Welcome to the New to Hosting board! Introduce yourself here

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Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Welcome to the New to Hosting board! Introduce yourself here

484779-GettyImages-681893691-ForYou.jpg

Hiya,

 

A warm welcome to the Community Center. 

 

This discussion is for introducing yourself to your fellow Airbnb Community Center members, as well as welcoming and learning about other newcomers too!

 

I can't wait to get to know each of you individually, so to kick off here's a little about me!

 

  • I'm a native British who's born and raised in Rugby, the place where the sport was created. I, however, am terrible at the game.
  • Speaking of games, I am an avid console, PC and mobile gamer. Game of choice is currently Monster Hunter Rise.
  • I've not hosted myself but have been a Guest around some of the most scenic pockets of Britain.
  • I am a huge animal lover. I currently have a pet cat called Ichigo.

 

How about you? Share where your listing is and one fun fact about it!

 

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 

 

Stephanie

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1 Best Answer
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

This content is in our Archive board.

 

You can still access it if you have the link but it won't appear when you search the Community Center.

 

To ask a new question in the Community Center, please click:

 

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Thanks

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425 Replies 425
Kimberly725
Level 2
Decorah, IA

Hi Stephanie!!

 

My husband Greg and I are new to hosting. During Covid lockdowns last year, we felt so stifled and restricted and felt we had to get away!  We purchased a cabin in northern Wisconsin and it immediately became our happy place.

Our cabin is very cozy, furnished with rustic decor, and is situated on an 85 acre lake that has fantastic fishing! We are surrounded by 2 1/2 acres of private woods.  Activities such as hunting, snowmobiling, fishing, and kayaking are huge interests in the Northwoods. It is quiet and can feel very isolated.

 

This year, we decided to host our cabin on Airbnb. What began as a means for us to cover the cost of taxes and upkeep, turned out to be something we absolutely love doing.  We still reserve certain weeks and lots of weekends for ourselves and our family, but we host it during times we are not using the cabin. This turned out to be a win-win for us.

 

I was very worried about making everything just right. I received some great tips from friends and family who use Airbnb- I wanted to figure out all those little things the people love about Airbnb‘s.

 

What we are finding more than anything, is that people just want peace and quiet. They can definitely find it at our lakefront cabin! We have plenty of birdfeeders around that we keep full to attract song birds, we provide three kayaks so visitors can enjoy paddling on the lake, and we have a private dock so that they can dock their boat if they wish to bring one. We also provide lots of camp chairs and a huge fire pit with plenty of firewood.  In the messages we receive in our guest book, guests left their thoughts about how nice it was to see their children running through the woods, catching frogs, paddling the lake, squealing when they catch a fish, and roasting marshmallows around the campfire. They comment about going back to simpler times.  These are all important memories that we’ve all cherished with our children and we are so happy to be helping others make those memories.

 

Anyhow, we would love some feedback about our listing. So if anyone is interested, and has the time, please check out our cabin!  
https://www.airbnb.com/h/beautifulnorthwoodscabin

 

 

 Sincerely,

 

Kim & Greg Swanson

Hi Stephanie,

 

Your cabin is beautiful!  We are also on a lake  https://airbnb.com/h/florence-pirates-cove and I'm so nervous about liability associated with the lake and dock.  We also have kayaks and paddleboards that we use personally but we are not offering them to guest for fear of liability.  Do you have any suggestions for how you address the liability of offering equipment and the access to water?  Do you have them sign a waiver? Thanks in advance. Cathy

Cathy899
Level 10
Florence, OR

Hi,

My husband Jerry and I are new hosts and we have our first guests coming this Friday.  Super excited and nervous at the same time!  We'll be renting our backyard studio called Pirate's Cove, in Florence, Oregon. https://airbnb.com/h/florence-pirates-cove

Looking forward to hearing all the tips, tricks and conversations on this board.  Thanks, Cathy

Hi Cathy,

 

Your place looks great! Just wondering about the insulation and heat when the weather gets cold?

 

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the feedback! The Oregon Coast actually stays much warmer than inland during the winter (like Santa Cruz, CA, which is where I'm from), but since Pirate's Cove is small, the electric wall heater, which has a thermostat,  heats the place up easily.  It is fully insulated so that definitely helps.  

Your little cabin is super cute! I love Florence! Especially the sea lion caves! 
I think you will keep very busy! 

Pratish0
Level 2
Kannur, India


DSC_0002.jpgHi all, I am Pratish from God's Own Country, Kerala, India. I would like to call myself an accidental host. In 2019 Jan I quit my corporate life to do things that I love. In the same year, my cousin gave me an opportunity to list his riverside villa as a homestay and manage it. The house is a beautiful 3 bedroom villa by Kuppam river in Taliparamba, Kannur. I ran the homestay full-fledged only for about 2 months (25th Dec 2019 to March 1st week 2020) and had quite a good number of bookings and good feedback. From then on the pandemic has made it tough to keep it functional. But from this Oct I am hoping to keep it open and running without any problems and host my first Airbnb guest.

John5734
Level 2
Hollywood, FL

Hello, JohnCat Here. 

Just listed our new listing located in Beautiful Downtown Hollywood, FL. I am new to Airbnb, but not to STR's. I have another condo I will be listing shortly in the same building. Been on VRBO for 15 yrs with another listing, and now am trying Airbnb with this condo.  Wanted to get this one up 1st and test the waters. 

Been getting quite a few inquiries and bookings over the past 2 days. Looking forward to seeing how this works out. 

Any comments are welcomed. 

 

Screenshot_20210530-170738_Dropbox (2).jpgScreenshot_20210530-171031_Dropbox.jpgScreenshot_20210530-170806_Dropbox.jpg

@John5734  Check your photo gallery- you have a lot of duplicate and redundant photos. More photos isn't necessarily better. 

Good afternoon I’m new to this platform. My name is Kerri Fkowers I live in new Smyrna Beach Florida and I own a small business. I am a cohost for several Airbnb‘s and I am trying to actually help those who own Airbnb‘s or host Airbnb‘s making it easier on them. I’m a company that supplies everything so we don’t just clean we cohosts we clean and we stock and keep all paper goods high jeans sheets and towels stocked and provide more services in just a cleaning company. We focus on AirBnB and I am trying to find out how I can help. I’m not on here trying to rent and rave about my company because that’s not my purpose my purpose is to help the community and the Volusia county area

Kerri Flowers
Richard2326
Level 2
Ipswich, United Kingdom

Hi 
my wife and I are new to hosting and are going to try it until the new year. Please we would like feedback on anything and everything that you guys think we’re missing or need to improve. 
https://www.airbnb.com/h/hally-homes

@Richard2326  Your place looks really nice, but with the exception of one of your bathroom photos and the outdoor shots, all the photos are taken in a way that distorts the space and makes everything look wonky. I would advise you to retake the photos-take normal photos, and not from such a distance- it isn't necessary to try to get the entire room in a photo. Take a couple photos of each room from different angles, so guests can get a good sense of what is  there.

 

I have read posts by guests who hate the type of photos that make spaces look larger than they are- they feel it's misrepresented, and it is.

 

In the description area of the text, all you have said is that there is space to park 2 cars. "The space" section is where you are meant to talk about the house itself, the layout, the rooms, what they will find in those rooms (for instance  a queen size bed, a desk and chair, etc.)

 

And as a guest, I would want a double bed that sleeps 2 people to have a bedside table and reading lamp on both sides of the bed.

Thanks for the feedback Sarah977. We will take your observations on board.  Every little tip helps x

@Richard2326 I think you are pushing the occupancy too far. Will 8 people really be comfortable? I can't really see a dining table but the table I can see seems to only have 4 chairs.

Finally you don't seem to have fallen into the trap of pricing too low - Are your prices competitive to the local market?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Thanks for your observations really helps.

Looking around the area I believe I have set a competitive price but will always be willing to increase.

yep the picture of my table doesn’t show the hidden bench so will change

thanks again