On April 16th of 2022 I listed our basement as a private room space on AirBnB. I wrote all about that in this post in May. I thought it would be fun to give you a little update on how it has gone.
First of all with this whole experience I just feel like God has blessed us over and over and over again. I have heard stories of bad experiences hosting (guests that trash the place, guests that are hard to deal with and people holding parties at your place or having to deal with things like guests having their car broken into while they are at your place) but we have not. We have had 2 guests out of the 49 stays in 2022 that weren't completely positive about the whole experience of staying with us. One was unhappy about driving on a gravel road to get here, He couldn't find the fridge (nor did he ask me anything while he was here because I would have been happy to show it to him), there was a spider on the ceiling and our footsteps upstairs were loud. But still he left our place neat and tidy and wasn't a bother while he was here I just would have appreciated more communication while he was here so that I could have resolved issues as best I could rather than him giving us a low rating. But it doesn't really matter. Plenty of guests have given us a high rating so it balances out. The other unhappy guest arrived late and found our dog's bark scary (which does make sense and I am glad he pointed it out to me so that I don't leave Kitchi out when people are arriving) and he didn't like our patriotic stairway - I don't mind that he pointed that out in the review either as if people don't like that sort of thing it is fine if they don't book with us. Even though they weren't completely happy they still were respectful of our space and we didn't have any issues having them here.
Financial blessings: Hosting with AirBnB out of our home like we do is not a get rich quick scheme but it has been a true blessing financially. We made just $4 shy of $6,000 in 2022 from AirBnB (and they take out all the fees that are needed above that amount). So I got nearly $6,000 deposited in my bank account. They usually put it in a day or two after the guest arrives. 2023 looks like it will be even more financially lucrative as I will, Lord willing, be doing it for the whole year. I already have over $4,000 worth of trips booked or already stayed with me and that is with nearly the whole summer and fall still open for bookings. I didn't know if this would be a year round venture but it seems to be. December was way lighter with only 4 guests but January is back to being fairly busy again. This earnings is made from using a space that our family used very little anyway.
The blessing of opening your home to others: The Bible speaks of the need for Christians to be hospitable. And that word for hospitality has to do with treating Strangers like friends. Though when I do it for money it doesn't seem quite the same as simply inviting strangers in but I do still find it to be a blessing. I am not quite sure just how to explain the joy I experience from trusting mankind enough to let them come in and use my home, to have access to much of my stuff (though not all of our stuff nor all of our home as we did put up the door pictures below to block guests from our main living area). It is just another area where I have learned to be a little more vulnerable and open and when you find that others are kind back when you choose to be open and kind there is something so very beautiful about that.
The majority of our guests have been from Minnesota but we have had guests from all over. We had a lady from Germany stay with us for a couple of days and I had a lovely long visit with her. It was so neat to visit together of the beauty of truly trusting strangers as she has done by staying in all sorts of shared spaces as she traveled across the USA. A couple from out East was super friendly and thoroughly loved on Kitchi while they were here. Kitchi has been a favorite with many (though not all as I mentioned above) when they are here. One lady from Kansas had evidently read reviews about him (many mention the sweet dog) and she was so excited to get here and play with him. They brought him a frisbee as a gift and spent a fair amount of time playing with him.
I do want to give you the whole picture in this post because all though I have absolutely loved having guests come and go the kids have merely tolerated it. It is not something that they enjoy. They understand that it is something we need to do financially but they try to avoid meeting any guests. The blue doors have been a very good thing for their sake. When we close the doors they feel comfortable to act as normal in our space and they try to stay out of the shared space if they think that the guests might be coming and going.
How does it actually work? I made a listing on the AirBnB site which over all is quite easy to do. Their site is pretty easy to navigate and they have instructions about everything. There are also people you can contact if you need help. I got some bookings in about a week and then less than a week later I was hosting. I have it set (You can choose setting according to your comfort level) so that if someone is verified as a real person (they have to submit some documentation) and they have a 5 star rating from their stays at other places then they can book automatically as long as the dates have not been booked by anyone else and I have not blocked them (I block dates that are busy and I don't want to have guests or when I am out of town or we are having company that needs to stay in that area). When someone has booked a stay I get a text, an e-mail and it shows up on the AirBnB host site. If people don't fit the qualifications that I set up they can send a request to book. Or they can do that if they hope to get some dates that currently look unavailable. Then I have to go on the site and either approve or decline their stay. I do some communicating with the guests before they arrive to let them know who to check in and such and I will give them contact info for me and ask if they have any questions. That generally does not take that much time. I have a general instructional letter that I have in a document on my computer and I just copy and paste it. Before they come I made sure the bed(s) are made and that it is neat and clean. It usually takes me 1 to 2 hours between guests to change sheets, clean the bathroom, clean floors and sanitize things. I also change the lock code on the door that they use. They are able to come and go as they like and generally we don't visit a lot. I do try to meet them if at all possible and let them know that I am available should they have any questions. I do have coffee and tea available down in the AirBnB and have occasionally set out fruit, granola bars or some other snack but usually I don't have it and no one has complained. Most stays take less than 2 hours for me to clean, communicate and do anything else needed for their stay.
2 comments:
So interesting to hear about this adventure! We have set the goal of helping our children see as many states as possible before they graduate our homeschool. I think often that on our eventual trip to MN it would be lovely to meet you in real life and to see the places you write about! So thankful that the Lord has used this space to bless your family.
I do think that would be really neat if you could come here and we could meet in person!
Post a Comment