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!

[Susan1329]

Hi, my name is Susan. I'm new to the community! I'm from beautiful Colorado and am proud to host in Colorado, as well. I'm a total Colorado girl and love to be ooutside as much as possible--hiking, biking, walking in the fall leaves and gobbling up sunshine! I also have two cats but yearn to have a dog and am trying to talk my husband into one;)

[Owen_Sarah0]

Hello everyone I’m new to the Hosting Board and look forward to hearing about others concerns, thoughts, questions and advice. 

Owen

[Jeremy274]

Hi all, good to have a place to chat about our hosting experiences. I'm Jeremy, originally from the UK but now a long-time resident in Australia. Now empty-nesters, my wife and I live in a very scenic area of the world about 90 minutes north of Sydney, a place where the bush meets the bay and Pacific ocean and surrounded by national park walking trails. So we're a good escape for Sydney folks, and as such we are mostly weekend hosts.

Fow the most part we really enjoy meeting our guests, and doing whatever we can to give them a good hosting experience. That translates in the reviews that we get, so everyone's happy. We also choose to stay Airbnb when we go away, and are looking forward to showing my sister and her husband the NSW Snowy Mountains for a few days at  the end of this month.

Good to 'meet' you fellow Hosts,

Regards, Jeremy

[Dave388]

Hi all, I’m Dave from Gloucester and a newbie to air bnb. I’ve just completed a purpose built studio apartment on the side of my bungalow in a lovely and friendly area. I have friends that also do bnb locally and they have been helpful. I was wondering what are the main expectations from people and the biggest pitfalls to avoid. 

[Denis130]

Just one host's opinion.

Be alert to third party bookings, since Airbnb host insurance will not cover guests so booked.

House Rules. Not only put rules on your listing but print them and have signed by all guests since  the person doing booking may not share detail they see as trivial with fellow guests.  Infractions (unlocked doors & windows, drinks not using coasters, etc) went way down, following my daughter's suggestion to do so, after she encountered the practice over 50% of the time traveling Eurrope last year.

In your online listing include requirements add that guest doing the booking include a selfie (no a picture of a kitten/soccer ball - this isn't a social website) within the 14 day non-cancellation period, which will satisy Airbnb's rule of not discriminating, and for your own personal security, have an expectation of what your guest will look like, when they ring your front doorbell (ie woman books, and only two dudes show up).

[Carolina610]

I am a newbie in the airbnb world.  I am starting with one room. Hopefully to expand one day.  At first I started the breakfast, but i had to take it out.  I need reviews so I have to go lower.  So far i got a few bookings but it has stop.  Not sure what i am doing wrong.  Here is my list:  https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/29054860?s=51    I need pointers.

Thank you

Carolina

[Tiwana1]

Hello everyone,

I'm Tiwana, retired Army Master Sergeant currently residing in beautiful Charlotte, NC. I have a 3 bedroom, 3 bath bungalow near our vibrant Uptown area. I am kinda shy...even online, but this venture is bringing out my extroverted side. 

The listing went live on Oct 4, which was the end of a dream and the beginning of an adventure. We've (my best friend and co-host) already had our first bookings, and have a few lined up, but I would love the community input on what can be done better. 

[Austin94]

Hello everyone! I work in the hotel business quite recently and I am interested in such questions. As to refuse a client if he settled with a dog in my house, the dog annoys me but I cannot refuse him hosting services, since I need positive reviews for my home . How do you solve situations with such clients?

[David3118]

I'm David from Atlanta.  Recently started a new home with AirBnB but have other properties that I've rented for a few years by other means.  I'm a plumber by trade, and my wife is in commercial property management.  Have lived in Atlanta for 33+ years, but grew up in the military.  Am happy to listen to other owner's experiences and advice, and biult my current rental by doing so.  So, very open and glad to be a part of the community.

[Chad-and-Christina0]

Hello from Oklahoma City, My wife and I just started our first Airbnb this last July and we are loving it.

We are both realtors with my wife having her own brokerage.

I have a construction background so it was easy to remodel the home the way we wanted it.

We have had a steep learning curve and we have made some mistakes but all and all it has been a positive experience.

Here is a link to our home: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/23343006?s=51

[Steven515]

Hello everybody Id like to introduce myself My name is Steven I’ve recently joined Airbnb and finding it a great service I have a sailing boat for rent called Iana in London at historic st Katherine’s dock 

[Margaret-Ann2]

Hi Everyone, 

My husband and I have only been with Airbnb for 4 months and loving it:-)  We love meeting new people but there is sometimes the odd booking where some people like to nit pick with their review which upsets me.

But I have to look at all the other bookings and all the amazing people that are happy with us letting them use our home.

Anyway, I am a music teacher and teach from home and love it. The kids are amazing:-)  My husband is a very clever fella who can put his mind to making or fixing anything:-)

We live in Geraldton, Western Australia which is a coastal city. I think it is rated the 3rd windiest city in the world, so if you are a kite surfer this is the place to be in summer:-)

We are animal lovers!!!  With one very spoilt maltese/silky and two very huggable cats.

We love camping , so if you are ever over this way we can show you the good spots:-)

Margaret-Ann and Klaus 

[Wasu0]

Hi everyone, nice to meet all of you. My name is Wasu. I've been hosting 27 apartments in Phuket, Thailand on Airbnb for 3 years. All these apartments are in the same apartment complex that I built myself. I love traveling and learning about different cultures. The World's history and cultures are my lifelong passion. I speak Thai, English and Mandarin Chinese. I love hosting as it gives me opportunities to meet travelers all around the World. Indeed, I've made friends with many of them.

Apart from the lodging business, I used to be a programmer and now I'm embarking on my new career, lawyer. I mainly practice real estate, business, family, immigration and labour laws.

[Terri127]

 Hi everyone! David & I are in Wimberley, TX in the scenic Texas Hill Country. We converted our barn into a unique, rustic space, and we have our first booking due to arrive on Monday . . . I'm terrified! My friends that host, love it, so I'm sure we'll be fine.

I'm retired, and David is retiring in May 2019. We have been faithful volunteers of the Wimberley Players, our local non-profit community theatre, for over 30 years. He still acts, I'm a front of house, backstage volunteer (so I don't have to remember lines - use to be good at that - now, not so sure!). 

The true owners of our property and us are our little Havanese dog (Senor Sancho Panza), who we call "Mister," and our calico cat, "Boo," who's a great mouser.

Mister is an actor too

We're happy to be a part of our small community, and look forward to being part of this huge community that is Airbnb.

Terri

[Marnie27]

Hello, I am new to this group and  live in Ladner BC.

Marnie