With numbers down on the drum teaching front, mainly due to our move making travelling to some former schools/pupils less viable – in particular the two hours plus odyssey to Bishops Stortford* – we thought we’d try letting our spare or ‘guest’ room.
Our initial attempt, listing it on Gumtree with a view to finding a lodger, got plenty of views, but no enquiries. So I thought why not try AirB&B? We ourselves have stayed in a few AirB&B properties, the best and most memorable being our Waterloo bicentennial trip to Belgium, in 2015. That place was absolutely terrific.
Anyway, letting our spare room with AirB&B has, so far, proved to be a good move, with guests booking in pretty much straight away. Our very first guest came during one of Tigger’s occasional bouts of flea infestation, which wasn’t exactly the best start! But we waged merciless war on the little bleeders, and eventually saw them off.
After this shaky start, things have settled down. One of the several good things is that having people coming to stay forces us to keep a better, tidier, cleaner house. Another is that the AirB&B short-stay type deal suits us – and perhaps me especially? – far better than a ‘proper’ old-school lodger, who’s around all the time.
We’ve had people recommend us to friends and colleagues, and we have one regular guest, who comes to visit his young son. His son’s name? Sebastian! The best thing is that everyone who’s stayed so far has been very easy going. We haven’t had any issues at all. Long may that continue!
* The difference this makes to my car fuel bills is massively noticeable. Plus all the time no longer wasted travelling. It was a good school, and the kids were great. But I’m really glad I finally quit! I’m not someone who finds quitting easy or natural.