It’s a fact. Retirement inevitably leads to more travel. You have the time, the inclination, and hopefully the resources, to go where you want when you want. And that usually means you need a place to stay. Gone are the days when we used to stay almost exclusively in hotels.
I suppose the switch to alternative accommodation began to take place when people started to embrace staying at B&Bs. Accommodation with a breakfast thrown in, and usually gracious welcoming live-in hosts. Great places to stay. They remain popular still, for very good reasons.
Then someone came up with the bright idea that people should be able to easily offer up their homes as places to rent for short-term stays. Airbnb begin life as “airbedandbreakfast.com” in 2007 when two roommates were having difficulty making rent and figured out that when a large conference in San Francisco was making hotel rooms as scarce as hens’ teeth they could probably charge people to sleep on air mattresses in their loft. Hence the “air” part of the name.
The mattress concept worked out well for them, so they conscripted another friend and the venture that would ultimately become another global tech giant began. Breakfasts were dropped, and fortunately, the air mattresses were abandoned for home-sharing beds. 🙂
The success of Airbnb ultimately led to the creation of copycat companies like VRBO and a myriad of others. Some like Airbnb and VRBO are fully international, and some are like one we have used, “spain–holidays.com”, which are strictly regional in nature.
There has always been criticism of these home-sharing rental sites. They are frequently admonished for exacerbating long-term house rental shortages. And there were many complaints from adjoining households where they had to suffer through wild parties and obnoxious rental neighbours. But the short-term rental sites have persisted and, in all likelihood, will be with us for a very long time.
There are few travellers who have not used them. We have used them for both short-term and long-term stays. There are simply times when you really need a home setting so that you have more space than a hotel room provides, and you are able to cook your own meals.
I think if you asked just about anyone who has used a home-sharing site, they will tell you that they have had both good and bad experiences. And in my experience, whether the stay is good or bad is largely determined by the actions of the host.
Whether someone is a good, indifferent, or a bad host usually comes down to things like:
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- were they forthright in telling you about their residence or were they misleading or inclined to leave out important facts?
- did they leave sufficient information to help you navigate and enjoy your stay?
- did the place have sufficient amenities?
- how did they handle problems that arose?
We have had rental hosts that span the entire spectrum from fantastic to cringe worthy awful. Out of that, I have distilled the particulars of what made these folks good or bad to share with you in the hope that this will provide you with enough information to be able to parse what kind of host you are getting yourself involved with before you sign on. At the end of each part in this series, I will list what I consider to be the “Qualities” of both good and bad hosts.
A quick definition about what constitutes a host is probably in order. The “host” can either be the owner, or an individual designated as the contact person with renters by the owner, or sometimes both. I usually consider the host to be the person I am doing all the important communicating with.
Let’s kick this all off on a positive note and start with a look at the “good”!
Good Host… Actually, the Best!
I decided to talk about good hosts we have had because I became aware that a balanced look at home-sharing hosts was needed while working on an article about rental accommodation in our favourite winter getaway spot, Spain. I arrived at a point while writing where I had already addressed a couple of situations where problems had arisen, and the hosts had responded very positively, but then I launched into a diatribe on absolutely the worst host we have ever experienced.
Essentially what happened was, as I wrote, the thing was turning into a full-fledged rant. I realized that a “host” talk needed a much more fair, thoughtful, less “unhinged” discussion. 🙂 OK, the unhinged part is still included in the second part of this two-part series, but hopefully I am making it a little less deranged by discussing a couple of the great hosts we have had.
So, let’s get going with “the good”!
Absolutely the best host we have ever had was in Dublin. Kate was helpful, professional, accommodating, and generous… and she did it twice. I remember picking Kate’s place because it was on the outer fringes of the Temple Bar area. Temple Bar is “Party Central” in Dublin. Didn’t mind being near it but didn’t want to be in the heart of it for sure.
The unit Kate was renting out was on Cow’s Lane, on the western edge of Temple Bar. Her helpfulness began before we left home. We were communicating about our arrival and meeting up to pick up the keys, etc. and she suggested that I phone when we arrived at the designated address. He said that when I called, she would immediately come down to meet us… she lived in the same building as the rental unit. I explained to her that we would not have a functioning cell phone when we arrived, so I wouldn’t be able to do that.
So, she came up with a great plan. She told me to first download WhatsApp… which I have been using ever since. Second, she explained to me exactly what bus to grab at the airport that would bring us within spitting distance of her apartment. She added that the bus would have free wireless and that once on the bus I would be able to connect and text her using WhatsApp to let her know we were on our way. That all worked out beautifully.
I told her that once we were in the area, we would probably hunt for a place to have a quick breakfast before we came to the apartment. I believe I added that I was hoping to find a place that had wireless so I could let her know when we were directly on her way to the apartment. She suggested that we go to the Queen of Tarts right on Cow’s Lane for breakfast… and that she was sure that they would let us use their phone to phone her. Once again, all that worked out very nicely and we got into our unit with no muss and no fuss.
Kate was incredibly helpful from the moment we met her at the front door of the building until we headed off for our flight to Malaga several days later. I have never rented from a host that has left so much helpful information for guests to peruse… Things to do, places to eat, what to do in an emergency, maps, operating instructions, on and on.
She was also very helpful in helping us to find a nice watering hole in the neighbourhood without sending us to any of the really touristy pubs in the area. She directed us to the absolutely charming Darkey Kelly’s out the back door on the first night we arrived. It had it all, Guinness, great Irish food, no tourists, and great Irish music… clearly performed by folks who just drop in, not a hired band.
I even managed to grab a quick little video of us enjoying the place on our first night in Dublin. Correct me if I’m wrong but does not the Love-goddess’ performance seem a little “wooden”? 🙂
And then she did it all over again…
Our original stay with Kate in Dublin was in January while we were in transit to our annual two-month winter stay on the Costa del Sol. We love visiting another city, usually unknown to us, on route to our getaway and on our way home. This meant that we needed accommodation in Dublin again on our way home at the beginning of April.
Kate, being the entrepreneurial type, provided me with her email address to allow me to communicate with her directly… everybody attempts to circumvent Airbnb and their fee charges once contact has been made between renter and rentee if possible, when both parties are feeling comfortable with one another. Even before we left Dublin, I booked three nights stay with her during the first week in April.
Kate was in the business of brokering rentals for a couple of other units in the building for absentee owners as well as her own. She booked us into one of the absentee owner units because hers were all fully booked for the first week of April already. BUT, as happens from time to time, a problem arose.
She emailed me a couple of weeks before we were to arrive back in Dublin letting us know that unfortunately the owner had rented out the unit himself for the second and third nights that we were scheduled to stay there. Her response was that she would shift things around a bit with her own units and that after one night’s stay in the original apartment we could move into hers for the final two nights. Problem solved.
The apartment we stayed in for the two nights was larger and nicer than the one we were originally scheduled to spend the whole three days in. Bonus! Her thoughtfulness didn’t finish there. She said because of the inconvenience of having to transfer from one apartment to another… even though it was in the same building… she was going to give us a cash rebate for the rental fee we had already paid. I don’t remember the exact amount, but it was in the order of €50 or €75.
When we arrived at the rental unit the cash refund was on the kitchen table along with the nice bottle of wine pictured in the photo below. Nice touch Kate!
Another Good Host
In the fall of 2021, the Love-goddess and I and another couple made our first foray out of the province during the pandemic for a couple of weeks to Nova Scotia. As part of that outing, we rented an oceanfront property near the town of Chester on the south shore. The title photo for these two articles is of the inside of that lovely property.
It all started off very positively. The listing on the home-share site we were using as well as her own website detailed beautifully exactly what the property was all about (e.g. Photos and written statement about bed size and closet storage for every bedroom). It even included a drone video of the outside of the property. I had a very clear picture of what the property was like and what amenities it offered before I ever contacted her about renting.
Melissa, the owner, like Kate, was very helpful right from the beginning. She mentioned that the week we were looking to rent her place some family members were normally staying in the cottage and that she would have to check to see if things could be arranged with them. It all worked out and we got booked.
The other part that I really liked about working with her was how we were able to communicate and book directly through her website rather than a home-share site… thus saving us both some money.
I think that might be another article onto itself, how to circumvent the rental sites. They are all set up to prevent you from making contact outside their chain of communication. As in, they prevent you from doing things like sharing phone numbers and email addresses between parties… they will block a message from being sent if one is included… even if you write an email address out in long form using the word “at” to substitute for the symbol @ etc. I’m not really into being sued so I probably will not do that. 🙂
I actually wrote about Melissa once before in an article I posted about her beautiful cottage last year. Rather than rewrite what I said about her before you can read all about her and her cottage Three Sheeps to the Wind in my piece, and you can check out her own Three Sheeps website here if you feel so inclined.
But I will quote myself here from that article to give you an idea of what I think about her as a host.
“Melissa, the owner has been an outstanding host. Over the years I have frequently told folks that a woman in Dublin, Ireland was head and shoulders the best host we have ever had the privilege of renting from. If she is 1A then definitely Melissa is 1B.”
Melissa also came through for a friend of mine. She and her husband had contacted her and had arranged to rent the cottage at the end of September of this year. As it happens my friend finally got the call for hip replacement surgery to take place at the same time. So, there was no way they could go to Nova Scotia.
Melissa, being the ever-gracious host, agreed to let them defer their rental until 2023 and did not charge them the full rental amount for the last-minute cancellation. Interestingly my friend and her husband were scheduled to fly into Halifax the day before hurricane Fiona struck the province. I’m wondering if I should point out to her that she missed the opportunity to have a front row seat for that spectacular climate event. Probably not! 🙂
Good Host Qualities
Here are my thoughts on what qualities I think good hosts typically demonstrate.
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- Responds quickly and positively to first contact. Clearly answers any initial questions you have about the property.
- Accurately represents the rental unit and does so in sufficient detail in the online ad to provide a clear understanding of what you are renting.
- Photos in the ad show everything you need to see, and it does not appear as though the host is hiding anything by not showing photos of certain areas.
- Facilitates locating the rental unit and gaining entry. Things should be set up so that you can easily get to the address and secure immediate entry.
- Ideally, you want the host, or their representative to provide a personal greeting to show you around the place.
- The host has left detailed information about how to use everything in the unit. You don’t want to be confused when you are trying to figure out how to access the wireless or how to operate the stove.
- Additional information about the neighbourhood and broader areas have been provided. This allows you to hit the ground running and let you immediately know where to go to get important things like groceries and adult beverages.
- Problems can certainly arise, so it is important that these be handled quickly and effectively.
- A good host typically stays in touch during long-term stays.
- The host should realize sometimes it takes a cash refund to solve a problem.
Hopefully, in future all your stays will be with “good” hosts. In an effort to help you weed out the bad ones before you book, part two might provide some guidance on how to detect a “bad” host in advance with your Spidey senses.
So now it is on to an examination of what makes for a “bad” host in Part 2. Oh boy… I get to finish my rant! 🙂
