How have you evolved as a host?

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

How have you evolved as a host?

Evolved.jpg

 

Hello everyone,

 

As with most things, I believe it’s good for the soul to feel you are moving forward and learning. Whether you have been hosting for years or perhaps only a few months, the progression as a host can be huge. The things you learn after welcoming each guest into your home, perhaps you have mastered your cleaning routine or your messaging checklist.

 

How do you feel you have evolved?

 

Thanks,

 

Lizzie


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57 Replies 57
Beth80
Level 10
State of Roraima, Brazil

@Lizzie   Being a part of the Airbnb community has changed my life! I started hosting not really sure how this was going to work out. Over time my rules have gotten stricter and I'm not doing every little thing for each guest. It has certainly been a learning process, but I feel like it has gotten better with each change I've made.

Took me a while to figure out the game, to get used to the pace of AIRBNB, and therefore, to manage almost automatically, the arrivals and departures. It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve changed since the day the first guest walked through the front door of my house.

 

Although I don’t take in tourists anymore, I still wake up in the middle of the night after having dreamed of Kamesh, an Indian guest with eyeliner and shocking pink leather pants. Or Amandine and Claire, two special French guests who dressed the same way as the Shining twin little girls. Because, even without horrifying nocturnal awakenings, I often think about those days with regret.

 

AIRBNB. I guess that was a troubled relationship full of sunlight and shadow. Actually, on second thought, it was not a relationship, but a Russian novel.

 

In the year of our Lord 2009, an inner spark pushed me, with curiosity, toward this portal. It was love at first sight.

 

With this traveling companion, I learned what it is to host someone. I’ve grown to love my house. Looking at it with the eyes of a traveler, I wanted to make some improvements on it, to give it the care it needed. Because if I didn’t join AIRBNB, I wouldn’t upgrade some rooms of my house or repaint the exterior to increase curb appeal.

 

I got in a fight with some guests, but most of the time I had fun, overwhelmed by the emotional swing that exploded every day in my place, while I was looking for Bob Dylan's "answer in the wind", without feeling heartbroken.

 

In the beginning, I made many mistakes. Hosting is dangerous. Hosting puts you off balance. I’ve been falling a lot, but I’ve always managed to bounce back. Armies rise and armies fall.

 

Watching how other people had described their home and reading many reviews was very useful to me in terms of clarifying certain issues. I got some ideas from them.

 

Bit by bit I took a positive and proactive attitude. It happened gradually, without my realizing it, that’s all.

 

I stopped believing in AIRBNB. I stopped playing. I stopped obeying orders. I stopped worrying about scores in a way totally determined by others.

 

After a time, I learned to understand the things guests valued most highly.

 

I learned to show them a little Italian hospitality.

 

I learned to respect the spaces and times of others.

 

I learned to understand when my guest needed silence and solitude.

 

I learned that the guest takes root in the heart of the hosts he meets.

 

I learned that hosting moves mountains.

 

Because in hosting there is no end, but always a new beginning.

 

With utopian stubbornness and boundless love

 

Emily

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

@Emily352 

The agonies and the ecstacies of those who have hosted with the full of their hearts since the very dawn of Airbnb, beautifully and lyrically described. Thank you. 🌷

 

Few would deny that in many ways, the original true and essential essence of Airbnb hosting has diminished, and dissipated, rather than evolved, in recent years. The easy, natural flow of the organic heart-based hospitality that was once the lifeblood of the platform, has gradually been sucked out, and largely  replaced by neurotic, obsessive results-driven "hosting", fuelled by metrics, targets, gamification and worthless gold stars. 

 

Ethics abandoned and souls sold to devils in the relentless pursuit of market dominance and global supremacy. Was always an inevitability, I suppose. Doesn't make it any less sad, though

 

That said.. here's to all the beautiful  Kamesh's, Amandines and Claires of the guesting world, who left their footprints in our homes and in our hearts, and made it all worthwile!  😉

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

Couldn't help noticing that at first glance, the pic used to illustrate this thread on the topic of the evolution of hosting, looks for all the world, like a hotel receptionist in a hotel reception. How very ironic. 

Ann489
Level 10
Boise, ID

@Susan17  well said, Susan! And so far, silence from the one who posed the question.  😉  

 

Helen427
Level 10
Auckland, New Zealand

Oh @Susan17 @Ann489  you little cynical one's.

 

Where oh where do you see a fridge behind a reception desk in a Hotel?

And as for the teatowel??
Hahaha never judge a picture on first glances.

 

Are you aware we now have  @Stephanie and @Ann both doing Admin in Community Centr

it's great that Admin pop in and read our feedback and contributions, isn't it?

 

Bev33
Level 2
Cape Town, South Africa

Hi there

I have been SO priviledged to be able to become an airbnb host and I have been awarded supeerhost status for almost 2 years now.  Thank you so much airbnb for this opportunity.  Sadly and due to tragic and unforseen circumstances I am being forced to close my airbnb.

 

I am from Cape Town in South Africa and I am looking at perhaps managing other hosts airbnb rentals. Has anyone got any ideas for me regarding this or how I can go about finding people who need this service?

Thank you

Hey Bev, its all about prospecting. You have to be the one to initiate contact with homeowners and get there interest into trusting you to rent out there property. Almost like a real estate agent finding new clients to do business with. Put on a nice suit and go out and find homeowners. Hope this helps!

Helen427
Level 10
Auckland, New Zealand

Oh @Susan17 @Ann489  you little cynical one's.

 

Where oh where do you see a fridge behind a reception desk in a Hotel?

And as for the teatowel??
Hahaha never judge a picture on first glances.

 

Are you aware we now have  @Stephanie and @Ann both doing Admin in Community Centre

it's great that Admin pop in and read our feedback and contributions, isn't it?

 

Ah, it's  first impressions that count though @Helen427, those subliminal moments! We all know that most people nowadays have the attention span of a goldfish - their eyes don't linger long enough  to take in the finer details! And I bet I'm not the only one whose very first assosciative thought was "hotel reception" on viewing that image 🙂

 

And yes, it's lovely that the admins pop in and read our feedback and contributions, although as managers of a brand-owned community, that is their role, so to be expected. Now if only they could convince Airbnb to ever hear, respond to, or act upon - in an open, honest and transparent manner - the thousands of serious issues and grievances that their discombobulated hosts have taken the time and effort to post here in the CC, then we'd be right on the pig's back! 

 

 

@Helen427  I hope you see the frustration behind my words.  Airbnb's has evolved as well--and not neccessarily in a good way, in my opinion.  With fewer and fewer ways to properly vet potential guests, it has become a game of Russian roulette--but that's a story for another thread.  😉

Happy hosting in Auckland!

 

PS: Helen, this community forum is not really run by Airbnb.  Lizzie and the other "admin" are contractors and have no direct relationship to Airbnb.  😉

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

*(Off topic joke) 

I did not know why, but the picture that ilustates this topic reminded me of something.

Now I know what the association with this picture is!

The host in the picture is looking like a concierge ! 🙂 Even the computer in front of him, it he has !

Maybe he welcome the guests behind the kitchens counter for check-in and to help the guest 🙂

erm... mainly the ones who are more suitable for a hotel stay! 🙂

He can deal with any kind of guests ! No doubt it is a host that has reached the highest level of evolution. 

Lol! He doesn't look like the jolliest or most welcoming of guys though, does he @J-Renato0? 😉

Why don’t we talk about the picture on the wall behind “the evolved human host” depicting Chairman Mao with the Red Book in his hand? 😮😏

 

Lol!! Oh sweet Jesus! Well spotted @Emily352! When I posted that comment, I was viewing on my phone and didn't even notice the pic on the wall. How very amusing - that's made my day 😂😂