[POLL] How long have you been hosting for?

[Sybe]

Hey everyone,

It can sometimes feel like it was only yesterday that you welcomed your first guest. Time flies when you’re having fun, and when you do what you love, those years can feel like just days passing by.

How long have you been hosting for? 

What is it that kept you going? How did you get past the bad times and how did you celebrate the good times? This is your hosting experience in general so if you were a Host before you joined Airbnb, that time counts too!

I can’t wait to hear from you. 😃 

Sybe

P.S. While you’re looking back at the years you’ve been hosting, we’d love to invite you to share your most memorable hosting stories with us at @Stephanie’s topic here!

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Sybe 

I'm loving the responses here! 

We started hosting as wilderness resort managers in 1974. The property had 12 full houses, handmade in the FLWright tradition, with up to 50 guests at a time. We created rules, a brochure, a confirmation and a method of record keeping to avoid double booking. Thank goodness we were young and energetic, maintenance was huge in the wilderness. 

We've hosted traveling musicians as we were concert promoters, foreign students, and SERVAS travelers since then, and became AirBnb hosts in 2013 after one of our musicians said we should. It was the right call! 

Hospitality is in our DNA, we love it!

[Quincy]

Wow, what a journey @Kitty-and-Creek0! 🤩

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Sybe 

This is an interesting poll - it is fun to see the wide variety of experience here. We started hosting in 1974 running a 12 house wilderness resort, all hand-built works of art. We were good at it! Hospitality got "in the blood" for us, and we've been loving it for nearly 50 years. 

[Byron130]

Awesome and interesting article. Great things you’ve always shared with us. Thanks. Just continue composing this kind of post.

[Sybe]

Hey everyone, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful stories! Here's an update on the poll. 80 Responses so far and a good mix of experience. 😃

The poll is still open so if you haven't entered yet, don't hesitate! 😉

[Ruthie12]

@Sybe, are you hearing, really hearing, the comments from hosts whose bookings have shut down since the summer release?  And relaying those comments to whoever made that awful decision?  Let me add my voice.  My bookings through airbnb have virtually stopped since the release, except two from return guests  Luckily, I was able to get bookings through Vrbo for July, but the rest of the summer looks dismal.  Such a disappointment.

[Sybe]

Hi @Ruthie12 , we hear you and I appreciate you sharing this with me.

Please be assured that we are still passing on feedback regarding the Summer Release to Airbnb. I understand progress can be slow and this is not an ideal situation for you. We are working on improvements using the feedback we received from Hosts here on the CC and many other platforms.

As soon as we have more updates, we'll post this on the CC!

[Laurelle3]

@Sybe we started hosting with Airbnb in November 2020 with a quick learning curve prior to Christmas and phone and emails going (ping ping) with bookings and I hadnt put 24 hrs between bookings. This was implemented after 2nd quick turnover. Covid shut downs was next with cancellations from guests but have learnt that this effects your percentage ratings

What I enjoy most is meeting people.

[Kirsten266]

I started in the second week of August 2021. Almost a host for one year 🙂

And also a year long super host 

We wanted to create some extra income and I love the hospitality aspect of renting our tiny house to a couple of strangers. 

I love to hear people say that they really want to come back. I already got some people for the second time

[Eleni219]

@Sybe 

I started hosting last year in Greece. I own two lovely properties one in Mykonos and one in the Athens Riviera. I hope you can all visit Greece this summer, it's really great with all the heat in most countries.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/51036627?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=81406284-7416-4bcd-97b9...

This is one of my listings.

Happy hosting everyone.

[Michael-O-Reilly0]

@Sybe Our hosting Journey started about 15 years ago, we started out hosting Irish Summer College Students as they came to our area to learn the Irish language or 'Gaelige'  as it is known.  Then around 2016, we started hosting on Airbnb,  It has been a wonderful 15 years of welcoming guests to our home, meeting people from different countries, and learning about each other's cultures and traditions. During this time we have truly learned that we might have different views, religions, and cultures, but we all belong to one Global community, looking forward to welcoming many more guests to my home.

[Lorna170]

@Sybe   We have been hosting for more than 20 years with multiple stand-alone properties.  When we began, there were many "mom and pop" advertising venues, so we spent a considerable amount in advertising.  That has drastically changed due to the large market share that is represented by AirBnB and one or two other name-brand OTAs.  We do wish that the OTAs were less intrusive to our business practices and truly earned the percentage of our profits that they take.

We have sold most of our properties as we have scaled back due to retirement desires and the diminished income due to the increasing costs associated with booking via OTAs.  Only one property is listed on AirBnB and concurrently with other OTAs.  We will continue with AirBnB until we sell this property, but since the summer release/updates have not had a single booking through AirBnB, which is troubling.

Overall, we have had a good hosting experience.  We have enjoyed most of the guests that we have had the pleasure to meet in person or have had good communication with.  The one or two guests per year that have challenged us as hosts or who have damaged our properties have not deterred us from continuing this venture.  We believe that we have had a positive impact on the economy in our area by offering employment that has greatly benefitted our staff and their families.  We have hosted STRs to bring tourism dollars to the area as well as LTRs that are affordable to local residents.  

[Helen2454]

I started an AirBnB 2 years ago due to covid wiping out our primary work (theatre and film) suddenly no income staring us in the face. The first guests to our little cabin were AWFUL!!! (they came into our home and started playing drums!!!) Yet undeterred we welcomed the next guests (lovely!) and since then over a hundred couples/friends. It has been a joy meeting them all! During lockdowns we stayed open as we host a little log cabin in the woods and keep our distance from guests to give them a sense of privacy - 100% of guests during covid needed a mental health getaway. (the entire cabin wiped down with alcohol between guests) It was great to chat to guests and feel connected to humanity during lockdowns! We love seeing people arrive albeit stressed and tired and watch them transform and leave so happy and relaxed. We've also had a few mother/daughter weekends, a wedding proposal, a traumatised person (from a horse accident ) made a breakthrough by spending time with our gentle horses. We worked very hard to make guests feel welcome, and that they are in a super clean environment despite roughing it in the woods! 

[Sybe]

@Helen2454 I can only imagine how satisfying it must be to return to your beautiful cottage after a hike in the woods! It's so heartwarming to see that it's not just hosting people what you're doing but also changing their lives and helping them for example get over a trauma. Thank you so much for sharing!

[Larry241]

Bought my house in 1983 because it had a rental unit i rented it out. I started with my best friend big mistake. One renter was walking around in the garage with a pistol because he thought he heard a burglar. He shot thru the garage ceiling which I lived above. He had to go. Finally found Mike. He was the best he lived downstairs for 30 years and became part of the family. He died in 2019. I have not done any maintenance down there for 30 years and had really not seen it too much. I thought about it and figured I'd spend the big bucks to have it completely gutted and fixed up brand new. During that process my wife and I talked about it and thought that we would join Airbnb. I've had all kinds of people some were not kind to the apartment and others that were extremely kind to it. I've just been learning to take it in stride and do the best I can. I'm retired now the house is paid off and the extra money is nice.

[Sybe]

@Larry241 That must've been quite an event, were you at home when the gun went off? 

I'm so sorry to hear about Mike, we lost someone we considered part of the family not long ago as well so I know what it feels like. I hope your new adventure with Airbnb has helped get some closure.

[Larry241]

Yes I was at home when the gun went off and my dog had been laying in the spot in the hallway where the bullet went through just a few minutes previously. if I have been standing at my bathroom sink I would have taken it in the head. Thanks for asking, Good luck thanks again.

[Suzanne302]

@Sybe 

I've been hosting a little over 4 years now. I decided to try it out after a very good long-term roommate moved out and after my first few guests I realized I really liked playing "host"!

I bought a new house in 2020 and had to adjust my hosting style a bit. In my old house, guests had a lot of privacy and essentially had one side of the house to themselves. My new house is a 1926 cottage, so the layout means I have more interaction with guests and it's a more intimate experience.

[Sybe]

@Suzanne302 Was it difficult to adjust to what I assume is a more involved style of hosting?

[Suzanne302]

@Sybe 

As an introvert, YES! LOL!

I went from rarely seeing or hearing my guests to running into them frequently and being able to hear them from time to time since my bathroom shares a wall with the guest bedroom.

I must say though, I have come to enjoy the "forced" intimacy and have had fun talking with many lovely guests. My current listing seems to attract a different type of guest - The kind that seem more used to shared spaces and usually leave their bedroom door open when they are not at the house, especially the solo travelers. I take that as a compliment that they feel very comfortable in my home!