Signs i need a hosting break!

[Laura2592]

My father in law is coming to visit soon and will be spending time at our Airbnb. He loves it there but he's not an easy guest for many reasons.  There are some mental  health issues that are always stressful. The attention seeking behavior has already begun. Ugh. 

So I'm on edge. A guest texted me today asking where we got our towels.  Totally innocent question.  My mind did this:

1. Why do you want to know? 

2. Omg did you ruin them?

3. We recently limited the number we leave out to help with laundry.  Are you unhappy because of that? 

4. I can't remember the name of those towels! Omg. What were they called?

5. I think we got them at TJ Maxx. But if you need more they might not have them because TJ Maxx is famously  "never the same place twice."

6. Did I make a bad towel choice?

7. Wait, maybe they really like them and need some of their own! Could this be a compliment?

Clearly I need  a breather! Im getting a little nuts. What are your signs that you need a hosting break?

[Emiel1]

@Laura2592 

- When i locked a guest into the house without giving the keys

- When i made the bed in the wrong room

- When i forgot the check-out date of a guest (but he was gone i discovered after two days)

- When i read your post i started to worry: did i provide towels to my recent guest, i can't remember !

[Laura2592]

@Emiel1haha I feel you! We usually stay at our place at least once a month, but this one has been so booked that we didn't get to. I think that is part of the reason for the burn out. I don't know if I am coming or going.

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  I know it's tempting to keep accepting bookings for the financial reward, but if things like staying at your Airbnb yourselves once a month rejuvenates you and saves you from burn out, block some days for that, you deserve it.

I home share because I enjoy it, but when I have a constant stream of guests, like I did this past December- Feb, even though I leave 1 day prep time between bookings, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief when my last guest left the beginning of March and I might be one of the few hosts who was actually happy to stop taking bookings due to COVID. 

Altho by now I miss hosting and miss having guests.

[Laura2592]

@Sarah977  yes, I messed up the calendar this month. I thought the 30th was the last weekend of September-- I must have been looking at a different year. So we were going to do the first and last weekend in October to make up for this. My FIL then announced quite out of the blue, that he was flying to see us on that weekend. We can park him there. He is in a health risk category, refuses to quarantine, and recently had surgery (!) So many stories I could tell...

Suffice to say, I am feeling a little edgy. But we have Halloween to ourselves and I am excited!

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  LOL, my mother also loves the airbnb, space/privacy in the same house.....but I'm constantly going into the trash and taking out recycling, and then after she leaves, god love her, her perfume suffuses the entire apartment for days.  She is an obsessive cleaner though, so no crumbs anywhere.

[Laura2592]

@Mark116funny you should mention fragrance. My FIL has a very specific aftershave that lingers as well. He won't clean up after himself, which can be difficult. But he likes to scrub the sink. The whole place can be in utter disarray but he will point to the sink and take a lot of credit for scrubbing it. And I guess I shouldn't complain that at least he does that.

[Anna9170]

I am shy to say, but I could have been the author of this top (in theory) a year ago.
I have taken over many apartments as a manager, and I am so tired that every word I wanted to say should be closed by censorship.
The world catastrophe in 2020 showed many arrogant hosts (I mean myself, if anything, of course )))), that one should appreciate what is. It still doesn't mean "the client is always right", but I reconsidered my view on many nuances that pissed me off earlier.

[Kelly149]

@Laura2592 one idea if you're up for it and you like to use your place yourself...

When whole month is available price is x

after first weekend books, price is x+y

after second weekend books, price is x+y+z

after third weekend books, price is x+y+z+Q

and if the whole month still books with those bumps then you raise x for the whole calendar and repeat.

Enough squirrely guests in a row and you do start to feel cautious about anything they say... 

[Laura2592]

@Kelly149 that is a good strategy. We usually just block off weekends-- when we started, we had two per month and had a lot of demand, so we changed it to one. The goal is someday to use this place entirely ourselves and not have guests. But we are also going to renovate a barn in our yard and may open that up to the occasional guest. Though I do enjoy hosting most of the time, I can't imagine doing this forever. We would LOVE to open a coffee and wine bar in our community, so I am trying to save enough $$ that we could possibly make that happen one day and hosting helps to offset some of the costs of the stuff we own.

[Kelly149]

@Laura2592 another simpler strategy: when I have dates that I "want" to use the Barn but don't necessarily "need" it, is that I price it for those dates 25% higher (or whatever...) than normal and even add a multi-day length requirement so that if somebody books it then at least I make more money