Submitted by Bill Bache, Host2Host member and host in North Portland. 

On April 13th Host2Host reached a milestone of sorts. The meetup that day was the 88th one since Host2Host was founded.

This meetup gave members the opportunity to meet the founders or representatives of five niche listing sites; each one catering to specific types of short-term rental guests.

At Ease provides active-duty members and their families, Department of Defense employees, military contractors, and federal employees with short-term rentals pre-approved to meet Federal Travel Regulations. “When you book lodgings with us for official, reimbursable stays, we guarantee your travel voucher will be approved or will provide you with a refund for the total cost of your rental.” 

Website: pcsatease.com Contact: Anthony Gantt, anthony@pcsatease.com

Fabstayz provides a platform of truly inclusive and welcoming super host allies to the LGBTQ+ traveler. “Our goal is to ensure that every letter of the LGBTQ+ acronym is represented, included and welcomed.”

Website: fabstayz.com  Contact: Robert Geller, robert@fabstayz.com

Golightly is an invite-only home-sharing and vacation rental club for women. “We want women to travel often, stay safely and go lightly.”

Website: wegolightly.com  Contact: Victoria O'Connell, victoria@wegolightly.com

 Hipcamp is a growing community of good-natured people and the most comprehensive resource for unique outdoor stays. “By connecting people with the land and each other, Hipcamp works to support those who care for the land and get more people out under the stars.”

Website: hipcamp.com  Contact: Taylor Fink, taylor@hipcamp.com

Radious is kind of like Airbnb, but for office space. Radious lets workers find a private office that’s associated with someone’s private property. “Your home office, away from home.”

Website: radious.pro  Contact: Amina Moreau, amina@radious.pro

As with all Host2Host meetups, the video is available for Host2Host members to view anytime and can be found here on the Host2Host website.

For the sake of brevity, here is a summary of the topics that were discussed. View the video for the details.

• What is the status of your business and website?
  
• How did you get started?
  
• How easy is it to create a listing on your website? Some websites can upload an Airbnb or VRBO listing. Creating a listing on others is more complex.
• How many listings do you have?
  
• What types of listings are offered? Home sharing? Whole house? Private room?
• Do you sync with Airbnb’s calendar? VRBO’s? Google Calendar? iCal?
  
• How does it work on your site for a guest to sign up? Do they book a reservation? Obtain a subscription?
• How do you deal with City of Portland taxes? (Some collect them, some don’t. Those that collect them send the tax money to the host, not to the City.)
• Who does the actual booking?
  
• How do you create awareness for people to find you? How do you overcome Airbnb’s recognition dominance?
  
• What's your policy regarding children? Are they allowed? Is your pricing different for children?
• If I'm a new host, what should I expect vis-à-vis bookings—how many and how soon?
  
• Question for Fabstayz: Does a host have to be LGBTQ?  Answer: No. 98% are not.

This was a very productive meetup, with active participation by both the presenters and attendees. Thanks so much to our presenters for an informative and fun event.