Tag Archives: TRAVEL

Guest Tips: Initial Communication

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When you try booking a BNB, especially for the first time when you have no review history, It’s important to keep an eye on your messenger to make sure the host does not have a question for you.

 

THE REQUEST

I had a recent request from a businessman out of the Midwest (exact city to keep it confidential) for a one-night stay, and in his brief introduction he asked to stay two hours after the standard checkout time.

Well, that was worth a quick response from yours truly as I have to prepare for the worst case.

Now, I don’t have problems with people needing to check out later, though not too late, because we do have a tight cleaning schedule and we take that very seriously.

Especially since we allow same day reservations, I don’t want to push cleaning out too late and then interfere with an oncoming guest. Plus our cleaning crew, we don’t want to have to play with their time either as we all have children to pickup from school, so on and so forth.

Armed with all these concerns, I send a reply to see how we can work out the issue. I send it within 10 minutes and get no response.

I send a follow up message 3 minutes later, no response.

Well, well, well…. That puts the host into a bind.

The request automatically blocks my schedule with a guest who I do not know if they are responsive or flexible enough to coordinate cleaning with his need to stay two extra hours.

If I accept, I may not have enough time to not interfere with the next guest or have enough time or people to hang out at the place to clean it.

If I decline, I could lose out in income and kill someone’s accommodation plans.

I compromised in the end, I waited 18 hours for a response, and on a Sunday morning, I declined it and offered a detailed explanation and an invitation to rebook if they wanted but to acknowledge we need to work out an issue first..

The rational was the guest was not responsive and I’d rather let someone else book who was a more reliable even though the booking was within a week’s time. It was one of those “peace of mind” versus money decisions I wrote about in a previous blog post. I could easily lose a day’s income.

Fortunately, this particular person, given half a chance, jumped gracefully through the hoop. He finally read my messages after the Decline and was apologetic, flexible and understanding, plus good for a few back-and-forth iterations to get a handle on our respective needs.

While it was not my ideal track to a smooth booking, it turns out this person proved himself to be a really good person to work things out with.

 

 

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CKY

 

 

Copyright © 2019 Challen YeeAll Rights Reserved.

 

“CORPORATE” COORDINATORS BOOKING FOR OTHERS

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I was a bit surprised when I read the House Rules of another host who wrote that she never accepts reservations unless the person booking also is staying as a guest.

That surprised me because up to this point, I had accepted so many successful “corporate” bookings, usually for three employees, that I guess, I had been either lucky or well placed in terms of price and location to avoid any serious bookings by bad 3rd party apples so far.

I don’t doubt that there are some shenanigans being played by people covering for the actual bad assets staying at ones home, so I absolutely am not judging any host who wants to play it safe to protect their home or other place they are using for a BNB.

REAL-TIME BOOKING

One of these reservations for my consideration came across as I was walking out the door to drop by the house to move garbage bins in the middle of a heavy rain.  It was a 3rdparty booking, but it came late (around 8:00pm) for a SAME-DAY overnight stay, reportedly, for a group of three colleagues or “friends” coming from a local Google site.

When we started the BNB, we imagined this would be a great opportunity to help some last minute travelers and this seems to fit the bill catering to our open 24 hour policy. Rarely this occurs though.

However, historically, if you can say over a year is a decent history, looking at our own worst cleanups (which in general haven’t been toobad except for one unfortunate drunken party of a young adult crowd looking “to crash someplace” after an “event”), there is a tendency for last minute bookings for short stays to yield the most sloppy guests, even ifthe reservations were made by one of the guests themselves.

There are two things that were a little unfortunate to mar an otherwise smooth transaction (so far), was this particular young lady, who, by the way, has years of stellar reviews as a host and as a guest, made the Instant Booking reservation implying that she was one of the 3 guests.

Since the booking was already done, I had access to her phone number. I called her due to the fast moving situation.

I found out pretty quickly, she was making a reservation for her co-workers or friends coming from a nearby Google. It all seems plausible but in my case, she absolutely did not need to feign being one of the guests rather than introducing herself as the coordinator. She did not, however, at glance, appear to use Airbnb as a coordinator before, so maybe she was little gun-shy doing it of the first time under somewhat exigent conditions.

Her inexperience as a corporate coordinator showed up when I asked for the names of the guests and she only offered the first names. I let this slide, but when you ask for names, I recommend (reminder to self) ASK FOR FIRST AND LAST NAMES, NOT JUST “NAMES” so it is clear what your intent is.

So far, I have had great experiences with people coordinating for others, corporate or otherwise, let’s hope that continues.

Certainly, she’s putting her reputation on the line for her friends (or at least her security deposit).

So, we’ll see how this works out. I’ll find out here in about 12 hours when we clean up.

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CKY

 

 

Copyright © 2019 Challen YeeAll Rights Reserved.

 

What about shoes and wood floors?

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We absolutely love the look, feel, and maintainability of wood floors, but do you take a chance in a BNB using them with so many different people coming and going?

We request our guests to not use their outdoor shoes in the house.

We offer them indoor slippers or let them know it’s okay to walk around in their socks, but slippers are best.

Vintage 1950’s era oak plank, refinished. Photo by Challen

SHOES ON?

When I grew up in Palo Alto, we did in an Americanized way especially since I worked out of the house for several years with my father’s roofing and industrial electric vehicle companies. Coming in and out of the house was done with shoes on.

As a result, we usually had pretty worn carpets and a floor that would probably make the traditional Chinese housewife go into mental convulsions.

 

CHANGING HABITS

It wasn’t until after I married my wife, who grew up in China, that she helped me realize how atrocious it is to wear outdoor shoes in the house (assuming you keep a clean floor). Well, you think about it, the germs and grime caught on your shoes from every public bathroom you’ve walked through is not something you really want transferred to your home floors. Moreover, the amount of dirt that is tracked into the house is quite significant, greatly increasing the wear and tear on flooring whether carpets, hardwood or even ceramic tile.

 

KEEPING THE FLOORS CLEAN

When we clean up our BNB we always vacuum and do a light mop (well rung) with a bit of mild soap to refresh the floors. It’s nice to keep any allergens down too which having carpets would just make too difficult and takes longer to clean.

I don’t meet every guest, but sometimes I get an opportunity. It’s always an exercise in ambassadorship and tact when you meet a guest who didn’t quite get that “no shoes” House Rule but the people we’ve met realize their error quickly enough with usually a slight blush. Usually you just do it (take your shoes off) and the guest gets it. By accommodating our rule, they participate in the enjoyment of a cleaner environment.

2017 Natural Oak, 3/4 x 3.5 inch planks – photo by Challen

TYPE OF WOOD FLOOR

As for the hardwood its self, since the house is not on a slab foundation, we used finished ¾” solid wood* (oak) throughout except for in the bathrooms where we used porcelain tile.   We used finished planks for the convenience of not spending a week to finish, but still have the option in the future for custom professional refinishing.

It was a big decision not to use tile in the kitchen where the chance of water damage is higher, but since our floorplan is relatively small, keeping consistent flooring across the common area makes the living space feel larger, cleaner, brighter, and better designed. Additionally, because of our smaller space, we used a “natural” white Oak instead of something lighter or darker. Too Dark colors make your space look smaller and less energetic, while too Bright colors, or something with less wood grain like Ash or Maple, are less forgiving and harder to keep looking clean as a result of any possible scratches or dings.

We almost went with a really bright Ash plank to make a modern look statement but chose not to, as Ash wood is also a bit softer than Oak and therefore more apt to damage. Although natural Oak and natural Ash or Maple, could be a similar in color, it’s the grain of the wood that can help hide imperfections while still offering a brighter result.

*Before installing wood planks, the product needs to adjust to your house’s environment by airing out for several days before installation. Ask your dealer for details.

 

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CKY

 

 

Copyright © 2019 Challen YeeAll Rights Reserved.

 

Sometimes like Grand Central Station

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So what is it like coordinating guest stays?

There are periods of time when you get no inquiries and you almost forget that you are running a business and then there are some periods where inquiries begin to pickup and conflict with each other requiring some management skills to make your way through them.

Does the numbers of views on you website tend to correlate with bookings? Yes and no. I’ve found that even when the views are decreasing (and the number of tire kickers on your listing lags the actual activity by a bit), the real trip planners are still looking to book.

The economy is not dead – people still need to travel to conduct business and others still need to take care of their health.

Some days are a little anxious because you can have multiple guest requests overlapping for various reasons.

 

Here’s an example, a real day:

We allow same day check out (11:00) and check in (15:00) and, as can be expected, eventually your current guest will ask to stay longer and your oncoming guest will request to arrive earlier.

I worked out a deal where we could come in to begin cleaning the bedrooms at the normal checkout time and let the departing guest hang out for the extra hour until 12:00. The problem was, the arriving guest wanted to arrive at 12:00 to at least drop off bags and perhaps relax a bit.

In both cases, the guests were very understanding and were ready to accommodate my need to get the house cleaned up ready. Things worked out. It’s good, by the way to make sure one bathroom is totally cleaned for the oncoming guests so they can experience the pristine “clean” right away, and, furthermore, they don’t need to experience the previous guests’ temporary landmarks and dirty towels.

It turns out, in this same circumstance, the same few hour period, the oncoming guest didn’t know whether they needed to book for 4 days or 7, so they first booked for 4 with 7 pending a meeting with doctors at Stanford. THEN, I get another guest request to book over what would be the 7thnight.

This is a case where instant booking needed to be turned off, and I did turn it off.

It gave my guest time to speak to the doctors.

What was necessary on my part as a host was to warn the new inquiry of my situation and I went further advising that in their best interest, they might want to seek another listing because I was giving my new guests a priority if they needed to book.

Well… As it turned out, the new guest booked one day shorter (probably with respect to the new inquiry) and the new inquiry took my advice and booked another listing (but they forgot to cancel their inquiry, which led to another little impromptu problem when I accepted her request to book).

So I lost two days in the aggregate, however, though money is important, it’s always good to try to do the right thing.

 

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CKY

 

 

Copyright © 2019 Challen YeeAll Rights Reserved.

 

How is Instant Booking better?

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There are several options for hosts to choose in effort to attract guests to their Airbnb listing. One that is either loved or hated is called “Instant Booking”

Instant Booking (IB) allows a guest to book your listing without having to submit a request. It’s assumed that all the relevant info for a guest to make the commitment to make a reservation is available to be seen in the listing so that the prospective guest can make an educated and confident decision.

HOST ADVANTAGES OF IB?

The advantages of IB allows a host to be able to accept reservations without having to immediately respond to critical questions a guest may have that would delay their decision.

It is assumed that, without having to interact with the host, the guest can review any necessary information, including what the host specifically and generally expects from their guests behavior, known as “House Rules”, while residing in the BNB. For example, not all listings allow the guests to use the property to hold events (attracting large amounts of un-vetted people, particularly for a wild animal house party), smoking or the housing of pets. Hosts often like to know who to expect, so offering the names of your colleagues or family members may be a requirement.

House Rules make things interesting. Some hosts have very few rules (like we did when we started) and some can look like a full legal adoption contract. In general, hosts don’t want any illegal activities, don’t want anyone trashing their house, or any unapproved staying after their reservation time has ended.

The clear advantage for a host to use IB is Airbnb puts the your listing in the face of more potential guests compared to those who do not elect to use IB. In other words, if you adopt the use of IB as an Airbnb host, your listing will show up in both cases, if a guest chooses to see only IB listing or not.

 

GUEST USER CONSIDERATIONS FOR USING IB?

You might desire to seek an IB listing if you are in a hurry to make a booking and don’t want to bother waiting for a host to respond to any inquiry. However, it is customary for a responsive host to reply immediately or within an hour.

You may feel uncomfortable going into a brief “interview” session with the property manager and, instead, seek a similar experience to booking a hotel room. A BNB is not a hotel and usually does not offer the same kind of anonymity of booking a room in a hundred unit Marriot, although IB can make the feel similar to a hotel.

Even if you desire to stay at an IB listing, you can still ask questions of the host without making your booking. You may need to be accommodated for a special situation that is not covered in the listing or you may actually like to know if you can communicate with the host just in case you run into problems with the property.

It’s not impossible that there are both guests from hell and hosts from the same neighborhood. It’s a big world out there and the entire spectrum is in play, but establishing a line of positive reviews is a pretty decent indicator what typ of experience you can expect from either person.

 

WHY DON’T ALL HOSTS USE IB?

There are times when I do not use IB, it is when I need to keep a certain block of time open for a guest I am trying to give to make a decision. One perfect example was when I wanted to work with a family who was waiting to hear from Stanford Hospital when their child’s surgery could be scheduled for.

Aside from that, the general feeling among hosts who do not use IB, is they do not want to take a chance having to accommodate someone they would not feel comfortable with. In general, for a host to have to cancel a reservation is often a negative mark against the host’s rating, although, in the case of IB, if the cancellation is executed within a day of the booking, Airbnb allows for a host to break any booking he or she feels “uncomfortable” with.

Another reason a host may not use IB is they want more control how their schedule fills up. For an extreme example, it may be rather disruptive if a guest decides to book one Tuesday every week for the next 6 months. Something like that could wipe out any chance of a long term booking from 2 days to weeks.

 

In CLOSING

In general, I’ve found that using Instant Booking if a favorable experience, for the additional reason that I can let the guest (assuming they read my listing) self-exclude themselves. If they do not like our house rules or anything else we state as requirements, they are free to look at another listing, no harm done.

The guests that we’ve had are, in general, extraordinary and competent travelers who we’ve had the great privilege of hosting. People from all over the world and all over the United States who we’ve had the honor of showing them some hospitality in our small corner of Silicon Valley.

 

 

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CKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Palo Alto: Things to do – Take a Hike

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Simple ways to get away from the hustle of Silicon Valley…

Only a short distance from the bustle of Silicon Valley life are the foothills of the San Francisco Peninsula. There are scenic trails galore for hikers, bicyclists and equestrians.

A helpful app to have is AllTrails which conveniently directs you to the trail heads, gives you a map and the elevation changes for each hike.

The rolling foothills around Palo Alto, which include nearby Los Altos, Stanford, and Portola Valley, transition gently into Palo Alto’s tech, residential areas and Stanford University giving the area  special countryside feeling, made more complex and diverse with San Francisco Bay to the East.

These photos are from Arastradero Preserve’s Red Tail Loop Trail in Jan 2019. Photos by Challen Yee Family

The hills are full of oak, eucalyptus, redwood and pine trees, as the landscape gently changes to dense forest, chaparral, to open meadows.

California is noted for being close to every type of natural beauty and Palo Alto’s central location is in the prime location for the moderate climate that the area is also noted for. San Francisco can  move from foggy and gusty extremes while grand City of San Jose 15-20 miles to the south can experience slightly higher temperatures.

For an economical and simple way to experience the grandeur of the area, the Palo Alto area, with its smaller mid-Peninsula town feel, offers its natural  balance.

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CKY

 

Copyright © 2019 Challen YeeAll Rights Reserved.

 

PaloAltoBNB: 2018 Post Summary

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University Avenue, Downtown Palo Alto – Dec 2018. Photo by Challen

 

Have you ever stayed as a guest in a BNB? How was your experience?

Are you interested to learn more about starting a BNB?  What kind of questions would you like answered? 

I’ve been posting on my Palo Alto BNB (Bed and Breakfast) Page since December 17th, 2018, been involved (among other things) in the operations of this hospitality business since October 2017, and was directly involved with the renovation of the family-owned property prior.

 

2018 POSTS

Instead of bombarding you with real time posts on my personal daily social media feed, I’ve summarized my first 8 posts for your convenience. If you’d like to see them real-time, please go “like” my Facebook Page “Palo Alto BNB” or follow my website at www.paloaltobnb.net

There you can learn about some of the issues running a BNB and the area of Palo Alto and some real estate details of surrounding area.

 

Begin with a vision  – Dec 17

Why Here? Why Now? – Dec 19

Hosting Fears: Do guests trash the house? – Dec 20

Hosting Fears: Screening your Guests – Dec 21

Compelling Reasons for a Stay – Dec 23

10 Thoughts on furnishing and equipping a BNB – Dec 25

What equipment is special to a BNB? – Dec27

A Tale of two Palo Altos – Dec30

 

 

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CKY

 

Copyright © 2019 Challen YeeAll Rights Reserved.

 

A Tale of two Palo Altos

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BNB’s are a popular choice in the San Francisco Bay Area and Palo Alto is not exception. With the rise of locally headquartered companies like Apple, Facebook and Google, and other companies small and large attracting thousands into the local work force they provide a regular stream of professional transients from around the nation and internationally who perform their business in synergy with the local economy.

 

Facebook is particularly interesting because despite the prestige of being associated with the City od Menlo Park, which is one step north of the ubiquitous “Palo Alto”, Facebook headquarters is actually adjacent to one of the lowest income-per-capita residential areas on the San Francisco peninsula (though not particularly low on a national scale). The City is East Palo Alto is part of San Mateo County, unlike the internationally-known City of Palo Alto which is the northern most city in Santa Clara County. Only a highway, for the most part, separates the two cities of common name.

Stanford University looking towards Palo Alto from Hoover Tower. Photo by Challen

 

Santa Clara County also includes Silicon Valley cities like Mountain View (Google), Sunnyvale (Lockheed Martin), Cupertino (Apple), Santa Clara (Intel), Palo Alto (Stanford University and Hospital, Hewlett Packard, Tesla), Los Gatos (Netflix), the behemoth city of San Jose (Cisco) and other smaller and often more affluent communities stretching into the beautiful foothills of the San Francisco peninsula.

img_5973
A Google map of the Bay Area

 

To give you just a bit of the contrast between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, in 1990-92 East Palo Alto earned the dubious distinction of being the “murder capital” of the United States.

 

Criminal and illicit drug dealing activities were so rampant in this decades-old lower socio-economic area, residents and commuters were frightened to drive down main thoroughfares for fear of being car-jacked by brazen criminals. Moreover, the homicide rate was so intimidating (in 1992, there were 42 homicides) it made my law enforcement friends who worked in Compton, CA balk at the prospects of having to jump into the fray.

 

Fortunately for the community, the state and local law enforcement agencies did step in and with sweeping campaigns putting the area on the right track removing entrenched drug crime elements. Nearly 20 years later and steady progress has made the East Palo Alto a much safer place to live and to work, the future prospects continue to look bright.

Image source: Peeryfoundarion.org showing the boundary of East Palo Alto in relation to two corporate giants.

 

 

The potential of the area of East Palo Alto is probably best evidenced by Facebook’s Menlo Park move (2011) and breakaway expansion plans which paralleled more major anti-drug actions in East Palo Alto bringing even more substantial changes to the peace of the community in the last few years.

 

While the recent high-flying developments in the real estate market are widespread in the San Francisco Bay Area, including East Palo Alto, the area still has a deep community of lower income residents and home owners who are proud and happy to be established there. Progress continues to be made to improve living conditions and it attracts more companies like Amazon, a recent addition to the business landscape of East Palo Alto in addition to investor-philanthropists like the Zuckerbergs and Laurene Powell Jobs, both residents of Palo Alto.

 

A sharp contrast still exists, however, as highlighted in a recent article, a particular zip code in Palo Alto has registered the most expensive average real estate prices in the country.

 

From a financial investor standpoint, rental rates per home value ratios are often more favorable in East Palo Alto, where properties can still be found for under $1M, when compared to Palo Alto despite Palo Alto’s safer, quieter, established neighborhoods and highly-regarded schools. For example, a 3 bedroom 1 bath home in East Palo Alto, valued at about $1M may rent for about $4000 per month where as a similar Palo Alto home (humble based on trends in home building) may only rent for $6500 per/month but cost $2.5M.

Downtown Palo Alto on a Winter day. Photo by Challen

 

Although this previous example of rental rates is only an single snapshot (rents can be substantially varied and higher in both cities, especially in Palo Alto, given more valuable properties) the demand for rentals remains strong. This could be reinforced by the fact many professionals are assuming not to buy properties (in the Bay Area) but rather opting to rent or lease believing their long term plans will take them out of the area (where property is less expensive among other reasons) or that their investments are better situated outside of the real estate market.

 

What makes BNB popular, nevertheless, is not so much related to the real estate values, it is better linked to the professional transients in the area with the proliferation of business activity, Stanford University, Stanford Hospital and the others variety of needs for temporary accommodations in this hub of Silicon Valley where a home is preferred.

 

 

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CKY

 

 

 

 

 

What equipment is special to a BNB?

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Probably the one device that is makes having a BNB most convenient

And makes self-checkin a breeze is the keyless entry system.

 

 

With this system, a guest can be a assigned a personalized code, meaning they are the only guest who have access to their code, which they can enter at anytime during their reservation period.

 

In other words, they can arrive at midnight and I, as a host, do not have to meet them with a key or have to be concerned about having a loose key sitting exposed on the premises.

 

A lock box is an alternative, but then you have to worry about the guest accidentally misplacing the key or possibly even making copies of your keys.

 

There are several services available to support the keyless entry, our locks require a keypad where at any time, a guest can enter their code to enter the house.

 

Moreover, they have the option of entering a code of their choosing.

 

The way this works is by adoption of the special internet called “IOT” or Internet of Things. This allows humanless connections of devices and central servers at, let’s a say, a security company whose database manages your guest codes. Quite strange and also making the process of checking in and out a much more smooth transaction.

The other way it works is that it replaces your deadbolt so that it only allows a guest to open the bolt from the outside with the code.

For the convenience of everyone involved, both you and the guest, it is suggested you use this system on every entry door to your BNB. The last I checked, the cost per rock is about $300, including life time service, but you can check for yourself the recent offerings on the market.

This kind of entry may be best applied to a BNB where the host does not reside on premises.

It does take a little time to set up but once you have it working to can also create special codes for each person that requires access to the property, or example, a maintenance tech, cleaning person, or a co-host.

It is also possible you can cancel any particular code if it is not needed anymore.

 

Some drawbacks that you will need to be prepared for are:

The system we use which is based on a SCHLAGE deadbolt, runs on a battery so eventually you will get a signal that the battery is weak and that you need to open the lock and replace the battery. Our has run over a year without issue.

As a backup, we offer a traditional lock box with a key inside  just in case something breaks or some other emergency occurs.

 

Overall, we are pleased with the service that we use and our guests would agree.

 

 

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CKY

10 Thoughts on furnishing and equipping a BNB

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Cool, so you’ve got a place to to start your BNB?

What are your ideas to equip it?

Here’s some ideas for you to tinker with on Christmas 2018. You have your own ideas, so you can just take my insights as considerations as some will naturally be biased to my own tastes or circumstances.

1) If you are starting from scratch, you can get a lot of great deals from Craigslist. You can to be patient and you should have an idea how to design your place with an overall theme. I’ve seen all kinds of décor and you will attract certain kinds of clients with the décor you choose. If you desire to go for the fantasy island route, you will tend to get the fantasy island group of guests.

My feeling is families on vacations don’t mind the novelty of personal belongings in a house as long as they are not a safety hazard, though executives might rather not have the distraction of an array of Justin Bieber posters or the latest table designed as the prototype to Star Trek 2020.

From Craigslist, You can get super savings on such things are stylish bedframes, tables, and chairs. Some products new are a super value, so you do need to spend some time to do some comparative on-line shopping. Places like Home Depot have a large on-line only order only inventory that you may be better off buying from rather than taking the chance on a used product offering very little discount versus new. Ikea is another value stop especially for kitchenware.

2) Some items are better new, like mattresses, pillows, linen, towels and cabinetry, fixtures and faucets that are new can do much to brighten and freshen your décor.

If you need to replace bedroom and bathroom doors, a solid version will give your guest a better sense of privacy and security. Closet doors can be hollow-core. Replace the beat up door jams.

 

3) Appliances can be bought new on clearance sales or blems at a substantial savings.

Once you get these appliances, keep them clean. Regularly cleaning them right after they are used by a guest is easier to maintain than letting them develop baked on stains. Also, care should be used not to scratch your stainless or other metal surfaces.

 

TIP: If you order stuff from a retail store when they have an inventory or backroom blowout sale, plan on picking these items up yourself otherwise you risk having the move totally trash your once acceptable items. For example, we ordered a refrigerator and a range which were floor items in very nice condition, but because they were shipped without their original packaging by some demolition derby forklift driver, the end result? We inspected them upon receiving and found they both were damaged so much that we had to reject them.

4) In terms of numbers of beds, to make it comfortable, having close to a 1 to 1 ratio of beds to baths is ideal for executive and professionals, although some places offer 3x or more beds per bathrooms, and while they can attract a higher rental rate by way by housing more people, it doesn’t bode as well for you and your boss fighting over using the john in the morning (for those of you who do not know what a “john” is, that’s English slang to toilet).

Choosing the same size bed is our choice in order to make cleaning up, logistics, and upkeep more efficient (we use all queen sized beds). This, however, may not be ideal for families with several children or two families staying together or anyone trying to avoid the one comfy scene in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” starring John Candy and Steve Martin.

5) Black out capable blinds for the bedrooms can help handle little kids taking naps and adults who are cave dwellers.

 

6) Don’t forget all of your safety items like smoke detectors, Carbon monoxide Detectors, First Aid kits, door stops to avoid holes in your walls and dings on your new cabinet doors, even a fire extinguisher can give a guest a sense of security.

7) Allow for guests to plug in their chargers for their various electronics, in every room.

8) Short-term guests enjoy some niceties. Things like free bottled water and a K-Cup and drip coffer makers, a TV with a reasonably full set of channels, free wireless and access to a washer dryer, and free onsite parking, all can help appease their needs for amenities. A Bluetooth equipped radio is nice, so as one of our guests said, they could jam with their Ipod tunes while cooking pizza from scratch.

9) We do not offer a telephone landline. That’s the nice thing about the cell phone generation. Though we do offer a fax/printer that is Bluetooth capable and that is good for business customers or those who just want to print something from their personal device.

10) Since cleaning a place becomes a really really really (really) big deal, you may want to choose furnishings that are easy to clean. That’s another reason why we like our hardwood floors instead of carpets. It keeps the dust down and it’s easier to vacuum and light mop. We ask our guests to use our clean/disposable slippers (which we provide) and not wear outside shoes indoors.

And just an aside… Even if you hire someone to do your cleaning, be prepared for you or someone you trust to do a final check before you release the space to a new guest. Remember, no one takes responsibility as much as you the owner. An un-emptied trash can or, worse, a dirty towel with awkward body fluids or a grotesque hairball sitting on the bathroom vanity will do a lot to nuclear detonate the impression of pristine cleanliness and will likely have your guest screaming in horror as they frantically catch a LYFT ride to the next nearest clean listing.

 

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CKY

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