Share the story of when you decided to host ‌

[Quincy]

Hello everyone, 

On a rainy evening in Edinburgh, I took the bus to my friend who had just bought his first home a few months ago.

Upon my arrival, he asked me to enter the premises quietly. Of course, I said!  It was then that he told me that he became an Airbnb host and was hosting his first guest!

He was the person that inspired me to start hosting as I also had an empty room where I stored lots of boxes and other junk!

I know that many of us have different reasons for having started hosting guests, which made me wonder what influenced you to start hosting? 

I really loved meeting people from around the globe, especially during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but also the help Airbnb offered me financially at the time. 

I look forward to hearing your stories!

Quincy

[Debra300]

@Quincy,

We decided to build a guesthouse in St. Lucia, because every time we returned to visit friends and family, we didn't want to stay with them.  The primary reasons were that we were on holidays, and usually they weren't.  So, we didn't want to disturb them or disrupt their work and school schedules with our comings and goings.  We also didn't want to feel obligated to contribute to housekeeping for a full house of folks.  We observed that many of our friends who live abroad, and regularly returned to the island also didn't want to stay with family.

We've traveled a great deal, and decided that we wanted to offer folks a reasonably priced accommodation that still had many of the conveniences of home.  We prefer to cook most of our own meals with local produce and ingredients, and we found that most of the accommodations where we stayed lacked kitchens items or the ones that were present were in poor condition.  At first, we thought our target market would be international holiday takers from Canada, Europe, the UK and the US.  Actually, about 35% of our bookings are locals or from the Caribbean region.  Ultimately, our goal was to have a business that would pay the mortgage and running expenses of the property.  We definitely, aren't getting prosperous from this endeavor.

We've been closed since March 2020, so I cannot comment on the quality of post-pandemic guests, but we've made some significant renovations in preparations for their arrivals (hopefully, this summer).  Gone is the shared guest kitchen and balcony dining area, and complimentary laundering of personal items when we washed the linens and towels.  Now each suite has a kitchenette and laundry appliances.  We also have installed a smart lock and a Ring doorbell at the guest entrance.  We will be able to greet guests from our porch as they approach the guesthouse, but we will remotely unlock the door so they can gain entrance instead of meeting them at the door.  Another thing that I believe will greatly impact locals, is that we will no longer accept cash payment upon arrival, and they will have to pay online (we have our own site for those who do not use another platform).  Which is something that many people are not comfortable or familiar with doing.

Personally, I believe that the travel industry will see a surge in the latter part of 2021 into 2022, because people are eager to get away from wherever they been during the past year.

[Quincy]

Hi @Debra300, thank you so much for sharing your story here. It is so interesting to hear what motivated people to start hosting 😊.

It's strange that we've been in this situation since last year March, right? It's crazy how time flies. 

Do you have any plans yourself in terms of travel once things open up a bit more? 

[Debra300]

@Quincy,

Last weekend, Keep Cool and I stayed at an Airbnb in the south of the island as a getaway for our birthday week, and to use our SuperHost bonus coupon before it expired.  It was an enjoyable little trip, and although the listed furnishings were provided, it didn't have some basic kitchen and household essentials (seasonings, oil, coffee, sugar, sharp knives, paper towels, laundry cleaning supplies, multi-purpose cleaner, and structurally sound cookware).  This was the sixth country where we've stayed in an Airbnb/STR, and to some varying degree this has been consistent.  

We should be fully vaccinated within by the end of April.  Next month we are going to California, and staying in an Airbnb in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco, for the US Memorial Day holiday weekend to visit friends and family that we've not seen in five years.  

As soon as more international borders open again, we plan to re-book the trips to different countries in Africa and Europe that we had to cancel last year.  

[Quincy]

That's so lovely to hear @Debra300!

I was in California in 2019 and did a road trip to some other surrounding states. I would love to visit again sometime!

It sounds like you have some great travel plans ahead 😊.

I hope you have a great time visiting your friends!

[Michelle1851]

@Quincy  I got the idea to Airbnb a year and a half ago.  We had rented several homes prior to that but the actual idea to host started a 1 1/2 years ago, on a cross country road trip when we stopped in St. Louis, my dad was so hesitant, but ended up loving the experience so much, he asked to find us one the fallowing evening. My daughter was beyond thrilled with the Ethiopian coffee.  It’s the little things, but I ended up listing my parents basement apartment 6 months later and owning a mountain condo to rent in less than a year.  I adore hosting and sharing everything I’ve learned over the years of renting. 

[Quincy]

Hi @Michelle1851, it's so lovely to hear that your dad loved the experience. I've visited a few places as an Airbnb guest as well after I became a host. I remember that my first trip using Airbnb was a trip to Oslo, Norway.

The second one was back in 2018 to Norway again! I wanted to visit @Marit-Anne0 in Oslo, but unfortunately couldn't as my travel schedule was quite tight 🙁. 

Have you found that you use Airbnb for travelling quite often after becoming a host? @Michelle1851 

[Cathie19]

Hi @Quincy  
We’d originally built in under our home when adult children came home to retrain and change careers. They came in January 2010. They left at the end of their qualifications, in the November, six years later.

Arriving as two young adults, but leaving with three children. We built a second driveway as we had cars and boats etc everywhere. Wonderful and blessed chaos of the best kind......

But the space felt sad and things seemed incredibly quiet without them, but we didn’t want permanent renters. We hosted international homestay adult students, two at a time, for the first six months following their departure. As rewarding as this was, having to prepare all meals and spend time nightly having heavy duty (grammatical) English conversation was full on, especially as Garry and I were both working. Some nights I just wanted to sit......

We had used AIrbnb as guests in a shared accommodation, when visiting other children interstate. It had been a successful and positive experience. So with the space set up already, I sat on the Airbnb  site looking at possibilities. I looked what was on offer, what other purchases I might need to get, and started making some lists.  We still had international students for a few more weeks, but I went “live” with our listing in the May and whilst interstate received our first request to book. I was SO ExCIted... so nervous .... so freaked.... so many thoughts and feelings! 

But we were lucky to have a super-host as our inaugural stay and she gave us some compliments and good tips, as well as a great review. That was 2016 and here we still are!  🌻

[Quincy]

Hi @Cathie19!! 

I'm so sad as I couldn't make it to yesterday's social meet-up in the end! 

I was well-prepared with some Korean shrimp crisps and Kloud beer which I wanted to show to @Jessica-and-Henry0!

Aw, yes I can remember my first guest too (I was so nervous 😆). 

It's so inspiring to hear the story that motivated you to start hosting 😊. 

Here's to many more years 🥂!

(p.s. see you at the next meet-up 😃)

[Cathie19]

Yes, you were missed @Quincy, but Jess @Jessica-and-Henry0  never makes the early meetups, but is more likely to be present when it AP friendly.  (our night)

Sadly, I had basic tea and toast accompanying me for my 6.30am turn up... nothing near as exciting as your food!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Quincy 

Shrimp crisps are Henry's favorite~ Next time the meetup is PM in Korea, I will have these ready. 😁 

kloud

korean shrimp chips

Like @Cathie19 mentioned, I never manage to get up early enough to join when it's AM in Korea - I'm just really NOT a morning person. 

[Quincy]

Ha! I'll make sure to have some ready for the next time again 😆 @Jessica-and-Henry0 

[Michelle1164]

@Cathie19, I was right there with you on our 1st request to book. 🤗🙄😬 You have a few years on us, as we listed our 1st room in September of 2019 and our 2nd room in May of 2020. We only opened a 2nd room because guests kept telling us that if we did, they would choose to stay here over a motel or hotel when more than one room/bed is needed. We never allow 2 separate bookings. Guests can either book 1 room or 2 rooms. When a guest books 2 rooms our 1 room listing is blocked as it is included in the 2 room booking. Australia is one of those places I would love to visit someday. If that ever comes to fruition, I might just have to look you up. 

[Laura2592]

Once upon a time there was a redhead who loved buying old houses. Collecting them,  for lack of a better term. She would pore over real estate listings and old house blogs. Every now and again she would schedule tours of places in her area and talk herself out of the purchase because collecting houses is not a sustainable hobby. (She also collects fine jewelry. Her husband jokes that all she needs is a racehorse and the trifecta of bankruptcy is complete.)

One day, she and her husband ran across a listing for an old stone schoolhouse about a half hour from where they lived. There was a converted church for sale in the same area, so she convinced him that they would go tour both with the promise of a winery visit afterwards. The minute they walked into the schoolhouse, she knew it had to be hers. But what would they do with yet ANOTHER property? They were already at capacity and had several rentals as well as their primary place. She did not relish being a landlord and this schoolhouse was just too cute to let renters tear it to shreds.

So she had a brainstorm during the wine tasting that followed the tour-- the schoolhouse would become Firefly Cottage and serve as a weekend place AND Airbnb. At the time she had no idea if people would visit-- it was kind of in the middle of nowhere, but close enough to a few regional attractions it *might* work. With more wine, her husband agreed (wine being the magic elixir of all real estate transactions for this particular lady). The place DID have more fireflies than either had ever seen in one location, and a really interesting history. It needed a little work to make it cottage beautiful, but she was up for that and knew she would enjoy it.

So, over 120 stays and a few years later, the redhead and her schoolhouse cottage are still together. It isn't the most profitable investment she has ever had, but it definitely is doable with the help of guest income. Sharing the space with others has given her a lot of entertainment and more than a few frustrations, but its basically a happily ever after (so far.)

The End.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

Off topic but oh my golly gosh Laura, your hair is so beautiful. X