‘I boost my pension by £2,000 a month by Airbnbing a Hobbit-themed pod’
Samantha Andrews retired in 2017 aged 49, joining her husband to enjoy the fruits of decades in the workforce.
“He didn’t want to retire on his own,” she said, now 56. Not long after she quit her job as a manager of a college, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “They were trialling younger people for a mammogram. I would never have known if I hadn’t retired early.”
What ensued was a year of treatment followed by recovery. Ms Andrews and her husband have a big garden in their house in Cheshire, so they decided to build a glamping pod. Initially, Ms Andrews used it to recuperate in.
But before long, the two realised its business potential. Now, the pod – which is Hobbit-themed – turns over £2,000 a month renting it out for half the year, from April to September.
She is one of a growing number of older homeowners who are turning to Airbnb in order to plug shortfalls in their retirement savings.
Nearly a third of Airbnb’s UK-based hosts are retired, with those over 50 now making up 42pc of all hosts on its platform – up from 37pc five years ago.
The proportion of hosts over 60 has also increased over the same period, from 15pc to 19.2pc – and the holiday let portal also counts 7.5pc more retired hosts since 2019.
Those in their late 40s and early 50s currently face an average savings shortfall of around £160,000 if they want to enjoy a “moderate” retirement, according to insurer Phoenix.
A “moderate” annual retirement income in the UK was recently reclassified, with the goalposts now between £31,300 and £43,100 – depending on whether you’re single or married.
Even now that Ms Andrews can draw on her private pension, the supplementary income still feels essential. Her teachers’ pension is about £5,000 a year, equal to around £100 per week.
The Airbnb pays for her home and car insurance, Christmas, and the couple’s oil-fuelled boiler. “Without it, it would be really tight. I wouldn’t be able to do things in retirement. We have a motorhome which it pays for too, and that allows us to go away for a few weeks after summer is over.
“It’s also a stream of income which will be mine in the future and gives me my independence.”
Older homeowners have many available rooms to rent out in this way. More than four fifths of baby boomer households have spare bedrooms that are being left unused, according to Telegraph analysis of official data. The most recent census found that 84.1pc of households where the main resident is over 65 were considered “under-occupied”.
When Liz Matthews’ son left for university in 2022, she started to let out his room, which has its own private entrance.
The 54-year-old freelance bookkeeper in South Devon, who earns £32,000 a year, isn’t sure when she will retire. After her divorce five years ago, she realised she needed to make sure her savings are ready for the future.
She now makes an extra £10,000 each year from renting out the unused room. Living in Kingsbridge, the four-bedroom family home is 15 minutes from a lot of beaches and just half an hour away from Dartmoor.
Ms Matthews said: “A lot of my friends do the same here. One has a basement flat in her five-bedroom house. Hers is even busier than mine, but she’s not working so she’s got more time to do the changeover between bookings.
“The extra income funds my holidays and the running of the house – but I am also trying to save as much as possible for retirement. The house is for a family, so I might as well make use of it.”
In the next five to 10 years, Ms Matthews intends to downsize to a two-bedroom flat. But for now, she wants to keep the home her children grew up in so she can still host them and their families when they come to visit.
The Government’s Rent a Room scheme allows homeowners to make up to £7,500 in rental income before having to pay any tax on their earnings. For Ms Matthews, this means she pays 20pc tax on £2,500 in earnings – equivalent to £500 each year.
The mother-of-two said: “The threshold makes it appealing too, because I don’t have to pay too much in tax on my earnings.”
Patrick Thomson, of Phoenix, said that midlifers fast-approaching retirement are among “the least financially prepared”.
He added: “They have typically missed out on final salary pensions and also the introduction of a lifetime of workplace pension saving through auto-enrolment.
“Some are looking to save more where they can, from spending less on holidays and luxuries items to renting out a spare room. But a significant group is still at risk of sleepwalking into retirement without sufficient savings to fund it.”
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