Do you provide gym equipment in your listing?

[Elisa]

Hi everyone,

As people are turning towards a healthy lifestyle, it might be interesting to include gym or yoga equipments to the listing. I'm curious to know if the hosts in our community provide any fitness gear for guests? 

Do you go with simple equipments such as dumbbells 🏋🏻, yoga mats 🧘🏻‍♀️ or treadmills 🏃? 

How do your guests react to having such fitness amenities?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Regards,
Elisa

[Robin4]

@Elisa 

Elisa, @Jeff2866  absolutely hit the nail on the head!

You have to consider, your listing is your turf..........to you, what is in it, what you offer and how it works is......'bleedin obvious'! To a stranger it is all foreign and it is not advisable to supply anything to a guest that could in any way pose a hosting risk!

And it is not just limited to gym equipment. It would be lovely to be that accommodating host and let guests use your pushbikes, kayaks, jet skis, mopeds but, you must consider that anything a guest can use beyond the perimeter of your insured space renders you liable to any public claim. 

I have seen a host successfully taken to court over an accident claim involving a pushbike and a motor vehicle. It was argued in court that the pushbike was not maintained in a fit state for public use and formed a part of the rental agreement rendering the host liable! 

Anything you supply that puts temptation in a guest's way that may tax their physical ability/agility is a strict no-no, whether it be on the property or in public space.

Thank you for bringing this up @Jeff2866, this is an incredibly important point that cannot be over emphasized! Particularly in a litigious society like the USA.

Cheers.........Rob.

[Frances3408]

@Elisa. Great topic. We don't, mainly because our main categories are National Parks and Beaches/Beachfront.

Plus we are pet friendly so if the swimming and the trek up and down Seven Mile Beach isnt enough (95% of which is an off leash dog beach) then bushwalking and trail mountain bike riding are options.

We are also fortunate to have council playgrounds with fitness stations as well as a pool, skatepark, playgrounds etc. Oh, and we have an 18 hole golf course built on sand right alongside the beach so even in the heaviest of rain people can exercise. All free (apart from golf).

Why would I want to take on the risk and maintenance myself? 🙂

[Frances3408]

Also I forgot to mention local riding school offers sunrise horse rides along the beach.

[Quincy]

@Frances3408 Sunrise horse rides along the beach sound fantastic. Have you mentioned this in your listing? I’d love to hear how you highlight local experiences like this for your guests.

[Frances3408]

@QuincyHi Quincy, yes in my Guide I promote the local riding school, which has been around for a long time. The sunrise rides are at their discretion so I try not to overly promote but encourage guests to contact them direct. I do a lot of local business promoting, some through the Guide but also I send info in messages with links. Almost 100% of my guests are holiday visitors so dont know the area.

[Robin4]

@Frances3408 

That's fine Frances and you are on safe ground. If a guest chooses to use whatever facilities your local area has to offer while staying, so be it, that is at their risk.

What I am addressing is this thread question and the risk a host subjects themselves to by offering their own equipment for guest use.

I have a couple of really good pushbikes here, one of them a competition road bike, and there are many kilometres of cycle-ways/pathways just outside the property........but there is no way I would offer them for guest use.

If they want to hire bikes from the local bike shop, that's fine, but that doesn't expose me to any risk of injury or damage claim! The same if a guest wants to hire a treadmill or a weight-bench from a local fitness supplier to use on your property. That is their risk not yours.

Cheers........Rob.

[Elisa]

Hi @Robin4 😊

This is a very good point, thank you!

I understand that it’s important to think carefully about risks when you have a guest.

Have you ever thought about offering them another kind of activity that doesn’t represent a risk?

Maybe painting, a nice walk, or something else... 

Warm regards🌻

[Robin4]

@Elisa 

Elisa, I am a host, I never like to let a good drinking partner escape!! And in my house rules folder I do list the nice walking trails in the area.

I do however like and encourage guests involvement around here! I have beautiful stories of guests involvement in the garden, but maybe that's for another post!

Up the back of the house block, I have my 'man cave'!

It's just a shed, but every man needs his escape space, somewhere he can do whatever he wants with.....A woman's influence is not required here!

Inside I have my computer, my wine racks, all those things that are dear to me.....

Including my piano......

I have played a piano all my life,  but when we moved into the hills I found it almost impossible to keep an acoustic piano in tune with the change of season, so in 1994 I bought a very good quality digital piano, and have played that ever since! It's sound, touch and feel is always, perfect!

We had a couple book to stay here for an evening a few summers ago. They belong to a worldwide service club, and as part of a cultural exchange they had a 67 year old Japanese woman staying with them.

They took this woman into the Flinders Ranges to show her some of the beauty of the Australian outback and booked a night here on their way home.....my property being about the half way point between the outback and their home in Victoria.

It was a nice warm afternoon and they asked me to join them at one of the outdoor settings for a drink and a chat, and conversation got around to the fact I had a piano in my man cave!

This Japanese woman pricked up her ears and asked in very broken English if she could see the piano, so we moved into the man cave. This woman sat down at that piano and she was THE best jazz pianist I have ever heard!!

She played all the old jazz classics with a touch and feel I had never heard before, we got a heap of Indian takeaway for dinner and listened to her long into the night.

You can't manufacture experiences like these! They just come out of nowhere and make it such a wonderful experience being an Airbnb host!

So Elisa, yes I do encourage guests activities here.....but only on things they can't damage or hurt themselves on!.

Cheers.........Rob.

[Elisa]

Hi @Robin4 

What you’ve told us here is just a dream! 😍

It’s nice to share different activities, and anything involving music is my favorite.

Is the jazz pianist living in Japan?

Let us know if you share other kinds of experiences, too. I’m definitely curious!

Warm regards🌻,

[Robin4]

@Elisa 

I do still have contact with her Elisa. Her name is Ito Fujishiro and she lives in Chiba in Tokyo. She used to play professionally years ago but now just plays to express her creativity. Every now and then I send her something I have done and she sends me interpretations of her music. Music knows no barriers Elisa, it is the language of the world.

Experiences, my God how many would you like?

I got a strange booking request from (I will call him Shane) from South Dakota. I looked at his profile and he had no guest reviews but did have one review as a host......

The thing that intrigued me Elisa, he had one wish list item on his profile,  and that was to stay at my listing. In his booking request he was to fly to Australia from the West coast of the USA stay a week in our listing and then fly back to the US again!!!!!

Who on earth does that? Flies half way round the world to simply spend a week in one obscure Airbnb listing. I thought he might have been a company mole coming to check us out so I accepted his booking, but I made sure I didn't leave any stone un- turned here. This was going to be an exemplary hosting.

Shane arrived and we spent a nice week, we shared a few drinks and meals. He tried to convert me into drinking Bourbon Whisky and I tried to convert him to Adelaide Hills Shiraz.....both of which were singularly unsuccessful. 

But he wasn't a company mole, he was just a rancher from the Black Hills of Dakota!

I said to him....."Why have you come all this way just to spend  a week in one location"?  Shane took a breath and started to tear up! He said his wife was an ultra-marathon runner and a few years previously she had been out training, was struck by a vehicle and never came home! Shane was forever holding that candle of love for her and having difficulty moving on with his life and he said...."Each year I go to an Airbnb I think she would have liked"!  and in 2017, it was ours! 

Cheers.......Rob.

[Elisa]

That's so beautiful@Robin4 ‌😍‌!  

You should write another book with all these wonderful stories!

When someone returns, it means we’ve done a great job.

I wish you all the best. 🌻

[Frances3408]

@Robin4. Rob, we still have 2 mountain bikes which were our wedding presents to each other so going on 33 years old now. Still work ok on the flat roads around here and were top range in their day but probably not up to a serious ride now.

[Robin4]

@Frances3408 

Possibly a lot has changed in 33 years Frances. 

I hadn't realized the potential dangers associated with cycling until I bought my most recent bike.

For years I regularly cycle around 200 Kms per week so, I am not a complete greenhorn on a bike. But this bike is something else!

It is an American 'Specialized'  brand carbon fibre road racing bike, with a massive 62 tooth chain ring!

I regularly cycle the 75 Km loop on the Amy Gillett Cycleway from home out to Mt Torrens which used to be part of the Adelaide hills rail line system back in the 70's.

Not long after purchasing this bike I had reached the summit of Mt Torrens on my return and there was about a 7 Km gentle downhill slope with big wide sweeping bends. The wind was behind me so I thought....'Here we go, I will open it up a bit'! 

It was a great feeling but as I started to really wind it up I looked down at the speedo and I was doing 74 KPH and I suddenly thought...."My God, I could kill myself if I come off at this speed" so I backed it off to a more leisurely pace.

I can fully appreciate that some young buck guest would get a thrill stretching that bike out to 80-90 KPH.

The problem with life is, everything is a competition and the world is full of people who want to push their boundaries!

Cheers.......Rob.

[Elisa]

Thank you! @Frances3408 😊

I appreciate your comment here, your place sounds amazing. 😍

Regarding the golf course, do you offer a discount to your guests?

Do they need to rent the equipment?

Warm regards🌻,

[Frances3408]

@Elisa. The golf course is council owned land with pretty cheap rates already so I cant really offer a discount. Yes they can hire but most guests have their own. I had a golfer stay at one listing just 2 weeks ago- I think they were doing an inter club thing. I really should add more info in my Guide (time permitting).

BUT I tried to get golfing category added to another one of my listings but Airbnb turned me down. Funny, considering its only 300m away! If I could get it added I would think that would be a handy way to promote sport- maybe you can ask them?  😉