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Finishing out the quarantine at my daughter’s place was fine. They live out in the countryside and had set up a nice big tent for me out under the fir trees 100 meters from their house, deluxe camping with a great mattress, a carpet and a table and chair and strong solar lights, where I slept, mostly because their house is small, but I also thought it would be a good idea given I hadn’t been vaxed yet.
But they had had their first vax, and I’d had 2 negative PCR tests before arriving, so none of us was really concerned, and I used their bathroom and we ate together. She also took me to meet her close neighbors, just down the lane, and some of my friends dropped by to visit, although all that was officially verbotten. But everyone was vaxed, we all visited outside and kept our distance.
It all seemed so normal that I almost forgot I was quarantining. So one day when my daughter said she was going to the beach with my toddler granddaughter, I was a bit miffed that she wasn’t inviting me to come along, and she had to remind me that I wasn’t allowed to leave the property.
My slow-season business is dependent on these groups to pay the bills. I’ve been told my area is desirable vs. Florida is because from NYC to the Myrtle beach area is a 1 day drive; hard day but can be done. Same is true if driving from Chicago.
It’s certainly not as warm as FL and every 7-10 years we get snow that lasts for a few hours. However it’s generally warm enough for golf and beach walking with a good jacket.
I may go this direction next fall & winter. I like the idea of a 90 day limit so I can use my condo between rentals. Travel medical staff tend to be good guests. I love having fellow RNs & medical folk as guests during high season. Yes, my Airbnb profile mentions I’m an RN so several guests comment on it.
If you decide to try it, consider joining this Facebook group. Some of the posts offer good insights.
I’ve been looking into Furnished Finders as an alternative ( I hate LTR, or at least I hated my last tenant - sooooo bad!). As of now, I have one STR stay on the books at the end of Feb but that can change easily as it’s for a sports tournament. March is a festival here - good $$ to be made, but again, events can easily start getting canceled. If I lose out on Q1 I may just revamp for FF. My place isn’t quite setup for that at the moment (only 1 dresser, I use the garage to work/store things, etc).
Has anyone with a “Entire Place; House” rental done limited room options? I was thinking if it gets really slow I could just rent out 1 or 2 of the rooms - still “Entire place to themselves” ($$$ to put locks on the doors, of course). I’d have to charge more than a normal 1 or 2 bedroom, maybe 3. There is a LOT of competition in that room range also, so maybe not worth the effort.
If I understand your question, this would be me. I lock off part of my condo making it a 1br1ba. Disclosed. No complaints. I don’t get as much per nightly rental as a 2 bedroom but my maintenance at the end of this past season was minimal
If you are considering Furnished Finders check out the Facebook group. Some good info available. You can join the group & not be enrolled in FF as a host.
Thanks, I’m already on that group. When FF first started, I was an early adopter and had a terrible time with scammers and their database of hospitals was not correct. I’m in the Tampa area and they kept sending me St. Pete nurses as leads, for a 1 hour each way commute. I gave them a ton of feedback, which they’ve taken on board and run with - they’ve done a good job on the site.
Nurses rock.
My business partner recently rented a 4WD on Turo and it worked out really well. He was going camping in Utah with his gf. A lot of people are making good money doing that.
The silly rental car companies panic sold their fleets when Covid started. Idiots.
There are a couple of folks on this forum who do that. I don’t remember who they are. Hopefully they’ll see this.
I have friends in that area and on Pawley’s Island. I’ve been thinking about moving up there because the summers here are just brutal. I know, I know, it gets hot and sticky there, too, but I love the cool winters. Plus I’m a transplanted New Yorker and a lot of my friends are moving there. Or Naples, FL. Weird.
I rented on Turo awhile back in 2015. After someone took my truck camping and picked up a nail, I stopped. Although Turo has insurance I didn’t discover the nail right away so I didn’t try to claim my guest had picked it up though I’m sure they did. I had a 4WD with shell on the back, perfect for camping. I’m just thankful the guest didn’t get the flat out in the boonies because I later discovered there was no jack in the truck.
I think one who has no problem with it is @RiverRock.
This is easy to do yourself and would pay for itself with one booking. I think it’s a good idea as long as people know what they are getting. Still, with only saving the cleaning and laundry on one or two rooms, it’s hard to see that it would make a huge difference in price or bookings.
Haven’t had anything since mid-September, but that’s normal for Alaska.
However, our ski area is now has the 2nd highest snow depth in the West — 98 inches, Alyeska near Anchorage has 110, the closest in the Lower 48 is Mammoth Mountain with 80 inches, because of the atmospheric river that hit them last week.
So I called an old friend in Houston, a Norwegian who went to high school here after graduating in Norway to improve his English, and who loves to ski. He can’t come for a God Jul but he thought I should put together some packages.
The thing is that our day lift tix are only $61, and fares to/from SEA are not bad (or folks can use mileage), and the place is only $250/night for 4 or $350 for 6. This will be a great snow year for us with El Nino, and it’s an uncrowded area that trained an Olympic silver medalist (.06 second difference, '98 women’s downhill). I can also sell heli-skiing for the extreme skiing folks and get a 20% commission.
I’m just not quite sure I want to have skiers coming from high infection areas (and flying through SEA, infection central) to stay upstairs, even if they’re fully vaxxed and boosted.
One way covid has affected me is that I’ve developed a wariness of coughs. My current guest is an older woman who came in last night and was apparently so tired that she took a couple of loads of stuff in then laid down to rest leaving the door to her truck wide open and also leaving my porch gate and her security door open.
It was like this for over an hour when I finally texted her about it.
This morning I hear her coughing occasionally. It’s a dry, infrequent cough, so I’m not thinking covid. But I’m also not eliminating covid thoughts. Next guest arrives in two days and I’ll definitely be airing the room. Unfortunately we are having our first freeze this weekend. I’ll just have to suck it up and lose some heat in that room while it airs.
It’s likely that the winter period is going to be very tough and challenging, especially when it comes to hosting international travelers. In the fall, the picture looked a bit different—bookings were picking up, guest’s concerns for travel were decreasing, and overall there was a feeling that some of the bigger challenges related to travel we’re starting to dissipate. This, unfortunately, has all started to reverse course and we’re likely headed back into the “dark period” of extensive uncertainty. So, bottom line—except more cancellations, more last minute changes, more unrest, and more bad and unsettled behavior. This period will be difficult to get through because we all expected we were getting nearer to the end and conditions were improving. My estimate is that this “regression” will be of shorter duration but it will have a significant financial impact on the year. We’re basically in the 7th inning of this crisis and the last few innings is going to be one big roller coaster ride for the history books.
When it comes to hosting you have to be very careful about what decisions you make and who you select to host. This is not the time to take anything for granted. Anything you can do to shore up more reliable or longer bookings (the Furnished Finder model comes to mind), would likely be a smart move.
I have no bookings at all in the new year, except for a week in July.
I’m not sure that it was directly from omicron, because the calendar was empty before that… I think everyone is just holding their breath and staying home until they know what’s what. I know I am.
We would ordinarily get some bookings from Canadians in colder parts of the country, but highways were damaged in storms recently, so people can’t even be certain that they can drive here and back.
I am hopeful that I will get some shorter-notice bookings in the spring. I think people still want to travel, but uncertainty is making them delay their decisions until closer to their travel dates. At least that’s what I’m hoping.
yes I offer my 3 bd 2 bath as 1bd 1 bath and it works for me, this week two 1+1 bookings the the holiday its booked for 3+2
So the two doors are locked until friday, an easier clean then open two doors and the rooms are ready to go.
There was lady behind me at the grocery with only 3-4 items and the express lane was closed. She was looking pretty anxious and pacing to and fro looking at the lines. I thought of letting her go in front of me but she was maskless and I thought uncharitable thoughts about her and ignored her. She settled in behind me (a few feet back, thank goodess) in line. Then she coughed, a nice phlegmy growl. Probably just smoker’s cough but I waited a few beats then turned and offered her the spot in front of me which also put her next in line. She thanked me and said she was in a hurry because her friend was in the car.
Of course I only let her go ahead so I wouldn’t be so exposed to her coughing. She should have told me her dog was waiting in the car and I would have let her ahead of me sooner.
$25 an hour for housekeeping for 1+1 is $50 and $100 for 3+2 I do not charge a cleaning fee and always do all the laundry myself, and often I clean when it’s just the 1+1
I prefer the 1+1, couples tend to eat out, no kids, less laundry and cheaper to turn over.
I had stopped taking kids but the 3+2 bookings dried right up and I wanted to book for Xmas so I toggled them back, I may toggle them out again depending on how the next two weeks go.
