What started you on your hosting journey, and how has it lived up to your expectations?

[Alexandra316]

Good day all, 

I was reading the new Community Profile for Robin this month, and it made me think about the reasons we start to host, especially for those who host in our own homes. As these boards often document, our hosting journeys can be both rewarding and challenging, and I'm wondering what made people sign up for this. As a follow-up question, has the journey been what you expected, and do you see yourself continuing to do it long term?

For myself, my husband and I moved to the small town of Vineland, Ontario, Canada, which is in Niagara's wine country, a year and a half ago. We were moving from a small house in a bigger city, and we bought a house that was quite a bit larger than two people (and two large dogs) needed, as it turned out. We found that the lower level of the house got very little use. We had stayed in Airbnbs when we were travelling and really liked the concept, so I had the idea of giving it a try at our own home. I thought our underutilized lower level would make a nice space. It had previously been an apartment, and had a private bathroom, kitchenette, seperate entrance, and seperate heading system already. I started doing research on the market in our area, and found that most of the accomodations were on the higher end of the price range and had at least 2-day minimum stays. A lot of people come to our area for weddings (wine coutry=weddings) or just for day-long wine tours, and I thought people would appreciate less expensive place to stay where they could get away for a night or two. I was a little bit apprehensive: what would the guests be like? Neither of us are exactly what I would describe as  "people persons", as both more introverted, but we still thought it would be an adventure, so we got to work. 

We ended up opening September 1st, 2017, and we had our first booking within an hour. It was for a one-night stay at the end of the same week, and the guest was a famous person (at least famous in Canada) who was coming to Niagara to have dinner at a local restaurant. I spent the entire week biting my nails, and making sure everything was perfect. We also got a bunch more reservations that week for future dates, so it was sink or swim. Friday arrived, and so did the guests: I gave the tour of the flat without being too nervous, and left them to it. Everything with the stay went smoothly, and we had our second guest the very next day. It's been pretty much go, go, go ever since then. We haven't been booked solid, but we've had at least one reservation every week. 

As for being nervous about the guests, I have learned to get over it: our guests have consistently blown me away in terms of their kindness, honesty and respectfulness, and we have met some extremely interesting people. I think we've been lucky to have consistently great guests, and I hope it carries on. I would like to keep doing it as long as it's legal where we live. I do think that when we go on vacation in the winter, we'll probably snooze the listing so I can have a bit of a mental break though. 

[Huma0]

@Alexandra316

My expensive washer/dryer kept breaking down (well the drying bit anyway) and after months of trying to get it fixed, I ordered a new one, only to be kept waiting for weeks for delivery. Imagine my excitement when it finally arrived earlier this week! It's so sad that I should get so enthused about something like that, but since starting hosting, laundry takes up such a considerable chunk of my time. I need it to work. Unfortunately, the new dryer is useless and I'm devastated 😞

I wish I could use a laundry service, but in London they are extortionate. If anyone knows of an economical one here, I would love to hear about it.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  A dryer is definitely convenient, and probably most people in first world countries would consider them essential but I've never had one in my (long) adult life. In my big old house in Canada, I had one of those large wooden drying racks on a pulley system. It was in the stairwell- I could stand on the landing, lower the rack, then hoist it up. It was out-of-the-way, and everything dried overnight because all the heat rose to that second floor ceiling.

But I was certainly thrilled that my town had a diaper service when my youngest was a baby- they picked up and dropped off about 80 diapers twice a week, all sterilized and folded, for the same price as using disposables.

Now I'm in the tropics, where I can just hang all outside on the line, but it is sometimes a challenge to get things really dry in the humid rainy season.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977

Yes, I line dry when I can because it reduces energy usage and ironing. When the sun (occasionally) shines here, laundry drys super fast on my terrace. However, most of the year, it's just not possible and I unfortunately don't have an out of sight space in the house for it, so it just doesn't look great when guests are here, which is pretty much all of the time. I end up frantically rotating it on the radiators when the guests are out! Not ideal.

Oh, how I dream of an affordable laundry service!

I have heard about these electric drying racks that are low in energy consumption. I am tempted to give one a try if they dry things a bit faster.

[Alexandra316]

@Huma0It was like my fairy godmother dropped in on me the day I got the card from our laundry service. I guess they just got our address from our local tourism association and decided to drop us a line through the post. It's one of the few times I've been happy to receive "junk mail".

I was prepared for it to be really expensive also, but it's less than $10 to wash all of the laundry for a turnover, and I'm happy with that. Between the time, supplies and energy costs laundry eats up, I think it's worthwhile.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Huma0

Can't seem to tag you 😞  Some sort of ABB bug?!?! 

Anyhoo~ I'm not sure if this is something you'd be interested in but...... maybe you could look into getting one of these installed somewhere less noticeable in your home. My apartment came with this installed on the ceiling of the enclosed balcony . These types of electric ceiling mounted drying racks are popular in Asia (Korea and China) since dryers are rare and our climate is humid so the fan really helps to get the laundry dry quickly. 

[Huma0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0

Thank you. Yes there does seem to be a bit of a bug when it comes to tagging people on here and it's been going on for a while.

I've never seen one of these before! The electric drying rack I referred to is something much more basic and less high tech looking. I will have a look into this, but I'm not sure something so modern looking would fit into my very vintage style home. Although it's a big house, there's not really any 'out of the way' spots where things are out of sight. Thanks anyway though. I never even knew these existed. I've only ever seen the Victorian, wooden, non-electric versions!

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  I don't know London, but what if you were to put up some notices at local cafes, senior center, or wherever there might be a community bulletin board- I'd bet there's retired folks around who have little to do all day who might be happy to earn a little extra cash for dealing with your laundry. Maybe it's a stupid idea, I don't know.

[Alexandra316]

@Sarah977That's a good idea. My cleaner who does our house and the flat when I can't do it is a retired lady who just does it to make a bit of extra money every week. It's a good arrangement. 

[Huma0]

@Sarah

That's an interesting idea. I guess I would have to figure out what price would make it worthwhile for me.

The laundry service I looked at that collects and delivers charges £15 (around 26 Canadian dollars) for one load for washing/drying, but no ironing. For ironed laundry, it would cost £26 ($45) for one set of double/king bedlinen. That doesn't work for me, not even the non-ironed option...

I have finally worked out the drying function on my new machine though, so things are not so bad. The manual is as long as a paperback novel, but they don't put in stuff like which programmes actually dry it properly and which ones are a complete waste of time.

[Huma0]

@Sarah

Sorry I know you are in Mexico, not Canada. I mentioned Canadian dollars as a comparison to the less than $10 @Alexandra316 pays for her laundry to be washed and ironed for an entire turnover. The $45 I mentioned is the cost here just for the bedlinen from one bed, doesn't include washing and drying the towels or anything else, but does include pick up and drop off. If I could pay the equivalent ££s to $10 for a whole turnover, including ironing, I would be all over it!

Perhaps I could find a retired neighbour who would be interested but maybe our utility costs are higher here? I'm not sure.

[Alexandra316]

@Huma0 That is crazy expensive! You could almost buy new sheets for that (you definitely could if you didn't mind about quality).

[Huma0]

@Alexandra316

I hadn't thought about that, but actually, you're right!

You can buy quality bedlinen in the UK for not THAT much more on websites like Amazon etc. or via voucher deals, or even full price direct from some stores. Not sure if I can post a link here but this set of 300 thread count Egyptian linen double duvet cover, with 2 x housewife and 2 x oxford pillowcases is £34 (not on sale):

http://www.wilko.com/duvet-covers/wilko-300-thread-count-best-duvet-set-double-sateen-stripe-cream/i...

Anyway, I will stop banging on about it too much though as I have gone completely off topic with my laundry rant!

[Paul154]

My story is similar to @Huma0

I have always been a landlord and have had roommates/tenants.

I just got so sick and tired of not making money from bad tenants. And of my city promoting bad landlord/tenant relations.

I also was sick and tired of marketing to Seattlites who think my neighborhood is undesirable, even though it is safe, quiet, tree-lined and close to downtown.

Airbnb is like a walk in the park. The guests are pleasant, generous and mercifully short-termed.

They also have no preconceived prejudice against my neighborhood. They look at my price, my distance from downtown and say "Great!"

Better yet, Airbnb is on my side. It feels great.

[Alexandra316]

@Paul154I hear you regarding the government promoting unhealthy landlord/tenant relationships. It's the same here in Ontario. It's extremely difficult to evict a tenant: it can take 9 months or so, and in the meantime, they can be destroying your property without even paying rent. I have had three friends who have had to completely gut their houses due to tenant damage. If I didn't do Airbnb, I just wouldn't rent the space. As you say, with Airbnb, if you're not crazy about a guest, at least they'll be gone in fairly short order. 

[Bruna-and-Siana0]

We have a 2bd apartment but we had one room we used as a study. We had some friends visiting for a week and we decided to get a sofa bed. It was good to have a bed when friends or family visited us.

We live in a very expensive area and my partner didn't have a job. We decided to try AirBnB as an extra source of income. We tought we'd rarelly have bookings as it is a small room in our apartment and the apartment is shared. 

However, we had lots of bookings. And we loved hosting. We met very interesting people and we learnt a lot from our guests. Some of them they just stay for the night, but others socialized a bit more. We met very interesting people: flight pilots, doctors, nurses, engineers, scientist, travelers.... We really enjoy hosting and getting to know a bit about our guests. Most of them want privacy and they stay in the room. But everyonce in a while we have a really cool or interesting guest. This is the reason why we keep doing it. 

We also try to keep updating the room: we change the decoration, add extra amenities, provide extra perks... We enjoy hosting and seeing that our guests felt comfortable in our apartmen and like it, it's very rewarding.