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Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Feb 1, 2016 14:52:28 GMT
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Post by High Priestess on Feb 1, 2016 15:02:04 GMT
Oh, it's sooooo nice! No wonder you were smitten. And by California standards, it's dirt cheap! Here, in my city, you can't get a 2 bedroom single family home for that price. (nice) 2 bedroom homes sell in my area for $650,000 to $850,000. An inn of that size with such features in the SF Bay Area would easily cost $2-3 million.
It is so beautiful -- I love these old, historic buildings. They have so much soul. And the whole town it's located in seems to be a quaint, charming little town by a river -- love that photo of the art museum by the river there.
I would say go for it, except that at .28 acre it may not be large enough for your goat and chickens? Of course you'd need to study the business that they did and make sure it was profitable and that they aren't selling because they can't get enough guests...
but really really gorgeous!
Here for instance is a similar size hotel in Pacific Grove (Monterey area) selling for $2.4 million www.bedandbreakfast.com/InnsForSale/ca-pacific-grove-9821.html
one in San Francisco that is selling for $13 million
www.bedandbreakfast.com/InnsForSale/ca-san-francisco-12093.html
One in Calistoga selling for $4 million
www.bedandbreakfast.com/InnsForSale/ca-calistoga-11937.html
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Carole and Doug Macrae
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Post by Carole and Doug Macrae on Feb 5, 2016 14:35:18 GMT
Hi Deborah,
Thanks so much for doing this. I've been in the shadows for quite some time due to a serious family medical issue but now can devote a little more time to groups. Is there anything special we need to do to join this? I guess links will no longer be supported through our Airbnb site? It was so easy when there was a drop down to just go to groups. I love to keep in touch but with all that's going on here, I will be more of a shadow. Hope you are doing well,
Carole
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Post by dougandcarole on Feb 5, 2016 14:41:29 GMT
Hi again Deborah,
I figured out the answer to my own question and have successfully joined this group. Now if I can just remember how to access it in the future. Hope all of you are well, Doug and Carole
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Post by High Priestess on Feb 5, 2016 14:50:29 GMT
Hi Doug and Carole
I'm glad you found out how to join the group! I suggest keeping a binder with username and password info for all your online accounts, such as this one. If you ever forget your password, you can click on "forgot password?" and the system will send you an email to reset your password, that will go to your email that you are using for this group. For that reason, make sure you use an email that you will continue to have access to.
If all else fails, you're not limited to having one account on here (as with Airbnb) so you could always create a 2nd account if you forget how to get on. BUt you would need a new email for that as you can only have one account per email.
And I am hoping to leave the Chat here, General Discussion and New Host FOrum boards on here, open to guests to post so people can ask questions even if they aren't registered on this forum. (I will do this as long as we don't have too many problems with spam posts from spammers.....)
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Post by helgaparis on Feb 5, 2016 20:30:41 GMT
Hi everyone, it's so nice to find you all again on this thread, even the sworn No-Tech people ;-)
I was quite busy with my own plans for the New Year. Superhostsync's plans to go into the b@b business professionally sound interesting. 16 years ago, when we came to France, it was with the intention to buy a hotel. It did not work out, but with seasonal renting, then specially with renting a bed last year, part of the plan came true. I wish you all the best for your plans !
I'm doing most of my business via an association, which I kind of inherited, as it was my husband's baby. He did the association part and the art part for real, besides it was a good legal structure to sell services. When he died, I took over, but cut back on the manifestations, mostly keeping it for the business structure. Now I'm preparing to step out of it, so that the association can hire me part time, as the department came up with a plan to subvention part of the salary. So I had a lot of work to do, to finish accounting, clear the structure, change the statutes, the board, the council etc, republish in the official newspaper and then get the treaty with the department done. A huge mount of bureaucracy, even for French standards. And they are already world champions in administration. But it will give me a safety net and is interesting, financially and because it gives me paid time dedicated to art and creation.
The whole thing dropped into my lap as a surprise, because I was more or less preparing to give up my second apartment in the South, live in Paris only and do not much hosting, as I would not need to do much if I have only one place and no train tickets to finance.
As I have the worst part done already, I'll have more time now to follow this forum. Happy to chat with you !
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Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Feb 5, 2016 20:45:58 GMT
Hey @helga, nice to see you over a slice of pizza! deborah, thanks for those links - some really gorgeous places but man oh man, the real estate is $$$$$$$! |
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Post by helgaparis on Feb 9, 2016 21:14:40 GMT
Hah, I really had a slice of pizza today. But the colored thing before my mouth is a the parrot which fell asleep before tv.
We will have a host meeting Friday at my place, only Elaine and Raymond, Edith, Nathalie and her partner - more would not fit in anyway. But I would love to have you all!
I'll have a few more busy weeks, which is good as my bookings are fare down. Got some requests but no bites.
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Post by helgaparis on Feb 9, 2016 21:16:08 GMT
Sorry, I just saw that the whole thread is called pizza talk. That's nice, I like pizza.
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Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Feb 9, 2016 22:26:00 GMT
I bought a laminator.
The reason for this purchase is that recently I had a family from Martinique, and they traveled with another couple staying in a nearby listing. The couple came over to the house when I was doing the orientation with the Martinique family, and the couple had three laminated maps on a ring. One map was all the local shops, the other map was restaurants, and the third map was local places of interest. I asked them where they picked up those cool maps and they told me their host provided them in the apartment. Jealous!!! such a great idea. I have a house manual, and I use the VRBO app for giving all kinds of info to all my guests (no matter the booking platform), but to see these guests using the local map to walk around and find their friends? It was a Ah-Ha moment. SO I went home, bought a lamintor from Amazon and it was delivered two days later. I've spent the last two days making maps and cutting/pasting, and I have maps for about half of my listings ready. This kind of project totally appeals to my crafting side, and also appeals to my organizational side.
Now I know I came on here months ago bemoaning about a local host that had copied/pasted my description, and look at me know, stealing someone else's cool idea. I'm going to hell.
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Post by High Priestess on Feb 9, 2016 23:09:48 GMT
How much did the laminator cost, Maria Lurdes (Milu)? I was actually thinking of getting one of those a while back, because I needed to make many laminated signs for my house -- such things as "please remove shoes" to put by each exterior door, and "please leave bathroom door open after use" etc. I went to Fedex Copy Center to make the laminated pages -- costs $2.50 a page or so. I like the idea of providing laminated maps for guests, too. If I have enough laminated items to do it may be cost effective to buy one.
helgaparis -- I'd come to your get together if I could drive there! It would be lovely to see you all. I've never been to Paris, I'm sure I would like it, but I have this little problem that I don't like traveling by plane. I only go places I can drive -- at least for the last 25 years. Maybe some day I will get on a plane -- or maybe not.
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Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Feb 10, 2016 2:18:35 GMT
Here's the one I bought It's cheap, but the laminating sheets are a bit pricey, just like buying a printer. I bought 5mil sheets for the maps as it makes them very sturdy, and then I used the thinner 3mil for laminating the sheets in the house manual. I think it will pay off pretty quickly, and I'll keep an eye out for coupons/discounts for buying new laminating sheets when I'm running low.
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Post by lambada on Feb 10, 2016 16:55:33 GMT
Even though I am no longer a huge fan or Airbnb (still using them, just not a big fan), I do appreciate the platform for helping us figure out what we want to do in life. Like superhostnyc for example, who realized that they'd want to run a 'real' B&B. In my case, we were able to take a break from our day job and actually realize now that STR is not exactly for us. I will be doing it still, especially when I am not traveling, but at the end of the day, I want something more hands off. Or take longer reservations (business travelers), where I don't have to play tour guide. Also, like Deborah has noted, there are lots more listing showing up in every neighborhood. So I will have to see how much this will impact the business.
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Post by High Priestess on Feb 10, 2016 17:20:00 GMT
Here's the one I bought It's cheap, but the laminating sheets are a bit pricey, just like buying a printer. I bought 5mil sheets for the maps as it makes them very sturdy, and then I used the thinner 3mil for laminating the sheets in the house manual. I think it will pay off pretty quickly, and I'll keep an eye out for coupons/discounts for buying new laminating sheets when I'm running low. Thanks, Maria Lurdes (Milu) --- I just ordered one. I had no idea they were so inexpensive!! I thought they would cost $200 or so. HEre I've been spending all this money at FedeX I could have just ordered one of these a while back.... |
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Post by Suzanne P on Feb 12, 2016 4:39:48 GMT
 Hi All, Howdy From Austin. And Deborah, thanks, as always!!! You're great! Glad to be here, Suzanne P The Urban Suburban |
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