Latest / Rittener Reflections / EP30: Airbnb and Me. Tales of a New Airbnb Owner/Host

Transcript

EP30: Airbnb and Me. Tales of a New Airbnb Owner/Host · Rittener Reflections

• Jeff Rittener (00:00) Hi, this is Jeff Rittner, and you are listening to episode 30 of Rittner Reflections, a forum for exploring the dynamic, complex, and essential nature of cross border trade, and a space to reflect on the deeper questions that shape how we live, lead, and move through uncertainty. Today I am recording from inside my Airbnb condo here on Main Street in Fuque Varina, just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. And as I sit here, I am amazed that one whole year has passed since starting this venture. And what a fun and rewarding journey it has been. from the start. There have been so many learnings and stories that just make me smile. I am also thinking about how much of this journey I've shared with my daughter, who lives here in North Carolina. She's just 10 miles away, and she's been part of the setup, the turnovers, and the problem solving. And honestly, some of the laughter along the way. Hosting has become something we've done together. And that's added a a layer I never had expected. As I look out the window, the large window at the downtown area here in Fuque, I find myself wondering, how many of you have stayed in a short-term rental? an Airbnb, a VRBO, Booking.com. You know, maybe you've even dreamed of owning one yourself. Or maybe you've had a magical stay. somewhere in the world, or perhaps a horror story that you still tell at dinner parties. For those of you who do host, you already know every stay is an adventure. Every guest brings a story and every host learns something. Sometimes the easy way and sometimes the hard way. On April 29th, I reached the one-year milestone as an Airbnb owner and host. Over the past year, I booked 36 days for a total of 155 nights. All of the ratings and reviews were five-star until yesterday, which I will have more on that later. And after the first quarter, I achieved what is called super host status. Something I didn't even know existed when I started. And I did all this as someone who, quite frankly, had no idea what he was doing on day one. So today I want to tell you the real story. why I bought an Airbnb, how I learned to host, what surprised me, what challenged me, and what I've discovered about people, hospitality, and myself along the way. In the last week, I have randomly met three different people who own an Airbnb. On the flight out here to North Carolina a few days ago, I met a former Intel colleague who worked at Intel during my early years. It was so much fun to reminisce about all the great times at Intel back in the glory days. But what I found interesting was he told me that he is also hosting two Airbnbs, one in the Gulf of Mexico and one in the mountains in Colorado. ⁓ so we obviously exchanged stories. for me, I never really imagined becoming an Airbnb host. But in a very short time, a few things came together that propelled me into this new role. there were four unique events driven by four people that got me started. So let me kind of unpack this. it really all started shortly after I left Intel with a conversation with my tax advisor, Jeremy. Now Jeremy looked at my tax situation and realized that I needed to do something to start mitigating and helping to reduce taxes. he gave me a bunch of ideas, but one idea he had was, hey Jeff, you could purchase a short-term rental. Because there are some, advantages from a tax perspective. And I was like, really? and the idea of buying and owning an Airbnb or or a short-term rental had never really crossed my mind. So it wasn't it was an idea. It was kind of the seed that got started in my mind. A few months later I was here in North Carolina and I met with a friend. Her name is Liz. And Liz is the person, I've mentioned her before in other podcasts that has helped me purchase ⁓ tickets to the Super Bowl. And I met with Liz because we were talking about tickets, and Liz was so excited, she told me that she had just started hosting an Airbnb. And she told me how it got how she got started, you know, what it's like, and it again I thought, okay, hmm. Maybe this is something I should consider. So this then became I call the shoot, you know, the idea became real. So as I left Liz driving back to my daughter's house, I called immediately another person who's lives here in North Carolina, and her name is Brynn. And Brynn was is was critical in ⁓ helping me find and purchase the home my daughter lives in. and I thought, hey, she's a realtor. She could help. So I called Brynn. Hey Bryn, it's Jeff. I got another assignment for you. ⁓ yes. I said, what I need is I need for you to help me find an Airbnb. And the Airbnb needs to be close in proximity to where my daughter lives. So Brynn said, okay, I'm on it. So that was the the third where I would say this whole idea began to bud, right? It wasn't long. I I don't think it was more than two to three weeks. I get a call from Bryn and Brynn tells me I found two possible Airbnbs. But I need to know, should you buy a house? Should you buy an apartment? You know, we went back and forth. But she had found two apartments. And one of them was from a woman who worked with her at the realtor agency. And this woman had several Airbnbs in the area and was looking to offload one of them. And Brynn told me that you're not gonna believe this, but the one that she has is in the town called Fuque, which is 10 minutes from my daughter. And I said, my goodness, that's exactly what I'm looking for. So this then became, you know, a full-blown plant. You know, it was now it was beginning to grow. And so I flew out here. And I met with the fourth person, and the fourth person's name is Anastasia. And Anastasia was the owner. Anastasia was looking to unload this property. And what was unique about Anastasia, we discovered was Anastasia was from San Jose. She grew up in San Jose where I grew up. And we grew up not very far from one another. But here she is out here in North Carolina and she wants to unload this Airbnb. And her preference was to sell it as is. In other words, As an Airbnb, fully furnished, fully ready to go. She did want to take a few pieces of furniture, which I said was fine. So after much thought, I couldn't really think of any reason why not. So I jumped in and made the purchase. On April 29th, as I said, it became official. I was now the owner of an Airbnb. And now the real fun began. So one of the first things that was necessary was trying to figure out what to do with, I think there were three or four guests that were already booked over the next month to stay in this place. And so Anastasia and I had to figure out how to get a hold of Airbnb and figure out how to manage that transition. Neither one of us had done this. And so what what Airbnb advised us was to have the the guests cancel their booking and then rebook under my Airbnb. But before they could do that, I had to go work with Airbnb through the app and I had to actually, you know, become a an a a host, an owner, and I I had to kind of set myself up. and so the first thing that my daughter and I sat down, we had to figure out was, all the questions and the things, we had to start figuring out a lot of things fast. were we gonna just, keep everything the same or did we want to make it more unique to ourselves? So we we came up with a nice catchy phrase that would people would see when they first see the listing. we called it a bright and cozy gym in Fuque. so we spent an entire weekend going through the entire app trying to recreate, an Air B in our image, if you will. And once that was done, then Anastasia could go back and have the guests, rebook. one of the things that both of us had agreed is we didn't really want to ruin the plans that these guests had. You know, there the first person that was coming out here to North Carolina, funnily enough, from the Bay Area, he had booked a two-week stay starting May 3rd. And so, and we're talking, you know, April 29th, 30th, 1st, you know, May 1st. We don't have much time. And so all I can tell you is in those four or five days, we were scrambling. because we wanted to make sure Ronald, could show up on the third and he it would be just what he was expecting. So it it was a very intense several days trying to ⁓ to get the this place set up, trying to get all the pass downs Anastasia. She was taking some furniture and some things off the walls, the you know, decorations. So we had to actually immediately get on Amazon. We had to order a kitchen table and chairs and a desk and not not much else, a few other smaller things. and we had, like I said, had to fill out the the Airbnb app so that it it all was official. And I recall you know staying in this condo and working with Airbnb. And one of the things that they do, just for those of you that don't who have who aspire to to own an Airbnb, let me just tell you, one of the things that you have to be able to demonstrate is that you, the owner, are actually at the property. So what they don't want is people in a for country somewhere else, you know, trying to to set up something that's not real or whatever. So they they have a lot of security metrics. I'm very impressed with how they go about this. But what I had to do was I had to follow a series of of instructions with a video of video videotaping me with a a paper in front of me with my name on it. and the address of the place and then I had to have take a a selfie video. If you've ever done that, it's if it's interesting. A selfie video of me in certain parts of the house, the entrance to the door, the the entrance to the building, ⁓ the address on the street. So here I am, it's it's already getting warm in North Carolina, and I'm out there trying to take a selfie and and the the challenge was I had to hold the the paper with my name and so on, at the same time take the selfie video and it has to it has to show this the name of the street that I'm really at this street here real. And so this Airbnb is a legitimate real property that Airbnb will allow you you to to post and and and do business. So that was that was probably my first most difficult thing was trying to get that done. And eventually I got it done. I had to send it in and if it wasn't quite right, they would send you a note back and say no no that's not right. And then, you know, by the time I sent it in and I waited for the response back, it may have taken an hour. Then I had to redo it, send it back. So it was a long process, but I eventually got it and became official on the Airbnb website as a legitimate property that ⁓ folks could come out and and book their stay. So that was probably the first most ⁓ difficult. and then the second, as I mentioned, ordering furniture, making sure it got here in time, and You know, a few other things that we had to do to get things set up. But other than that, we were ready to go. And so the only challenge I remember the night before Ronald was to show up. we got a message that the table that we had ordered off Amazon and chairs were delayed. And so panic. What are we gonna do? There's not gonna be a table and chairs. So what could we do? So we had to communicate with Ronald. I was you know, in communication that you haven't you have the ability to communicate via the app. And I let him know that, you know, we He and he knew because he had to go through the the cancel process and then the rebooking process, he knew that we were brand new. And he was very, very understanding. And we had to tell him that you're gonna be able to show up, but you're not gonna have a table and chairs. Those aren't going to arrive for a couple more days. And he was very good about it. And and eventually the table arrived and then later on the chairs arrived and and Ronald was so nice. He he unpacked everything and brought it into the into the the unit and and and it all it all worked out for him. But I I there were I I won't go into every single thing, but there were a number of other things that popped up during Ronald's stay. for example, one of the things that Anastasia wanted t to take were some curtains that hang on the major window that looks outside on the balcony. And we did not have time to get curtains. So, you know, poor Ronald, he he was a little bit concerned because ⁓ you know, there's no privacy. And there were some beautiful golden long curtains on both sides of the window. And so I said, if you just pull those over, it should, you know, should close it and give it give you privacy. What I didn't know is they're kind of set in place. They don't really close. So so we we had to go down quickly to Target and buy ourselves some some curtains and I had to come down here. While he was staying here and ⁓ and get those curtains up for him so he had some level of privacy. Now those aren't obviously the curtains we ultimately ended up with, but we had to do something quickly, you know, to satisfy our first guest. So I can tell you that the beginning of this adventure was ⁓ quite the challenge and was you know one of the things that I enjoy most. I I came out of a career where I was I spent my days solving really complex, difficult problems, you know, moving sophisticated state-of-the-art electronics around the world you know, it without delay. And so I was used to solving problems. This was clearly problems to solve. So I actually enjoyed myself. It was quite a challenge and and we successfully pulled it off. Now Ronald was a very nice guy. Ronald told us after the two weeks, you know, we reali we realized that you were in startup mode and there were a number of things. So we're not going to provide you a rating and I thanked him profusely for not doing that because I knew that, you know, there were things that I'm sure he would have preferred. But the good news was he was able to still come to North Carolina for his two week trip and everything ended well. For those of you who might be considering, you know, starting an Airbnb, and I have to say, I talk to a lot of people and I tell them I'm, I'm running this Airbnb, and many times I hear from people, that would be great. I'd love I've always wanted to do that. So I know there are those of you listening that have those aspirations. And I will just tell you that ⁓ there are a number of, things I would call the kind of the realities ⁓ of hosting that that y one may not think of. But I think one of the biggest ⁓ challenges ⁓ is the cleaning. Because when people arrive in a place, it's one of the things that people comment on the most is how clean the place was. People recognize the cleaning. And I have to to say my daughter who in it by by nature and just by her own preferences, she she loves to clean. I mean, that's just something she she enjoys, making everything, as they say, bright and shiny and and so on. And so she took on that responsibility, ⁓ which I am so thankful for because when a guest leave, you know, and we have a short window of time, it could be anywhere from forty eight forty-eight hours to to more, she has to to come in here and she has to make sure that this place is c clean. And so in order to facilitate that, we realized. Early on, that you have to be very clear with your instructions. So you have the ability to provide, arrival instructions while you're at the unit instructions for people, and then of course, you know, when you leave departure instructions. And so the more clear you are on what your expectations are, the better result you get. Right? And so we had to figure out, and we've had to over time figure out how to adjust so that people understand what we expect. And I have to say most people do a nice job of you know leaving the place in in good shape. We really have not had any situation where we walked in and it was like one of those OMG moments, like what in the heck did people do here? We we have not had that. And I have heard stories of those sorts of things, but I think ⁓ we've been fortunate. And as I said, cleaning is so important when people walk in and it smells clean, it looks clean, it's fresh. I I think people really, really appreciate that. The second thing is supplies. One of the challenges that we had is because this started so quickly, I really had no idea the full extent of what we had in the condo. And when I mean by what we had, if you if you go in the kitchen, one of the areas that people love to spend time in at Airbnb is the kitchen. And they always want make sure that it's well. stocked, right? They don't want to go look for something and it's not there and then they don't have it and so on. So after I think we had been running this Airbnb for I think three months, I I t I found a an open slot and I I came here with one goal in mind is I am going to do an inventory. Cause I have no idea how many forks and knives and cups and mugs and and what all I have in those cupboards, 'cause I never really had a chance to really Understand that. So I came down here, I spent a day, I went through every single item in this place and I did an inventory. So I knew what I had, and that also helped me understand what I didn't have and what I wanted to have. if I were staying here, what are the things that I would like to have? we we did not have a very good supply of pots or pans, so we we went and purchased some new ones. So there were new pots and pans, And so there were many things like that that we had a chance to do. So that would be number two. Number three, I would say, is the the whole process of how people arrive and enter the unit. So this condo happens to be part of a larger ⁓ complex you have to first get into the building. Okay, and the building has its own lock system. So outside of the building, there is a ⁓ a a lock box where we have our own individual one that people can go in with a code and they can go in there and get the keys. So one of the things that you have to be very clear when you're first engaging with a with a guest, and you you have to provide them with all the instructions of how to get in one first to the building and then how to get into the unit. Now, this unit has a a lock that you can Type in a code and and they get in. And so what I have to do each time there's a guest, I have to make sure that I set up a new code that's only working during a specific time, you know, maybe slowly before they arrive and shortly after they leave. And I have to make sure they have that. And then I do have a fob once they get into the unit, they can use the fob to go in and out. And it's a little bit easier than typing a code in. so The whole idea of how people arrive, how they enter the building, making sure it's easy for them is another really critical thing that we learned as we went forward. the other thing I would just say is you quickly learned that to have a to to really offer a successful stay is there's quite a process that you have to to perfect. It's very similar to the things I did in my my career, in my work, you know, is a good process. usually results in very positive you know outcomes. And so we've had to really work on a good process. So when somebody shows interest in booking, there's a whole process of how you communicate with them. You check their, you know, ratings and make sure that you're not, you know, inviting somebody in that's had, you know, had problems or issues. There's the whole process of how do you communicate with them, how do you give them the information they need to know where the unit is, where how do they get in, you know, some of the rules. you have to have a good process for that people know when they leave what you expect to do with the bedding, what they expect with the garbage. and then you have to have a good process to make sure that, you know, you you ha you clean in a in a timely manner. You know, there's a lot of timing that goes into making sure that, you know, everything is ready for that next guest who arrives with all sorts of their own expectations of what it's going to be like. So that I think process we have learned is ⁓ so important to to to have that down and to be constantly improving through the feedback that you receive. I've been coming here now once a quarter. I find a open window for two, three days, and I come here, that's why I'm here now, just simply to stay in the place. When you stay in the place you get a sense of what it's like. to perform routine maintenance like changing the air filter on the HVAC, making sure there's nothing that's been broken or something that me needs attention. So that's all part of this process of at the end of the day making sure that every visit, every person that comes to stay has a wonderful experience. Now, one of the other benefits of me staying here is I get a chance to experience what the guest experiences. And I had a guest probably was sometime late last summer who called me multiple times and very agitated and not very happy because apparently the garbage company sent their garbage truck to empty the large bins that are across the parking lot on the other side at three in the morning. And this guest was very not very happy that to have been woken up. And of course I had to, profusely apologize and tell him that I would call the property management company to find out what's going on and and make sure and I assured him that this wouldn't happen again, do garbage trucks come every day? I don't think so. Well little did I know. The following day I got another urgent call. And h he was furious this time because the garbage trucks came again at three in the morning. And he was leaving the next day. He was clearly not happy. He told me he would not leave a review 'cause he understood it really wasn't my fault, because I don't I don't own the garbage company or their schedule, but he was very unhappy about it. I offered him a refund, fifty percent refund off of his stay here, and I had to learn that that was another learning. I had to figure out how do you do that, and I had to work with Airbnb. And there is a way to ⁓ provide refunds if if people do have a bad experience. So it was a a great learning. But I had to address that immediately. But my point of in s in talking about me staying here is that I am able to hear things like that. So this particular trip now, I had the same experience. Two nights ago I was woken up at three in the morning And the garbage truck showed up. I couldn't believe it. And I thought, my gosh, this is what the guest was talking about. So I immediately the next day called the property manager company. They're chasing down the garbage company, and there must have been a change in schedule or something. And so I have not had this feedback from anyone else. So I'm hoping that that my experience is the only one, but I and and this has hopefully been addressed and fixed. But these are the sort of that I think help. sometimes just coming here and staying and and getting a sense of what's what's really happening. I mean I am located in the heart of a very small town and it is a town outside of Raleigh that is growing tremendously. ⁓ many people are moving out of the center of Raleigh out into these sub suburb towns. And these are these are these are old towns with a main street and a lot of shops, small shops and restaurants and so on. And so it's a wonderful place to be right down here. But it also comes with a lot of activity. Like when I got here the other day on Main Street, maybe maybe a block down, there were two shops. One was an antique shop and the other, I forget what it was, they're leveled to the ground. So they're now and I can see a tractor over there and they're now getting ready. ⁓ obviously they're gonna modernize and build that up. But these are the sort of things that are going on in a town like this. And so noise becomes an issue and there's there's not a whole lot we can do except forewarn people that there you know this th there are w there are noises. Now speaking of our guests, I thought I would just share a few stories that that that have taken place that that you might find interesting. And one of my favorite stories I'd like to tell you a couple who came from I think I believe it was Michigan or maybe Wisconsin, but it was up up in the north they came here like many of our guests do. ⁓ this is not a vacation rental. Okay, that this is the sort of place that people come here because they have a new grandchild that they want to see. They're going to attend a wedding. Their kids live in the area and they want to visit them. There's a soccer tournament. It's all people coming here because for a for a purpose. Right, there's something they're coming here and they need a nice place to stay, so they're close to things and so on. And that's I would say that's probably 80 to 90 percent of the type of people that stay here. So this couple came here, I believe, to see family. they arrived. I gave them all the instructions, they arrived. And you're at when I'm at home, I'm in California three hours away, and I'm always, every time somebody's booking, I'm always like in my mind, like, okay, I hope I don't get a call, hopefully everything's smooth. Right, no call is the best thing of all because it means things most likely are running smoothly. Well anyway, I got a call. And and oftentimes it's an email, but this was a the woman was pretty panicky because they had arrived, they'd put their stuff down, they went to get a bite to eat, they came back, they went into the bathroom, and there was water coming down the wall behind the toilet. And they didn't know what to do. She said, I put towels there, it's but it's a lot of water coming, I don't know what to do. this is on a Friday early evening in Raleigh. mid-afternoon for me. So I I realized that the property management company who needs to deal with this was closed. So I had to call their after hour number. Fortunately, I got a hold of them and they said they would be on it right away, and they got somebody out here within, I don't know, 15 minutes, and they turned off the the water source, and apparently People above us had moved, they've been gone for the the summer, had moved back in, and we're doing something I I still don't quite know, but whatever happened, whether it was an overflow or what, the water overflowed and it came straight down from their unit into ours. So the property company got somebody in here, they shut it off, they came into my unit to, clean things up and so and at the end it all it all kinda got it sorted out. But for the poor guests who had arrived, they were so, so understanding and so nice. they were helpful in trying to put the tiles there. they were very understanding and I offered them, I'd be happy to put you up well over the next day or so because they're gonna have to fix, you know, the water damage and so on. I I'd be happy to put you up somewhere else, you know. And and and they were like, No, no, no, no, we're fine. It's just like being at home. And I had to laugh because that's kind of why people go to Airbnb. They to be in a home, right? But they were so understanding. And what I then found out, and this was the part that just made me smile, is they told me this was their first ever Airbnb booking. So I was like, my goodness, your first time and this happens. Anyway, like I said, great couple, totally understanding. They had a wonderful time, gave us a good review. And but these are the sort of things that happened. And you just have to run with it and manage it. another one ⁓ I had a guest who contacted me and said, Hey, I have my grandson coming with my son, and they're gonna stay, and we don't have enough towels. And so I need, and he listed, I mean, there must have been five or six things. I need three towels, I need four washcloths, I need it was just a laundry list of things he wanted. And you know, when he booked, you know, he was only it only said it was him. So we didn't prepare to have, you know, four four four set sets of towels or whatever out there. So anyway, we didn't we didn't have washcloths, right? And we there was something else he asked for we didn't have. So what do you do? Right? Do you tell them, sorry, we don't got him? Or do you try to solve the problem? So my daughter and I immediately got online, got onto Amazon, looked if we could find something, looked like we could get an overnight delivery. It would be here the following day. And but I couldn't predict when in the day. And so the gentleman, you said, okay, thank you for that. They were gone most of the day. I told him it was going to arrive. It fortunately it didn't arrive till that evening. So he got what he wanted, and then they were leaving the next day. So this seems like a lot of effort for something that I don't even know if he ever used it. But the point was we were responsive to our guests. And we did whatever we could to meet the needs that he expressed. So anyway, that's just another story of how it really works. And then finally I'll just say, you know, in the apartment complex here, there is public parking, but in the evening, You can't park there, but if you're a guest, you can, but you have to show a parking pass And we have we have two, we have a blue one and a yellow one, and we always make sure they're on the counter, people can use them. Well, guess what happens to those parking passes? People leave with the parking passes still in their car. And so I this happened a month ago. And the gentleman was so so very nice, and I so appreciate it. And I I gave him a review back because. He realized when he got to the airport to do drop off his rental car that he still had the parking pass. And he immediately emailed me and said, my gosh, my fault. I took the parking pass with me. When I get home tomorrow, I will put it in overnight and send it back to you. And I was like so grateful that he did that. Otherwise, I don't have a parking pass for the next guest. And and he did. But unlike I've had others who just left and never heard from him. Parking pass gone. And so I've been through a couple of parking passes. Fortunately, the property management company will provide them to us. But that's just another thing that happens and you just have to kind of kind of manage it. So as I said, this has been a year filled with s all sorts of learning. And let me share with you some of the the lessons learned and hopefully these might be helpful for those of you that are currently hosting or maybe desire to host in the future. But I think probably the first thing that really struck me early on was that I now had entered into a new industry. It is the hospitality industry. I I come from, decades a career in semiconductors, high tech. but I realized this this is a completely different industry and it it really is all about providing a service and meeting expectations actually exceeding expectations. You know, when a guest books a place to stay, they're investing their their time in staying in a place that's not home, right? And they and there's They come to an Airbnb maybe versus a hotel because they want that more of that sense of being in their home. And so this is an industry that you have to have. The first thing and foremost thing you have in your mind is the guest. You know, how do I make sure that this is an experience for the guest that's super positive and and meets meets their expectations and their needs? And so it's a hospitality in industry. And so there are times that things have happened. Guests have communicated things, have said things that get me riled up and I and this is what I'd like to say, but you don't. You you think about it from their pr point of view and you offer solutions. And that's really what I spend my time doing is making sure that I've anticipated that I offer solutions and that when things do happen I'm very responsive and quick to respond. The second lesson I I would say is around communication. ⁓ and this is something that I've I've always known whatever industry you're in, that you you know, communication is so important. And I I often have felt in my career that sometimes you need almost need to overcommunicate. And in this industry I think that is really rings true. communicating, when they first show interest in your place. communicating when they actually book it, communicating before they get here, answering their questions, being available when they, have an issue, and what I try to do is I try to respond no less than an hour after they first engage with me as much as I can. I mean that's really the goal is to communicate and I think there is when when guests ⁓ are are able to provide a review through the Airbnb app, at the end of their stay, one of the areas that they're asked to rate the host on is how they communicated. So I would just say lesson number two is, you know, the focus on on communication. second I would say is ⁓ be available. I I I just there's just so many things that happen. And if you're not available, you know, if you if you go dark and people are left, you know What do you what do do? I I recall one night, ⁓ it must have been midnight here in in in Raleigh because I I was I was it was night ⁓ back in California and I got I got an urgent call from a guest and th he said that the internet went down. It's not working. You know, and so and I'm like, my gosh, what am I gonna do about that? You know, and so I I listened to him and I you know, I was I t I picked up his call, it was right there. I listened to him, heard what he had to say, and I said, Okay, I'll tell you what Why don't you go just turn the router off and told them where it was and turn it back on? Let's see what happens. And I didn't hear anything. And then finally I got a note that says, it's working now. And I'm like, okay, good. Problem solved. But anyway, just being available, so important. ⁓ the next lesson I've learned is to keep it simple. there's so many things that could go wrong in hosting, you know, someone, someone's stay. And so I think The more simple, the less likely there'll be problems, or less likely complications or things that are difficult to solve. And so we try to keep the the decor in the unit simple. things we have things, you know, that hopefully don't break. but just you know, the furniture that we purchased was very simple, but just trying to keep things simple because what you don't want ⁓ are things, you know, going wrong that you you now have to jump around and try to figure it out. So I I would I would offer up keeping it simple. next, keep the place cleaner than clean. I I can't emphasize that enough. all it takes is you know some part of the unit that's not clean and somebody sees that and that's all they'll think about. So we strive, my daughter and I, we strive to make sure this place is cleaner than clean and there's no one better at doing that than my daughter. She keeps this place immaculate and that's that's our our objective and our goal. next I will say is backups. I learned fortunately it was I wouldn't say it was the hard way, but I learned a valuable lesson over the Christmas holidays. my daughter got sick and sick to the point where she was she was not out of bed. And you know we had a guest coming ⁓ right after Christmas. And so I'm in California and I'm like, what am I gonna do? I mean, w where do I find some somebody to clean the the place? And I scrambled around. and fortunately I found an app, an organization called Turno. And Turno is was created to support short-term rentals. and it's an app where you go in, you put a project out there, and cleaners ⁓ and it could be handyman and people that do other things, but for it was cleaners. Cleaners can go and place a bid to get your project. And I had to go set all that up. and I was able to find somebody local that bid on my my project, which was this one cleaning need. the person lived fairly close and I vetted her and I went ahead and took the leap and said, Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and And click the button, you're you've got it, you're accepted on this project. So sure enough, she showed up. We had a few exchanges to make sure she knew what to do. She came here and she cleaned the place. I mean, she did what she was asked to do. And in fact, my daughter has told me that we've had her, we've used her now ⁓ three times. And my daughter has told me that when when my daughter comes back after the the guest leaves, based based on her cleaning, that she does a wonderful job. And she even does extra. just really looks at at things and so on. So we're very happy with that. But I think that's the point here is just having backups, you know. So you never know when something will happen. And if you have no backup, same thing happened with the handyman. I I had somebody I found re referred to me by my realtor, but the person lived like on the other side of Raleigh and he had to charge me more money to come out and fix something because he had to drive so far. and then when we had the water situation down in the bathroom, the the property management company had a handyman, ⁓ a great gentleman named Bud. and he you know he took care of that on behalf of the property company. But I quickly got to know him and I had another issue with the door and I called him and he came immediately because he lives close, fixed it, and now he's become my full-time handyman. In fact he was here this week I had him we had a curtain rod that had been coming down and had kind of ruined a little bit of the the wall there. So I had him come out, he installed a whole new curtain rod, he cleaned up where the the the mess was on the wall, and he just today, this morning, just finished painting it, matching the same color as the wall. And ⁓ he's a great guy. I mean, he's a local guy and he loves being able to just he's he's kind of retirement age, sort of, and he just loves being able to come out and find short small projects and help out. So now I have a backup if there's anything that happens with the unit. So I did all this is to say, make sure you have backups on some of these things, so you don't get time we had the cleaning, urgent cleaning situation. I was prepared on Christmas Day to get on a plane and come out here and clean the place myself if I had to. 'Cause 'cause what are you going to do if you haven't cleaned the place and the guest is gonna show? I don't know what else you do. So that was that was my answer. Unfortunately I found this this company called Turno and it that's worked out like Wonderful. And finally, I'll just say last lesson learned is I learned that Airbnb themselves have a lot of resources. In fact, being a superhost allows me to call into a special number and I get immediate service. And they're full of, you know, they've they've heard it all, right? And so they they have they know things and and have solutions that I never would have thought of. In fact, this whole idea of of you know, offering another place to stay when we were having the water damage, and Airbnb would was going to take over. They would have gone to find a place for these people in in the Airbnb network, and then I would have just sent them there. But I would have never known that that's something that Airbnb offers if I'd hadn't had that issue. So I guess my my lesson here is there are times where you gotta go back to the mothership and you gotta go to Airbnb and they have lots of people that can provide you with. solutions with ideas with you know just information on how to address and deal with something that maybe you've never dealt with before so utilize the Airbnb one of the other unexpected ⁓ joys of this whole thing has been doing so much of it with my daughter. we we work together on setting this whole place up. She has been just incredible in terms of staying on top of things here at the place. We've had to, you know, solve little problems together. We've gone shopping together to find things to decorate the walls. And it's just been a great experience with my daughter. She's able to come here after every guest and do the cleaning and I'm able to pay her for the the service that she provides, which has been super helpful for her. And so I think this has become probably one of my favorite parts of being a host. Now just to wrap up here, just wanted to offer a couple things. First of all, for those of you who are considering running an Airbnb, just a few things that I learned that I'll share with you that might might be helpful. first is just, start small. we debated whether I should go with a house or condo and I'm so so thankful that we chose just a small two-bedroom condo here in in the center of town and it it it's small and it's easy to man easier to manage and we there's so much to learn and it was a bit easier to learn in a much smaller situation. So start small. Second of all is just keep track of everything. know your numbers know who your guests are. they do provide you with their profile so you can understand is it a family with children Is it a couple? Is it single person? understand who's going to actually be staying so that you can tailor the place. maybe if there are four people coming, you make sure there are, enough towels that, all four would have the right towels. and and the other thing I would just say for those of you that are considering starting up, don't underestimate the time. It does take quite a bit of time. And it's not the sort of time where, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna spend this day, A lot of it's just it it just happens in in life, right? You get a email that you didn't expect. you've got a question someone throws at you, there's a a new booking and somebody wants to know if they can stay an extra night, for example. had that happen. there's just th so the so so don't underestimate that it does take time and the and the time is not always predictable. And then finally I would just say is also even though it's a lot of fun and it could be considered almost like a hobby, but do treat it like a business. I mean you really have to because at the end of the day, you know, you are, you know, ⁓ offering a place to stay for a fee and you know and and and they pay that pay you for that and then you have to make sure that you are on top of repairs, on top of supplies, on top of insurance, on top of the taxes, and there you know, there are lots of costs associated with ⁓ with running this. And I can tell you just just generally speaking, at the end of The first year I went back and looked at all my expenses and all my what I made, and I was pretty much break-even. Right? But I had a lot of startup costs. So I'm anticipating this year that it'll be different and there will actually be a return on on the investment. I wanted to say a couple things to those of you that that are are guests who stay at Airbnb's. many of you, I'm sure, take your vacations and you stay at an Airbnb, and just a couple A couple things to just consider. One is carefully provide your feedback. And one of the things that an Airbnb host looks for is the rating. We live, we survive, we thrive on ratings. If a rating is bad, it is it's permanent, it's there, and it causes your overrating to go down. And you're you you have people that may may not be interested in your place. So ratings are so incredibly important. So be careful about your ratings. Be very be really think about it carefully and thoughtfully, because if you give anything less than a five-star rating, that's going to knock ⁓ the overall numbers down. And so if you have, you know, legitimate feedback that you want the host to know, there is the ability to provide feedback directly to the host. And I have had a number of guests that have said to me, I would have probably rated it, a lower rating. but I understand the issues that that we had were not your fault, like the noise in the in the with from the garbage company. And so they were very ⁓ aware of the the the value of that rating and they were they were very sensitive to that. And so I we really appreciate that. So as you think about rating your stay at an Airbnb, think about that. what what's the purpose of your feedback, And if it's if it really is something that needs to be rated lower, rate it lower. But I think if you're just, there were a few things that you thought could be done better, whatever, sometimes that feedback might be better just going to directly to the host so that they can do something about it. So that would be my my first thing is treat your ratings very carefully. and then and then second of all, I would just say, realize that in every place you stay has an owner. And owner is trying their best to make sure your stay is as, you know, pleasurable and as as you expect it. And so we have had so many guests who have left our place fairly clean. I mean, they they took the trash out, they made sure the dishes were in the dishwasher, you know, they did the things that we asked. And as an owner, that is that is so nice when you see that great guests are are being thoughtful about their owner versus just live in it and leave right so but but we appreciate when when people do take the time to leave the place in just as good a shape as they they found it. So those would be a couple things for the guest and I I will just say In all of our stays, the people that have rated us had rated us rated us as a five star. And as I said, we did get private feedback of things that we could go do. But we got five stars until this week. interestingly enough, this week, the last guests that stay here decided to give us a four-star. And I have to tell you, as a Airbnb owner, we were so Proud of our five-star rating and it it hit us hard. We got a four, you know, and and the reason for the four was because there was some construction going on in the area that made a lot of noise for them. And they just wanted us to know that that that there was noise. And it was like, really? Okay, I'm not sure I could do much about the construction, but I take it, I get it, and hopefully that goes away soon and hopefully you'll come back and stay with us again. So anyway, we did get a four star. It did drop our overall rating down to four point nine eight, but we will do our best to keep it at that level and provide exceptional hospitality for our guests. Well I hope this has been interesting ⁓ for you. I keep thinking about how much can really change in a year. a year ago not really knowing what I was doing, I bought a condo with the idea that I'm gonna have an Airbnb. and it just seemed like it would be a lot of fun. And and it has. but it also has turned into, if you will, a chapter that's just filled with meeting very interesting people, amazing stories, some of which I've shared with you, a lot of surprises, and kind of a deeper appreciation, of what it means to host somebody into your home, and to make it a a special experience for them. hosting has taught me way more than I thought I would learn. about hospitality and, about, putting in, the good systems, about being patient with people, about communication, and just learning some things about myself and how I operate. I think probably one of the unexpected gifts of of the year has been sharing the so much of what we've done here ⁓ with my daughter. Yeah, we we've had a wonderful time together on this project. she's been a huge part of the work. the problem solving, all and all the fun that we've had. And so that's made this experience even more meaningful to me. So I would like to just end here by thanking you for taking the time to listen to my story. Airbnb and me. this are these are tales of a new Airbnb host and owner. And I'm really looking forward to the coming year and all of stories and adventures and excitement that we will have. And so Again, thank you for listening. This has been episode 30 of Written Reflections, and I will talk again to you real soon. Thank you.