@Scott-and-Christy0 It isn't an O, it's a zero 🙂 And you can't remove it.
The numbers were added after the names here on the forum a couple years ago to facilitate being able to tag whichever other poster in a thread you are responding to. Before that, only 5 names ever appeared in a tagging box even if there were 15 posters in a thread and you couldn't tag anyone else but the original 5.
That number only appears here on the forum, not on your hosting account or name. They basically correspond to how many people with your account name came before you. So I'm the 977th Sarah to ever post on this forum, and you are apparently the first Scott-and-Christy combo. 🙂
There isn't an onsite host "option". It's something that hosts write in their listing description. Usually stated something like "This is an onsite host listing. We live in another house on the property, so we are easily available should you need assistance, but we of course respect our guest's privacy. We are happy to chat if you see us out on the property, or if you are more private, feel free to keep to yourselves."
That's a good idea to get friends to stay and give you advice. Also if a listing isn't somewhere a host has actually spent a day and night in themselves, it's a good idea to do so. Because we don't usually clean and stock and do maintenance at night, there are things we might miss. Like "OMG, I didn't realize that porch light glares in the bedroom window at night, we'd better put some blackout curtains there." Likewise if the rising sun streams into a bedroom at 6am.
Or you lay in bed at night with the light on, reading, look up and go "Oh, gross. That ceiling light fixture is full of dead bugs." Something you'd never notice if you weren't lying on that bed at night.
About the beds. The thing is, the higher the guest count, the more mess, the more potential for damage, the more of a party atmosphere there is. Not to mention the mounds of laundry. When you are bedding guests down on sleeper sofas and such, it can lead guests to think, well, what's the harm in a couple extra people, we'll show up with 14 and some air mattresses.
That you live onsite makes this less of a concern- people won't be able to sneak in extras without you being aware, nor party hearty and trash the place, so really up to you.
And nothing is written in stone. You can always increase or decrease your guest count and change anything else once you see how it goes. Plenty of hosts have.
