Good morning from the North Coast of Oregon. My name is Margo. For pleasure and work, I have experienced many parts of the world, most recently Bangladesh for work, hiking around Mt. Blanc, traveling across Ethiopia (pre-pandemic). I was born in West Africa.
I have been hosting guests to a niche population long before Airbnb was an idea. When I joined the platform it was seamless and provided the opportunity for increased exposure to the global community. Guests have become friends, surrogate family, and colleagues. And a handful has returned more than once. My favorite story is about a guest who visited for a month. She loved the connection to community and space so much she returned a couple of months later, stayed for 1 1/2 years, ended up taking care of my home while I was away on a contract, fell in love, and now is a "local." She moved to a larger place owned by my neighbor, serves on the design and review community for the city council, and is referred to as my neighbor-daughter. For me, as a guest and host, Airbnb has created community and enduring connection.
I've been hosting monthly stays long before Airbnb created the option. It was more challenging then because I had to manipulate the nightly rate. It's easier and more complicated. My hope is that an obvious and effortless function will be created for hosts who rent for a minimum of a monthly stay up to three months. I am not licensed for vacation or short-term rental and there are significant fines in my community for doing so. I have never violated this rule.
For a long while, I shared with hosts that a % of the rent was donated to three non-profits who were dedicated to maintaining the beauty and environment of the area. Cannon Beach attracts people from all over the world for its beauty and charm. During the early Airbnb days, it was also a way of demonstrating that hosts were paying it forward to the community supporting causes that also attracted visitors.
An inconvenient evolution of the platform is that profiles have become so content-heavy including details, that potential guests are not reading all the information. I'm finding that even though I pre-approve, I need to confirm specifically to make sure they understand what is and is not allowed. It's almost like at the top of the listing under the name there could be something equivalent to an "alert" that includes: # of guests, smoking or not, pets or not, accessible or not. There is a difference between being a non-smoking property and not hosting smokers. For my property, it's both. I now have to confirm the guest is a non-smoker because they leave the space smelling like an ashtray.
Happy to be part of the community.