Airbnb is looking to grow its LGBT host base throughout Chicago amidst an updated anti-discrimination effort.
Windy City Times spoke with two Chicago-based couples—Mat Olson and Randy Heite as well as Bronson Pettitt and Ahmed Avendano—about their experiences as hosts.
Bronson Pettitt: When we lived in Mexico City, we had this family who were from Germany and traveling with a 4-year-old. They were a lot of fun and we just so happened to come across them in Thailand. It was really random and we still kind of keep in touch.
Mat Olson: I think some of our favorite guests—Mike and Kate from Perth, Australia—have stayed with us about four times now and are really drawn to the Midwest. They'll actually stay with us for four nights, then they'll go off to Minnesota, Minneapolis or Madison for a week, then they'll come back to us for another week before heading back to Perth. They feel like family and they're actually already planning their trip for next year.
Randy Heite: Rodney from Brazil, whose company set him up in Chicago to take a course in English. He stayed with us for eight weeks and we really got to know him well. We signed him up with us to serve beer at the City Made Fest here in Andersonville; he really lived like a local. Then there's Joan who stayed with us for several months and she knew she wanted to live in Andersonville, so Mat and I took her shopping for apartments and now Joan is a neighbor.
Windy City Times: It sounds like you have a lot of long-term stays.
Heite: We do. It's funny because you really get to know people.
Olson: We also have a lot of repeat guests, I'd say about 30-40 percent of our guests. Another 10-15 percent are long term, two weeks or more.
Heite: About 35-40 percent [are LGBT] and most of those are international guests. I think that international guests are looking for LGBT-friendly areas and it's more comfortable for them.
WCT: What would you say is something unique to your home that people would enjoy?
Olson: The most unique thing about our house is our yard. All of our Airbnb guests love to hang out there or go into our garden. It's a huge space that we encourage all of our guests to use. I would say that from our reviews, that's the most loved part about their experience.
Heite: I also think that since Mat and I are really involved in the block club and we're close to our neighbors, when we have Airbnb guests and neighbors drop by or happen to be walking past in front, they talk to the guests and that gives this very welcoming feeling.
Pettitt: We like to interact with our guests, though we respect their privacy, too. Sometimes we'll have a guest who just wants to go out during the day to do touristy things and just come back to sleep. Sometimes, if they want to be with us, we'll take them out to our parties, take them to Boystown. We stay with other Airbnb hosts, too, and they don't always offer that level of interaction or socialization. We like having that option so, when a guest arrives, we're open to whatever to make their stay a nice experience.
WCT: You mentioned that you sometimes take people out to Boystown. As members of the LGBT community, have you ever had any kind of issues with guests or hosts?
Ahmed Avendano: Not really. I mean, in our profile it is very explicit that we are gay just to try not to get in a situation where someone books our place and then realizes that they wouldn't be comfortable. I'm not sure how many times we've been skipped, if we even have, but we've hosted a lot of straight couples, a lot of girls … mostly girls, because I think maybe girls feel more comfortable. One time we hosted a group of four girls who were backpacking from Eastern Europe.
Pettitt: It was kind of a tight fit for that many people in our apartment.
Avendano: But they were extremely nice! At first, I was a little bit shaky thinking about being in the same place with four girls, like … oh my God, what's going to happen, especially with the bathroom? But they were very fun and I think we even asked them why they stayed with us and it was because they saw that we've traveled around the world and that would help with the connection.
Heite: For us, it's been an amazing experience across the board. And I think that's because the people who are using Airbnb are very open minded, very friendly, interested in each other, the hosts and the experience. It's really been eye-opening to find what people have in common more than they don't. Gay is one of those things that's just part of who you are.
Next: Airbnb will discuss how it plans to tackle racial and anti-LGBT discrimination.
