What Makes a Good B & B Host

Would-be hosts should, above all, enjoy meeting people and be comfortable having guests in their home.

Trudy Alexy fields three or four calls a week from curious parties at her Tarzana-based California Houseguests International. She interviews candidates to make sure that their homes are clean. Residences possessing some interior architectural charm enjoy an added advantage, although she frequently gives pointers on how to improve on any home’s hospitable atmosphere.

Spaciousness is not a mandate, but Alexy requires hosts to make at least one room available (private baths are preferred but shared baths are acceptable). Hosts with guest houses and separate wings are especially desirable.

Hosts can expect to make $50 per night per couple per room, and the average stay is one week. Income on guest rooms varies so much from house to house that Alexy says it is impossible to project annual revenues. Reservation services handle the financial legwork, so hosts don’t accept or change money. All are instructed to print individual rules of the house, such as when breakfast is served or what time checkout is.

The host-guest arrangement is quite discreet, protecting both parties. All names and locations remain unpublished in guidebooks or literature. Alexy dispenses directions and information only after advance payment has been made.

Surprisingly few hosts withdraw from Alexy’s roster--usually it takes some dramatic change, such as a move, to prompt removal. Theft or telephone abuse are rarely problems for Alexy or her hosts.

In the 12 years she’s been in the business, she has dealt with only one theft and one phone abuse--and, in both cases, she compensated owners for those losses.

To be considered as a host for Alexy’s service, call (818) 344-7878.