Chicago Southside Neighborhood

[Lizzie]

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the Chicago Southside thread!

At the Chicago Host Day we all got together and meet other hosts from our neighborhoods. This was a great way to discuss local topics and share tips. As time was limited on the day, we wanted to provide you a space to carry on the conversation here in the Community Center and discuss projects you might like to work on together. 🙂

As a recap, some of the topic we started to discuss were:

• What do you love about your neighborhood? 

• What neighborhood recommendations do you give your guests? (i.e. - restaurants, museums, music venues, etc.)

• What are some challenges or opportunities in our neighborhood that we can tackle together? (i.e. - “The area needs more green spaces.” “We need a community center,” etc.)

[Alpha0]

The Chicago Southside Host Passport was designed with the guest in mind. Host leaders got together and decided that they wanted to show their guests that there is magic on the Southside of Chicago.
​
In this passport, you will find businesses that the Southside host community found particularly unique. Under each community heading, you will find a list of businesses that have been recommended and visited by the host community. Each business post will also show which host referred the business, as well as a description of what the guest should expect upon visiting the business.
​
Please enjoy, and send any feedback you might have to southsidehosts@gmail.com

[Melissa471]

I have been on the airbnb site for 2 years and have never gotten a direct hit off of it. All of my guests come from one of my websites or Facebook. I merely show them my abnb site to show them I am a host who is approved by the city of Chicago. There is such bad publicity in the city that I really can not blame folks for being nervous. Since I am a 10 minute drive from Hyde park, I get a lot of very young people whose parents rather have them stay with me while interviewing at UC than staying in a hotel alone.

I am going to spruce up the house for next summer. I can not change the neighborhood but in general I would love ideas on how to attract more guests off of this platform. I have seen some homes that are way nicer than mine charge far less! I get 150 for a 3b1bath or 75 for one bedroom for one night... Since I actually talk to my guests, I get paid via paypal before they come, and I have insurance for issues, I have not had any problems. However, I would like to spend next summer away on a writer's retreat so I need something beyond free parking and free 5 day pass to the local healthclub to entice folks for longterm.

How are you guys attracting visitors? I see abnb loves to email me to lower my price but if it is not profitable, I may as well stay at home. I have used abnb all over US and some were fabulous and some where just eh? I did not complain because the price reflected what I got. I want to fit somewhere in the middle.

[Melissa471]

The southside is awesome