Counting Down, Thank you & The Dog's Revenge

Where’d your telly go, mate?! How were they supposed to watch Home & Away?! :laughing::wink:

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I think I understand why it happens - but I don’t know how to fix it. I think they just don’t understand the rating system - and think of 5 star as being the reserve of hotels. The one with the ‘missed the TV’ rating sent me a text when she checked out saying she’d had a lovely stay and sent me her private email address so we could keep in touch!!!

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Seriously?? Please PM me and let me know who BBM is now? :grinning:
I thought Sandy had come back as Sandytoes?

Brilliant! And yes, the three guests who complained about lack of telly were all Aussies!

Oh, yes my first ever guests. The lesbian American couple from the US. First woman arrived into Sydney mid-winter with only shorts and singlet tops to wear. Complained about the cold and I ended up lending her my clothes - I was so terrified of them both and having my first review be a negative one. My how far I’ve come… Guests who threaten negatives reviews - 'Go Ahead. Make My Day! :smiling_imp:

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No…that Sandy from Hudson Valley is gone. Sandy toes is not the same Sandy! There’s also sandy2 whom we have not heard from in a while. BBMs new identity is not really a secret… He is Dudley now!

I totally remember them booking and complaining about the cold and showing up in summer clothes! And you lending them your sweaters! Good times!

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My thoughts exactly on Antonia’s post.

Thank you - she’s kept quiet since. Maybe she didn’t mean to come across that way…

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@Wilburforce I have just had my first two nights of non-planned vacancies. My calendar has a new icon. A funny looking lock that indicates that the room isn’t booked, not blocked, and it is too late to book. You know what? It is a bit of a relief. I haven’t had a night like this since June.

I didn’t need to plan dinner around an arrival time. I didn’t have to clean the kitchen to a pristine level. My living room has a few random items sitting on the end tables. And no introduction. No key codes. No adjusting my personality to fit the random person entering my home.

There might be a lesson here. Maybe I should use downtimes in my market to re-energize and remember what life without guests feels like.

How much longer do you have guests before the AirBNB plug gets pulled?

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I know - it’s such a relief isn’t it. It’s not just the cleaning, it’s the being mentally and emotionally switched on all the time - and my place is self-contained, just attached to the main house. And you’re absolutely right about the interrupted dinner thing.

My currents guests are from Singapore, absolutely delightful and I’ve barely seen them - although they did ring me at 6.30am on the first morning to ask how to switch the hot water on - it was switched on of course, but the wife had been in the shower for 25 minutes and used it all. Anyway, they check out on Monday. In the meantime, the spare sheets are back from ironing and nicely stacked away in cupboards, my children have begun consuming all the stockpiled refreshments and there’s a general feeling of levity in the household.

Enjoy the breaks as they come.

I love hearing my son play loudly downstairs and not worrying about whether the guests are in the apt to hear the mayhem. I’m so much more at ease and so my kids are probably happier too when the apt is vacant. My problem is that we won’t rent to long-term renters because we want the space available for visiting friends and family throughout the year so if I don’t AirBNB, we just stop earning the extra 19k a year. It seems crazy to walk away from that extra income, so I need to find middle ground – rent less, earn less, but stop living my life differently on account of “the guests.” I hate the idea that it changes the way I’m raising my kids.

I hear you. I’m enjoying the silence too, for now, and have my TV volume on loud and vacuumed up here just because I could. My son loves to sleep in the Nest bed in the apartment and he couldn’t over thanksgiving. I get burned out on guests-- but never get burned out on payouts!

Showering 25 minutes? What is wrong with people! That is so rude and wasteful!!!

I’d have a conniption if someone did that in my apartment!

it was @Wilburforce 's wife who did the showering for 25 minutes :slight_smile:

Exactly! We’ve run the system to see how long before the water goes cold. It’s 25 minutes. I’ve had 4 guests complain. And every time it’s been that there’s nothing left for the male partner - it’s pretty inconsiderate isn’t it?

Hah - yeah, my wife. I get how that read, but actually I don’t know if my husband would get the joke:laughing:

I don’t know how I will feel when I don’t have the extra income. I turned over $31K AUD last year which is about $23K USD. But then I will have to pay around 35% income tax, it costs me approx $5K AUD per year to run and then there’s my time. We will see, and can I just say I think it’s great that we’re all out there working our butts off to supplement our incomes or our partner’s income.

Ohhhh ‘the wife’ was the guest’s wife! Sorry I got confused as in England someone will refer to ‘the wife’, or ‘the mrs’ etc and they actually mean their wife.

Sorry completely misunderstood.

Agree 25 minutes is ridiculous!