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Hello and welcome to the Airbnb Superhost Podcast.
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I'm Neil Harvey, and I've been able to give up the J O B and live off the income from being a live-in-host with Airbnb just from my own home.
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And every week I share one or two insights that have transformed the way that I host so that you can create happier guests, better reviews, and more profitable bookings.
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And at the end of every episode, I'll leave you with a superhost secret.
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A simple takeaway you can put into practice straight away.
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And on a regular basis, I'm doing a webinar where you can come and hear more about being an Airbnb Living Host, and it's an opportunity for us to meet.
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And if that's something of interest, then there's a zoom link in the show notes where you can register interest and come along.
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Now this week's episode was inspired by a little mystery involving a broken door inside my personal fridge.
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I've had a particularly busy month, and with the guest fridge bursting at the seams, I allowed one of my guests to use my fridge for three days.
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Now at the top of the fridge is a sliding shelf with a little plastic flap across the front, which lifts as you pull the shelf forward.
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And shortly after my guests had finished using it, I went to retrieve some cheese, I pulled the shelf forward and crash! The plastic flap fell onto the floor.
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Hmm, that's what I thought.
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It had been sitting perfectly in position.
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But when I examined it, I discovered that the hinge on one side had snapped off, and here's the mystery.
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The broken piece was nowhere to be found.
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I searched the fridge, the floor and the shelf, and nothing.
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Surely if I had just broken it the missing piece would be lying there somewhere.
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And this led me to suspect that my guest had accidentally broken the flap, disposed of the evidence, and carefully balanced it back in position, waiting for the next unsuspecting person to open it.
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Me! And there I was, standing in my kitchen, holding a broken bit of fridge with the distinct feeling that I'd been set up to take the blame.
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Of course I can't prove any of this, but the circumstantial evidence was rather compelling.
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As I've said many times over the course of my podcast, I totally accept things get broken.
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And when I speak at networking events and get asked that question, my answer is, Does anything ever get broken in a family of four?
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To which the answer is always, of course.
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Well, just do the maths.
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Statistically, of course stuff's gonna get broken.
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That's life.
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But what pisses me off is when I'm not told by my guests that something has broken.
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Understandably, they could think I'm gonna get all arsey about it and demand that they pay for whatever's been broken, but personally I never believe that anyone's broken something deliberately.
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An accident is an accident and that comes with the territory.
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However, when I'm not told that something's broken, I do not know that it needs to be replaced or repaired, and that's my issue.
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In this case, I spend a couple of hours on Sunday morning simply replicating the broken piece by cutting up a plastic chopping board that I've used for other projects and screwing on the new bit to recreate the missing part.
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It works perfectly.
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Now over my 11 years of hosting, I've had something like 19,000 guest nights, by which I mean if a guest stays for three nights, that's three guest nights.
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It's not ninety thousand guests.
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My house is a working home, not museum.
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Things get broken, that's life.
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And when they do the solution is usually simple repair it or replace it.
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But when guests can seal damage, that's another matter.
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If I don't know something's broken, I can't fix it, and the next guest could end up having a bad experience because of it.
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But all this got me thinking.
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Because there are other things guests can break in my home.
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Things that aren't made of plastic, glass or wood.
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Things that, quite frankly, might be better off.
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Broken.
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I currently have a couple from India staying for a month while they visit their son who's working just up the road.
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Now most of my guests stay for a few days, perhaps a week.
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But a month is different, and this couple have challenged me on my long established ideas about how I equip my rooms.
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Their first request was for more shelving.
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They'd arrived with a month's worth of luggage and found nowhere convenient to put everything.
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Their room has two matching alcoves, with cupboards below and paintings displayed above.
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Could we have some shelves in one of the alcoves?
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I was asked.
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Well my immediate reaction was irrational.
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I've been hosting guests in that room for eleven years.
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Nobody had ever complained about a lack of shelves before, and besides, I like my matching alcoves.
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This is my home, I thought you're the guests, you knew what you're booking, so get on with it.
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Of course I didn't actually say any of that.
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But twenty four hours later I reconsidered.
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Actually, you know what?
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They got a point.
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So I designed a simple shelving system for one alcove that can be removed without leaving any trace.
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Problem solved, and when they leave, I can have my precious alcove back.
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Then came another request.
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Um could we have a full length mirror?
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Oh for goodness sake, there's a perfectly good mirror in the room already, I thought.
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Admittedly it's only about the size of a small picture frame, but still.
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Then I thought about it.
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You know, all the other rooms have got large mirrors, so why shouldn't this one have one?
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So off I went to a home furnishing store and bought a freestanding full-length mirror.
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Another problem solved.
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But here's the interesting thing.
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After eleven years of hosting, it wasn't my furniture that needed fixing.
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It was my thinking.
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I'd become so accustomed to the way I'd furnished that room that I'd stopped questioning whether it could be improved, and it took two guests staying for just one month to make me see it differently.
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But the requests didn't stop there.
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The husband pointed out that he found it rather disconcerting when he was sitting on the toilet and somebody else wanted to use it.
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They would either knock on the door or try the handle, only to discover someone was in there already, it was locked.
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Could I perhaps install one of those vacant, occupied locks so that people could see from the outside whether the toilet was in use?
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Oh, and one more thing.
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Can you lower the mirror in the downstairs toilet as I'm rather short and can't quite see into it to shave in the morning?
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Oh well once again, my hackles rose.
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This is my home, not a public toilet in a pub.
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And that mirror has been there for twenty two years since I moved in.
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But before I had too much time to consider his suggestion, his wife managed to lock herself into the bathroom.
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Now I've got perfectly ordinary locks on my bathroom doors operated by perfectly ordinary keys.
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They've been working perfectly well for years, but for some reason she couldn't get the key to turn, and there she was, trapped in my bathroom.
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And after several unsuccessful attempts to release her, we came up with a rescue plan.
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She just threw the key out of the bathroom window to me, and I went upstairs and unlocked the door.
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So that was that.
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No locksmith or fire brigade required, or a need to break the door down, not even a dramatic rescue through the bathroom window.
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As it turned out, the lock was simply a little dry and needed some lubrication.
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The key had to be held horizontally to operate it properly, and she hadn't realised that.
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So a drop of oil falling day and everything was working smoothly again.
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But here's the interesting thing.
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My immediate reaction had been that there was nothing wrong with the lock.
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After all, I knew how to use it.
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And that, of course, was precisely the problem.
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And again, my paradigm was broken.
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I have actually ordered two deadlocks with a thumb turn on the inside and a vacant occupied indicator on the outside.
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And as I speak, they are in the post and as soon as they arrive I'll install them.
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No more keys to fiddle with, the door handles will simply keep the doors closed and the new locks will do the rest.
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Problem solved.
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Oh, and I lowered the mirror too.
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His request did actually make sense.
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Being six foot tall myself, I'd just never seen the problem.
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But I wasn't off the hook yet.
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My Indian guests are staying for a month, and with their son regularly joining them for meals, they need quite a lot of fridge space.
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Now, I've always provided a 43 litre mini fridge for that room, perfectly adequate for short stays, but apparently not for a month.
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Could we have a bigger fridge please?
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And there was that little voice again.
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What?
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That fridge has been there for ten years, nobody's ever complained before.
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So I ignored the request until yesterday morning, when another long term guest complained that somebody had commandeered her allocated shelf in the main guest fridge.
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It was my Indian guests.
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Their mini fridge was full, so they'd helped themselves to somebody else's space.
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Well, I was not impressed.
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But I had to admit they had a point.
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Their fridge simply wasn't big enough.
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The trouble was I'd already spent nearly two hundred pounds on shelves, mirrors, bathroom locks, I didn't fancy another hundred pounds on a fridge.
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And then I had a brainwave.
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In my garage annex I have a 90 litre fridge for my dome guests, but they're usually only staying a night or two and rarely need that much space.
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Ah swap the fridges! So I did.
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The larger fridge went into the kitchen and the mini fridge went into the garage annex, sitting neatly on a little table beneath the counter.
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I even laminated a sign with my Indian guests' names on it and stuck it on their new fridge.
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And when they returned from shopping they were delighted.
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I did, however, make one request.
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Uh please don't invade anybody else's territory.
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There's enough of that going on in the world without bringing it into my kitchen.
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Fortunately, they laughed.
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And later one of my guests remarked that the larger fridge actually looked rather good in its new position.
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And he was right.
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I'd resisted the change because I didn't want to spend money, clutter my kitchen, or interfere with a system that had worked for years.
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If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
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But perhaps it was broken.
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Not physically like the little plastic door in my own fridge.
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It was simply wasn't meeting the needs of the people using it.
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The only other time actually I've had an issue with the fridge capacity was right back in the very first few months of hosting, with that very same small fridge served as the communal fridge for all my guests, and I remember having two young ladies staying with me, one from Romania and the other from Hungary, and the Hungarian lady was delightfully strong-willed, and one day she summoned me into my own kitchen.
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Nil, she announced, This fridge is too small for your guests, you need a bigger one.
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Well, when a young lady issues an instruction like that, what can a chap do but acquiesce?
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So I went out and bought the large larder fridge with six shelves, which has been serving my guests ever since.
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And here we are, eleven years later, with another guest telling me that that very same small mini fridge is too small.
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Perhaps I should have learnt something the first time round.
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And perhaps over these last eleven years, other guests have experienced similar inconveniences, but I simply haven't had the confidence to say anything.
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They've just adapted to the way that I do things, because after all, it's my home.
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But my current guests from India have challenged the way I think about my own home, and instead of simply repairing something that was broken, they've helped me improve things I didn't even realize needed fixing.
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And there's one final example of my thinking being broken, which takes me back to last week's episode, which was get rid of what you don't want to make room for what you do want.
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If you listen to it, you may remember I moved a sofa bed out of my living room and replaced it with a single bed for a guest.
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The sofa bed occupied virtually all the floor space when opened, and I didn't fancy guests wrestling with its rather complicated mechanism every day to close it up.
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So out went the sofa bed.
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In went a conventional bed.
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And coincidentally, my next guests were a mother and a son from Mexico, staying for two weeks.
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And I asked whether they'd prefer the sofa bed or two singles.
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Oh two singles, please, came the reply.
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Now I've noticed that when guests arrive with lots of luggage, they often live out of their suitcases, leaving them open on the floor even when cupboards and drawers are available.
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And with two beds in that room, floor space is always a premium.
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Then I had another idea.
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Underbed storage boxes.
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So I went and bought some boxes that slide neatly under the beds, giving my guests somewhere to store their belongings.
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Eleven years of hosting and I'd never thought of that before.
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But the story doesn't end there.
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The mother needed to deliver a webinar back in Mexico at two o'clock in the morning.
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And where did she do it?
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She did it in the conservatory on the very sofa bed that I'd removed from the living room.
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Door closed, comfortable, private, without disturbing anyone, it was perfect.
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And none of this would have happened if I hadn't changed the way I'd been using that room for eleven years.
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One guest needs led to a different bed arrangement, which led to better storage, while the displayed sofa bed became a private workspace.
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One small change created a whole chain of opportunities that I'd never previously considered.
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All because I was prepared to break an old habit.
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So, what a week it's been.
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A broken fridge door, new shelving, a full-length mirror, bathroom locks, a fridge swap, underbed storage boxes, and even a new use for my conservatory.
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And all because of the Indians who've come to stay in my home.
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Now, when I discovered that broken fridge door, I was irritated because someone had apparently broken something and hadn't told me.
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But looking back over everything that's happened since, I realized that my guests have been breaking things all week.
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Not just bits of plastic, but habits, assumptions, and ways of thinking that I've held on to for years.
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And here's the interesting thing.
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The fridge door needed to be repaired.
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But my old habits didn't.
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They needed to be broken.
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After eleven years of hosting, I could easily convince myself that I've got everything worked out, that my systems are tried and tested, that my rooms are perfectly equipped, and my guests have everything they need.
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But how would I know?
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Just because nobody complains doesn't mean there's nothing to complain about.
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And just because something has worked for eleven years doesn't mean there's not a better way of doing it.
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And this brings me to this week's Sumo Secret, and it's this don't let years of experience become years of resistance.
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Because experience is a wonderful teacher, but it can also make us stubborn.
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We become so accustomed to doing things a certain way that we stop questioning whether there's a better way.
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And here's the knock-on effect.
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When you change one thing, you often discover opportunities to change something else.
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A different bed leads to better storage.
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A redundant sofa becomes a private workspace.
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A fridge swap solves two problems without spending any money.
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One change creates another, and before you know it, your whole way of thinking has shifted.
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So perhaps the next time a guest challenges the way you do something, instead of thinking, that's how I've always done it ask yourself a different question.
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Hmm Well, what if they're right?
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You might be surprised at what else falls into place.
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And here's my little limerick rhyme about this week's Superhose Secret.
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A host who was set in his ways, did things the same way all his days.
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Then some guests broke the mould and his habits of old.
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Now he's changing his rooms and his ways.
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Well that's it for this week.
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If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone who has a spare room and empty annex or a property that's sitting idle.
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It might just change the way they think about their home.
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And if you'd like to learn more about how to become a live in host yourself, you'll find a link in the show notes to my free live webinar.
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Follow me on Instagram, etc.
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at Superhost Neil for more tips, tricks, and a bit of laughter.
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And until next time, may your rooms be booked, your reviews five star, and your method of fixing things that break be a bit more considered.
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Hello and welcome to the Airbnb Superhost Podcast.
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I'm Neil Harvey, and I've been able to give up the J O B and live off the income from being a live-in-host with Airbnb just from my own home.
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And every week I share one or two insights that have transformed the way that I host so that you can create happier guests, better reviews, and more profitable bookings.
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And at the end of every episode, I'll leave you with a superhost secret.
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A simple takeaway you can put into practice straight away.
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And on a regular basis, I'm doing a webinar where you can come and hear more about being an Airbnb Living Host, and it's an opportunity for us to meet.
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And if that's something of interest, then there's a zoom link in the show notes where you can register interest and come along.
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Now this week's episode was inspired by a little mystery involving a broken door inside my personal fridge.
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I've had a particularly busy month, and with the guest fridge bursting at the seams, I allowed one of my guests to use my fridge for three days.
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Now at the top of the fridge is a sliding shelf with a little plastic flap across the front, which lifts as you pull the shelf forward.
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And shortly after my guests had finished using it, I went to retrieve some cheese, I pulled the shelf forward and crash! The plastic flap fell onto the floor.
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Hmm, that's what I thought.
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It had been sitting perfectly in position.
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But when I examined it, I discovered that the hinge on one side had snapped off, and here's the mystery.
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The broken piece was nowhere to be found.
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I searched the fridge, the floor and the shelf, and nothing.
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Surely if I had just broken it the missing piece would be lying there somewhere.
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:56.400
And this led me to suspect that my guest had accidentally broken the flap, disposed of the evidence, and carefully balanced it back in position, waiting for the next unsuspecting person to open it.
00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:04.799
Me! And there I was, standing in my kitchen, holding a broken bit of fridge with the distinct feeling that I'd been set up to take the blame.
00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:09.759
Of course I can't prove any of this, but the circumstantial evidence was rather compelling.
00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:16.639
As I've said many times over the course of my podcast, I totally accept things get broken.
00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:23.280
And when I speak at networking events and get asked that question, my answer is, Does anything ever get broken in a family of four?
00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.199
To which the answer is always, of course.
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Well, just do the maths.
00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:28.879
Statistically, of course stuff's gonna get broken.
00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:29.759
That's life.
00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:34.879
But what pisses me off is when I'm not told by my guests that something has broken.
00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:46.960
Understandably, they could think I'm gonna get all arsey about it and demand that they pay for whatever's been broken, but personally I never believe that anyone's broken something deliberately.
00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:50.080
An accident is an accident and that comes with the territory.
00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:58.080
However, when I'm not told that something's broken, I do not know that it needs to be replaced or repaired, and that's my issue.
00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:09.919
In this case, I spend a couple of hours on Sunday morning simply replicating the broken piece by cutting up a plastic chopping board that I've used for other projects and screwing on the new bit to recreate the missing part.
00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:11.520
It works perfectly.
00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:19.759
Now over my 11 years of hosting, I've had something like 19,000 guest nights, by which I mean if a guest stays for three nights, that's three guest nights.
00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:21.599
It's not ninety thousand guests.
00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:25.280
My house is a working home, not museum.
00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:27.360
Things get broken, that's life.
00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.840
And when they do the solution is usually simple repair it or replace it.
00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.520
But when guests can seal damage, that's another matter.
00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:42.240
If I don't know something's broken, I can't fix it, and the next guest could end up having a bad experience because of it.
00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:45.199
But all this got me thinking.
00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:48.560
Because there are other things guests can break in my home.
00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.400
Things that aren't made of plastic, glass or wood.
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Things that, quite frankly, might be better off.
00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:57.120
Broken.
00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:05.280
I currently have a couple from India staying for a month while they visit their son who's working just up the road.
00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.719
Now most of my guests stay for a few days, perhaps a week.
00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:16.879
But a month is different, and this couple have challenged me on my long established ideas about how I equip my rooms.
00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:19.920
Their first request was for more shelving.
00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:24.480
They'd arrived with a month's worth of luggage and found nowhere convenient to put everything.
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Their room has two matching alcoves, with cupboards below and paintings displayed above.
00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:33.920
Could we have some shelves in one of the alcoves?
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I was asked.
00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:37.920
Well my immediate reaction was irrational.
00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:41.199
I've been hosting guests in that room for eleven years.
00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:46.959
Nobody had ever complained about a lack of shelves before, and besides, I like my matching alcoves.
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This is my home, I thought you're the guests, you knew what you're booking, so get on with it.
00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:54.720
Of course I didn't actually say any of that.
00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:57.600
But twenty four hours later I reconsidered.
00:04:57.759 --> 00:04:59.040
Actually, you know what?
00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:00.240
They got a point.
00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:06.639
So I designed a simple shelving system for one alcove that can be removed without leaving any trace.
00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:10.959
Problem solved, and when they leave, I can have my precious alcove back.
00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:12.800
Then came another request.
00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.360
Um could we have a full length mirror?
00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:19.439
Oh for goodness sake, there's a perfectly good mirror in the room already, I thought.
00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:23.279
Admittedly it's only about the size of a small picture frame, but still.
00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:24.639
Then I thought about it.
00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:28.000
You know, all the other rooms have got large mirrors, so why shouldn't this one have one?
00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.959
So off I went to a home furnishing store and bought a freestanding full-length mirror.
00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:34.240
Another problem solved.
00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:35.759
But here's the interesting thing.
00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.800
After eleven years of hosting, it wasn't my furniture that needed fixing.
00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:42.480
It was my thinking.
00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:52.720
I'd become so accustomed to the way I'd furnished that room that I'd stopped questioning whether it could be improved, and it took two guests staying for just one month to make me see it differently.
00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:55.439
But the requests didn't stop there.
00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:01.839
The husband pointed out that he found it rather disconcerting when he was sitting on the toilet and somebody else wanted to use it.
00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:07.199
They would either knock on the door or try the handle, only to discover someone was in there already, it was locked.
00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:13.680
Could I perhaps install one of those vacant, occupied locks so that people could see from the outside whether the toilet was in use?
00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:15.199
Oh, and one more thing.
00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:21.439
Can you lower the mirror in the downstairs toilet as I'm rather short and can't quite see into it to shave in the morning?
00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:24.240
Oh well once again, my hackles rose.
00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:27.680
This is my home, not a public toilet in a pub.
00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:32.079
And that mirror has been there for twenty two years since I moved in.
00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:38.639
But before I had too much time to consider his suggestion, his wife managed to lock herself into the bathroom.
00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:44.800
Now I've got perfectly ordinary locks on my bathroom doors operated by perfectly ordinary keys.
00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:54.639
They've been working perfectly well for years, but for some reason she couldn't get the key to turn, and there she was, trapped in my bathroom.
00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:59.279
And after several unsuccessful attempts to release her, we came up with a rescue plan.
00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:05.199
She just threw the key out of the bathroom window to me, and I went upstairs and unlocked the door.
00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:07.759
So that was that.
00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:16.000
No locksmith or fire brigade required, or a need to break the door down, not even a dramatic rescue through the bathroom window.
00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:21.120
As it turned out, the lock was simply a little dry and needed some lubrication.
00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:26.079
The key had to be held horizontally to operate it properly, and she hadn't realised that.
00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.040
So a drop of oil falling day and everything was working smoothly again.
00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:30.879
But here's the interesting thing.
00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.720
My immediate reaction had been that there was nothing wrong with the lock.
00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:36.800
After all, I knew how to use it.
00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:39.759
And that, of course, was precisely the problem.
00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.120
And again, my paradigm was broken.
00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:48.800
I have actually ordered two deadlocks with a thumb turn on the inside and a vacant occupied indicator on the outside.
00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:53.199
And as I speak, they are in the post and as soon as they arrive I'll install them.
00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:58.240
No more keys to fiddle with, the door handles will simply keep the doors closed and the new locks will do the rest.
00:07:58.399 --> 00:07:59.199
Problem solved.
00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:01.439
Oh, and I lowered the mirror too.
00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:03.439
His request did actually make sense.
00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:07.439
Being six foot tall myself, I'd just never seen the problem.
00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:09.920
But I wasn't off the hook yet.
00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:17.519
My Indian guests are staying for a month, and with their son regularly joining them for meals, they need quite a lot of fridge space.
00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:26.480
Now, I've always provided a 43 litre mini fridge for that room, perfectly adequate for short stays, but apparently not for a month.
00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:28.560
Could we have a bigger fridge please?
00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:30.399
And there was that little voice again.
00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:30.959
What?
00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:34.559
That fridge has been there for ten years, nobody's ever complained before.
00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:44.320
So I ignored the request until yesterday morning, when another long term guest complained that somebody had commandeered her allocated shelf in the main guest fridge.
00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:46.159
It was my Indian guests.
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Their mini fridge was full, so they'd helped themselves to somebody else's space.
00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.039
Well, I was not impressed.
00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:54.879
But I had to admit they had a point.
00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:57.120
Their fridge simply wasn't big enough.
00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:05.600
The trouble was I'd already spent nearly two hundred pounds on shelves, mirrors, bathroom locks, I didn't fancy another hundred pounds on a fridge.
00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:07.519
And then I had a brainwave.
00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:16.799
In my garage annex I have a 90 litre fridge for my dome guests, but they're usually only staying a night or two and rarely need that much space.
00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:19.519
Ah swap the fridges! So I did.
00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:26.159
The larger fridge went into the kitchen and the mini fridge went into the garage annex, sitting neatly on a little table beneath the counter.
00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:31.120
I even laminated a sign with my Indian guests' names on it and stuck it on their new fridge.
00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:34.080
And when they returned from shopping they were delighted.
00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:38.559
I did, however, make one request.
00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:42.240
Uh please don't invade anybody else's territory.
00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:46.399
There's enough of that going on in the world without bringing it into my kitchen.
00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:49.279
Fortunately, they laughed.
00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:55.200
And later one of my guests remarked that the larger fridge actually looked rather good in its new position.
00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:56.480
And he was right.
00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:04.240
I'd resisted the change because I didn't want to spend money, clutter my kitchen, or interfere with a system that had worked for years.
00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:06.240
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:08.000
But perhaps it was broken.
00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:10.960
Not physically like the little plastic door in my own fridge.
00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:14.320
It was simply wasn't meeting the needs of the people using it.
00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:34.960
The only other time actually I've had an issue with the fridge capacity was right back in the very first few months of hosting, with that very same small fridge served as the communal fridge for all my guests, and I remember having two young ladies staying with me, one from Romania and the other from Hungary, and the Hungarian lady was delightfully strong-willed, and one day she summoned me into my own kitchen.
00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:39.039
Nil, she announced, This fridge is too small for your guests, you need a bigger one.
00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:45.279
Well, when a young lady issues an instruction like that, what can a chap do but acquiesce?
00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:51.679
So I went out and bought the large larder fridge with six shelves, which has been serving my guests ever since.
00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:58.720
And here we are, eleven years later, with another guest telling me that that very same small mini fridge is too small.
00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:01.600
Perhaps I should have learnt something the first time round.
00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:10.720
And perhaps over these last eleven years, other guests have experienced similar inconveniences, but I simply haven't had the confidence to say anything.
00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:15.679
They've just adapted to the way that I do things, because after all, it's my home.
00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:30.960
But my current guests from India have challenged the way I think about my own home, and instead of simply repairing something that was broken, they've helped me improve things I didn't even realize needed fixing.
00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:40.080
And there's one final example of my thinking being broken, which takes me back to last week's episode, which was get rid of what you don't want to make room for what you do want.
00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:46.000
If you listen to it, you may remember I moved a sofa bed out of my living room and replaced it with a single bed for a guest.
00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:56.320
The sofa bed occupied virtually all the floor space when opened, and I didn't fancy guests wrestling with its rather complicated mechanism every day to close it up.
00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:58.480
So out went the sofa bed.
00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:00.240
In went a conventional bed.
00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:06.240
And coincidentally, my next guests were a mother and a son from Mexico, staying for two weeks.
00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:10.000
And I asked whether they'd prefer the sofa bed or two singles.
00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:13.120
Oh two singles, please, came the reply.
00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:24.080
Now I've noticed that when guests arrive with lots of luggage, they often live out of their suitcases, leaving them open on the floor even when cupboards and drawers are available.
00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:28.000
And with two beds in that room, floor space is always a premium.
00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.000
Then I had another idea.
00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:32.080
Underbed storage boxes.
00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:38.720
So I went and bought some boxes that slide neatly under the beds, giving my guests somewhere to store their belongings.
00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:42.080
Eleven years of hosting and I'd never thought of that before.
00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:44.320
But the story doesn't end there.
00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:48.960
The mother needed to deliver a webinar back in Mexico at two o'clock in the morning.
00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:50.399
And where did she do it?
00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:55.440
She did it in the conservatory on the very sofa bed that I'd removed from the living room.
00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:59.919
Door closed, comfortable, private, without disturbing anyone, it was perfect.
00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:06.559
And none of this would have happened if I hadn't changed the way I'd been using that room for eleven years.
00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:15.120
One guest needs led to a different bed arrangement, which led to better storage, while the displayed sofa bed became a private workspace.
00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:22.240
One small change created a whole chain of opportunities that I'd never previously considered.
00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:27.600
All because I was prepared to break an old habit.
00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:30.720
So, what a week it's been.
00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:40.080
A broken fridge door, new shelving, a full-length mirror, bathroom locks, a fridge swap, underbed storage boxes, and even a new use for my conservatory.
00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:43.679
And all because of the Indians who've come to stay in my home.
00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:50.879
Now, when I discovered that broken fridge door, I was irritated because someone had apparently broken something and hadn't told me.
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:58.879
But looking back over everything that's happened since, I realized that my guests have been breaking things all week.
00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:08.159
Not just bits of plastic, but habits, assumptions, and ways of thinking that I've held on to for years.
00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:10.320
And here's the interesting thing.
00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:13.519
The fridge door needed to be repaired.
00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:15.759
But my old habits didn't.
00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:18.080
They needed to be broken.
00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:31.279
After eleven years of hosting, I could easily convince myself that I've got everything worked out, that my systems are tried and tested, that my rooms are perfectly equipped, and my guests have everything they need.
00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:32.720
But how would I know?
00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:36.639
Just because nobody complains doesn't mean there's nothing to complain about.
00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:43.279
And just because something has worked for eleven years doesn't mean there's not a better way of doing it.
00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:54.080
And this brings me to this week's Sumo Secret, and it's this don't let years of experience become years of resistance.
00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:01.360
Because experience is a wonderful teacher, but it can also make us stubborn.
00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:06.799
We become so accustomed to doing things a certain way that we stop questioning whether there's a better way.
00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:08.559
And here's the knock-on effect.
00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:12.639
When you change one thing, you often discover opportunities to change something else.
00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:14.480
A different bed leads to better storage.
00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:17.200
A redundant sofa becomes a private workspace.
00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:21.440
A fridge swap solves two problems without spending any money.
00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:27.279
One change creates another, and before you know it, your whole way of thinking has shifted.
00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:35.440
So perhaps the next time a guest challenges the way you do something, instead of thinking, that's how I've always done it ask yourself a different question.
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.320
Hmm Well, what if they're right?
00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:42.559
You might be surprised at what else falls into place.
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:47.600
And here's my little limerick rhyme about this week's Superhose Secret.
00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:52.879
A host who was set in his ways, did things the same way all his days.
00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.879
Then some guests broke the mould and his habits of old.
00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:00.720
Now he's changing his rooms and his ways.
00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:02.720
Well that's it for this week.
00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:09.279
If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone who has a spare room and empty annex or a property that's sitting idle.
00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:11.840
It might just change the way they think about their home.
00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:18.799
And if you'd like to learn more about how to become a live in host yourself, you'll find a link in the show notes to my free live webinar.
00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:20.320
Follow me on Instagram, etc.
00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.679
at Superhost Neil for more tips, tricks, and a bit of laughter.
00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:32.399
And until next time, may your rooms be booked, your reviews five star, and your method of fixing things that break be a bit more considered.
