New to the Community Center? Introduce yourself here ‌👇

[Elisa]

Hello everyone! 😊

Welcome to the Community Center! 👋  I'm @Elisa , one of the Community Managers for our English Community Center along with my lovely team members @Quincy @Paula @Rebecca @Bhumika @Emilie and we are thrilled to have you join us.

Let's kickstart this thread with a little about us Community Managers:

@Quincy : I'm from the Netherlands 🇳🇱 I have been on the Community Center for 7+ years, and have been an Airbnb Host myself. I love cycling🚲, playing football⚽, and travelling🌏 . I love how dynamic and diverse the Community Center is as we meet Hosts from all around the globe. 

@Bhumika :  🌍 I was born in Gujarat, India 🇮🇳 , and shifted to Toronto, Canada 🇨🇦 last year! 📷 I recently realized my love for photography and aesthetics. I love to capture mundane life and candid pictures. 🌆 When I'm not working, you'll find me binge-watching thriller movies or exploring history.

@Paula : I am from Colombia 🇨🇴 and currently living in British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦. I have a passion for Latin American culture (I love to dance 💃) . I've had the opportunity to visit around 20 countries 🌎 and plan to visit many more. In my free time, I enjoy outdoor activities, especially mountain biking 🚲 and hiking 🏔.

@Rebecca : I'm from Cardiff in Wales originally but being a military child and a veterans spouse, I've travelled and lived in a lot of different places in the UK and Europe. I'm an environmentalist 🌿 and like to minimise my impact on the planet 🌎 as well as volunteering in my local community.  I love sea swimming 🌊 yoga on the beach 🧘‍ and I'm a children's yoga instructor too! 🙌 

@Emilie : I was born in France 🇫🇷, raised in French Polynesia 🌺 and Morocco 🇲🇦, and have settled in the UK for 14 years now! On evenings and weekends, you will find me spending time with my dog, working on a jigsaw, or trying my hand at some new cuisine. 🍲

Now it's your turn! Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from? And is there something special about the location of your accommodation that you'd like to share?

Looking forward to getting to know you all!

Warm regards🌻,

Elisa

[Elisa]

Hi @Michelle4971 😊, 

that's a good approach, I'm happy you can count on someone!

Out of all the countries you travelled to for work, which one surprised you the most and influenced your hosting style in an unexpected way? 

[Michelle4971]

New Zealand!  They are just all, in my experience, such lovely hosts.  They have milk/cream waiting for you in the fridge, they are happy to go out of their way for you.  They genuinely want you to love New Zealand and enjoy your time.   I have a little bin of everything that was influenced by my time there.  The bin has travel things that are hard or time consuming to locate on the island of less than 10K people that I live on, Vieques, PR, and most guests have no idea how limited the resources are here.   I have things like charging cables, bug repellent,  individual packs of various over the counter medications, aloe vera packets, sunscreen packets, razors, toothbrush and toothpaste, make up remover packets, and more, in addition to the "regular" very well stocked amenities.  We stock for the entire time guests are here so they don't have to "forage" (that's what we call shopping here, there are no big box stores, just several smaller colmados, and you often have to go to 5 or 6 to find what you are looking for.  We also have multiple ways of making coffee or tea in each, as how you do that is very culturally influenced, and we want all to feel comfortable.  

[Philippe2539]

Hello, I am Philippe, a french canadian from Québec.  I have a flat in Spain, in the Costa del Sol, just outside Malaga which I am trying to rent out for the first time.

I am a new host and I might have some questions here and there.  Hope to meet some of you maybe in Montréal or in Benalmadena, if ever, and I hope I'll eventually be able to help some new hosts when I gain myself some experience.

Hasta pronto 🙂

[Elisa]

Hi @Philippe2539 😊, 

It's nice having you here, and thank you for commenting on this thread!

Would you like to share your first question?

Don't hesitate to do it here 👉 What do you want to talk about? 

Looking forward to hearing from you in the Community!

[René536]

Hello everyone, I (René) just moved with my family from southern Spain to Germany, which left our house there empty. A good opportunity to start out a carrier as host in Airbnb... ;-). Looking forward to learning a lot about being a good host. 

[Elisa]

Hi @René536 😊, 

Welcome here!

Such a change. How are you liking Germany so far?

Is there anything specific you would like to learn about being a good host?

[Mike3811]

Hello, I'm Mike and I've had 2 beautiful apartments for rent on Koh Chang (Thailand) for a year now.

[Rebecca]

That sounds lovely @Mike3811 😊 How are you finding hosting so far? 

[Sana2128]

Hey everyone, my name is Sana from Morocco, I’m new host 😊very glad to be part of your community 🥰

[Rebecca]

Hi @Sana2128 👋

Great to have you here with us! Have you had a look around at some of the conversations here on the Community Center? 

[BearpathJohn0]

Im not new to Airbnb or here but have been on a hiatus for a few years due to lots of challenges and other.  Im owner operator of Bearpath Lodging in upstate NY, I have 4 rentals (4br, 2br, studio and Glamper) and 850 reviews to date in 10 years of hosting.  The short story is we lost the Melodie part of "Melodie and John" my wife of 34 years a few years ago to a stroke, (RIP My sweet Melodie).   As you might imagine, my life greatly changed and not for the better. 

Life changed yet again about 1.5 years ago when I ran into a childhood friend and local farm girl (her horse kicked me in the face when I was 11) in the meat department at a grocery store i never go to (yes, less than tasteful joke do come from that strange meeting!!!).  We talked for a little bit, I told her about Mel and she told me she had lost her husband to a heart attack 4 years during covid.  We went out to dinner a week later, soon after started dating.   Three months later after unloading two haywagons, I flatlined-----she saved my life and broke 11 of my ribs doing CPR on me!!!!  A year later- we just got married!   In the last year of my recovery, I have mentored her to open 2 airbnbs in properties she owns, one in Myrtle beach (17 bookings this summer), the other 4 days ago (already have 3 bookings) in the three bedroom upstairs of her/ our spit level home (we built out the finished basement for us to live in with a full kitchen and bathroom) that we live in when were not in myrtle or at her camp.  I own Bearpath Lodging and she is owner of Bearfoot Lodging, it is a match made in heaven (Literally).   Maybe not truly a short story but its magical!   Im back on the forum, see ya round!!!!  JR

[Paula]

Hello @BearpathJohn0, what a story! Thank you so much for sharing it with us, and we’re very glad to have you back in the community ☘️

Wishing you lots of success with the new Airbnbs, and we look forward to reading more about your experiences and adventures here in the community.

Regards,

[BearpathJohn0]

@Paula Its good to be back and to be able to be back and with all the bad that life can deliver, good can still rue the day!  Stay well, JR

[Char10925]

Hi,  

I'm Char.  I am finishing my first season with Air BNB.  We have a seasonal rental on a lake in Traverse City, Michigan.  Just found the cafe and look forward to reading and learning all I can during our off season.  

[Elisa]

Hi @Char10925 😊, 

Welcome to the Community Center!

Congrats on your first season, how has it been? Why don't you rent all year?