What We Learned Staying as Guests in Our Own Airbnb

In this week's episode of California Dreaming with Kristen and Michael we decided to have some friends and family come stay at our Airbnb with us and we learned some valuable lessons along the way! We went and explored Joshua Tree National Park and Pioneertown and then spent a ton of time at The Seventh Ray House soaking in all the relaxation we could in-between projects at the house.
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New to our channel? Well, hi there! We're Kristen and Michael, a couple embarking on a wild adventure of transforming our dream desert home into a short-term rental biz!
As crazy as it sounds, we decided to ditch our beloved Los Angeles (which we called home for 7 years) and chase our wildest dreams of owning a piece of land in California. And guess what? We did it! We finally bought our desert house in the summer of 2021, and we've been DIY-ing our hearts out ever since!
We're talking about an (almost) complete renovation, from top to bottom! But that's not all! We're also building our business from scratch, with the goal of sharing our little oasis with our family, friends, and even strangers from all over the world.
So come on and join us on this crazy ride! We promise it'll be full of laughs, tears, and lots of DIY fails (and wins!). Welcome to our channel!
Let us know in the comments if you have any suggestions or questions for us.
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#diycouple #airbnbhost

[@chowchow5045]

"in case you wanna wake-up in the middle of the night and just play some piano ... this is perfect" 💞💞💞👍👍👍

[@kristenandmichael]

inspiration can strike at any time ;)

[@TaavP]

Love having friends visiting at the house too expecially when they live far far away

[@kristenandmichael]

We had such a great time! It's the best! :)

[@suecahill2364]

For putting a duvet cover on I use a method by Drew of Lone Fox videos. I believe he saw it in a tik Tok. Spread out the cover inside out, lay the insert on top, start rolling the insert and cover together like a burrito from the closed end of the cover, at the end turn the opening of cover over like making a sleeping roll, hold top ends and shake insert inside. The video may be of more help. This has worked great for me. Best wishes!

[@kristenandmichael]

Oh that sounds like a good method! We will try it out :)

[@dianen6638]

So good you guys took time out to play❤

[@kristenandmichael]

You've got to! That's the whole reason we got a vacation rental, so we could enjoy it as well :)

[@dianen6638]

@@kristenandmichael I couldn’t agree more. We just got back from ours in Angel Fire NM for Thanksgiving with our family❤️

[@MounjarojourneywithPam]

Love seeing your friends come visit and going to pioneer town I wish we could see more from that area and inside the stores Maybe in an hour episode 😊

[@derekkarina]

Just want to acknowledge the great job on the work and effort that it takes to making these videos. You make it look seamless. All the thought work of the camera placements that goes into telling the story. It’s such great work, it’s entertaining and beautiful, also great content and informative. I’m a creative myself (photographer) and we Airbnb our basement apartment for the past year . 41 5 ⭐️ ..knock on wood…so far. Learned lots on how to approach ours. Along with being frequent Airbnb stayers ourselves. We’ve taken so much thought on what I would like and what another traveling family would want on their stay Airbnb. Your content has also helped and It’s sparked many ideas. If your are ever in SLC for a to skii trip or any other reason, would love to host you guys.

[@kristenandmichael]

Aww thank you so much. It definitely makes doing everything twice as long, filming it all but it's so worth it. We've learned so much from sharing our experience with you all. And thank you so much of the offer, if we are ever in the SLC area we might hit you up! :)

[@primalfury2011]

Build more roooms !!!!!!!!!!!!! increase profit !!!!

[@Evartfilm]

Hey there! Firstly, huge fan of your videos - been following since the beginning as I embarked on my hosting journey too. Your content's been a massive help; thanks for that! Just wanted to give a heads up on the hot tub cover you have. I had the same one, and while it worked great for me, my guests had trouble with it consistently. Even with clear instructions, it was often put back on the wrong way which told me that they took it off completely. I switched to the "rock-it" style cover, and it's been smooth sailing since then. Cheers!

[@kristenandmichael]

Oh wow, great to know!! Just looked them up and it seem like you're right, that might be the easiest. Since we just installed that one, we'll give it a go for a little bit but if something happens we'll switch to this one next! Thank you so much for recommendation!

[@MegInWhispers]

hope you guys are doing well 🙌 one suggestion I have is to get 2 fire blankets - not just fire extinguishers, as fire blankets are reusable, able to easily be used by both children and adults in fire emergencies, and can be used in less than 5 seconds to neutralize a fire by cutting off its oxygen supply. I'd recommend 1 for the stove and 1 for the grill outside. I just got one for my house and qe have one for the VT house. They typically cost around $20 - Prepared Hero is a great brand. Have you heard of this / do you already have them?

[@kristenandmichael]

We've never heard of these, but they sound like a great thing to have. We will definitely look into these! Thank you so much : )

[@kristenandmichael]

How often do you update your airbnb local guide books for your guests?

[@blaf737]

Oh man -- every time we add an update, we find one more thing that needs to be added to our guidebooks. Luckily the changes flow through to our digital version immediately, but we probably print out a new version every 3-6 months. Once we stopped adding amenities, we were able to get away with printing a new guidebook every 9-12 months.

[@HYHfarm]

Hi guys from TX

[@kristenandmichael]

Hi! Thank you for being here :)

[@markeuringer8106]

Are you all going to buy another house to rent out? Have you thought to buy a property and make it a duplex or triplex ( more to rent out) Thought?

[@kristenandmichael]

We have definitely thought about it. Interest rates are pretty high right now and we've been keeping an eye on the housing market. We've had some personal issues and family stuff that has had to take precedent the last 6 months so we've been spread thin. Hoping to get into another property in the new year!

[@markeuringer8106]

It’s a viable option -- just choose properly well. That gives you the most options 👍

[@primalfury2011]

buy a pool vacuum !!!! you should'nt have to drain it daily !!! using chlorine i hope !!!

[@MounjarojourneywithPam]

On the end of the cozy earth pillow cases with the concealed edge one side is tucked in and sewn on corners I was wondering if there was a special way to fold the end ? Is it just a big piece sewn back hoping you or others may know

[@mariaaviles3380]

Great video! I’m exhausted watching you clean😅

[@kristenandmichael]

🤣If we stay fed and caffeinated, we seem to do OK cleaning and don't get grumpy! haha

[@therachelgoshow]

look up a video on the duvet cover sushi roll technique lol - its a gamechanger - you basically lay it out flat, roll and flip it inside out and it like somehow magically all works perfectly

[@kristenandmichael]

Checking TikTok now! haha thank you!

[@jpfath]

Did you ever think about adding a pump and filter to the cowboy tub? I could imagine guests being disappointed to need to fill it up, but maybe they haven’t complained? I like your filler spout, though! Keep up the good work.

[@kristenandmichael]

A guest has never complained and for us it's working right now. We've definitely thought about it but it adds another thing we need to worry about and we're trying to minimize that. We might add one in the future though!

[@jpfath]

@@kristenandmichael very true; pool cleaning people ain’t cheap! We have a hot tub at our AirBNB and have been considering a cowboy pool for next summer, but I’m anxious about the maintenance.

[@markeuringer8106]

Furthermore. The more units you have to rent out, the more you can make $ also the more you can divide up expenses…..

[@kristenandmichael]

Also, the more headache. We are doing great for now. We do have plans for the near future and we'll document all of that as well!

[@markeuringer8106]

Sounds good. Look forward to seeing your new plans. 👍😇

[@bellad1063]

I love this… gosh fam and friends are awesome when they come around for laughs and building forever memories. ❤ how awesome to have them in your home for a vacay. 😊