Our First Airbnb: The Mountain House
Jason and I knew nothing about being short term rental or Airbnb hosts. We had only ever rented through Airbnb one time. We didn’t know anything about any of it, so when I tell you we had lots of questions…our list had to be a mile long. How do we handle cleaning? How will they know when we have a check out? Is the Airbnb platform easy to use? What about VRBO? Should we use it too? And if we do, how do we keep the calendars up to date? Taxes…OMG taxes. Local taxes, state taxes. At the time, it all seemed so overwhelming.
What we quickly realized was people do this everyday. We just needed to find the right people and ask the right questions. So while our little 857 square foot cabin was under construction, that’s exactly what we did. We made calls, we interviewed cleaning companies to find the right fit, we made friends with the folks at the City of Gatlinburg and wasn’t afraid to ask questions. We created an Airbnb host account and started learning our way around the platform.
On top of learning how to be hosts and all the legal things that go along with that, we needed to design each space and select finishes and furnishings for the whole house. I’ve done lots of house renovations and changed up the design in my own home more times than I can count, but I had never put together a whole house. I’m not an interior designer…my background is in Human Resources, and more recently, Project Management. While I love decorating, designing and creating beautiful spaces, I’m certainly not professional in the field. I knew going into this I didn’t want the typical cabin vibe. I wanted it to feel different…modern, but still “outdoorsy” and rustic. So Jason and I set out to figure what I looked like for us. We shopped lots of stores and the further we got, the harder it got. We were buying a piece here and a piece there. Or I would buy a bed online, it would come in a box and we didn’t open it until it was time to set it up. The hardest part was piecing items together without actually seeing them together. We really just trusted our gut that it would all come together seamlessly in the end.
Turns out this little cabin is so cute and so fun. We love how it all came together. And from what we hear our guests love it too! If you’re interested in staying at The Mountain House…check out our calendar here.
Update: We have sold this cabin and no longer offer it as a vacation rental.
