Covid Safety for Hosts

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

Covid Safety for Hosts:

As a traditional (in-our-house) host, both of us in our 70's, we are concerned about how to stay safe and healthy when we are able to resume hosting all those truly delightful people from everywhere else.

There are all sorts of legitimate concerns about keeping guests safe and  comfortable that the guest space is clean and healthy. This is excellent marketing, and a legitimate concern for us cleaning between guests.

What about us? We fall into high risk category for Covid-19. Hosting is a great joy for us, and the income is  keeping us in our home, paying taxes, and repairs. We are over 6 years as 5 stars for cleanliness (and everything else), and proud of it.  It is a big question for me about how to keep ourselves safe and healthy when we open up again. This takes trust to a whole new level.

Does anyone have ideas on how to politely and effectively handle this? 

[Scott-and-Kathy0]

Hi Kitty and Creek,

We are in the same boat except that we have a small and separate guest house next door.  We're in our 60's and healthy, but are concerned for ourselves and our guests.  The fact that the virus can live for an undermined time on various surfaces is a huge concern.  Our daughter and her husband moved back to the farm and have been living in the guest house for the last 2 months, but we have opened the cottage back up to guests and they are living in the upstairs of our house.  We have decided to start a 2 night minimum as well as block 2-3 days before and after each guest to let any virus die before going in and cleaning. This reduces our bookings considerably, but it's the only way to be certain of everyone's safety. 

I hate to say it, but if I had an Airbnb inside my house I probably would stop doing it. You may not have that option due to finances.  Masks, gloves and a lot of bleach  Good luck!

Scott

[Kitty-and-Creek0 · Accepted solution]

@Scott-and-Kathy0 

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm so glad this is working out for you. Agreed that down time between guests is sensible, and that overnighters are a lot of work, especially these days. 

At the moment our Public Health has banned all tourist rentals, STR, VR, hotel, motel, (except for "essential" workers) until it is quite safe to reopen everything. Our county is very dependent on tourism, but also we are rural and with 12 beds in our local hospital, we are not equipped to handle a lot of very sick people.  We are personally fine with that, as it is not comfortable to us to bring in this serious traveling bug without a vaccine.  We will welcome it as we do our annual flu vaccine, which has kept us healthy for decades. Personally I am unafraid of death, but the suffering part that often precedes it is not to my liking, and I am having too much fun to exit this body just yet.  

We stopped hosting in mid February, when it became obvious that there was an epidemic happening. Our local CoV cases have arrived with travelers, and the locals are not feeling comfortable with importing more of this bug. So far so good. Tightening our belts is fine, and do-able. Money cannot replace our health, so there is no question at all there. 

May all of us be safe, healthy, joyful and back to "normal" soon

Kitty

[Sally221]

These are some times we are in & who knows how long they will last! We aren't hosting either and I'm not sure when & how we might resume, at least it's easier to belt tighten when there are no places to spend disposable income open anyway. Our daughter was a Humboldt student for a couple of years which pushed me to discover the unspoilt beauty of Northern California. I knew nothing about the lands past the Mendocino coast & there's a green, green land up there. I hope you have a glorious Summer & lots of blackberries.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Sally221 

Berkeley is where  was born and raised, and we moved up here 30 years ago from the East Bay. You are also in a very special location, for sure. I spent much of my childhood hiking and camping both on the gorgeous coast, and especially here, inland in the mountains, forests and rivers.  It is glorious. I look forward to the day when we can welcome guests again, to share the gifts of wilderness.  Perhaps you would do us the honor of connecting in person up here. It would be a lot of fun to have a family of hosts get together, yes? A blackberry summer to you, too!