Morning all
Sitting down for a minute with a minging hangover.
Breakfast yesterday morning was interesting - our US couple sat down first, then the Chinese family appeared and we managed to squash them in around the kitchen table (it normally seats 4). US guy suddenly bursts into fluent Manadarin, to the delight of the older Chinese ladies, so breakfast ended up being fun for all. Somehow I ended up cooking eggs for everyone too - thank goodness I had a giant egg box...
We had a party for about 25 people in the back garden in the afternoon, then went off to a local street party til midnight, then home again to try and do some clearing up. Would it surprise you to know a figure appeared around midnight with more laundry? I had to say no as the washing machine is on its last legs and didn't want to sit up all night waiting for it to finish.
DP went off for a bike ride this morning and was really grumpy as I was in host mode. Unfortunately the Chinese ladies spotted him in his cycling kit and made him pose for photos in the garden before he went off on his bike.
Empty house at the moment, more guests arriving at 2 today, and new washing machine soon after. It's currently doing its final load, making strange noises, a swansong before it joins the big white goods showroom in the sky.
Off to strip the other room now, my head is spinning so much I think it might fall off.
DP says I have a 'host face' and a face I switch back to for his benefit, kind of like those theatrical masks.
I'm part of our local Airbnb group, but find it of limited use really as only have geography in common. The frequent posters seem to be more of the very conventional b&b types, or they have entire holiday lets. The host anecdote group is quite interesting, and has some reassuringly awful horror stories of hosting...
Re the photography - I haven't used it yet due to time constraints and have some decent kit of my own (major hobby), but would recommend it as have seen how much better listings look when it's utilised. Also, it means your listing has the Airbnb verification in that it shows genuine photos of your property. Only drawback is that the wide angle lenses they use sometimes can give a little distortion to the sides of photos - a bit of a bugbear of mine re interiors photography!
A couple of quick tips if you are photographing your listing yourself - avoid too much bright daylight coming in as it will cause harsh shadows (and creases on the bedlinen) and make the room dark too. I do most of my photos early eve or with the blinds down.
Also, take a photo, then look at it to check the detail. Rearrange/tidy up then shoot again, taking a better one. I find it much easier to critique a room by looking at a photo then reshooting.
Regarding the response rate issue - a friend of mine had a similar problem and she ws told nothing could be done and was furious. I've logged loads of issues in the last few months and had mixed success - volume of issues in part down to the fact that I normally work in the technology sector and spot easily when things aren't working properly. I've found Twitter quite good for 'shouting' about issues - when the dashboard went horribly wrong a few months ago I tweeted frequently about it and ended up discussing it with other hosts around the world who had reported same problem. It was kind of like a virtual angry mob 