I had an epic airbnb.com fail! I don't know exactly what happened, but it seemed like the host confirmed our request and then denied it, giving me no explanation or returning communication. Which is fair enough. I mean, I did contact her really last minute. And I really can't blame any woman for not wanting to host a construction worker in her house for five days - even one described as a "vegetarian non-smoker who will quote Monty Python on demand." Actually, Darling thinks the Monty Python is what lost him the bid:(
So today we are going back up to Temple, most likely to book him a room at the Extended Stay hotel closest to the job-site and buy him some groceries. It sucks to send him off like this. I feel kind of sad and hypocritical, worse than when he went to work in East Texas. Fortunately he is working four ten-hour days a week, which means I will be picking him up Thursday after work. I am really, really, really hoping that tomorrow he will strike up a conversation with someone who will say, "oh, you work in Austin? Let me give you a ride," and that will be that.
If he doesn't find a carpool this first week, though, we're going to have to get him an apartment ASAP because the Extended Stay place is just too expensive. According to craigslist, we could rent him a room or efficiency for an average of $450 (22.50/workday) a month including utilities. The hotels are $700 ($35/workday) a month and smell bad. For the record, driving him to and from work in the truck would cost us $480 ($30/workday), assuming I drove him there in the morning and waited to drive him home, and did not take into account the wear on the car.
...This also does not take into the account that Darling will need personal groceries at accommodation he lives at, though it will save us $8/day off our co-op rent.
Blah. It's getting pretty hard to believe that there will be anything at all left over after the cost of the commute. The only bright side is that it will be work, legitimate, paying, good-on-the-resume work for the next six months while we look for something better. A step up, if you will.
4 comments:
Sorry about the airbnb problem!
Have you checked out the campsites ?
Have you left a review for the person who cancelled? Not as a punishment, but as an FYI for other potential boarders.
Besides lizzie's suggestion of campsites, how about renting a van and sleeping in it in a Wallyworld parking lot?
Just a few tips regarding airbnb and its cousin crashpadder.com, from someone who has hosted people, in case it's helpful for the next chance.
As a host I always look for someone who has a fully filled out profile and 95% of the time I'll accept someone who sends me a short introduction about why they want to stay at my place (work, visiting relatives, event, etc.), especially if it's not at the last minute. Many people do this to make a little cash on the side and we're not hotels.
In addition, I'll always ask if someone has a facebook or a blog. As a host who is letting someone in their house without references, a security deposit, etc. the most info about a person to prove their 'normalness' the better.
Hope this helps, and maybe try again with others, it may just be poor timing for that person (although usually I would deny outright rather than confirming only to later revoke) although who knows, emergencies can happen. I've had only good experiences on the sites, so hopefully this odd one won't put you off completely.
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