My dream guest.

[Robin4]

Yesterday another booking arrived, we have had 21 this month, so you can imagine we are feeling a bit 'guest out'!

Karman ** and his partner ( I hope the moderators won't remove his name because guests like this need to be acknowledged) walked up our driveway with a bunch of roses for Ade, a really nice bottle of wine for me and a packet of Schmakos for Betts the dog.

These were gifts for us before they had set foot in the place. 

I thought I had seen it all in hosting, but this is a new level of guest experience for me.

Every day I get reminded why Airbnb hosting is one of the nicest things one can do in life!

Cheers.........Rob

**Sensitive information hidden

[Liv]

That's lovely, @Robin4! Thanks for sharing 🌼

It's so sweet that they thought of a gift for each one of you, even for the dog 💜

(By the way, sorry to say I did have to remove the guest's last name for security reasons, hopefully you'll understand.)

[Robin4]

@Liv 

Hey Liv, I understand but this guest arrived not knowing what lay ahead for him and his partner....this was totally uncharted territory for him! He was not a friend or even an acquaintance but, he chose to spend at least $50 on things he thought Ade, I and Betts might like before he arrived. He put some thought into his purchases to the point where he knew what each of us......Ade, Betts and I would like!

Liv, we do have to 'walk the plank' where hosting is concerned! We do not know what is in store for us with that next guest mate, what we do is not like sitting in front of a computer screen and approving of this post or that.

I was embarrassed by this guests generosity, but our interaction since has resulted in a stay that I will remember.

I don't want this guest to be seen as an  anonymous curio that cropped up on a Community Centre page which will disappear into obscurity within a couple of days. I want hosts from around the world to know that Karman ***** was a wonderful guest who will enrich any hosts life.

You can remove his name Liv, but you can't remove the positive impact he has had on my life and Ade's 

I would like other hosts to remember that when his name pops up on a booking enquiry! 

This is one you don't want to let get away!

Cheers.........Rob

[Liv]

Hi @Robin4,

I’m really sorry if my reply gave you the impression that I was trying to take away your opportunity to recognise this guest for such a sweet gesture. I agree with you 100% that it was very lovely and deserves to be shared.

However, it’s part of my job to uphold the CC guidelines. Using personal or identifiable information is not permitted, so even though I understand where your request was coming from, I had no choice here.

I hope you are able to leave the guest the raving review they deserve for other hosts to see. Also, you might want to consider inviting them to the Community and praise them this way.

Working here in the Community every day I can only agree that hosting is a skilful thing, and takes a lot of work. I think many people underestimate the amount of effort that goes into being a great host.

Of course, as a Community member here perhaps you only see a small amount of the work that we as Community Managers do, but suffice to say, if our role was as simple as 'sitting in front of a computer screen and approving of this post or that' then life would be very easy indeed 😉

I really hope you can understand where I’m coming from. This topic truly does deserve to be all about this amazing guest.

Best,
Liv

[Anonymous]

@Robin4  You know perfectly well that the guest's surname does not appear on a booking inquiry.

Did you even get the guest's consent before attempting to put his full name out there on a public forum like this? Even if you intended to be complimentary, many people would feel quite violated to find a post like this come up when googling their own name. I seriously doubt the intent behind those thoughtful gifts was to give you content for a very public humblebrag at the expense of the guests' privacy.

[Robin4]

@Anonymous 

Andrew I understand what you are saying, but I am well aware of the protocols and the risks!

This is a hosting that just clicked, they extended to a second night and I offered to put two friends of theirs up for that second night as well.......This property is very adaptable and I could put up 10 guests if I felt comfortable and allowed, there is lots of personal space here.

Andrew every day we are pushing our boundaries, a year ago I never thought I would host 22 guest reservations in a calendar month....but here we are, that is our January reality. I don't think we have got here by me abusing guests privacy!  

Mate sometimes an experience comes out of nowhere, I could not believe how lovely this guest and his partner Rhythm were. I of course would not have made his details public without first talking about it with him. Andrew he gave me wholehearted permission to bring our story onto a public forum.

Here is the personal note they left......

I never tire of getting these Andrew and if I can somehow pass it on to inspire and help others, I will!

Andrew, as regular long term contributors our job here is not just to give advice, it is to give positive experiences, not just negative ones.

On another internet site I get paid to answer questions! When I say I get paid, I get one US cent per up-vote.....not a pathway to riches you might say.

The answers that get me the most up-votes are the nice feel-good answers. I currently have one that has got me.......

That's $534.62 US (nearly $700 AU) that answer has earned me. People want to hear nice stories, probably more so now than ever before, it's not a case of invading someones privacy, it's a matter of making the world feel just a bit better!

Cheers.......Rob

[Anonymous]

OK Rob, you do you. I was wrong to call that a humblebrag, because let's be honest, there's no humble happening here 🙂 but how nice that you made some money on the internet 

[Robin4]

@Anonymous 

Maybe it is humblebrag, I don't know!

Andrew I am caught between a rock and a hard place! When Ade was diagnosed with MS in 1994 I wound my business back, took my retirement and let my business partner Michael take over the business. Ade and I spent 2 decades travelling, we bought ourselves a nice motorhome and a boat, we took off, because we were not going to be able to do it later in life when that's what old folks do......our future was here and now. We saw this country and we saw a lot of the world......money was no object.

In 2009 we had enough money to buy this house and have $60,000 left over for renovations. We were paying a mortgage on a property in Sydney that was costing us money month after month, we were on a pension and we were essentially broke....we were living from week to week. Andrew here I was in my mid 60s and I had to find some way of making a living. 

We fortunately made a lot of money on the sale of our Sydney property in 2011 and that enabled us to get in another 4 years of travel.....this time in the form of cruises. We put the bulk of what was left into an asset here which helped us a lot but, we were still dependent on the pension, I still had to find ways of making money......I had no superannuation to bring me in the required $700-$800 a week to still live a good lifestyle. Airbnb came along and that has been a godsend to us, we just seem to have settled into a marketable niche and the money we get out of that certainly takes us well over the poverty line each month.

In 2018 I was asked to join admin in a chat site where I would get some reward to answer questions. It was a pretty small reward but every answer gets an up-vote or two now and then, and I have 1,400 of them. Every time I look in my PayPal account there is another hundred or two dollars in there.

Andrew, when you get to my age you feel worthless.....you used to have a job but don't any more! The guy stacking the shelves in the local Woolworths has a job, I didn't.

Doing what I do is not just about keeping bread on the table and giving us a a few nice bottles of wine, it is satisfying in that it makes me feel worthwhile again.

That is why I take it so seriously!

Cheers........Rob    

[Robin4]

@Liv 

You know, there is a golden rule here on the CC....always copy every response or post before you submit it. Being late, I didn't on this occasion and I lost it...,.disappeared into the ether! I wish this site could be like every other where there is always a plan B, the draft is always saved......this is so incredibly frustrating!

It's midnight here I will have another crack at a response and post it again tomorrow.....stay tuned!

Cheers........Rob

[Helen350]

I have a photo a bit like that @Robin4 , from two hysterically funny German men, who initially tried to go off platform... Which shows that such is not always an omen of a bad guest!

- I reckon ONE of those lovely presents will be a first for you, lol!

[Cathie19]

@Robin4  That’s wonderful! I wonder if the fact you were on the “edge” of the Cherry Gardens bushfire in the Adelaide Hills, that made them extra generous. 💐 Lovely gesture, especially when it’s usually reversed.....

[Sarah977]

@Robin4 The first time a guest brought me a "hostess gift", I was really surprised and touched. It never occurred to me guests would do that. Most of the gifts have been small tokens, but they also obviously put some thought into it.

Several of my guests, those who tend to be seasoned travelers, have asked me in messages if there is anything small and light I need that I can't get here, as they are aware that there are things that aren't available in other countries that are easily found in the places they live. 

I usually thank them for asking and say no, but occasionally I've taken them up on it, like when I said "Yes! A couple of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers." I was expecting two, she showed up with 2 boxes of them. And wouldn't accept me paying her back. 

Then there was the Canadian guest who I replied to "Yes, a Nanaimo bar. I've been jonsing for one. " (a well-known Canadian pastry, with layers of chocolate, ground nuts and creamy stuff). But I also told her that I was sort of kidding, as she was actually from the city of Nanaimo and I wasn't sure if Mexican customs would let her bring food in.

So what she brought was a bar of handmade soap fashioned to look just like a Nanaimo bar, and scented like chocolate. That's what I mean about a guest putting some thought into it.