Written by Alan Colley, Host2Host Founding Member, former President & co-host of the Summit Prairie Fire Lookout Tower in Tiller, OR

Over the years of our work in the welcoming business we find a common theme among the entries our guests have written in the journal we have for them: Coming here feels like coming home.

Different folks put it differently, of course. 

Talia wrote, “As someone who hasn’t had much of a home or a family most of their life, being able to come here and get to know the two of you has felt like a refuge, a return, and a beginning all at once.”

David mused, “Anyone can put a house up in the air, but not everyone can make it a home. That’s what you have done - made one sacred place a home for countless strangers. Strangers who now call you both friends.”

The Power of Home

For many it seems that this place has surprised them, calling it magical, and opening them up to possibilities hidden or newly discovered in their lives. 

Isn’t that what home can be? A belonging so sure and safe that the whole, wide world opens up. 

In a world usually so fraught with fear,  disconnection and displacement, yearning for the peace and power of home may be the best gift we have to give.

Welcome, Strangers

I suppose many who read this may be tempted to dismiss my ramblings as frivolous to the serious work of hosting. That is their privilege, naturally.

I am inspired to think and write as I do about these ideas of home and belonging by a statement made by Chip Conley when he was being interviewed to become head of global hospitality for Airbnb. He said that the best way to measure the success of Airbnb would be when they were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. 

Whether you agree that Airbnb, or any booking platform for that matter, lives up to that ideal, for me it shifted everything about why we host and continue to welcome strangers into our homes. This is where I want to live, with the idea in my heart that each person we welcome into our home serves to dissolve the separation and alienation we see so prevalent in our world.

My question for you, fellow hosts ...

Isn’t this a concept worth our embrace and pursuit as we offer the gift of our homes to strangers?