I have a bi-level house that I put a legal basement suite into in Sherwood Park and I agree with everything in Weitz' (re)post except for a couple things. My place in suburbia is well outside of Edmonton and book suites are always booked. This may be because Edmonton is no good but I'm having no problem keeping the units occupied. There has been a wide range of guests from Canada, the US and currently Europeans in the basement. People coming for weddings, K days / CapEx or whatever it's called, lol), business travellers, students, tradespeople, Fort Mac fire. All kinds.
I was going to initially do the long term lease thing but I researched and talked to some Airbnb hosts and ultimately went that way. It so far has been great. More than traditional leasing.
That said, there are things to consider. First, my neighbours sic'd the County on me because they saw people coming and going and didn't know what was going on. The county opened an investigation (certified letter c/w standard list of threats, lol) under the assumption that it was an actual bed and breakfast operation or a boarding house. Once I explained how Airbnb operated they have not called back. This gave me an opportunity to engage the neighbours. I explained everything to them, the guest vetting process, etal, gave my phone number and they obviously can see the investment that's been made plus the ongoing upkeep. At this point their concerns have been nullified and they are now eyes and ears for me in the event of any guest misadventures. A 180 swing.
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Second, there is work involved. We have opted to handle suite cleaning ourselves and leave a minimum of two days between guests. And average clean is four or five hours. Your place needs to be spotless, especially kitchens and bathrooms, when new guests come in. Lots of guests don't make much of an effort to clean up (despite the guest agreement), a few have been outright pigs and a few it's been like they were never there. Almost no one complies with the separation of waste thing (compostables, containers, paper and regular waste). I started with a no under 2 policy and have since changed it to no one under 12. Just too much extra work to clean up after grubby-handed kids. There's coded electronic locks on both suites and they work great. There's a furnace per suite and tankless hot water - eliminates a lot of hassles.
Most guests are reasonable and easy to deal with. As mentioned, some people screen themselves out of being guests when they see the verification criteria (credit card, phone number, email address, LinkedIn or face book, plus verified govt issued ID). You learn to say no to requests that come in at 8PM that say 'NEED IN TONITE!!!!' I've had no parties or disruptive things occur but one guest parked in front of my neighbours house for weeks and eventually had to be towed. He was also the worst guest I've had in terms of honesty and cleanliness. I think he has now been ruined on Airbnb due to loads of negative feedback from hosts. Some people will ask to do cash deals but the host loses the $1M tenant insurance if not booked through Airbnb. Expect to be lied to, regularly, about the number of guests that are staying which means more clean-up and less revenue.
All transactions are secured by credit card and Airbnb are great transferring funds via direct deposit. They also have been quick to respond to calls and generally have a really helpful approach to resolving issues.
All told, despite the occasional hassle, I'm glad I went the Airbnb route. It's worked out really well so far. Feel free to pm me if you'd like more detail.