New to the Community Center? Introduce yourself here (Updated)

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

A warm welcome to the Community Center. 

This discussion is for introducing yourself to your fellow Airbnb Community members, as well as welcoming and saying hello to newcomers in return. Thanks to all of you who have already introduced yourself and contributed in our previous thread, here.  

I'm Lizzie and I am the Community Manager here, along with my teammate @Quincy. I have been managing the Airbnb Community Center since it officially opened in November 2015. It is fantastic to speak with amazing community members here. 

To kickstart this topic, I would like to share a few things about myself:

1. I love to travel, hot or cold it doesn't matter - I'm ready with my sun lotion or a raincoat! 
2. I play several instruments, but my main one is the flute. I always enjoy a good conversation about music. 
3. Lastly, over the past year I have become very interested in all things eco/sustainablilty related.

How about you? Any interesting facts or hobbies?

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 

Lizzie

[Valerie249]

Hi everyone I’m Valerie and along with my husband Tim we have an apartment in Christchurch, New Zealand that we bought in 2017 as an investment and a go to place for nights in the city. We live 35kms out of Christchurch in Ohoka. We have a small (by NZ standards) farm of 100 acres and run a few cattle and horses. We got into Airbnb after staying in Melbourne

[Kirstine1]

Hey,

I'm Kirstine, and just going into my 4th summer as a superhost. I live in North Ayrshire about 20 miles from Glasgow in Scotland and our location is very (very!) seasonal, from Easter to September. We've been very fortunate having met many great guests and we look forward to meeting more this summer. We have 2 rooms available in our home, and our home is shared with 3 friendly cats. Hopefully the ongoing Brexit saga won't dissuade overseas guests from visiting the UK this summer.

[Quincy]

Hi @Kirstine1, 

I hope you're well.

I've been to Ayr a couple of times as I used to live in Edinburgh :-). I am sure you'll still have a lot of guests visiting your area! 

[Linda1411]

My name is Linda and I have two rooms in my 1857 Gothic-style cottage home in Marietta Ohio that I rent.  I have been hosting for about 2-1/2 years and have met such great people.  I am fortunate that my husband, Joe, helps me in this venture.  I am pleased to find this community where I am sure I will find lots of great information.  Thank you.

[Brenda-Gerry0]

Hi Everyone,

Loved reading all about you all! 

Gerry and I are new to AirBnb and are learning fast - thanks to the discussion boards.

1. We live in New Bern NC and have a vacation home on Atlantic Beach, NC about an hour from New Bern.

Atlantic Beach, NC is known for beautiful beaches and parks for hiking, fishing, cycling, sailing....fun for everyone.

2. I just retired (Safety/Environmental at airports ) from the Federal Gov't. Thank goodness the US Gov't is open again. Gerry retired from being a home inspector. 

3.  We own a corporate gifting company (BearTownBaskets). 

I look forward to becoming a part of this helpful community.

Brenda

[Denise1192]

Hi to everyone, My fiance and myself have 2 condos that we rent out to guests in Carolina Beach, North Carolina. We have been using Airbnb for the past 5 years or so. We got hit hard a few years back with hurricane Florence. Both our condos had to be gutted and put back together. We have learned a lot along the way. Namely have reserve money to get you through if you rely heavily on the income. and 2. make sure you have an HO6 policy that covers you for lost income and special assessments. On another subject.

We have always given little welcome gifts to all of our guests and this year we are providing beautiful men's and women's masks as one of our gifts. Besides the masks being useful it shows our renters that we are committed to their safety. We have also started using "Ghost Bags" (a 13-gallon compostable garbage bag) These little additions to our condo amenities have made a very big difference. Best of health to everyone. Denise

[Terrie9]

Hello Fellow AirBnb Members!

Thank you all for sharing your stories and experiences!  Don and I are brand new to AirBnb too!  In fact, we have our first booking Superf Bowl 2019 Weekend here in Atlanta.  We live in Atlanta, and like most of you, we love to travel, especially anywhere near an ocean, although I often find sometimes I miss snow!    We're both foodies, and Atlanta has so much to offer us.  I'm in law and Don is a Bio-medical Engineer.  Although we both have full-time working lives, we also own a real estate rehab business, and now host on AirBnb. As many know, Atlanta is a hotbed for many different things; food, museums, shopping, sightseeing, socializing, you name it.  We're excited to join this community and learn from others.

Terrie

[Quincy]

Hi @Terrie9,

Welcome to the Community! 

It's great to have you here with us. How did everything go? 

[Terrie9]

Hi Quincy!

Thank you for asking how our first reservation went.  As I mentioned, we're brand new hosts to Airbnb and our first guests were during Super Bowl Weekend here in Atlanta.  It went amazing!  We were a little stressed hoping and praying for our first reservation, and it has been non-stop since the first weekend!  We are thrilled and thankful, and so excited.  We're also learning and growing, and developing more knowledge each week.  We already have bookings through the first week of March, and we're faithful the blessings will continue. Thank you Quincy and Airbnb for creating this platform to help us all be successful, and thank you to everyone who is willing to ask questions, and to share their own experiences to help us all learn.

[Quincy]

Hi Terry, I'm glad to hear that everything went well! This remembers me of when I had my first guest staying over. I was quite nervous as well but everything went well :-). 

[Carl12]

 Hi. I am Carl and previously I have been a host in Spain but now first time part time in London! Anyways, I wanted to start a conversation about the new rule hiding faces unless confirmed but I got "you have no authorization". Anyone knows how/why I cannot start a conversation?

[Hasan34]

Hello everyone!

This is our second year as airbnb host and it's been great so far!

Me and Ayesa love to travel but only to warm places! It's too cold now here in Toronto, Canada so wish I could go somewhere nice and warm 🙂 

[Matthew670]

Hey all.

Just chiming in to introduce myself.  

I am new to hosting at Airbnb but liking it so far and plan to continue to do so in the long run.  I have many fond memories in years past of staying at the more traditional Airbnbs where the hosts live there - I had great times sharing experiences with those hosts.

Anyway, my wife and I have a 10 month old son and two dogs.  We like fun shows like Workaholics and watching standup comedy. 

Glad to be part of the community! 

Best,
Matt

[Stephanie987]

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I are very new to AirBnb, as I’m still setting up our listing. We live in Ontario Canada but have our winter escape in Clearwater Florida. We have yet to retire and have decided to lend out our space to let others enjoy our condo. 

1. We have an Italian bakery in Ontario where my husband is the pastry chef and I manage the store front along with our other family members.

2. We drive when we visit Florida and enjoy other States along the way. We love stopping at small mom and pop restaurants along the route.

3. We both enjoy fishing off the piers in Florida and with a basic beer batter, we enjoy our catch!

I’mcurrently researching cleaning companies in the area since we are not around to do it ourselves, and direction would be greatly appreciated.

thanks again

Stephanie 

[Dian12]

Hello all!

My name is Dian, and I am a new host in Jakarta, Indonesia!

I go back and forth between Texas, USA and Indonesia (at least twice a year). So I was a little nervous about setting up an airbnb in my Jakarta apartment. What would happen when my guests need my help while I am not around? 

Thankfully airbnb allows us to have a co-host! So I recruited my best friend to be one and help me with hosting while I am not around. I'm excited to be part of this hosting journey!