SunDaze and Airbnb
Putting my investigative skills to work
SunDaze has been getting alot of hits since December. Concert goers for the Gorge Amphitheater are attempting to secure rental spaces for their groups - and Crescent Bar is the perfect location! I’ve been very selective in the approvals this season and have declined more than accepted. 2018 was a very successful year for rentals with only 1 guest leaving the place as you generally would a hotel room, rather than someone’s home. I spent most of the summer driving back and forth mid-week which I loved! Unfortunately (well and fortunately at the same time) I am now working full time so mid-week travel is not an option. Planning is the key for 2019 summer season.
To date, I have had 4 reservation requests for a particular weekend in June. It just happens to be a weekend-long dance party at the Gorge. In reality, we weren’t even certain we wanted to rent that weekend because of the crowds and whether we’d be able to get our home turned around again. But our last Airbnb request pushed us to block out the weekend.
I received back to back requests for the same weekend. The first guy told me he was traveling to town with 5 people to attend a family wedding from out of state. Under normal circumstances, this would have been acceptable. However, when I looked at his Airbnb profile, he had one extremely negative review. I was pleased to see that he had cancelled his request, so I moved onto the other.
This woman also was also traveling with 5 people to attend a family wedding from out of state. She had 1 positive review on Airbnb, but upon closer inspection of the photo, it was the SAME family as the previous request! Same couple, same baby!
Needless to say, I declined her request too because I can’t afford to have my home destroyed or my friendly neighbors upset by our Airbnb business.
It’s always a bit of a crapshoot when you rent to strangers. I’m proud to say that I believe doing your due diligence always works out in the end.