Airbnb - I'm a fan.

My second article published on www.mazatlanmycity.com

I love Airbnb!

Many people have likely heard of Airbnb by now and maybe 50% (I’m guessing) of you have tried it, either as a Guest or as a Host.  I am writing this for those who are curious and would like to know more about it from a first-hand experience basis.  I do not receive any compensation from Airbnb.

I have stayed in 10 or 12 different properties in 4 different countries, ranging from a room in a house to a full two-bedroom apartment.   Right now, I have listed our condo in Calgary on Airbnb for the rest of the year and will be experiencing what it is like to be a Host.  Since I will be in Mazatlan and my husband, Mike, is working on contract in Winnipeg, I thought I would try it and earn a little money from it.  I could just rent it out, furnished, in a normal way as I have done in the past with a house we owned, but using Airbnb as my middle-man gives me a good layer of protection and regulation.  Guests must have a profile on the site which Airbnb verifies as true.  If they have stayed in other Airbnb properties, the Hosts will have put up a review of that Guest that you can read.  You can decide to rent to only people who have good reviews if you wish.

However, Airbnb provides an insurance policy of sorts for any damage or theft done to the property by a Guest and acts as a mediator should any problems arise between the Host and the Guest.  So, even if they have had no reviews yet, a Host does have a certain comfort level from that.  Airbnb handles the payment from the Guest by charging a credit card after they have checked in – if the Guest does not contact Airbnb and say there is a problem upon arrival, then the funds are released to the Host in full.  It goes to your bank account electronically.  You can even specify that you charge a cleaning fee and a security deposit, extra charge for extra people, and Airbnb will collect that as well.

As an experienced Guest, I can say I have not yet been disappointed with any place I have stayed.  Hosts shoot for a 5 star review from you because it enhances their online image and they can begin to charge more and get return customers.  However, there was one host who thought it was acceptable to keep the cat litter-box right inside the entryway by the front door where you came in!

When you go to the www.airbnb.com, enter the city where you want to stay and the dates (it isn’t necessary to enter dates at first if you just wish to browse), and also check off criteria such as you want to share a room, have a private room, or rent the entire place.  You can also search by pet or children-friendly, among other things.  The appropriate listings will come up with pictures and a map where they are located.  The profiles of each property normally have a very detailed description and other information, as well as reviews by other guests and the star rating.  You can send an inquiry only if you wish to ask for more information.  Once you put your dates in and send off a request to book, the Host can either approve it, deny it, ask for more information from you.  You will see the total price of the booking when you make a request and if you wish you could send the Host a message and try to negotiate a lower price.  Usually, the Host has pricing by night, by week, and by month with discounts for longer stays.  But you can also ask for a special deal and if the Host agrees he/she sends you a “special deal” offer that you can accept or not.

I had an inquiry myself today for my condo and used the “special deal” feature to send to the potential Guest, but it was not accepted in the end.

Arrangements for your arrival at the property differ with each one.  At the very first one we stayed at in Dartmouth, NS, our instructions were to enter the back yard and get the key from under a can in the back shed!  The owners were just renting a room with bathroom to us in their house, but they were not going to be at home when we arrived.  So we let ourselves in.

At another, just recently in the UK, the instructions were to take a gate key off of a hidden part of the gate where the key was taped to it, then open the gate, and once inside the gate, open a box where the house-key was hidden and let myself in.  In this case, the studio apartment was in the back of a big Victorian house with a separate entrance and the people who lived above me were unrelated to the owners of the apartment.  It was self-serve all the way.  The owners were not even in the country.  They were in easy contact with me by texting and they did say there was a local person available if I had need of her.  I was quite happy with the apartment which was well-equipped with small kitchen completely outfitted with pots, pans, dishes utensils, a few spices, instant coffee, stove, fridge and even a clothes-washer.  I walked down the street to a small shop and bought a few eggs, milk, and bread for breakfast.  There was already some butter in the fridge.

One Host in Calgary had 3 bedrooms for rent in her house, one with an ensuite bath and the other two shared a bathroom.  She had coded electronic door locks on each bedroom with a chalkboard hung outside that had the code written on it.  You could then change the code for your stay.  She lived in the basement, but was rarely there.  I had let myself into the house with a key in the mailbox.

In Malaga, Spain, the owner of a two-bedroom apartment was also the owner of the restaurant it was above.  I arrived and found the owner in the restaurant and he showed me up to the apartment and left me with the keys.  My son, Tim and his friend Amanda arrived later at night after I was already in bed and the owner let them in.  If had any questions or issues, he was right downstairs.  He also gives a 10% discount on purchases in the restaurant for Guests.  We left when the restaurant was closed and so we were told to just leave the keys in the apartment.

At another apartment in Malaga, my flight arrived very late and I told the Host I would not be at the apartment until after midnight.  For an extra fee, she arranged for two nice Spanish ladies to meet me outside the apartment and let me in.  Otherwise, I would have picked up the key from a little café across the street.

I love the creativity and flexibility of this new “sharing economy” service!

When the Founders of Airbnb first got started in 2007, they were young and broke and decided to advertise on a blog that they had two air-mattresses for rent in their apartment.  They succeeded in renting them for $80 a month, which was the reason for the name Airbnb.  They went on to try to build a business out of it and created the first website but for months and months they only earned about $200 a month.  They went to a well-known VC for funding and were turned down.  The VC stated that he did not see any potential and that people would not be interested in allowing perfect strangers to stay in their homes.  Later, they were able to raise a first seed round of $600K in about 2010, after the drummer of Barry Manilow rented an entire house on Airbnb.  A year later, they raised several million more from several investors, including Ashton Kutcher.  Airbnb is now valued at $10 Billion.  Yes, with a B.

If you haven’t tried using Airbnb, I highly recommend it!

PS.  Our condo has now been rented through Airbnb until Aug. 31!  It is not the norm to rent for this long on Airbnb - short terms of a few days or weeks is what Airbnb was designed for, but since I am a beginner and don't have any reviews by Guests yet, I decided to do this mid-length rental and know that I have the solid income for that time period.

The universe is shifting.

Before I jump into this post, I just want to note that the post "How to find a rental and live cheaply in Mazatlan" has surprised me by being the most read post - 10 times more popular than any other post. Obviously, I have struck a cord of interest and various articles I have read in major media lately confirm that.  With Baby Boomers retiring en masse and wondering how the heck they are going to be able to do that in North America, they are looking at Mexico as a viable alternative.

I will probably write a follow-up post on that subject but I just want to mention now that some of the rules for becoming a resident of Mexico have changed and there are many places online you can go to get this information.  It's a little complicated, particularly if you want to bring down a vehicle, so I strongly recommend that you google "residency visas in Mexico" or something similar and inform yourself.

I have been a busy woman this summer.  After returning in June, I left again six weeks later to go up to Calgary where Mike started a new consulting job.  Our intention was to find somewhere to rent but instead we did something I never thought we would do again.  We bought a condo.  Real estate in Calgary is booming, unlike many other places, so the thought that we could actually buy something was astounding.  We moved in almost right away and rented for a month while the mortgage was processed.  That was a lot of work for me - our financial status was iffy given our struggles in the last two years, but I managed to pull off a miracle of shuffling money around to at least make it look like we were a good bet to the mortgage company.  They really have nothing to worry about, we have recovered quite well since Mike went to work for Chevron in 2013 but banks are nigglers.

So this is all part of the "shift".

First:  After about 5 years of Mike NOT working in Calgary, making my staying in Mazatlan during winter months make sense (I did visit him in various work sites like Sacramento and Houston), it now appears that Mike will be permanently located in Calgary.

Second: After more than 5 years of developing, pivoting, promoting, begging and struggling, Qtility Software has paying customers - oil and gas companies, government departments, and others.  That means I need to be there to help manage it until we find someone to replace me.  Mike is under contract to consult until the end of December and is walking a fine line between obligation to the consulting client, and being CEO of Qtility Software.  There is a blending there because the consulting client is the one who is selling our software to their clients.  We are working on some kind of partnership deal with them to make sure the blending is clear to prevent conflict of interest issues.

And so, I am going back again, less than a month after getting back here in Sept.  I have lined up a great couple for house/dog-sitting - they are world travelers with an active blog and travel business.  www.honeytrek.com   Very interesting story and I am sure they are going to love Mazatlan.

I have to come back in late November again in order to drive my Jeep back to the border to renew the sticker for another 6 months.  No getting around it.  After that, we'll see.  If I have to spend a winter in Calgary, I am very happy to do so if it means that I am helping to get us to the point when Mike and I are free to have adventures - together!

More details and where I stayed in Calgary, Vancouver, Houston, and Durango.

I used Airbnb properties a lot on the May trip and only had one slightly bad experience - in Calgary.  I won't even post the link to that property because I can't recommend it.

The owner seemed to think that an open cat litter box just inside the front door where people came and went was just fine.  What?  Do you have a problem with animals in the house, she asked?  It states right in the profile that there are animals, she said.   No, I said, I love animals,  but an open litter box in that location is just unpleasant, not to mention something of a health hazard.  I wouldn't subject my own friends and family to that, let alone paying guests.  She didn't get it, and claimed that there was no other spot to put it. C'est la vie.

In Vancouver, I stayed for two nights at an older, 1930's row house in the Mount Pleasant section of Vancouver, and area that was great for walking and stopping at interesting shops and cafes/restaurants. Hosts were a younger couple who were very nice.  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2045298

In Calgary, for one of the other nights, I stayed at a good, comfortable house that we had stayed in before. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/764034

In Houston, I stayed with an older, single retired man, a long time resident of Houston, and his dog Duke in gorgeous area of Houston called The Heights - leafy, green and very interesting architecture in that area.  It was very comfortable and I had my own ensuite bathroom which is always nice. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/598228

Gwen and I stayed at a Wyndham hotel in San Antonio using my time-share points.  It was fine, but nothing special and I am always annoyed by the salespeople there trying to get me to go to a breakfast presentation when I am only there for 2 days!

We stayed in Durango at Hostal de la Monja, a hotel housed in a beautiful 200-year-old building across from one of the Cathedrals and right on a walking street, closed to traffic.  It used to house nuns at one time. The rooms were very spacious with 20 foot ceilings, two double beds, and air-conditioning. It was a treat to be there for two nights. There is a lobby bar and restaurant - breakfast was included.  The staff were wonderful and there was parking behind the hotel in a secured lot.  http://www.hostaldelamonja.com.mx/

We absolutely loved Durango, a colonial city dating from the 1500's.  It has recently become a tourist destination for those who live in Mazatlan due to the opening of a new toll highway and the second largest suspension bridge in the world between Durango and Mazatlan.  It cuts the time of the journey from the border of Texas to Mazatlan by about 4 hours I am told.  We found it to be well-maintained with actual clean, modern bathroom buildings and SOS phones placed frequently along the way.  Not to mention incredibly scenic.

Durango was VERY clean and orderly.  Everyone we met was so pleasant and helpful, and happy to see tourists from north of the border in their city - something they are not used to yet but they seem to love the fact that we want to visit the city - they are very proud of it.  The architecture, museums, walking streets and parks are all so worth going for.  We had dinner at two different restaurants that we just have to go back to. One called El Esquilon and the other La Fonda de la Tia Chona.  Unique interiors and ambiance and excellent food for such reasonable prices, especially when compared to prices north of the border.

I tried a dark, rich mole sauce that had the taste of a hint of dark chocolate and cinnamon, on chicken in Tia Chona, and a lighter-flavored yellow mole at El Esquillon.  Both were delicious.

Have to go back!