New to the forum? Introduce yourself here!

[Marjo0]

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Hi everyone,

Welcome to the Airbnb Community Center. This thread is for introducing yourself to your fellow Airbnb forum members, as well as welcoming and saying hi to newcomers in return, in order to make everyone feel like they belong.

I'm Marjo, and I lead the Community Center staff team who will manage this online forum on a daily basis. You will see me posting here sometimes, along with our other English community staff member @Lizzie, who has just joined as well and will be introducing herself in this thread too - Lizzie will be managing the English community full-time once we launch the forum.

Here's a few additional facts about me:

1. My favourite city is San Francisco. I spent hours and hours of time there on Google street view for years, until I actually got to visit the city in person recently. Such a friendly and colourful place!
2. I have 2 cats which probably makes me a bit of a (crazy) cat lady.
3. I'm originally from Helsinki, Finland.

How about you, any fun facts you want to share? 🙂

I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you so feel free to reply to this thread and say hello!

[Peter890]

Hi!

I am Peter - me and my son host Jack host a flat in beautiful Prague. The story for getting to airbnb is a circuitous one. I bought the flat as my retirement plan and renovated it. Before airbnb I rented the apartment into the local Czech market which was boring and occasionally painful - couple divorce and 6 months later we get flat back in a mess with no rent etc!

A friend suggested airbnb and we have never looked back.  He ran it for us for a while and when he moved back home to Germany his girlfriend (who declined to move to Germany with him, enough said!) managed it for a while. She got promoted at work and couldn't do it so then my son and I took it on. People from every part of the planet dropping by, from China, Australia, Singapore, UK, Sweden, France, USA, Germany, everywhere! And that is just the last few months! It's huge fun! We have wised up and do unattended checkin so those unexpected 3am arrivals don't keep us awake half the night any more 🙂

Working out how to make people ultra-happy with the stay has been a real challenge. We now have chargers for every phone and tablet known to mankind, fluffy cotton towels, individual soaps, shampoo and cotton buds. Coffee, tea, milk, juice and iced water when guests arrive. The individual soaps are not very eco friendly so we added soap and shampoo in bulk containers for the eco-conscious.  And soooo much more...And after all that, when we were on 30+ 5 star reviews, the guest who told us it was perfect and gave us 4 stars? The little remaining hair I have was pulled out, on the spot 🙂 The world is not a perfect place 🙂

We have enoyed airbnb from a human perspective - we had an amazing family holiday to Madeira and made great new friends with the airbnb host - we are still sending each other little presents across the width of Europe a year after. And as a host it is fun too. And financially airbnb works better than the alternatives, let's hope government rules don't spoil it 😉

It's been a fabulous journey so far! Host on!

Peter & Jack & Family

[Steven364]

Hi, Lynn and Steven,  We have only one place listed on Airbnb. It is in Bend, Oregon, vacation renting for about 4 years now.  It has been fun hosting people from all over the world.  We live a 3 hours drive from the house so must work remotely with our local people: neighbors, a local woman who is our cleaner and keeps eyes and ears on our home> we could not run our rental without her - we treat her very, very good; good pay and an end of year bonus. We try to use our rental every other month to repair, deep clean, restock.  Living in our space helps us to create a rental that has everything a guest would need.  The reviews we recieve reflect our attention to  details.  When we stay in other Airbnb's we can tell right away if the owners have ever lived in their rental space.  I recommend to all hosts they "vacation" in their vacation rentals to experience what your guests experience, take notes then fix any problems you notice.

We are soon to retire and begin traveling more and using Airbnb for some extended stays around the world. 

Biking, hiking, backpacking, SCUBA diving, sailing are our go-to activities.  Domestically we love reading, fiber arts, ceramics, gardening brewpub/winery/distillary touring and tasting. 

Best to All

[Liz343]

Hello, I'm Liz from the Central Coast of California.  I have been an Airbnb Superhost since 2014.  I can honestly say that this is my favorite job to date!  I love meeting new people, providing a clean, safe place for people to relax, enjoy family and friends and helping them create happy memories.  

It feels good to prepare the beds, put breakfast items in the fridge and write a welcome message on the chalkboard.  If kids are coming, I like to have a little fun surprise like a coloring book or cheap silly sunglasses for the pool.  We have had people from all around the world, and have several "regulars" now who come back time and time again.  It would be good to be able to contact other hosts to share information and possibly help each other network.  

I look forward to connecting with other hosts on this forum!

[Timothy118]

My name is Tim and I too am new.I am finishing my make readies this week.

Having traveled to over 100 countries,  I know how cool it is to make others feel at home😉

[Quincy]

Welcome @Timothy118!

I can imagine you've got a lot of experience having visited many different countries :-). 

I hope to see you around!

[Alicia276]

Hey y'all!  I'm relatively new to the AirBNB community!  I'm renting out my guest room and feel like I've had pretty good success so far.  I love reading the tip lists though!  So keep 'em coming!  I'm in Clarksville, TN (just 45 minutes north of Nashville).  I do have 2 cats and that makes this process super interesting!  They are super friendly and nosy (literally, they love to smell everything!).  

I'd love to connect with the other Clarksville AirBNB hosts, but don't know how.  Any suggestions?

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/22927204?s=51

[Quincy]

Hello @Alicia276, 

Welcome to the Community! It's nice to meet you 🙂

here's a helpful link showing you all home sharing clubs https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Home-Sharing-Clubs/ct-p/en_clubs. 

I hope you find this helpful. 

[Laverne2]

Hello! Thank you for the warm welcome to the Airbnb community.

I own an apartment in Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape, South Africa and I live in Johannesburg.

I would like to co-host in Johannesburg and I could offer the following:

1) Cleaning
2) Supply basic essentials eg: clean towels rolled on the beds, shampoo, soap, toilet paper, salt, pepper, tea, coffee, biscuits and milk
3) Complimentary baskets...fruit, wine or champagne
4) Welcome guests
5) Basic inventory check

Please can you tell me, if I make my own bookings, is it possible for me to send the lessee a link to rate their stay on Airbnb?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend.;)

Kindest regards, 

Laverne Branson 

[Francesco110]

Hi there, 

    Just wanted to say hi to all the host in this forum! 

My name is Francesco and I rent my appartment in Lugano for short term, if you want to know more about me:

1. this is the link in AirBnB
2. this is my personal blog 

Looking forward to connecting with you! 

Francesco 

[Randy104]

Hi There,

I am a new host in New York City's Marble Hill area in the northern end of the island of Manhattan. So far its been an ok experience with guests. My interest would be how to create higher visibility for guests thruogh my listings. Are there some kind of programs or plans to address low visibility? I have a great location but it seems like "I am lost to guests" in their search for a place close enough to downtown NYC with a lot of emenities that my area offers. 

This my link to my SPACE

Positive and constructive feedback welcome.

Thanks,

Randy

[Clara116]

@Randy104 Welcome to CC - hey, your place looks very nice!  I do see a couple things that might be affecting your visibility and bookings. You require 4 night minimum.....so if someone wants 2, or 3 nights they will never see you. Also, your check in time is really rough - imagine you fly in from overseas and arrive in the early morning, which is normal AND the person can not get in to rest and freshen up until 5pm. I wouldn't do it. And you guests  has to deal with luggage all day.  

Also the title you write suites.....are there more than one guest staying?? are they sharing bathroom with YOU or another total stranger??? If it is just you and one room you might right Suite - or Priv Room and shared bathroom with host.  People don't like unknowns esp. in someones home. Just my take on it.

Also, i would call Airbnb and ask them WHY is the September review upfront of the Oct reviews? Esp. since there was a challenge and that's what folks see first!! I wish you the best and happy hosting. Good luck. Clara

[Alexander384]

Hi everyone my name is Alex from Los Angeles USA and i so fresh in airbnb. But i already hosted 3 my guest and first two guest was wonderful and so clean . And my last one host was so horrible. My guest booked my apartment by airbnb for one person but after I found out that there are more than 6 people there. Moreover, my neighbors complained to the management that there was a pungent smell of Marijuana from the apartment about which I warned several times all of them. After that, they began to smoke on the balcony near the pool where children and their parents play and bathe. But they still continued to smoke. Then I asked to be warned when they would leave but they left the key on the table and left the door open for plowing! When I went into the apartment, I was just horrified at what had happened to my apartment, tobacco and cans of marijuana were everywhere, a scratched coffee table, broken glasses, potatoes and leftover food from McDonald's. Next, I checked the TV and the xbox console they did not work, the TV screen did not turn on and the console did not play at all. The apartment smelled like I had a shop selling marijuana and other drugs. There are still a lot of problems and confusion. I’m also missing 2 iphone chargers, 2 blankets, and also 4 big towels were ripped apart and all over appartment. I fixed everything on video and took a photo.So i going to resolution center and do claim on that person. I counted all the damage it’s all of that 1500$ but my deposit was just 100$ . I hope Airbnb will hear me and do something for resolve my pblm ..... If have someone who give me advice i’ll be so glad. Thank you so much for everyone.... 

[FamilyKJ0]

@Alexander384 I  am so sorry. I had a similar experience and called the police. Since there were more people than on the reservation the lease was broken. I hope airbnb helps. Was it instant book?  Most of my guests are nice...even hotels get bad guests. Ever since my incident where 20 people showed up for a reservation  if 4 I have been trying to get every guest to acknowledge that only the people on the guest list will be in the house. I also ask for ages and genders and reserve the right to ask for ID.

[Clara116]

@Alexander384 So sorry this guy trashed your place. BIG lesson - when you got word that 5/6 people were there and NOT 1 person - get them out - when guest BREAK your house rules - time to GO ! When you got word the neighbors were complaining and smoking dope......another big no no....should have been thrown out! BUT when you bend rules you will suffer and I am sorry you did. I see you have already posted reviews and the guy also saying you lied. I hope you will have good photos and work with someone in Customer Service that is helpful - Surely this guy will not be saying he did anything wrong. So You want to work only with the Resolution Center - you'll need receipts and how long you had items that need to be replaced. They don't usually pay for clean up. But sounds like all the stuff he trashed should be compensation. If the person working with you isn't helpful. Ask for the boss, the manager, supervisor. AND don't agree before you know what it is you agree to. They will depreciate all the items according to how long you have owned them or how long they have been used. So the price you wish for will be reduced by CS - I have only had one experience and so this is my advice. 

Since its the first - relax and use it as learning for how to deal with all this drama and deceit from just a few bad apples out there. 

Don't allow rule breakers - your neighbors must be happy with you - so whatever that takes is critical. They can cause you to be out of business pretty quick. Make it right with them.

Also, maybe someone checking on your place or outside camera - ??? not sure - but NO WARNINGS to folks. future thoughts:  Just tell em to leave, tell Airbnb what is happening and why you have done such and if they don't leave call the Police. Best and happy hosting. It will all be better soon. Most guests are lovely!  Happy Hosting, Clara

[Mark886]

Hi all, new to this and will be starting as a host next week.  Any advice is welcomed