Chronic illness and hosting...

[Heidi125]

I wanted to know if any other hosts have a chronic illness that sometimes rears its ugly head and you have to cancel?  I had to cancel and airbnb wanted to charge me $100.  I have lupus and called and they took away the penalty.  I have a wicked cold and am in a flair.  How does one deal with this?  I am nervous about airbnb hosting now.  I host in a small apartment-700 square feet so it's very hard for me to avoid the person when feeling so awful, plus I did not want the person to get my cold.  

If anyone has suggestions on how to handle hosting as a chronically ill person, please do let me know as this has made me rethink hosting.  

Heidi- 

[Alexandra316]

@Heidi125 sorry to hear about your illness.

Perhaps find a co-host to cover for you if you're not well? I see from your profile that you are renting a space in your home, so this may not be a practical solution for you, but it's the first thing that came to mind. 

[Heidi125]

I agree.  I agree with you actually.  No co hosts that I know of.   No one wants to do this!  I am not sure this is feasible for me anymore as this year has been very hard.  

[Alexandra316]

@Heidi125 Really sorry to hear that. I think you need to do whatever is best for you and your health. Maybe you can restart hosting if you find you're doing better.

I agree that cancelling guests isn't ideal. I'm glad to hear though that Airbnb didnt penalize you.

[David126]

Seems Heidi has taken her listing down, in such a situation and knowing nothing about the condition my first though is how frequently this is likely to happen, it would be unfair on guests to take a booking if there is a good chance you will need to cancel.

[Heidi125]

I have only cancelled once.  The biggest challenge for me is that many guests want to hang out and talk and I am just not up for that.  I can at times, but that is not reliable.  I had made it clear that I am an introvert, which I am, but guests still wanted to hang out.  I was charging $36 for one night.  I wanted peace and so took my profile down.  I have been doing this since August of 2017.  There was a gentleman who stayed here who was uncomfortable with the fact that I was in my room one day of his stay.  He basically wanted me to entertain him and that is not my job.  

[Robin4]

@Heidi125

I am so sorry you have been placed in this situation Heidi.

My wife and I are a partneship in this Airbnb hosting deal and she has Multiple Sclerosis! She has had it since 1976 but, the last few years it has caught up with her to the point where she can now no longer take any active part in hosting.

It does make hosting difficult when you have health issues to deal with Heidi, other people don't understand what you go through, and I know at times guests have perceived Adrienne as being rude and unsociable, when this is far from the case.

If you feel you wish to keep hosting despite having these issues to deal with my hope is that you have an understanding partner who can shoulder the load for you and carry you over this difficult time of year. The cold weather won't last much longer and I am sure your health will improve along with the weather.

I would not advise you to take your listing down, it is an admission that you have lost an ability you once had! Heidi, it is really important for a cronic sufferer to keep themselves active and to be made to feel they are a worthwhile contributor. When you start to let your condition build isolation walls around you, this is not good therapy....you must always strive to use what you have got....work on your strengths and this is why I would recommend you continue with your hosting and push yourself that little bit....you will ultimately feel better for it.

Use work-arounds for difficult situations! Go onto Ebay and purchase yourself and 'Ironising Filter' to keep the air clean and scrubbed, so you can lessen the fear of passing on your cold. Your guests will appreciate it and it will help your own health.

The worst day of Ade's life was when she had to surrender her drivers licence and could not drive any more! All of a sudden she became dependant on everyone else to do anything other than sit in her own space. Browsing is a massive part of a womans life and the loss of the ability to just walk from shop to shop and browse has a dramtic  effect on a womans personality. But we used a work-around, I bought her a little lightweight fold-up 'Gopher' which gives her a bit of limited mobility back again.

You can't will away your problems Heidi, but I would ask you to try and work with them, do what you can do and accept what you can't.

I am sorry I can't be of more help to you than that!

All the best.....Cheers.....Rob

[Heidi125]

Hi Rob, I have another job that is more important.  I am a jeweler.  Taking down my profile is not an admission of illness, it is taking care of myself.  Putting myself first.  I do not have a partner.  I am a single female and have a business.  I own my own business so that comes first.  

Thank you though and I am sorry about your wife.  Truly.  

As I stated above to the man above, people were coming here and wanting me to entertain them.  I just wanted people to stay here, do what they need to do and not leave me alone, but allow me to feel that I can go about my day and not have to concern myself with being their companion.  That is of no interest to me.  My place was a place to crash since I live in a college town.  Not many places to stay here for less than $150 per night.   

I was charging $36 per night.  That is it.  Not worth it.  Why?  I provided an air matttress in a separate bedroom.  Very comfy but did not want to charge a lot for an air mattres.  I live in an apartment, too.  Not a house...you can hide out in a house.  I have stayed at people's houses on airbnb and they did not entertain me.  I liked that.  They treated me as a guest, but remained professional and went about their business. 

[Robin4]

@Heidi125

Hey, that's fine Heidi, I just thought from the last sentence of initial post, and you say in your profile your love of hosting that your condition was forcing you to stop doing something that you really wanted to keep doing.

I totally understand that you just want to rent a space, not a lifestyle package, and although that is just about every hosts goal here, I do find that many guests use a hosting site rather than a hotel because they want to be hosted. Probably might have been an idea to say in the welcome message..."I am here if you have an issue to be dealt with but, my workload does not permit a lot of interaction"! That should give them the hint!

All the best with the jewelery business....that is two that I know of here on the CC you should check out @Andrea

Cheers.....Rob

[Heidi125]

Thanks, Rob.  Yes, I did have on my profile that I am an introvert and need space, but people were not really reading it.  Some would come and not even know that I had an air mattress.  I loved the guests that were also intoverts.  We got eachother. : )

I will check out Andrea.  TY!!  

Best,

Heidi 

[Helga0]

Hi @Heidi125, the question is, what the hosting brings you. From what I read in your messages, you would prefer to have easy guests, who keep to themselves and who you do not need to entertain. Greet them, maybe smile when you cross them, and be paid would be fine. there may be days, where hiding in your part of the flat would be even finer. 

That does not seem unachievable to me - I do a lot of work to filter out the taciturn keep-to-themselves types and get more of those you do not want. It should work in the other sense too. 

You could rethink procedures: can checkin be automatic or at least very formalised? Greet them, here is the key, here is the room, here is the info) (In such a setting, the info should be easy, maybe pictures or illustrations.

Can you split the apartment in a way to favor not crossing guests? That could be a private bathroom for you or for the guest or at least a water kettle and some cups in your room. I removed a lot of annoyances in a tiny apartment, when I added a sink, an espresso machine and a water kettle to my room. Some snacks too: if the guest is not my cup of tea, I have my own breakfast or a soup for dinner without crossing the common space. 

I do have a seperate entrance, but firm shedules might help a bit already. Reduce the time they can be in the apartment. If they need to be home, they will ask and you can "compromise", that they stay mostly in their own room. Better than being waylaid whenever you show the tip of your nose. 

Longer stays might help too, to reduce the number of checkin prodcedures and cleanings. Maybe increase the price and add a five day reduction. My five to seven day guests ask nicely, if they really have to be out during the day every day and I concede an exeption for the week-ends. Both sides are happy - 2 years ago, I climbed the walls, if I had work to do and a seven days stay at home all day guest. 

To filter for your kind of guests, you need to adapt the listing. Pictures and texts should be appealing to solitary taciturn people. Fast Internet, a big TV, movies, books etc, whatever attracts a person who likes to stay alone or be online all the time. 

[Heidi125]

All very good points.  I think with how tiny my apartment is, it's not going to work for more than a few nights.  I had someone here for 5 nights and I was losing it.  Only one bathroom in my 2 bedroom apartment and you can hear everything.  I am planning on buying a duplex soon and will see if that would work better.  The whole 2 bathroom idea is what I want.  There is a lot I would need to change to make this work for me.  

Because this is a college town, many come to spend time at the college, but many also come for other reasons, too.  

I am just not a talker and some like to tell me everything.  I say in the emails that I am an introvert..."No problem, Heidi," but then they get here and just keep talking. 

Some are very sweet and I enjoy them.  But I am a person who needs space.  It's an absolute for me.  I also don't want to feel uncomfortable if I am hanging out in my room and they are like...why?

Anyway, we shall see where this takes me.  Right now I hit snooze on this until I can figure it out and just because I need a break.  

Thank you!