Advice for a mtb-friendly Airbnb host in Southern VT

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spadela86

Member
Hi folks!

I recently acquired a home in Southern VT and am interested in running it as a short-term rental property. We are 5 minutes from Stratton and 30 minutes from Mt Snow, both of whom operate bike parks in the summer, so I figured it would be a good idea to try and tailor the place specifically towards needs/wants of people engaging in gravel/mountain biking (downhill or XC).

You can DM me if you are interested in the property (listing isn't up yet, but will be soon), but this thread isn't about that. I am looking for input on what some good amenities would be that might make you pick one place over another.

For example, how important is:
(a) a secure place to lock your bike overnight
(b) a dedicated setup for washing your bike
(c) some sort of tooling provision (don't know how I'd prevent people stealing these)

Or are the above not important at all, because most people doing DH are renting anyway. So then what are some other ideas.

Appreciate the help/feedback.
 
A) Give them a place to bring the bikes into. Otherwise you'll end up with muddy bikes inside your place regardless. Unless I'm at some place down a long hidden driveway where I'm comfortable locking the bikes to the car rack, the bikes are going inside. Outdoor sheds work well for this. You can even put an extra hasp on the shed where people can use their own bike lock so they're comfortable it's secure.

B) For a place to wash a bike, you don't have to go crazy outside of an outdoor faucet with a hose and spray nozzle.

C) A bike workstand in a nice area that can hold a DH bike is the most important thing. After that a generic tool kit that has a spot for all the tools may be nice, but not as necessary. Something like: https://www.amazon.com/Bikehand-Bike-Bicycle-Repair-Tool/dp/B00CW911XW

Realistically people will bring tools, but not a workstand.
 
Wow, thanks for the great advice and links.

I was thinking outdoor shed as well; the house is on a decline so it's obstructed from view, and on a quiet dead end road to boot, but nonetheless I don't want to give people any reason to bring dirty bikes inside.

Workstand is a really good idea, and probably more practical than tools, which would need to be restocked. There's a large wraparound deck and a walkout basement underneath, so I've got a lot of "under deck" space to work with. Maybe I can create an outdoor space that feels kind of like an indoor space, or is at least shielded from rain/snow.
 
Stayed here during a trip to Kingdom. All the cabins have bike rack, wash station and secure storage. You can see them at the back in the overhead pic. We stayed in The Forester.

Adding there was a firepit at each cabin and a "pump track" in the front yard.

www.gnspropertiesvt.com

GNS Properties | Premium Cabin Rentals in Burke, Vermont

Our cabins are year-round accommodations for visitors of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, located minutes away from the Kingdom Trails and Burke Mountain.
www.gnspropertiesvt.com www.gnspropertiesvt.com
 
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Lots of good ideas so far. I also think a mudroom for wet shoes with lots of hooks to hang helmets/packs and a drying rack in the laundry area for air drying cycling kits.
 
CommandoStyle said:
Lots of good ideas so far. I also think a mudroom for wet shoes with lots of hooks to hang helmets/packs and a drying rack in the laundry area for air drying cycling kits.
Click to expand...
That's a great point, a mud room is pretty much a necessity. A bench in that room always helps.
 
Super interesting, thanks for sharing! Our place was pretty much move-in ready, albeit we paid more for it in purchase price I'm sure.

On my end, I haven't done anything we talked about yet (!!), there's just been so many other things to do around the house and I've had very limited time up there.
I do think the boot dryer is a great idea, not just for MTB but also ski season, so will probably make that one happen! Thanks.

Interesting to see them also reach for retro gaming...we just ordered a few Arcade1Up machines for the basement and I'll be building them the next time I'm up there. I was concerned about putting anything like a Nintendo Switch in there as people will just walk off with it. You can't really walk off with a gaming cabinet...

Our listing is live btw, in case anyone is interested: https://www.airbnb.com/h/java-house-vt. Message me on Airbnb if you want a discount...we've kept prices pretty low for June tbh.

So my to-do list right now:
  • Figure out a solution for people to lock their bikes, maybe just a rack and tell people to bring their own locks
  • Put said rack inside either a shed (ideal) or some other weatherproof location (more budget-friendly solution)
  • Build some kind of workbench in the back (outdoor)
  • Sneaker/boot dryer
  • Figure out a creative way to use the terrain. There's a lot of space in the side yard that could very well host a few small jumps (but liability?), and then there's this drop-off down to a brook...
  • 1620711355562.png
 
Looks great! Good call on squeezing in beds everywhere! I agree a boot dryer is a nice touch. Only suggestion would be a much bigger outdoor dining table on the deck to accommodate as many people as there are beds. Curious where the coffee lovers concept came from. I like it, I just think most people will find the machines too complicated and/or may break them. Definitely include operation instructions somewhere. Not sure what it looks like under the deck but is there a spot to build the bike shed under it somehow? I would also skip the jumps. Let them ride at the mountain.
 
The coffee thing was part of the idea from the beginning...the machines are actually not bad to use, and yes we will have instructions! Once COVID is over, the idea was to have some kind of "experience" where we have someone come and show you how to make coffee in various different ways (french press, espresso, etc.). That would just be something we throw in for anyone booking 3-4 nights+.

I figure if I find someone local it would be a pretty sweet little side gig to just show up a few times a month, spend an hour showing people how to use some cool coffee machines, make everyone at the house a cup of coffee (because why not, you are there), collect $50-100 + tips. we would just include in the price of the rental and it would be a cool part of the experience.

But yeah, I'm hoping nobody breaks anything until we get that sorted :) Should be fine, we went with some pretty durable stuff. The automatic drip coffee machine literally only has 1 button (on).
 
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