Community Spotlight: Alexandra316

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Community Spotlight: Alexandra316

*Please note this is a general Airbnb image (not from Alexandra's listing) :)*Please note this is a general Airbnb image (not from Alexandra's listing) 🙂

 

Hello everyone,

It's my favourite time of the month again, where we put one community member in the spotlight to find out a little more about them. This month, we are speaking with a host who contributes a lot to the life of the CC....Alexandra.png

Lincoln, Canada 

 

How long have you been hosting for and why did you first start?

I hosted my first guest on September 1, 2017 so I've been hosting for about 11 months. My husband David and I moved to the small town of Vineland, Ontario, Canada, in August 2016. We were moving from a bigger city, where we lived in a really small house: we jokingly called it a freestanding bachelor apartment, because it was just one big open-concept space in a converted industrial building. We went from that to quite a large house in wine country, which ended up being a lot of space for just two people. Our new home already had a guest suite with a separate entrance, kitchenette, and bathroom, and after we stayed in some Airbnbs while travelling in Germany in the spring of 2017 and having a really great time, we thought we would give hosting a try for ourselves.

 

Tell us a little about your listing

The Flat on King is an apartment on the lower level of our house. I love the space: it has a kind of mid-century geek-chic vibe to it. I really enjoyed decorating it with many pieces I personally love. I make upgrades regularly: since I started hosting, we've upgraded from a kitchenette to a full kitchen and revamped the bathroom, and we're adding laundry facilities this week. I listen to my guests' suggestions and try and make changes accordingly. Our listing is very dog friendly: a lot of our guests bring their furry friends with them to stay. We have no dog rules, apart from asking that they're generally well-mannered; we don't have size restrictions or ask that they be crated. We have two 85 pound dogs ourselves: Bexley the greyhound, who retired from the dog track in Florida, and Alonso the galgo, who was rescued from Spain, and we've found it challenging to travel with them, because many places don't accept larger dogs, so we wanted to offer a space that was friendly to all dogs. Good dogs come in all shapes and sizes! Meeting our guests' dogs is one of my favourite parts of hosting.

 

How long have your been part of the Community Center and why did you join?

I joined the Community Centre the week I started hosting, when I had a bit of a challenge with one of my first guests. I've stayed because I think it's a really great, supportive forum for connecting with other hosts. I have learned so much from the other hosts here, and I hope I've helped out a few other people myself along the way.

  

When you are not hosting, what do you like doing?

I spend a lot of time with my dogs, both at home and at our cottage. I also do a fair amount of travelling, both for work and personally, and I love exploring new places - and new foods and restaurants. I enjoy riding my motorcycle too, and I ride it every day it's not raining or snowing, provided I don't have to take the dogs anywhere: no one makes a big enough sidecar!

 

If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be and why?

Living and hosting in Niagara is pretty great, but if I had to choose somewhere else to move to, it would probably be London, England. It's my favourite city. I'm a theatre buff, and I'd love to be able to go see world-class theatre anytime I wanted.

 

If you could invite anyone famous around for a dinner party who would it be and what would you cook?

It would have to be Stephen Fry. We were lucky enough to see his Mythos trilogy - a series of lectures on the Greek myths - while he was here in Niagara at the Shaw Festival, and it was 8 hours well spent. I've been a fan of his for a long time, from his days doing Jeeves and Wooster through his travel series and QI. He seems like he would be gracious enough to be polite no matter what I cooked.

 

What was the last film you watched?

I don't get much time for movies these days, but it do enjoy decompressing with action movies. I think the last one I watched was Baby Driver (again). I love Edgar Wright's movies, particularly the way he pairs music and action. Not to mention the fact that Spaced is one of the best TV shows ever made :-).

 

Tell us one fun fact about you

Both my husband and I love building, making and fixing things. He even made my engagement ring! All of the work on our home, Airbnb and cottage has been done by us, and we love repurposing old things to make them interesting and beautiful.

 

Anything to add?

I really value the connections I've made since joining Airbnb. I'm not really a people person, but meeting other hosts and guests has renewed my faith in people. I've also met some really interesting people who I never would have had the opportunity to get to know without this platform. It's been quite the journey, and I look forward to continuing the adventure.

 

 

Thank you so much Alexandra for taking the time to share a little more about yourself and your interests. It is always so fascinating to learn more about the people we speak with on a regular basis. 🙂

 

 

I hope you find this an interesting read, please ask any questions or share any nice comments you have, I am sure Alexandra would love to hear from you. I know I have lots. 🙂

 

Thanks,

Lizzie


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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.

11 Replies 11
Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

I always enjoy reading your posts @Alexandra. We seem to have a lot of similarities in our hosting styles and I can always relate to what your saying! 🙂

Lawrene0
Level 10
Florence, Canada

Thanks, @Lizzie, for these, and thanks, @Alexandra, for a fun read! 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Lovely to see you comments here @Lawrene0 and @Emilia42. Glad you found it an interesting read. 🙂


--------------------


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.

Ria16
Level 10
Northland, New Zealand

Beautiful story and thank you for giving us some insight into your home and life. The cottage sounds very cool and  irll  have to look up mid century geek 😉 your hounds of course I would love to meet. .My sister lives in Spain and every time I visit I always see the plight of abandoned dogs.  So onya!  Was that hard to bring him home? 

Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

Thanks @Lawrene0 @Ria16 @Emilia42 for your kind words! Thanks @Lizzie for featuring me. 

 

Getting Alonso into Canada was a bit difficult, only because the rescue didn't provide me with a proper receipt and the border service gave me a very hard time about it. In terms of vaccinations, etc. everything is taken care of by the rescue before he left Spain, so that wasn't too bad. The rescue organization took care of getting him from Ibiza to Chicago and then drove him to Detroit, where I picked him up, so that part wasn't too bad either: it's about a 5-hour drive each way.

 

He definitely had a bad time before he came to Canada: he was in the  shelter in Spain for a year before I chose him, and before that he probably didn't have a very nice life. He still has some fears and physical scars. He's afraid of children and big groups of dogs, like at his obedience class: I think he thinks he's going to get left behind there. Overall, though, he is the sweetest most loving dog, and I feel lucky that I got him. 

Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

Hi @Alexandra316  How about having a host-with-greyhounds discussion thread 😄  Your Bexley looks like my Camilla Anne, aka Cami!

Cami is joining me in the morning stretch.Cami is joining me in the morning stretch.

@Linda108 they do look alike! It would be interesting to see how many other people have them  for sure. I think they make great pets for hosts: they're quiet, polite and guests seem to love them. 

Helen427
Level 10
Auckland, New Zealand

Excellent idea, In New Zealand they have a Greyhounds as Pets rehoming program for those that have retired from racing.

 

They may look large in size but they are so placid and cool

Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

@Lizzie don't these usually get pinned to the top? I think the same thing happened to Linda... 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Alexandra316,

 

Yes, I usually do feature them. The feature process is manual though and I usually wait until it comes off the 'Top' section on the Homepage first. 🙂 

 

You should see it now. 


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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.

@Lizzie nope... Still invisible.