A filmmaker says he made over $200,000 by renting out his home on Airbnb

Dany Papineau, from Montreal in Canada, says he was saved from the brink of bankruptcy after making thousands by letting out his home on Airbnb.

If you don't know about Airbnb, it's a website that lets people rent out their property to holiday guests. It works as a sort of online marketplace.

Papineau, an actor and filmmaker, told Business Insider that he was left completely broke after self-producing his first feature film called "2 Frogs in the West." He said he borrowed nearly half a million dollars from friends and family to finance the movie. It got a positive response, but the cash ran out.

Papineau and his boyfriend, Brad, decided to put their home on the market to try to make some money back - but their realtor (strangely) suggested they let it out on Airbnb instead. They did, and the move worked out well.

"Not only has this service allowed me to keep my home by hosting over 1,000 guests from around the world, but I was able to generate more than $200,000 from this endeavour," Papineau told Business Insider. "It changed our life," he added.

Their house is rather nice, incidentally ...

On the day Papineau contacted BI, he had taken $1,500 of bookings. "I don't think I've ever made this much money of my life in one day," he mentioned.

The dream didn't start off particularly well, though. "When I first started on Airbnb, I was a bit naive and I was saying '"yes" to all booking requests," Papineau noted.

On one occasion, a guest pretended to book Papnieau's place for three people. Instead, 30 revellers arrived for a big party, which caused $4,000 in damages. Papineau says that a recent story about a host who saw $12,000 of damage at his property through an unruly set of Airbnb guests moved him to get in touch.

But Papineau said he and Brad learned their lesson, and now make a huge amount of money hosting people at their house. And as a result, the couple have set up AirbnbSecrets.com, an online resource that offers coaching tips for would-be Airbnb users.

Papineau offers video tutorials to people who want to set themselves up as hosts. Over the past year they've helped others turn Airbnb into a profitable business as well as a way of offering more alternative holiday accommodation.

Papineau explained that Airbnb "basically provides the entire recipe required to start a successful Airbnb listing anywhere on the planet and monetise it to its maximum potential." Where he failed at marketing his film, he's succeeded in launching an Airbnb venture, he concedes.

"Everything happens for a reason and I've learned tons of business lessons from this adventure. So much that I can say that my Airbnb success is directly linked to what I've learned from failing to properly market my film," he wrote.

Having a nice house also helps, of course. Have a look inside Papineau's property.