Who was your favorite guest of all time, and why?

Adrienne107
Level 4
Seattle, WA

Who was your favorite guest of all time, and why?

Not all guests are created equal. Some we tolerate, some we survive, but some surprise and utterly delight us. 

 

About a year ago, we had a woman staying with us who, we quickly learned, was in town for her mother's memorial service. We assumed, given the occasion, that she would want to be left alone to grieve, but instead she came to us on her first night in town asking for our advice on the best places within reasonable driving distance to see a beautiful view. "Mom loved a great view," she told us, "so I want to go to all the places she would have wanted to take me if she could." We were so touched by her request that we took her on a guided tour of all our favorite views in the area, and had a wonderful time taking photos of her in front of each lookout point with one arm around the spot where her mother should be. Finally, we asked a passerby to take a group photo of all three of us in front of Snoqualmie Falls.

 

At the end of her stay, she left a copy of our group photo she'd had printed out on photo paper, along with a vase of fresh flowers. "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful couple" read her note. Imagine: in the midst of all her responsibilities as executor of her mother's estate, she took the time to do that for us. 

 

Those are the experiences that you just can't have in a hotel. It's for guests like her that we do what we do.

 

I'd love to hear about a guest that has stayed with you, long after they left your home. 

18 Replies 18
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Adrienne107 

I hosted a guest who has given herself a present for her 60th birthday: a trip to our city (Cultural capital of Europe in that year).Turns out the guest faces some physical and mental problems, preventing her to attend the events in the best way. I did all my best to help her having a good time and to enjoy/participate  as much as possible of the selected events. I never experienced a guest being so gratefull ! 

Susan1404
Level 10
Covington, GA

@Adrienne107- that was a beautiful story and made my eyes water a bit.  I have only been hosting a little over 5 months now so I don't have a lot of stories to tell, but I had a guest stay for a weekend with her teenage daughter.  They had family nearby and I thought they were just here to socialize with their family.  Two days after they checked out, she messaged me and asked if she could rent the cabin again.  It turned out her sister was in hospice and had greatly worsened right after they went home.  She ended up renting the cabin again with her 88 year old mother and disabled brother.  They didn't know how long they needed to rent, so I just kept blocking days for them so they would be guaranteed to have my cabin no matter what.  After the sister had passed and they held the funeral, she finally was ready to go home, but she left me the kindest note on the kitchen counter thanking me for making it possible to stay in the cabin the entire time.  She said she had stayed at other places in the area, but my place was her favorite.  She also left me glowing feedback.  It sure meant a lot to me as a new host.

And now it's my turn to wipe a tear. Beautiful. You don't have to do this very long to meet a guest that changes you.

Ben661
Level 2
Wenatchee, WA

The guests I enjoy most are the ones who most enjoy themselves.

 

I find some are more receptive to hospitality than others.

 

There is something sacred about making a heartfelt personal connection with a perfect stranger. It's realism and idealism rolled into a single experience.

 

Some of my favorite guests have also been going through something hard and real.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Adrienne107  @Susan1404  @Emiel1  @Ann  @Ben

Ade, many of them do! Nearly all guests have a great story.

 

In 2017 I had a guest request from a single male who had no information on his profile page except one wish list item, and that was to stay in our property........

Lee Booking 2.png

That was it, no reviews....nothing except our listing.

What made this request even stranger, he was to fly in from the west coat of America, stay a week with us and then fly back to the US.....who does that? Fly half way around the world to spend a lone week in one location and then fly back again. I had thoughts that he may have been a mystery shopper....a company mole doing an incognito stay as part of market research.

 

Lee arrived and we had a nice week, shared a meal or two and sunk a few wines and he was a lovely guy....but he wasn't a company mole! He was just a cowboy from the Black Hills of Dakota.

 

A few years previously his wife who was an ultra marathon runner, had been out training and she was struck by a vehicle and never came home!

Every year Lee picks out a destination he thinks his wife would have loved and in 2017, it was our cottage!

 

Cheers......Rob

Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

@Adrienne107Lots of good guests, but my favourite at our flat stayed with us for two weeks last year. It was three people: a married couple and her mother travelling with their dog. They were in Niagara to check out the area, and we talked a lot while they were staying with us, mostly when our dogs were all out playing together in the yard. 

They were at a local event one of the weekends they were here, and all the cars were parked in a field. The field caught on fire due to hot exhausts and dry grass, and they were stuck at the event. They quickly messaged us and we took their dog out and offered to come and get them because the police and fire services wouldn't release their vehicle. Not a great thing to have happen on vacation, but all's well that ends well, as their car didn't get burned, unlike many others. 

They obviously liked us too, because they're staying with us again this year for 2 weeks again, and they rescheduled their vacation so they could stay with us. 

 

My favourite (non-Airbnb) guest at our cottage is a family with a single mum, her two kids, and her parents. Last year, they left the cottage absolutely spotless. The father/grandfather sends me emails every month or so, telling me how they're looking forward to their trip, checking up on me, and talking about the weather. It's really sweet: I love them. 

@Adrienne107 

 

That’s what I like about hosting: hosting gives guests the opportunity to surprise hosts. Sometimes a guest can really surprise us with something that stirs our heartstrings and this means that we change as people through hosting, because we develop into people less cynical, more open, more giving.

 

The lesson is simple and clear: we are not strangers to each other. We all really care about each other.  Whatever our education, religion, culture is, almost all want to be good to people.

 

This concept, which we have all deeply rooted in our hearts, is regularly contradicted by the events in the world.

 

While despair and mutual mistrust prevail, while divisions in the world thrive on prejudice, hosting reminds us that we are all members of a large family and that hosting is the result of great kindness from good people.

 

In many years of hosting, I learned two things. The first thing is that it's much harder to be nice to friends than to strangers. And the second thing is that these unexpected encounters transform us, forging life links and bonds with the world.

 

One night, long time ago this emotional connection took the form of a skinny, dirty Greek traveler who knew the right spell. One year later I was at his sister's home in Alicante.

 

For me, this special bond was a loving young couple in 2012. Some years later I received my invitation to their wedding.

 

Sometimes these bonds are so full of surprises, as when I found out that not all the Japanese sleep on beds. A lovely Japanese couple told me that they slept on the floor, on mats. They used to bring in a travel queen-size futon. They were both big fans of Andrea Bocelli. I promised I’d send them a signed photograph of himself and so I did, and when I went to Japan five years later, they invited me to their home.

 

These bonds had such an effect on me. Somehow all these people transformed me, helping me to see our human differences with awe and wonder, and not as a threat.

 

But for me, those were the years that the word “hosting” got a lot bigger: a visible sign that we are all closely linked together on the journey of life. We’re the ones who build this world. With all our embraces.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you.

Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

@Adrienne107 I'm not an in-home host so I rarely get to meet my guests, but I just wanted to say how much I loved your post and those that it inspired.  Yours and @Robin4's brought tears to my eyes.  Thank you for this wonderful thread!

 

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

@Adrienne107 @Ann72 @Emily352 @Alexandra316 @Robin4  I have no similar stories but I can say my favorite guests were our very first, who told us everything that was wrong with our listing in private and gave us a great review.  🙂

Sometimes honest criticism is the greatest kindness! So glad you got good ones right up front. 😉

Amos18
Level 7
Nairobi, Kenya

One day we hosted an Austrian family who had come along we their elderly mother. Quickly they asked us to organise for them a five day trek in Mt. Kenya. hahaha as soon as they started their journey,about 3 kilometres the old lady was exhausted and she had to be taken back to the hotel. We loved her quest to learn about the sorrounding,she always asked positive questions. I were amazed to hear that after two months she requested to fund for a borehole renovation project that was ongoing in a nearby village centre.

@Amos18 What an amazing story!

Thank you @Ann0 a guest who takes time to give back to the society is worth everything.