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I’m curious—what about Airbnb (events or circumstances) make your heart sing? (If not sing, hum a happy tune).
One of my mine follows.
April 2019 condo rented to lovely Canadian couple, for whom French is their first language. They delightfully muddle through English correspondence. They asked if I could help their friends find a condo in the same area for April rental at a reasonable price.
Earlier this year, I assisted my neighbor list her condo on Airbnb. (Rental revenue mostly being used to offset cost of care for her 96 yr old father who needs 24/7 assistance). She had not adjusted her monthly prices for the off-season. Price adjustment made. She now gets a rental to help with her Dad’s expenses and my guest’s friends have a nice place to stay in April.
The message from my guest: It’s done, thank you sont mutch for your help.Pauline and us will be neber. We are happy.
Bye bye Céline
I love it. She did better with the English than I could do with French!!!
Heart sing? Meeting European (and from UK and elsewhere sometimes) bright young things. I offer single rooms so I often get PhDs, interns etc… I am amazed at how clever, wise and prosocial so many of them are. It makes me have faith in the future of the world. It makes me happy to facilitate their navigation and engagement with my city and culture, like I can make a difference.
I don’t know about heart singing, but it’s generally a positive thing to meet new people. Especially for someone like me who doesn’t get out much and is generally lacking in social contacts. A lot of my guests are people who, for various reasons, I’d never meet in the normal course of events. And they mostly tend to be educated professional types. (I’m not sure why, but I’m not complaining.) We often have things in common, though of course many people are too busy to take the time to talk, regardless.
I helped my neighbour set up her place for AirBnB. She is in her 80s and runs her late husband’s charitable foundation that uses all the money she makes from her AirBnB helping very poor people in Myanmar, including teenage girls who were forced to work in brothels then kicked out when they got pregnant. She used to visit there regularly until she “retired” recently. I am not sure AirBnB deserves any karma points for that, they still take their cut.
I also just had a “heart singing” booking. A fellow booked the room for 5 nights starting June 27th and said he was coming “for work.” The room had previously been blocked most of the week for a variety of reasons and I’d just opened it back up. For some reason I decided to internet search him. I think his unusual name may have ticked a box in my brain. Anyway he had made national news this year because he quit his state job rather than cooperate with ICE (our immigration enforcers for non US readers). I confirmed with him that he was the same fellow and offered him a discount which he enthusiatically accepted. He was coming for protests we have going on in our area related to a tent dentention center set up adjacent to one of the ports of entry. Prior to arrival he cut the stay from five nights to two and as a consequence his discount disappeared. I told him the situation was now different since I need to re-book the days he canceled and potentially turn over the room 3 times instead of once. He understood perfectly. He stayed, he was a good guest and then yesterday I got a 3 night booking that takes the days he cancelled. So I was able to discount the activist’s stay, and make more money. The activist is off in Washington DC giving a speech and I have a guest who is heading out each day to see national parks in the area. My guest on the 26th was also in town for a political meeting.
With having 10-15 different guests a month and lots of one day and same day reservations it’s not always worthwhile.
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I don’t know that he is concerned with confidentiality, I don’t think so. He offered to give me a shout out on twitter but I declined. Here’s his twitter
