you have in mind for the property -- and you would need to check that the property can actually handle that many people and that you, the owners, and your vendors are sufficiently insured.

IMO, it isn't worth it. Airbnb rentals might work for guest lodgings, but I would use more conventional venues for your ceremony and reception.

climbingsingle · September 2016

Also, what would you do about parking all those cars?

InLoveInQueens · September 2016

And be incredibly careful about local laws, in NYC it's illegal to rent out a full apartment/home for less than 1 month if the tenant isn't also staying there, so you can rent a room in a 2 bedroom apartment for a week if the tenant is in the other bedroom but if you want the whole place for less than a month you risk the tenant being shut down and your booking being void and AirBnB doesn't really give two craps about you at that point. More municipalities are creating laws to keep AirBnB from taking over their area and while you can't get in trouble via the law you could lose your venue right before your wedding if the host gets shut down.

You're basically looking at renting a mansion if you want a "home" that can properly hold 150 people and all their cars. Why not look at venues that are more mansions than banquet halls, there are multiple venues like that in the tri-state area that are better equipped to hold your wedding than someone's home you found on the internet.

Also remember you would need to have insurance, among other things an actual wedding venue might have by default.

julieanne912 · September 2016

I'm wondering how your only two options are a banquet hall, or going through Air BnB? Surely, in the Hudson Valley, there are wedding venues that are designed as such, that aren't banquet halls? Wineries, restaurants, historic homes, barns, museums, art galleries etc etc?

And, why are you hashtagging? This isn't Instagram.

STARMOON44 · September 2016

I have a bunch of friends with vacation homes in the Hudson valley they rent out and they all reject these requests. They have neighbor's who would be mad, they don't have adequate insurance, they don't have room for parking, their septic tanks can't handle it.

lyndausvi · September 2016

Not through AirBnB, but we had a hard time finding a rental house that would allow us to have our RD at the house. This was in South Jersey. We had to pay extra deposits and get special insurance.

I don't see many place on AirBnb that will go for what you are planning.

LadyCatherineDB · September 2016

I understand Peerspace is like Airbnb for venues. I do not know if it is in your area, but you might look into it.

ei34 · September 2016

#idoubtyoudfindaplace #maybe10guestsbutnot150
There have been a lot of crackdowns on Airbnb in New York recently, often times because the renters do something crazy like throw a party for a lot more people than they're supposed to have in their rental. Not saying you'd deceive the owner, but I'd be surprised if there was a place large enough to accommodate 150 guests. Even if you did find a place that allowed 150 guests, the owner would then have to approve vendors (caterer, DJ, etc) on their property. Who would be liable if a vendor or guest was injured? I'd lean towards a venue (winery, farm, banquet hall) that is insured to handle weddings.

OurWildKingdom · September 2016

LadyCatherineDB said:

I understand Peerspace is like Airbnb for venues. I do not know if it is in your area, but you might look into it.

They do have some spaces in New York City. That said, I'm with @julieanne912 -- there have to be other options.

MandyPandy87 · September 2016

Oh goodness. No. Don't do a an Airbnb, especially for 150 people! Maybe if it was...10 people? Even then.

The Hudson Valley has TONS of beautiful venues that aren't a typical banquet hall venue. Here's a list of a few we looked at when we were considering having our wedding in the Hudson Valley:

http://www.ashokandreams.com/weddings_and_celebrations
http://www.belltowervenue.com/photo-gallery.html
http://www.hamhouse.com/
http://www.lambshill.com/#!/EVENT_BARN

Honestly, just type in "wedding venues hudson valley" into the google and you will find places so much better then an airbnb.

00kim00 · September 2016

The venue we used is a property on VRBO- not Airbnb, but similar. At the time of my wedding, they specifically listed weddings as something they do, with special pricing, catering, and rental tables, linens, etc. They started as a regular VRBO property (it was a cabin on some property on a mountain) and one day someone asked if they could do a wedding there. Someone saw pictures or read a review or something, and the next year there were 3 weddings. My wedding was a year or two after that, and they built a bunch of cabins and tent cabins, and by then about half of their summer reservations were weddings. Now they're booked for weddings almost every week of the year, they have a tent that fits 150 people they can use in bad weather, and they have lodging for close to 40 people. I've also come across some other Airbnb or VRBO rentals that specifically say they're open to use for large parties, family reunions, and/or weddings (I'm on the west coast, though, so no idea about your area). My advice is to only look at places that already say they'll have weddings there, and ideally places that have already hosted weddings so they'll have some experience and have worked out some kinks. Be sure to ask about how many people they can hold and how they handle insurance, bathrooms, parking, and loud music. And as others said, do NOT try to hide the fact that it's a wedding from your hosts.

PrettyGirlLost · September 2016

00kim00 said:

The venue we used is a property on VRBO- not Airbnb, but similar. At the time of my wedding, they specifically listed weddings as something they do, with special pricing, catering, and rental tables, linens, etc. They started as a regular VRBO property (it was a cabin on some property on a mountain) and one day someone asked if they could do a wedding there. Someone saw pictures or read a review or something, and the next year there were 3 weddings. My wedding was a year or two after that, and they built a bunch of cabins and tent cabins, and by then about half of their summer reservations were weddings. Now they're booked for weddings almost every week of the year, they have a tent that fits 150 people they can use in bad weather, and they have lodging for close to 40 people. I've also come across some other Airbnb or VRBO rentals that specifically say they're open to use for large parties, family reunions, and/or weddings (I'm on the west coast, though, so no idea about your area). My advice is to only look at places that already say they'll have weddings there, and ideally places that have already hosted weddings so they'll have some experience and have worked out some kinks. Be sure to ask about how many people they can hold and how they handle insurance, bathrooms, parking, and loud music. And as others said, do NOT try to hide the fact that it's a wedding from your hosts.

This.

I have relatives that own a number of vacation properties that they rent out via VRBO. They explicitly state the occupancy of each cabin, condo, beach house, etc. and they also explicitly state that renters are not allowed to throw parties on the property.

They caught renters throwing a party at one of their cabins once, and I believe they pursued legal action against them.

MCmeow · September 2016

I also dislike banquet halls, I basically became a NY venue expert (not really), researched for months, and there's a lot of venues in NY that have the homey feel that won't be as complicated as what you're thinking, as everyone else said, I don't recommend Airbnb for something so logistically complicated as a wedding, I almost considered something similar, and now I'm so glad I didn't go that route.

Here's a few that I found:

The alice austen house in staten island:

Image: http://www.nybeyondsight.org/img/portspics/alice-austen-house.jpg

The brooklyn society for ethical culture:

The prospect park picnic house (and boat house nearby):
Prospect Park Picnic House - Brooklyn NY

The old stone house in brooklyn:

And plenty more!

bohobrideCA · September 2016

I'm found my venue on Airbnb! We wanted the same, an estate wedding that doesn't feel like your average venue and wanted to be able to house some people during the festivities. We are using it for the ceremony, reception, rehearsal dinner/ pool party the day before and we're staying at the house for the whole weekend. The owner of the house serves a full service wedding planner so it's not just a random listing. 99% of the other listings on Airbnb did not cater to our 100 people wedding but it's where we found our venue so it's worth looking in to.

climbingsingle · September 2016

Since you're looking in the Hudson Valley, check out these places:

http://www.tornevalleyvineyards.com/

http://stormking.org/get_involved/private-events/

http://www.brotherhood-winery.com/wineryGrandSalon.html

This restaurant also does weddings, and is really cool.
http://www.il-fresco.com/

Heffalump · September 2016

We are staying via Airbnb later this week, and I happened to notice that when we booked, the house rules specifically said no parties, gatherings, or other events. So if you go this route (I wouldn't), read the listing very, very carefully, and ask the host if you are at all uncertain.

MandyMost · October 2016

I went to a wedding at a rented house/mansion once. It was very specifically NOT a venue, but just a big giant house. I think it had 8 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms or something like that. Huge patio outside that was big enough for 80 people or so. Other houses/mansions the couple was looking at fit more people with larger patios or big grand foyers. As it wasn't a venue, they had to hire a caterer and figure out all the logistics themselves.

They found the house online at a vacation/house rental website, but not AirBnB.

[Deleted User] · October 2016

Yes, I found my venue on VRBO. I believe there was an option to filter homes by places that allow events, such as weddings. It's a private estate, which is exactly what we wanted, and surprisingly affordable since it wasn't a typical wedding venue. I'm so happy we went with that option. Keep in mind, though, that unlike typical venues, we had to find our own caterer, rent a tent, tables, chairs, etc. whereas many venues will have a caterer and tables/chairs.

AirBNB as a Venue - Does anyone have experience doing this?

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