Share the story of when you decided to host ‌

[Quincy]

Hello everyone, 

On a rainy evening in Edinburgh, I took the bus to my friend who had just bought his first home a few months ago.

Upon my arrival, he asked me to enter the premises quietly. Of course, I said!  It was then that he told me that he became an Airbnb host and was hosting his first guest!

He was the person that inspired me to start hosting as I also had an empty room where I stored lots of boxes and other junk!

I know that many of us have different reasons for having started hosting guests, which made me wonder what influenced you to start hosting? 

I really loved meeting people from around the globe, especially during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but also the help Airbnb offered me financially at the time. 

I look forward to hearing your stories!

Quincy

[Robin788]

@Robin788 

We decided to make our home available to visitors here in Milwaukee in 2020 because the Democratic Convention was to be held in our city and there were not enough beds available. So, we thought it made sense to list our place. Then Covid19 struck and our principal clients cancelled their reservations. 

A lot of effort, thought, and care was involved in preparing our home to share with guests and we believed in the business model that Airbnb has created, so we decide to list our house as planned. What was truly amazing is how many families came stay at our place during Covid, so that they could social distance and still see their families during the summer. We felt good that we brought families together during a difficult period and have decide to make our place available as often as we can. 

The idea of meeting people from different parts of the world and around the country is a pleasure for us, and we are going to add an additional space we are renovating soon. It's nice to be able to share places you love with others and at the same time provide a unique experience to our visitors.

Our place is unique and so are our visitors.

[Michelle1164]

@Quincy These are the kind of posts on the community center that I enjoy reading and even responding to. It's a refreshing break from the repeat posts by hosts and even guests complaining about something that has already been addressed a hundred times. So here is our story about deciding to host: Before we had started hosting we had used Airbnb a few times, but had never considered hosting ourselves. Then our nephew and his soon to be wife asked us if we would consider hosting their wedding reception in our back yard. They were having a hard time finding an available venue they could afford and really liked our yard. (It is my husband's pride and joy.) We were honored to do this for them. The day of the reception had come, guests started arriving. People kept complementing what a simply beautiful setup we had and how peaceful it was. A few even asked if we had ever considered doing Airbnb, stating they would stay here in a heartbeat. We kind of just laughed it off at the time. Then we stayed in our 1st private room Airbnb listing. That got our wheels turning and we remembered what people had said during our niece and nephew's wedding reception. We now had an extra room because our eldest son had moved out. So we asked all kinds of questions of the host who had opened up her home to us. She said she had thoroughly enjoyed hosting in her home. She was so helpful and encouraged us to give it a try. She was right. We have enjoyed all our guests thus far. Some more than others, but still all have been enjoyable. We don't live in a destination area and don't get lots of guests, which is alright with us. (On average we probably get 1-2 bookings a month.) Mostly one nighters passing through or those in the area for work, the occasional wedding or even hunting trip. 

[Wende2]

After inheriting my mom's place, it has 3 apts and a storefront in a very tiny rural farming area here in the states, in a very good location.  I decided I was tried of pain in butt tenants and had just heard about a website called Airbnb, which I actually thought the name had something to do with air travel.  I guess you could say I had a fabulous light bulb moment, I hired a carpenter, gutted the smallest apt and then it happened, the carpenter took all my money, I didn't even have enough to finish the apt.  I asked a friend to help me put on the finishing touches, all the trim and a little bit of electrical work, so then I was back to a lease agreement to recoup some dollars.  After 5 yrs of that I finally had a short term lease and once she was finally out, I listed the first of Aug., 3 yrs ago this Aug.  I must say out of all the guests I've had, only 5 - 6 I hope to NEVER see again.  And I'm so thankful they were not on a lease agreement.  Funny thing a couple yrs ago when I was working at a garden center, I had a guy ask for help to give his place some curb appeal, said "I'm selling this place because I'm sick of horrible tenants", who knows he might be on Airbnb now since I told him how I got away from lease agreements.  Not to mention my income from that small apt has tripled with full month bookings.  I still have a large one on a lease agreement, but I've been lucky with who's rented that one over the yrs.  I have to say it's the best decision I've made, even tho some guests I'm glad are gone and Airbnb itself at times frustrates me I'll stick with it. 

[Tomas41]

During the economic downturn and hosing market collapse of 2007-2008, my wife and I decided to live very frugal to be able to save enough to invest into as many cheap rental properties as possible in the Detroit metro area where we live.  It was hard, but with housing prices so low, the rewards far outweighed the risks.  When else in time we would be able to but good rental properties in cash for less than a used car?  I'm not kidding.  Some properties we purchased for less than $5k.  The best ones we purchased for between $25k to $40k.  It paid off.  We purchased several homes and installed long term tenants in them.  The rents from these long term tenants already paid for our initial investments into these homes.

Then the prices started to raise again tripling the value of our investments.  Which is great.  But that also meant that we didn't like the prices any more.  

Then we had to deal with several evictions.  Even tenants who were paying consistently for 4 to 5 years stopped paying...   Evictions are a pain in the ass.  Then there's the damage when a long term tenant leaves.  We've seen it all!  

My wife and I also liked to travel all over the place with our children in road trips.  In our minivan we've driven through 48 USA states and 10 Canadian provinces.  During our road trips we usually stay at Airbnb's.  In one road trip in particular we drove from Detroit, to the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan. Then entered the province of Manitoba, drove through all of those Canadian Provinces, through the beautiful Canadian Rockies then all the way to Vancouver, then South to Washington, then Oregon and then all of the Northern states stopping at Yellowstone, and Glacier National parks, and then back home.  It was an awesome trip.  It was my wife, my three children and even my mom.  During that trip I realized that I DID NOT USE A SINGLE HOTEL for all six of us.  Also during that trip, while driving the boring great plains of the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan from Winnipeg to Regina my mind begins to wonder and I started to think about all of the places we stayed.  ...and then it hit me!!!   "I also got places.  Why I haven't converted one of my rentals into an Airbnb?"  Granted, Detroit Metro is not what you would think of a vacation destination.  While driving, I kept thinking about the logistics and what I needed to do.  I started thinking about going to the local salvation army to buy furniture, etc..  How much is my return? How much extra do I need to generate in revenue to pay for utilities and other costs that were normally paid by long term tenants, etc...

When I came back from that road trip I went to the salvation army to buy some furniture, used some extra furniture that I had at home, and started my first Airbnb unit with my cheapest smallest rental.  I charged a cheap rate.  I was just testing the waters.  It worked.  While Detroit is not a vacation destination, there was a need for temporary workers, people moving into the city because of a new job that need temporary housing while they look for a more permanent place, people visiting family for weddings and funerals, people in-between homes, contractors, people going to concerts and games, teenage hockey players traveling for games, med students doing their residency, and many more non-vacation related uses.     I then proceeded to convert all of my other rentals into AirBNB's.  I kept the long term tenants until they stopped paying.  Once they stopped paying, I evicted them and converted the units.  I only have ONE long term tenant left and she is the one who manages all of my other rentals.  She takes care of the guests, the cleaning between guest, and everything else.  So it worked.

The profit that I get from AirBNB after I have to pay higher expenses when compared to long term tenants is about the same.  ..But I don't have to deal with evictions!  That's the good part about this.

So that's the story of how I became a host.

[Lawrene0]

I was a guest first, this was 2012, with no thoughts of ever hosting, but during the review process Airbnb offered a retroactive discount on the stay I'd just had if I would consider hosting.

Well sure.

Did I have a spare room, a couch, a treehouse? I suspect putting "treehouse" in the list was meant to be funny, but I did have a treehouse. We had built a solid one, mostly of carpentry business leftovers, at the river a few years earlier just to spend more time down there.

I made it a listing page, being so careful not to oversell that the description nearly was "you wouldn't like it here". I assured my reluctant husband that no one would ever come. We're hours from cities, an hour from the freeway, and the convenience store in the closest village closes at 6 pm.

You wouldn't like it here.

However, I severely underestimated how keen people are for a bit of nature, and what a bucket-list item a treehouse is. Reluctant husband turned out to love chatting to guests over coffee or breakfast. 

So it's been great. Not sure he'll ever trust me again, though. 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Quincy

From Confucius: "To have friends coming in from afar, how delightful! "

We have lived here as stewards of this location since 1992, reverently appreciating that this property nourishes us on a deep spiritual level in so many ways. Most peak experiences are best when shared, living here is definitely one of them. We love sharing it with like minded people from all over.  When we committed to this property, we immediately felt strongly that this place needs to be shared. The previous administration, who commissioned the house to be built, did not want guests, and therefore built only a one bedroom home here. We added on your wing, which mirrors the one bedroom the house came with, which is ours. We also had, as part of our long term plan, to host visitors here, when the time came in our lives that the physical and financial maintenance of this place exceeded our income. We have a deep love of the hospitality business, as we were managers of a 5* wilderness resort, 12 handmade, incredibly designed full sized houses  in the 1970's. We often had as many as 50 guests on board,  and it was amazing. As a lifelong traveler, I have gone out of my way to stay with hosts all over the world. It was and still is, the best! We've hosted informally all the years here.   We love business, as much as we love people; and assumed that we would need to develop a means to market our own retreat, when the time came. At just the right moment, we were easily persuaded by a dear friend, a business traveler, to get involved with Airbnb. We found a superlative site, integrity, an attitude and approach totally appropriate for us. We love that it is a perfect fit, and we have incredible experiences with all our Airbnb guests. We are so grateful for this amazing synchronicity...and cannot praise this entire relationship enough. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!