Looking back over 2018 what have been your hosting joys?

[Lizzie]

Happy New Year to you all

Hello everyone,

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, we wish you all a fantastic 2019! 

This time of year can be a very busy time for all of us, it’s is easy to run from one year to the next, in a blink of an eye. With this in mind, I will ask you to take five minutes, (possibly ten minutes) to put your feet up, grab a festive drink and look back over the past year.

I think it’s good to take a moment to reflect and see what went well and what could go a little better next year. Thinking on the positives, what have been your hosting  (and non-hosting) joys this year? 

Thanks to you all for a wonderful 2018 here in the CC. You all make the Community Center what it is and I think this year has been the best yet. Thanks for everything you do to make the CC a welcoming and enjoyable place to be.

Here's to 2019! 

Lizzie and Quincy

[Huma0]

@Lizzie

2018 has been my busiest hosting year yet and this Summer, after my last housemate moved to Oslo, I decided to properly open up my third room to Airbnb guests. Previously, it had only been on for a few weeks each year at most to fill small gaps inbetween housemates. 

I am trying to keep that room primarily for long-term guests, although I take short-termers in between the longer bookings. For some reason, this room is fully booked months ahead and seems to attract mostly delightful people. Only one left a 4 star rating (I think that was Summer 2017), but was a problem free guest and left a glowing written review. You can't win them all!

The highlight to me was one of my all time favourite guests, Sonja, originally from Glasgow, but a bit of a nomad and definitely a free spirit. It was if we were friends from the get-go. I think we spent two hours chatting at check in before I remembered I had to get another room ready for a guest about to arrive! Within minutes, one of my cats had curled up on Sonja's bed and fallen asleep. Always a good sign.

Anyway, I LOVED having Sonja stay and she could have moved in forever as far as I'm concerned. She liked it too, posting on social media "Behind this door I found a home." She stayed one month and actually wanted to extend for another two but the room was already booked. Sonja has been back to visit and has even checked in guests for me while I was away, both while she was staying here and after, and got rave reviews from the guests. I miss her!

She has set the bar high for guests, but it's meeting people like Sonja that keep me hosting.

[Martha-Verónica0]

Hola Lizzie. Felicidades en este 2019 y que las oportunidades sean muchas y las metas se cumplan  en este nuevo ciclo de vida 2019.

Revisando el 2018 mi mejor alegría de hospedar ha sido precisamente iniciar esta hermosa  aventura con airbnb. Recuerdo que dudé mucho al inicio antes de publicar mi anuncio, mi esposo tenía más dudas        (prefiere alquileres permanentes) y yo tenía insegurridad, mi aliada fue mi hija, quien me habló de airbnb, ya que lo había utilizado en sus viajes. Recuerdo que hice fiesta cuando recibí mi primer mensaje "Felicitaciones tiene una reserva" no lo podía creer! Fue entonces cuando comprendí la responsabilidad que implica recibir a una o a un grupo de personas que te visitan con expectativas, culturas, idiomas, costumbres diferentes; lo que me enriquece cada día y me compromete a seguir mejorando. Felizmente casi todas mis experiencias han sido muy buenas, agradables, motivadoras; y las que mejores aprendizajes me han aportado han sido las experiencias poco agradables, porque me han permitido revisar mi trabajo, las normas, los mensajes y mi anuncio. Al finalizar el 2018, me siento feliz por las personas conocidas, por las visitas recibidas, por ser considerada una super host, finalmente por la decisión tomada de ser una anfitriona. Gracias airbnb.

 Mi alegría de no hospedar: El 2018 fue el año de  nuestro tercer reencuentro familiar. Somos una familia bastante numerosa, y hace un tiempo atraz decidimos enconcontrarnos un día y celebrar juntos el ser familia en recuerdo y agradecimiento a nuestros padres. Este año que termina, nos reunimos 91 miembros de nuestra familia, entre abrazos de reencuentro con el hermano, hijo, sobrino, nieto; entre risas y lágrimas de alegría y de disfrute por los nuevos integrantes y por los que llegaron desde muy lejos; entre juegos, un buen vino de Ica y sana comida, pasamos un día que quedó grabado en nuestros corazones y que alimenta nuestro amor por el otro y enriquece nuestra red familiar. Nos quedamos con la ilusión del próximo reencuentro en el 2020. Amo a mi familia.

Gracias Lizzie por la oportunidad de deternos a pensar un momento en aquello que nos hace feliz.

Un abrazo a todos  y todas.

Martha

[Susan1028]

Becoming an Air BnB host has enriched my life in so many ways...as I fulfill my intention to offer the same to others.

From a business point of view this platform has provided so much flexibility, ease, and expanded scope.  I love being an independent host running my own business with specific ethics and level of service while being part of such a global community.  

I’ve loved creating my space with specific intentions and purpose and seeing that realized in my guests’ positive experiences and seeing it immediately reflected in the guest feedback and rewards offered in this community.

I commented to a friend recently that after years working on behalf of others who used periodic critical formats for feedback that always left us feeling lacking (as a means to get more), each guest review is like a “performance review” that’s immediate and relevant and directly reflects my intentions, level of experience and commitment, so it inspires me to maintain and surpass as a joyful endeavor.  We know how well we are doing with every booking, and have the opportunity to respond immediately.

For me, the best aspects are:

1- the great people I’ve met

2- the opportunity to provide them with a place and experience of peace, comfort, and nurturing in a beautiful environment and location not just as an escape from a very demanding and often draining world, but to enrich and uplift each person so that as they return to everyday life, that feeling goes with, and is shared, inspiring more.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to share this intention and meet wonderful people in an environment of shared growth and success.  I’m so gratified for the freedom to create a space and business that truly reflects my intentions and personality that has equally positive meaning for others.

I’m so grateful to be able to create an ambience and hospitable sensibility in which couples are inspired to propose, find each other again, families reconnect, writers and artists commune with thier muse, where everyone can reconnect with nature and appreciate the beauty of life, and where people seeking respite from significant challenge find peace, healing, and strength.

Air BnB has provided us the means to manifest our vision on many levels.  We have the means to create a nice affordable place to stay AND inspire cherished memories and experiences and...dare I say express our love for humanity and inspire the same in a world that’s hungry for it, all wrapped up as a place to be present in...that’s also a successful business model and supportive community? 

Getting paid to do what we love is always a gift, and in my experience, this one keeps giving to everyone.

Thank you for the opportunities Air BnB.  Thank you for creating a global community of other committed kindreds, and the ability to participate in the wisdom and mutual growth and inter connectivity with forums and feedback.

This has been a true “win-win.”

I’ve been very blessed and look forward to a great year ahead for everyone.

[Christine615]

 You know, every now and then I get a guest who’s a little bit of a problem and I think about taking my apartment and turning it back into a long-term rental. But my family uses that space a lot. And it’s my parents and my mother-in-law‘s home away from home. And it’s comfortable.

That gets me thinking about my greatest joys as a host for the last year and a half. There is the family that came to town because their child was having heart surgery And they wanted to stay in the home environment not a hotel. There is my repeat guest whose son couldn’t get home for Christmas so she booked the place and bought stockings and a tree and presents and had a family gathering and left a Christmas present for us. There is a woman who’s coming back because she’s got a new grandbaby and says this is her second home. There were the wonderful teenagers who were getting ready to go off for college and I was skeptical but they were some of our neatest clients and we had to rescue them during a rainstorm from an outdoor concert 30 minutes away because there was no way for them to get back. They were so grateful and so considerate.

There have been a few glitches with a few needy guests but the most part the notes left in our guestbook,  the little drawings people make,  the presents we find and or the hugs we get have made it so worthwhile that even my skeptical neighbors have enjoyed the experience.

In addition, I have stayed at a couple of air B&Bs myself. We are still friends with at least two of the hosts.

 I know Airbnb has an obligation to increase its value for the investors. But it’s not going to be able to do that if it starts acting more like a hotel and less like a community. Airbnb’s strength, and its profit potential, lie in its ability to make personal connections between members. And to properly police the people who are simply trying to make it a hotel alternative. Those are two different things.

So maybe what Airbnb should do is have two platforms. One for individual users and solo listings. And one for commercial power users that have multiple listings. 

I don’t book listings where it is clear the host has multiple places. I’m not looking for a hotel that is mass marketed. I’m looking for a personal connections.