Cheers and thanks ...... Airbnb!

[Cathie19]

Cheers and thanks Airbnb!

What should have been my busiest Airbnb month for hosting, well........ it was just a very busy month for hosting.

But not as we Airbnb host’s know it. With our daughter’s wedding taking place in our back yard and all the incoming family and friends from across Australia and also from the USA, there was absolutely no room at this “inn” for paying Airbnb guests!

When you have a short season to capture the tourists in town, you need to be absolutely philosophical about it, when you don’t open for business!

Sure, I was out of the game, but our little event also benefitted others. Although a small wedding by standards, with most guests travelling into town, around 50plus, we added to the Airbnb accommodation economy. Direct family members booked four homes and units and that’s before we even started to consider the friends who used Airbnb, which was most of them....

So time has come and gone and on reflection, things went wonderfully well. The loving couple got married, all guests enjoyed the magical night and I was still standing, and back hosting by the end of the month! No one said they had booked bad Airbnb accommodation. No one had a bad experience! Even the “wedding night” was an Airbnb unit!

Now that I’m well back into the swing of hosting, the season will end soon..... but you tourists out there need to be less afraid of the pending arrival of heat and the October rise in humidity. Our guests since the wedding have actually benefited from some extra lighting, that we have not yet removed; extra floral arrangements, the extra attention to garden landscaping and a number of little extras, still on offer.....and so it’s a win win for everyone!

Airbnb has given us this flexibility in our life and how we utilise our extra space, so I raise a glass and salute you! Cheers! 🥂

Thanks Airbnb! 👏🏼👏🏼The remaining lights from the house, but now without the dry bar table and stools.

Solar lights in trees, spots and curtain lights- all still up for our Airbnb guests to enjoy! It was all about the lighting!

 Just thought I’d show some of the table flowers. All in their vases, both Aussie natives and tropical, all ready to be put on the tablesLarge tropical urns still being refilled and used in the Airbnb space...

[Cathie19]

[Mike-And-Helen0]

It looks like a really wonderful event.

[Cathie19]

Thanks @Mike-And-Helen0 , it was a truly epic evening!  As guests arrived the days ahead of the wedding, the days were left free, but evenings were organised for group get togethers either here early in the week, or at iconic tourist spots..... The days were then available for first timers to the area, to play tourists and explore the city and surrounds. The evenings were full of meeting people from afar, and by the time the wedding came around, everyone knew everybody!

[J-Renato0]

@Cathie19 

Wonderful ! Great event!  Your garden was already beautiful ! Now, with all the lights it is fantastic! 🙂

[Cathie19]

Why thank you @J-Renato0! 

Plenty of watering has continued from the end of the Wet Season (May) right across the Dry Season, to allow the plants to continue to flourish, rather than maintain the status quo. So thanks again!

🙂

[Sarah977]

@Cathie19  Just lovely, thank you for sharing the photos and your experience. 

[Cathie19]

Thanks @Sarah977 for your response. Like you, our season is short and having our own event during it was a challenge but also a joyful blessing. 

[Stephanie]

Absolutely incredible photos @Cathie19 and wonderful story!

Thanks for sharing,

Steph

[Cathie19]

Thank you @Stephanie. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the professional photos from the wedding. The garden did appear like a magical secret garden. Things to catch your eye, wherever you went...

[Susan151]

@Cathie19  Congratulations to both you for hosting a wedding, and to the couple for committing to each other!

[Cathie19]

Thanks @Susan151 . Here’s a professional shot of them, I believe taken in Darwin Botanical Gardens.

[Rich-and-Yan0]

Aw, that's nice. With so many negative posts (and I've had a few of my own complaints), it's always nice to hear some positive experiences. Thanks for sharing your great story--it sounds like a wonderful time was had by all!

[Helen427]

@Cathie19 @Rich-and-Yan0 @Susan151 @Stephanie @Sarah977 

Wow @Cathie19  love those flowers, they are beautiful.

Very pleased all went well for your and your family & friends.

It's Airbnb Community members like yourself that local governance should be praising from the rooftops for your contributions to the betterment of the local economy.

You and your family are fabulous ambassadors.

Congratulations !!!!

All the best for future Hosting and your daughter and son-in-law's married life.

Are they ABB Hosts to?

[Cathie19]

Aw.... thanks @Helen427 for the lovely words.

They have used Airbnb in many an overseas travel adventure, but currently don’t have the circumstances available for their own hosting. But I’m sure they would never rule it out!

As for the gingers, heliconias and the majority of the orchids, they are all from wonderful Darwin rural flower farms. The proteas and other southern natives were brought in as they are not locally grown, as were the yellow orchids. We do have yellow orchids, but as our wet season was a non event, and our spectacular dry season has been cooler than normal... reducing the flowering of local flowers we had to do this to keep the colours celebratory and vibrant! 

a funny story:

Garry detailed our Subaru up early in the week to be used as the bridal car.

Fast forward to Friday and I drive out on the Arnhem highway to a spectacular flower farm... but it ends up on the end of a dirt road. With my sisters in the car as well, I just kept laughing and saying: “he’s going to kill me, look at the red dirt all over it! If I go faster, will it blow off?” 🤣🤣🤣

Oops... another clean required on my return.......

(With my sorry face on and tail between legs... but then there’s the next job to do, so no time to linger longer....)