You really have to have a sense of humor in this business...

[Fred13]

I just got featured in a few publications and got the usual millions of hits, but the questions that followed were amusing from the hundreds of direct  inquiries (to my web site) that followed the articles. Two didn't mention Airbnb, the great majority do associate Bird Island with Airbnb.

1. For a 3-day stay I should pay for only 2 nights but get to stay 3 full days

2. Doesn't from the 12th-16th constitudes only 3 days? 

3. How many people can I bring to keep the first-2-person base price the same? 

4. What is the maximum amount of people the place holds, we are 11 people but like to know if we can bring more! (6 person maximum)

5. Can you hold X dates till I get paid?

6. So do I really have to send a 50% deposit now? Why?

7. Can I pay in monthly installments?

8. Why should my deposit not be fully defundable if I cancel even on the eve of my arrival?

9. Please book me for dates X (never bothering to look at the calendar).

10. I am 'considering' staying in your place if you take care of all my transportation to it. (Don't take too long)

11. Why can't I book for only 1 day (4-day minimum), because that is all I can afford.

Well that was 'fun'; 95% were like these, serious. Most were innocent enough, but most were clueless how STR works. I removed my reservation form in my web site and temporarily replaced it with a link to Airbnb till the scary avalanche subsides. At least with Airbnb they will have to verify themselves, will have to make an account if able to read somewhat, will have the math done for them and will have to pay up front. 

Trust me folks, it is a frightening world out there! I think Airbnb has the patience of a saint.

[Sandra126]

And Antihost will only use stained towels, nylon sheets  (or a revolutionary thought: only  bottom sheet), one teabag to go with one mug, a rank dishcloth, a barking dog next door (or better still, in the backyard on a chain). Sugar jar will be set rock hard. There will be milk in the fridge but it will be off (to ruin the one and only chipped cup of tea). This is not even hard!

Oh and it will be extremely difficult to find, as all directions will be wrong.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sandra126

Teabag ? Dishcloth?? Milk??? What is it?  😄

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  I was cleaning the little cabin next door to me which I look after for the owner, after a girl who had lived there for a year moved out. She left it pretty dirty, and I opened the oven to see if it needed cleaning. I shrieked and literally jumped back about a meter, almost falling down. It looked like a big dead rat in there. It turned out to be an old sweet potato she had baked and forgotten about, covered in grey mold. The long skinny end of the potato looked just like a rat tail.

[Sarah977]

@Sandra126   You're really fleshing this out nicely. As far as sheets go, hosts are only required to provide them, it doesn't say anywhere they have to be the same size as the bed. How about a single sheet on a Queen size bed, with the stained mattress showing on both sides? (No mattress pad, of course )

[Sandra126]

And the windows will not open, except for one which will not close. Let the one teabag have a hole so the tea gets full of bits.

[Syl11]

@Sandra126  Hahahahahaha LOL so funny.......

My thoughts are antihost will put glue on the stairs so antiguest shoes will get stuck on stairs when walking up or down ..........!!!   hee hee lolllllllll

I would love to join this collection

[Sandra126]

@Syl11, Glue? Some honest honey will do it. Or sticky cordial. That will bring ants too which is a double whammy.

[Louise231]

@Sandra126messing with teabags, the stuff of my nightmares

[Kelly586]

Hi hi folks. A young guy in my country wanted our place for his birthday weekend with his girlfriend but he doesn't have a credit card to his name and can he pay cash on arrival which would be his payday. But still he wants to come see the place way in advance. We entertained him and he came and a few days later I asked if he was still taking it as he had begged us to hold the apt for him. He went from responding 0.103 nanoseconds to a few hrs before saying it's great and perfect location but his girlfriend is worried about the size saying she wants a bigger apt. I said no problem unblocked the apt and got out place booked for 2 wks over the 3 days and 2 nights she had tied up. In my country thats what we call mauby pockets and champagne taste. 

[Sarah977]

@Kelly586  There's a gesture they use here in Mexico to indicate that someone is cheap. You bend one arm up and tap the elbow with the other hand. It means their arm isn't long enough to reach into their pocket. 

[Louise231]

@Sarah977omg my uncle does that in spain. haha

[Fred13]

I have used that gesture all my life @Sarah0, and was raised in Spain as a kid. Funny @Lousie should mention Spain.. 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Fred13@Louise231  Must be a Latin thing. I don't know if  they use it in Central and South America. Is it used in Belize, Fred?

Two of the hand gestures they use here really confused me for awhile, as it is the exact opposite of how Americans and Canadians use them. What I would do as a way to say "bye" is hold my hand up and move my fingers up and down- here that means "come". Turning my hand the other way, facing me and pulling my fingers towards me I would use to mean "come". Here it means "bye". People would be doing that when I was walking away from them, and I assumed they were indicating they wanted me to turn around and come back. 

[Fred13]

Not in Belize, an ex-British colony.

Well how funny @Sarah977, I also always use the two finger 'wagging' (up & down), to say goodbye.

And the two finger to the forehead 'Aye' salute greeting (like British naval personnel do).

Never gave it thought why and when I adopted these customs while growing up.

[Sarah977]

@Fred13  I actually do know that Belize is ex-British, I just thought the gesture might have spilled over, being right next to Guatemala and all.

Here's a funny cultural thing- I have a clothesline, the parts for which I brought down from Canada. Two large pulleys, a connecting ratchet for the line, and a long piece with 2 small pulleys that you hook over the top and bottom line when you have about half the clothes on there, that rides out with the line to keep it from sagging with the weight of the wet clothes. This kind of clothesline is really common in Canada, and I think it's a British thing, because Brits seem familiar with it, too. But I've never had one American at my place who can figure out how the thing works. 

Had a housesitter from hell one summer who emailed me to say she could "fix" my clothesline, so it worked much better (she was an expert on absolutely everything). Claimed she couldn't fit a load of wash on it. I told her she was either seriously overloading my machine, or she had no idea how the line worked and not to "fix" anything on my property.