“Since then, we’ve encountered diverse clients from all provinces of the Philippines and around the world,” says Marzo.

It took time for the concept of throwing open one’s home to strangers to take root. Today, with more than 6 million listings around the world, Airbnb’s expansion in emerging markets such as the Philippines has helped the company to finally become profitable.

At the heart of the Airbnb model is the feedback given on the site – not only by guests rating their stays but also by hosts assessing their guests. And any disputes between the two are mediated by an Airbnb team member.

For individual operators, a big house can make their Airbnb listing more popular, especially since hotel costs escalate for larger groups. Marzo, for instance, can accommodate up to 20 guests.

Good parking, access to clean running water (not always a given in more remote parts of Asia), air conditioning and Wi-fi are also major considerations for customers, she says.

Having superhost status – given to those who consistently get a rating of more than 4.8 stars out of five from guests in a one-year period – is a big asset, too, not least because properties belonging to superhosts are more visible on the Airbnb website.

Another superhost mindful of her guests is Thapanee Anutarachotikul, who prefers the name Opal and lives in Bangkok, Thailand.

In one of the reviews that helped earn her superhost status, a guest explained how Opal had come to collect her from the airport, showed her around the local market and, when she saw her guest buying rice, ensured that a pressure cooker was on hand for use the next morning.

“[Going beyond expectations] makes guests feel more at ease,” says Opal.

In popular locations across Thailand, filling an Airbnb rental for 10 nights brings in between US$500 and US$650 (three per cent of which goes to Airbnb), depending on the size of the home, says Opal, who bought her first – a second-hand condominium in the Thai capital – as a 23-year old, while studying for an MBA.

She renovated the one-room condominium and sold it within a year, using the money to reinvest in a bigger home. She continued doing this well into her thirties, until her mother asked her how long she intended to tire herself out this way.

Opal now has 30 properties, in Bangkok and nearby cities. She says those near an MRT station or the Skytrain in Bangkok are more popular on Airbnb, so that’s a priority when she’s looking to buy.

“I think of my many houses like a fisherman would his fish,” she says. “If you’re going fishing, you need more fish and bigger fish to make a living.”

But what if fishing were banned?

The aim of the authorities on the Malaysian island was to curtail problems associated with unruly visitors and revitalise the local hotel industry.

“Most of our guests are serious trekkers, climbers, people who love nature,” says Kanta. “They’re not here to party or drink, so I think that intention – the reason they travel – makes a difference.

“I see how it’s a huge problem for the hotel industry, though. They have high operational costs and wafer-thin margins.”

Kanta has also read reports of Airbnb accommodation driving up rents and property prices for local residents – a complaint that led to a just-enacted ruling in the Italian city of Florence, where new short-term residential lets have been banned from opening in the historic centre – but he believes that post-pandemic economics are so complicated that short-term rentals cannot be the only factor involved.

A problem he encounters regularly as a host are high banking charges. On his first booking, he charged US$24 for two rooms for a night. Although he had to pay only US$1 to Airbnb, he was shocked when he received just US$1 in his bank account. The rest went on banking charges.

“Now I collect payments from Airbnb only after I’ve accumulated US$200 in dues,” says Kanta, who also lists his property on Booking.com. “Even then, bank charges are steep.

“But to meet people from all over the world and welcome them into our home – there’s a joy in that. It makes it all worthwhile.”

“Often, people just want to experience how it is to live like a local, so we don’t restrict our guests,” he says. “They’re welcome to share our personal spaces and our daily lives or retreat to their rooms if they need to.”

Hari Valliappan lives in Mysuru, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. He runs a store called Gift Wrap, which sells textiles, souvenirs and cultural artefacts. The store occupies the ground floor of a heritage home and he has converted the two upstairs rooms into guest accommodation.

He registered on Airbnb in February and has already hosted 300 guests, predominantly from Germany, the United States, Britain, France and Italy.

Valliappan has installed heritage furniture in his guest rooms, including beautiful wooden cupboards that were given to his mother as a dowry 50 years ago and an antique desk his mother used when she was a child.

Experienced Airbnb hosts advise others not to furnish rooms with expensive or hard-to-replace items, in case they are damaged. However, Valliappan says his use of heritage items in a city people visit for its heritage value – best embodied in the Mysore Palace, completed in 1912 – has worked to his advantage, making his rooms stand out.

He hasn’t had difficult clients so far, but it helps to have clear rules, he says. For instance, Valliappan has a no-alcohol and no-smoking policy, and he asks for quiet between 10pm and 6am.

“Misunderstandings arise because of the breakdown of communication,” he says.

Indeed, many disputes are the result of guests having misplaced expectations. On the Facebook group Airbnb – VRBO – Booking.com, one professional host complains of a guest who demanded to be compensated because the blond highlights in her hair had turned green when she swam in his pool. She argued that the chlorine levels had been too high.

But for most hosts, problems tend to be more mundane.

“It was a long weekend and we were fully booked,” says Marzo, recalling clients who stayed in early 2019, just before the pandemic hit and during Holy Week, a big holiday in the Philippines. “There was a lot to do. And yet, I could hear the music blaring from their house, all the way across the compound.”

She worried that it would disturb other guests and neighbours in the residential area.

And it wasn’t just the music. “They stayed for three nights, when they left, everything was such a mess. Garbage was strewn everywhere. They rearranged all my furniture, and one of the sofas was left outdoors,” she says.

There wasn’t much she could do in that situation other than give the visitors a poor review and make it a priority to advise future guests, at the time of check-in, that they need to be quiet because they are staying in a residential area.

Opal recalls a dispute she had with a British man who had booked a room for a month despite having a visa for Thailand that was valid for only a week.

When he checked out within the week, he wanted her to refund him for the three weeks that he wouldn’t be using the room. However, as he had received a deep discount for having booked for an entire month, the rate for a one-week stay would have been equal to what he had paid, she says, and therefore no refund was due.

The guest disagreed but Airbnb mediated and sided with Opal.

The biggest problems Valliappan has had to handle so far are stains, he says. Make-up stains on bedsheets and towels can be stubborn and an expensive proposition for hosts who need to keep laundering or replacing their linens.

Valliappan says he never collects security deposits from guests, as a gesture of goodwill, but Airbnb does provide damage insurance for all hosts, so that’s what he will rely on should major damage occur.

He makes it a point to greet his guests when they arrive, the personal touch perhaps making them more considerate during their stay.

Furthermore, when someone’s in a strange town, that warmth can make all the difference, he says. It might also be why those guests opted for an Airbnb over a hotel in the first place.