And my first set of Airbnb guests have come and left. I couldn’t have ask for a better set of guests. They were polite, clean, and easy to talk to. They weren’t around much as they left about an hour after they checked in and then didn’t get back until after I was already in bed. They fixed themselves breakfast this morning, cleaned up and left right at 11:00 a.m.
I got tickled at them this morning. The two brothers did the cooking. They had a box of pancake mix and added what they thought the directions called for. The pancake batter was way too thick. They added some milk but couldn’t seem to get it thin enough. I looked at the box and the directions had called for one cup of batter instead of the whole box. They finally added more eggs, oil and milk and fixed lots of pancakes. They ate most of them.
After they left I quickly stripped the beds and threw a load in the washing machine and then went into town as I needed some groceries. Came back just as the washer was done. Gathered up the towels and started the second load. Ate lunch and then made up for the four beds and cleaned the bedrooms. The house is reset for the guest who should arrive anytime now. The next guest comes in tomorrow and the third one comes in on Tuesday. Two leave on Saturday and one leaves next Sunday.
Having guests when I don’t have to cook is so much easier! So far I like doing Airbnb much better. My guests did give me some useful suggestions this morning. I have a sheet in each bedroom that has my house rules on it. I had forgotten to update them from when I had the Retreat Center. Got that taken care of this morning.
They used the coffee-room to play poker in last night. They ended up moving some of the comfy chairs into the coffee-room. They recommended I have a lamp or two in there so they didn’t have to turn the bright over-head lights on.
I may need to rethink not having much furniture in the great room. I had intentionally kept it mostly empty when I had the retreat center as that room was used in so many different ways. Now it may make sense to turn it into a living room type room so the guests have a private space to relax in. I’ll wait and see what type of guests I am attracting and how much they are here before I decide to invest in more furniture.
Both brothers suggested I take lots more pictures of the rooms and the little things I offer. Both are the type that look at every picture and read everything I wrote about myself and the house. Both told me I offered lots of little things that really made their stay more comfortable and that I need to market that to my advantage since I am offering those things anyways.
Trusting they will write a review for me and post it on Airbnb. Not sure how that works yet. They told me they almost didn’t book as the price was so low and there were no other reviews.
After I get my guest checked in I have a couple of errands to do. I forgot two things while I was in town. I even had them on my list but forgot to check my list. I want to go by the Earth Day Celebration at Mill Street Inn for a bit but am not sure when my guest is coming. I need to figure out a way to get my guests to commit to a time or else I am going to be hanging out waiting a lot.
I did change my check-in time to 2:00 instead of 1:00. I need three hours to get the house ready between guests if they arrive on the same day others check-out.
I am on a learning curve learning the difference between running a retreat center and a Airbnb. The differences are not obvious but energetically I can sense them. I trust by the end of this week I will figure most of them out and make my adjustments.
Have a bit over an inch of rain in my gauge. Grateful for every drop. The grass around the house has already greened up. Looking forward to mowing this week.
Grateful my first Airbnb guests had a great time and enjoyed themselves, grateful for the rain, and grateful more guests are headed my way.