A stone's throw from Liverpool's iconic stadium, the Anfield Cafe is packed full of hungry football fans tucking into a hearty full English.
While the cafe has become somewhat of an Anfield Road institution -the cosy eatery adorned with an array of signed LFC memorabilia - upstairs is home to a more recent enterprise. After the pandemic, owner Helena Charous decided to venture into the Airbnb market, and now regularly welcomes guests from every corner of the globe to stay in the upstairs flat.
Helen told the ECHO : “The flat was empty for a while because of covid. I’d started renting it out before that and I was thinking about getting it ready for the next tenant.
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"Then I heard about Airbnb and I thought, with fans coming from all over the world, it would be a great idea. My guests are mostly people coming for the football and it's brilliant."
Currently, there are almost 1,000 Airbnb listings in Liverpool, with 52% of entire houses earning up to £2,593 a month. According to data centre Airbtics, a two-bedroom apartment in Liverpool can make owners up to £45,068 each year but, in addition to the significant earning potential, Helena finds meeting a host of new people one of the most rewarding aspects of Airbnb.
Helena said: “I’m lucky because I get good guests. I do all the cleaning myself so it is hard but I really enjoy it. It’s nice to meet all these nice people who come and visit our city. People come from America, Turkey, Brazil, everywhere, so it's nice to see different cultures.”
While Helena doesn't live in the flat herself, there are plenty of Airbnb owners who host guests in their own homes. One such 'superhost' is David Needham, who has been letting out a double room in his Toxteth home since 2012.
David, originally from County Dublin, came to the city for university almost 30 years ago and has seen thousands of guests pass through his door over the last decade. He said: "I think I was probably among the first people do Airbnb in Liverpool.
"I tend to leave the guests to themselves but you do have a bit of interaction. If you were staying in a hotel, you wouldn’t want someone coming to knock on your door every five minutes so it's important to respect people’s privacy. I’m always there to help in they need me but I’m not in their faces.
“You meet a lot of people but you don’t necessarily get to know them that well. Most people tend to stay a maximum of two or three nights so sometimes you hardly see them. Over the last ten years, I must have had more than 1,000 guests."
He added: "The vast majority of guests I have are absolutely fine but every now and then you get one or two idiots or people who come with ridiculous expectations of what you can get for a £25 room. For me, the average customer is a young couple in their 20s or 30s trying to save a bit of money on a trip.”
Alongside young couples, David says football fans are "probably the biggest customer base", as well as the occasional tourist visiting to take in a Beatles tour.
Earlier this year, Airbnb announced a permanent ban on all parties and events in listings globally, after introducing a temporary measure during the pandemic. In September, councillors representing the city centre, Anfield and Greenbank - where so-called party-lets have become an increasing problem - put forward a motion calling for the development of a Tourist Accommodation Registration Scheme in England to give local councils greater powers to take action over party lets and allow council officers to obtain a register of addresses and the property owner's contact details.
However, David said while he can "understand people wanting to regulate party flats", most Airbnb owners are "just normal people looking for a bit of extra cash". He said: “For me, Airbnb has been a very liberating experience. I hear a lot of negative talk about Airbnb and people saying ‘oh they’re all being turned into party flats’ but for me it has been great.
"10 years ago, I was working in a terrible job I didn’t like, so someone suggested Airbnb and it's allowed me to make enough of a living to give up my job and spend my time volunteering and doing things I like to. If you rent out a room in the traditional way and you get a nightmare tennnant, you’re stuck with them for six months but with Airbnb it's not like that.
“Sometimes, you feel you can’t own up to being an Airbnb host. If somebody asks what you do for work, you have to say something else, it's like saying you work for the tax office. There’s a lot of negative stories about Airbnb but it's actually quite a positive thing to do.”
And last week, Airbnb owners received a huge boost following the announcement that Liverpool is set to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest next May. Thousands of people are expected to descend on the city, and back in Anfield, Helena can't wait for the showpiece event.
She said: "When Eurovision got announced, I was booked up straight away. I couldn’t believe it. Obviously, I bump my prices up a little bit when events are happening but I’m not greedy and some of the prices for Eurovision are disgusting.
"I'm so excited for Eurovision though and hopefully it will bring a lot of people to our city."
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