@KenH I’m changing my policy to exactly this, at least until air travel returns to a semblance of before the pandemic.
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I’m glad for your sake that you’ve stopped hosting. It seems that it really didn’t suit you for whatever reason.
I’m very sad about your attitude to people though - it seems such a shame to go through life with such a negative impression.
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Thanks for your concern. I get by okay without dealing with too many people. I generally avoid people as much as possible, don’t make small talk, don’t waste their or my time, and I assume that they aren’t interested in me, or anything much, besides their immediate family, and I’ve found this is the best attitude for everyone. Why waste time?
Hosting has always been a side hustle for me. Perhaps I wouldn’t mind it so much if it was my primary source of income, but trying to do it on the side of a full-time job, is not the easy. It was good for money, but something I’d rather not do - it was a second job. Of course it’s preferable to not have people in my house making problems. I had some really great guests that I would welcome back at any time, but most of my guests weren’t very respectful. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about it at the moment since I don’t need to do it. In the future, if I lost my job, maybe I will have to do it again. I don’t look forward to that!
Others probably wouldn’t agree with me but I sometimes think that hosting is a difficult job to do successfully especially when the guests are staying in your own home rather than a separate place. It must be even harder for someone who doesn’t have a natural positive attitude for people.
Our rentals are separate apartments and although I’m not one of these super-friendly, sociable people I can be for the limited period of time that I have to be face-to-face with guests.
I wonder if anyone doing a job just for the money could be happy in their work? Probably not for most people.
I’d say no. Doing things for money doesn’t yield a great result in general but unfortunately, we all need money to survive. I don’t love my day job either, but you’re right, at least it doesn’t put people in my home, and as a person who doesn’t naturally trust people, it’s even harder. I’ve actually rarely done something for money that I enjoy. Making money and doing things I enjoy are almost never related sadly 
gotta do something you really dislike to make a buck. Something super technical and unenjoyable, or something tedious and uncreative is likely to earn you some money. Making bouquets of flowers, and other fun stuff, never makes enough to pay the bills!
Because of COVID, all my bookings are now locals, which I dread because there’s more tendency for them to bring their local friends/family, etc. One time I have a 6-guest reservation and they brought in about 15 additional guests. There are cigarette butts on the ground, moved furniture, trashes, etc. I’ve since put “no outside visitors” on my listing. I also mentioned that I may stop by the house during the course of the reservation to confirm renter ID and guests." Now if guests ask me first on who or how many they would invite, then I may reconsider and allow visitors.
That’s why I’m not rich 
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The weird thing is, i enjoy dealing with the renters beforehand and hearing their stories and plans, I love marketing the property, taking the photos, writing the materials… I love setting up the house and getting it ready for the people. I love making it special for holidays and whatnot. I like it all, until they are in my space, and they are being abusive. I would be better as a manager of other people’s properties. Then I’d be less attached and not so worried! I also love hearing how they did at the property and communicating after.
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That isn’t some universal truth. Many people have managed to turn something they really enjoy doing and are good at into lucrative jobs. Many people have turned an unhappy life into a happy one by putting aside their fears and apprehensions to follow their dream.
Something that is true of successful entrepreneurs is that they aren’t afraid to take calculated risks and if something doesn’t work out they dust themselves off and get right back up again, learning from their mistakes. They view failure as a learning experience, rather than a sign that they should give up.
Of course, not all of us have the mental and emotional make-up for this. The majority of the population is more comfortable knowing they will get a steady paycheck even if what they are being paid to do doesn’t bring them any joy.
And it is also true that sometimes something you quite enjoyed doing as a hobby, when parlayed into a business, becomes less enjoyable, as it then has aspects to it that it didn’t have when you weren’t depending on it to pay your bills.
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We state in our house rules the following: “For the comfort and security of our guests and residents, only registered guests are permitted on the property.”
This rule came about after multiple instances where our guests would invite their friends and family to our home and show them around the property as though touring an open house. We quickly realized that we needed to put a stop to this. Of course, not all guests read the rules or the listing.
Cheers,
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COVID has been a total game changer to allowing guests - but people still try to have it “their way” with day visitors at least.
At one point we had a strict policy of only registered guests entering the property, mostly for liability purposes because even though we have commercial insurance the more unregistered guests entering the property the greater the potential for a lawsuit. Even though you’re ‘covered’ your premium will likely increase. Plus those unregistered guests will not have read house rules.
But the Host changed that, reasoning that given that most people are here to visit family it’s reasonable for someone to invite someone over. Mostly it’s worked out.
Occasionally we were asked if someone could bring more than the maximum occupancy. Many people think of ‘maximum occupancy’ as maximum occupancy overnight. Whenever we had agreed to that we had damage or pilfering. SO maximum occupancy is maximum occupancy, whether overnight or not.
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