Christmas spirit!

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

Christmas spirit!

I love this time of year, it seems to bring out the best in people!

His is the little gift Danyun and Sing Ya left for us on the night of  Christmas eve!

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The stocking had chocolates that Ade promptly devoured!!

And tonight we got to sit out under what is coming to be a common meeting place with guests...the market umbrella. I have gone all high tech and installed dimmable strip lighting to create that perfect ambiance!!

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Christmas night I sat here with guests Rachelle and Vincent until 1.20 am and we had just the best night!

The guests think I am a great host, but I just think they are great guests!

You can't get more win/win than that!

 

Cheers......Rob

 

 

 

26 Replies 26
Clare0
Level 10
Templeton, CA

@Robin4. You always seem to get the best guests!  Or maybe it is because you are a great host!

Will send you a private message!

Susan151
Level 10
Somerville, MA

@Robin4. I'll play! Our Christmas guest is here for the second time. She is a very nice woman who has family, including the only grand, living nearby.

 

 

Since we are celebrating Christmas on the 1st, it has to live under the tree unti then.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

This is lovely to hear @Robin4.  What a kind thought from your guest. 

 

It would be great to hear if anyone else's guests did anything similar. 


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

This is my first posting as we are new hosts. We began in October, and I have been reading postings when I can.

 

We have two holiday niceties to speak of.  Our guest Eve made us a beautiful bow for a wreath we hung outside our Airbnb, and Lisa and Don have just spent eight days over Christmas living for the first time together as a couple. They were high school sweethearts who were reuniting after a couple of decades apart. It is a most wonderful time of the year!

@Anne-And-Brad0

Thanks for posting that really nice experience.

I am finding as the challenges and workload in my personal life are increasing I am turning more and more towards nice topics rather than aggresive ones to respond too. I still want to help but I don't fancy getting into a drawn out debate any more and I do like to look for posts just like yours!

 

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Just click the contributor you wish to respond to and that will warn that contributor that you are addressing comments to them.

All the best, have a great new year and I hope your hosting goes well.

 

Cheers......Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anne-And-Brad0
Level 3
Poultney, VT

@Robin4 Ha! Thanks for the tip on how to reply to others' posts like yours. I am with you in regard to how I want to spend my very limited free time. Brad and I (I am Anne, and one of my Airbnb roles is to be the communicator, although I think that Brad will enjoy this community too) both work more than full-time and now tend to our little Airbnb. For us, our Airbnb has brought us much needed joy and surprises, such as I mentioned above. In just three short months we have felt invigorated during what is typically a dark and cold time of year here that can be isolating. In our short time as hosts, we have been honored to welcome people from all over the world and US. We are fascinated that they can find us in our little village and hope that they keep doing so!

 

 

@Anne-And-Brad0

Anne, you will find that this can be a wonderful part of your life and as you say full of surprises!

I had a booking last year that I was sure was a ' mystery shopper'.....a company mole!

Here was his profile.......

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All he had was  one previous review from a year before and a wish list item to stay in our listing! He booked to fly in from the west coast of America, stay in our listing for a week and then fly straight back to the US.....who does that??

Geez, did I turn it on Anne, this was going to be a hosting to go down in history, I left no stone unturned!

 

Lee arrived and he was a lovely guy! We had a great week I made a few nice meals and my wine cellar got a bit of a hiding and Lee provided some nice touches too.....but, he wasn't a company mole! He was just a cowboy from the black hills of Dacota! 

His wife was an ultra marathon runner and two years previously she had been out training and was struck by a vehicle and never came home! Lee was having terrible trouble in coming to grips with this and each year he picks out a destination he thinks his wife would have liked and goes and stays!

Last year it was our listing!

Amongst the sadness a friendship was formed....we will be friends with Lee for life!  

Hosting....yeah it can be a wonderful part of your life Anne!

 

Cheers.....Rob

 

Patricia55
Level 10
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Ah @Robin4 your posts are so heart-warming 🙂 Thanks!

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Patricia55

It is all a case of perception Pat, I think you get out of life what you put into it.

I was told by another contributor on another thread a few hours ago, and I will quote here......."You really are a rude man but only what I expected". All because I had a differing opinion to hers.

But for those who have followed my time here on the community centre, (and how my guests feel about me with my hosting) all would probably say, that comment says more about that contributor than it says about me!

 

Only a day now and we hit the end of 2018. I never thought when I was younger that I would see 2019 or beyond! I live in a great age and I have a lot to be thankful for....and a lot of that has been due to people like you Patricia and the community centre....you take me away from my personal struggles. Thanks!

 

Cheers.....Rob

 

@Robin4, It took me a while to get back to your thread. What a great story! It is eye-opening at my age (mid-fifties) to feel naive, but I did not even consider "company moles!" Brad and I have our listing as open-ended as we can make it in order to accommodate a possible guest's needs according to what our space and what we can and cannot do given that we both work outside our home. One thing that I am working hard not to let happen is to allow Airbnb's rating system to freak me out. I just don't want my opinion of our guests to hedge on how they score us. I may be really naive, but if we can continue having guests book as we have been, we are happy!

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Robin4that's so lovely and who doesn't like chocolates? 🙂

 

Sorry to be a downer but, unfortunately, I'm having a bit of a rough time this Christmas and it's making me seriously rethink hosting again at this time of year. Although I always get one or two lovely guests and one or two difficult ones at Christmas, this year my listings seem to have attracted the ungrateful dead! 

 

I usually leave Christmas cards for my guests but this time I have left cards, crackers, fancy-smancy amoretti mince pies, shots of whiskey and advent calendars packed with expensive Swiss chocolates.

 

Have the guests enjoyed them? Well, I'm not sure, because the vast majority have not even acknowledged them and some haven't even bothered to open the cards (but did scoff the mince pies). Out of seven sets of guests, only two thanked me. And out of those seven sets of guests, less than half would be welcome back (the rest have been rude and a pain in the backside), which is a much lower ratio than normal. It's depressing.

 

Still, I'm keeping my chin up and hoping that my New Year's guests will be delightful. Fingers crossed.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Huma0

Huma, I would love to be in London and give you a big hug and tell you .......it doesn't matter!

The entitled are not going to rule the world........ we are possum!

Hitler was entitled and look what happened to him. 

You are an exemplary host Huma, nobody can take that away from you! Please let these turkeys roll off your shoulders, out of your life and just keep doing what you do with the style and grace that we have all come to expect of you!

Seriously, you are better than a few transient misfits!

My wish for you is to have the best up-coming year ever, and if I can just get Ade's legs to cooperate we may even get to pay you a visit next summer.

 

Cheers.....Rob

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Thanks @Robin4 for your support! Yes, i’m sure it’s just a rough patch, just a shame that it came at Christmas when I so looking forward to creating a festive and fun experience for my guests.

 

That would be amazing if you and Ade came to visit. I can’t promise my cooking will be on par with yours but i’d give it a darn good try!


@Huma0 wrote:

Thanks @Robin4 for your support! Yes, i’m sure it’s just a rough patch, just a shame that it came at Christmas when I so looking forward to creating a festive and fun experience for my guests.


Ah, I am afraid that this was where you set yourself up for disappointment. No one can "create" an experience for someone else, especially some random strangers. You can decorate your home. You can give them a place that feels like someplace that you want to celebrate. But, you can not create anyone else's festive.

 

Now, if the giving gave you joy regardless of their gratitude or lack of gratitude, then knock yourself out, but I don't think that is why you extended these gifts. That said, I am truly sorry that so few of your guests appreciate the efforts that you made to give them a festive holiday.