The universe wants me to stop hosting...like yesterday

[Laura2592]

The berry honeymooners left. Some extra clean up but nothing major. 

Today we have an early check in. Different couple. Power has already been "out" (nope. They just couldn't find the light switch despite instructions in the check in email) and they too have questions about starting a fire. Like immediately- the minute they arrive. Can't figure out the flue. So at the tail end of burn season we have 2 guests in a row who were flummoxed by the fireplace. All winter we have had zero questions. We have info in the house guide and a video we send guests. Didn't see that. Just started messaging. 

We provide a fire log with every stay until March 31. If I were staying on the platform I would say "No fires after March 15." Period. Tomorrow will be 70. Today is a bit chilly. We had the same issue last year-- very late in the season guests who were obsessed with the fireplace and had no idea how to operate it. One person freaked out that she had booked in late April and we didn't provide firewood. It was 70-80 during her stay. She made a fire with the AC on. 

If I ever host again I will Not. Have. Any. Fireplace. And if there is one in the house, I will fill it with plants or gummy bears or something to make it inoperable. 

7 more stays.....

[Karla533]

You folks should try having a kiva fireplace in a guest house at 7,100 feet above sea level!

The problem isn't burning the house down, the problem is getting a fire going at all.

No one can light it without knowing how to do so in a lower oxygen environment. Also kiva fireplaces are shaped like a beehive, more or less. Most Rumford fireplace techniques of stacking wood will not work owing to the reduced oxygen available.

@Laura2592  ( I **love** the video idea on how to light the fireplace, but does anyone ever watch the video? I think I am going to try this and see if anybody watches it. )

To help solve the inevitable problems in advance, I wrote detailed instructions for my Guide Book, and my welcome note refers to the need to follow the fireplace instructions.

Guests must collect their own kindling, which is around the house. I supply unlimited pinon wood logs (easiest species to light, yet controlled, and smells nice) and fire starter as fatwood (stays under control).

Guests who have never lit a fire before and who follow instructions are very successful and have a wonderful time with the fireplace. The ones who come in thinking they already know are the ones who set off the smoke alarm and end up with no fire.

The other thing I do for fireplace management is I provide 3 pillar beeswax candles, one on a wrought iron stand, and a brass candle snuffer. These are set into the fire box (which is a 1/2 circle in shape). Very few guests can resist lighting the candles, which look amazing, and most do this instead of building a fire in the fireplace.

[Daniel9183]

I'd print a QR code sticker with the title "How to start the fireplace" directing to the video and stick it next to the fireplace where guests couldn't miss it.

[Sarah977]

@Daniel9183  Seriously? Guests miss things that are right in front of their eyes all the time. They'll call the host at 1am to ask how to turn on the heater when there are instructions posted on the wall right next to it.

[Daniel9183]

Some people can't read or prefer not to, thus the reason for an instructional video. And the reason to limit support hours to reasonable timeframes, well-advertised. You don't need to be open for business 24/7.

[Sarah977]

@Daniel9183  You entirely missed my point. Some guests don't see what is right in front of their eyes, therefore they won't see your suggested QR code next to the fireplace and watch the video. 

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  Right?  My most recent example of guests who pay zero attention to anything:  You need a parking pass to park in our neighborhood.  It hangs from the rearview mirror,  it costs $5 and we get them from the city.  You scratch off the correct date and hang it, the directions are on the back.

Simple, yes?  My last two guests just hung it up, despite it being pretty clearly a scratch off calendar.  Neither got a ticket, but the ticket for not having a pass, which the city includes a pass with no date scratched off is $150.  This is also despite me giving detailed instructions about time of arrival determining which date they should put on the pass.  

It's really incredible.

I said on the other thread at this point, I can't imagine hosting a place with a fireplace or firepit.  

[Emiel1]

@Laura2592 

Don't underestimate gummy bears.....

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  Yep, as I don't think you are into home-sharing, tiny house for 1 guest only is what you should do if you ever decide to host again. I'm telling you- hosting for solo travelers is the best. And one of these for heat- super simple infrared heater, outside of it doesn't get hot, but heats a room just fine.

 

[Helen744]

@Laura2592  Gosh I dont even let people have candles . If you ever want to know if we are all still primitives then giving neanderthals access to fire should answer that. ha ha  My guests cannot even figure out the gas heaters . I must be more gentle with them and spend more time showing people or they will freeze this winter, as my son says ,the pandemic has uncovered the fact that half the adult population are just big babies H

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Helen744  I don't let guests light candles either bc so many people have no common sense at all I wonder how they managed to survive all these years

I had a mid-term guest, a young man, about 28 y.o., a university graduate, a digital nomad. He felt cold so I brought him an electric radiator. The radiator stands on 2 legs. My guest took it and lay it down flat on the floor. I couldn't believe my eyes. 😮

Fortunately, I am experienced so I didn't just give it to him and left

[Colleen253]

@Branka-and-Silvia0Common sense is surprisingly uncommon. You can even give a guest a flameless candle and they’ll mess it up. Every single one of the battery operated candles in my listing has been ‘lit’ at some point. 

I’ve also often wondered how some people survive themselves into adult hood. 

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  There are some really funny and head-shaker videos online showing just how little ability and common sense people in that age group have. 

In one series of vids, they set up  something on the street and ask passersby to try to figure it out. One was a regular gallon paint can that they were asked to open. There is an array of tools on the table next to the paint can- a hammer, a flat-head screwdriver, some pliers, a few other things. Obviously you or I would use the screwdriver and work it around under the lid, prying it up slowly all the way around, right?

Well, almost none of them did. They tried with the claw end of the hammer or tried to grab the tiny lip of the lid with pliers and pull it up. It was pathetic. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

haha yes @Sarah977 I've seen that video 😄 😄  jeessus! Unbelievable!

I had tenants, 3 girls in the apartment. One day the light bulb in the hallway burned out. They didn't change it for 2 months even though they had to pass this dark hallway without any window every time they came home or go to the kitchen or to the bathroom. So i start to pressure them to change the bulb until they bought one but it was the wrong kind so one of them asked her boyfriend to buy the bulb and come to change it. Btw it was the most simple lamp and the most common light bulb, nothing special.

Two of them were employed and one was studying and working. All three are between 25 and 28 y.o. , university education. Immagine!

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  I saw another video where the landlord had a small 4 unit apartment building. Most of her tenants were in that age group or in their 30's. There was a one year lease about to expire, so she arranged to go to the apartment to renegotiate a new lease, as the tenants wanted to stay. 

They let her in, but it was quite dark inside, so she went to flip on the light switch, but the lights didn't come on. She asked the tenants how long the switch hadn't been working and they said the bulbs were just burnt out, but they hadn't wanted to bother her about replacing them. 

They had been living in the dark because they thought replacing lightbulbs was something you had to call or hire someone to do. And that it's the landlord's responsibility to provide replacement light bulbs even when you're a tenant on a one year lease.

[Helen744]

@ Sarah 977 What a hoot . Ha ha all of this is very funny .Ha ha