London Hosts: My Marvelous Irish Actor Friend Needs Lodging!

[Rebecca181]

Hello Everyone, 

A dear friend has landed in London and will be taking on some film work, etc. He is on an 'actor's budget'. A weekly or even a monthly rate would be ideal.  A place a bit outside of London (he can commute in) is also acceptable. 

If you have a small lodging that might suit him, can you pm me here? 

Appreciatively,

Rebecca

[Rowena29]

@Rebecca181 

It's great that you are trying to support your friend, but the community boards are more a place where hosts come together to support each other and trouble shoot.  It's highly unlikely that someone in London will read and respond to your message and this forum is not really the place to do this. Hosts don't come here searching for potential guests.  Guests are meant to do the looking and the research and then approach the host.

If you want to support your friend why not search for a listing for him in the traditional way yourself?

You can enter the location, narrow down your search by using filters such as maximum price, number of guests, as well as places that accept longer term stays.  Then only listings that meet those criteria will be shown to you.      You can save those listings you think look appropriate and support your friend to create an account, if he doesn't' already have one and make a booking.

Good luck

[Rebecca181]

Wow, I've been a Super Host here for years - Had no idea I could not post in the manner I did.

Mods, feel free to delete.

Thanks for the resources given. 

[Sarah977]

@Rebecca181  Of course you can post this. I could see myself doing the same some day. Hopefully someone will see it and respond with something suitable.

[Susan17]

Hey @Rebecca181. If your buddy decides to hop over here for a few days during his London trip, send him in my direction and I'll make sure he's well looked after while he's here. Any friend of yours, and all that.. 😉

We're in good company, @Rowena29 🙂 Rebecca is a long-time and much-valued contributor to the CC, and has been chatting with many of us UK and Irish hosts for the past two or three years, so she was probably just  hoping to pick up some personal recommendations from the hosts she already knows and trusts here in the CC, rather than her friend having to trawl through page after page of unfamiliar London listings nimself (which can be a challenging task, at the best of times). Makes perfect sense that she should post this in the CC, where hopefully, fellow hosts might be able to help her out. 

[Rebecca181]

Great to know, @Susan17. I only just now saw this. Thank you for the kind offer, my friend is delightful with many good stories to share, I hope you meet him one day. I'll also tell you when he is in a film or play in your area. And thank you also for your kind words about me as well!

[Rebecca181]

@Sarah977 Thank you!!

[Alon1]

@Rebecca181 

For longer term stays in London best use website Spare Room.

Prices generally will also be lower than Airbnb and no service fees.

[Helen350]

@Rebecca181 Yes, "Spare Room" is great for putting UK landlords & lodgers/tenants in touch with each other! I've been using it for almost 5 years now, 2 years before I'd heard of Airbnb! - Now I let my rooms both to long term Mon-Fri lodgers working away from home, and use Airbnb to fill the gaps, & at weekends/annual leave when the lodgers are away.

[Rowena29]

@Susan17 @Rebecca181 

Very very early on in my hosting, I had a serious of disasters. Most of them were aribnb's fault (truly) -  technical glitches that had significant flow on effects.  I didn't know what the hell was going on or how to handle it.    As you know CS are useless with technical stuff.     On more than a couple of occasions,  in real desperation, I posted on these boards and waited with a deal of anxiety to get some advice.  On at least 3 occasions no one ever replied, which at the time I found enormously stressful.  ( I do have to say I notice a bit of  shall I say "altered tolerance" these boards -  quite a lot of contributors  seem to more readily and more lengthily  respond to regular co contributors and less so and more abruptly to newbies.  Maybe my idea re this is skewed, but it's my perception) Anyway because I vividly remember my feelings of helplessness within the airbnb behemoth of non support, I often check the unanswered question section of the boards. I didn't reply to @Rebecca181 for quite a while, but her question was getting buried deeper and deeper into the pages.  @Rebecca181 I sorry if I sounded as if I was chastising - not my intention at all , far be it from me  - what I was trying to communicate was my concern that posting such a question was likely to not get any response.  Admittedly I should have checked your profile before posting, I did make some assumptions. However, ironically I do suspect if I hadn't responded,  - bringing your question from deep in the unanswered pages to high up on the recent pages it may well have got buried. My memory is it was on at least page 6 when I finally responded.

[Rebecca181]

Without my super-host badge (I de-listed a few months ago as my own form of personal protest over Airbnb's treatment of home-sharing hosts) I imagine I looked like an aimless stranger posting here on the boards. Thank you for clarifying your response.

[Helen3]

Hi @Rebecca181 

I would say if your friend is going to be acting in central London, beware of moving too far out of London as costs of travelling in and the time it takes may not be great for him if he is working unsocial hours.

In terms of cheaper locations I would say try South East London, north-west London or East London

Croydon, Lewisham and Dalston for example are fairly central locations with great transport links which are likely to be cheaper. If he wants to move out a bit Harrow, Greenford etc.

And yes as a host yourself you will know that many hosts offer a discount for a weekly or monthly rates.

Spareroom is good platform, but from what I have seen on there landlords are not really set up for short term bookings.

[Helen350]

@Helen3 SOME Spare Room landlords take lodgers short-ish term. I've certainly taken people for 6 weeks only. (There's a box we can tick.) - Tho' in London demand may be so high that landlords can pick & choose tenants who will stay longer.....

[Alon1]

@Helen350 & @Helen3 

There are currently 1000 +  'short term lets' advertized in London Spare Room.

From my experience I would say there is quite a lot of choice, because the vast majority who either contact me or I contact do not end up staying, let alone visit for a viewing.

.Of the ones I contact, very few even reply.

Of the ones who contact me, most ask for a viewing, though only about 20% actually visit. Some take the trouble to inform that they've decided on another place before visiting.

In any case, in the past 3-4 years, there are increasing number who rather contact via Airbnb for Spare Room type requests. It suits me well, because invariably they initially only make a few days or week request, because many don't know their precise dates due to various factors; and the initial stay predominantly gives us the opportunity to gauge compatibility.

And if we are agreeable, invariably no one wants to extend via Airbnb for obvious reason of higher rent + service fee. I then treat them as Spare Roomers. 

[Helen350]

@Alon1 I too have had Mon-Fri lodgers in the last two years who started as Airbnb guests, then morphed into lodgers. And find more & more starting work here make initial contact through Airbnb, not Spare Room. - Can involve some written gymnastics, getting them to book via Airbnb the first time & getting them to understand why I can't take them for 6 months plus off platform at first contact!