Re: Using Guest Rooms for other uses | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Sharon Villines (sharon![]() |
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Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2020 10:44:10 -0700 (PDT) |
> Kathryn McCamant <kmccamant [at] cohousing-solutions.com> > > A lot of communities talk about using their guest rooms for other uses > when they are not in use (small meetings, clean crafts, work space, > etc). I am wondering if any existing communities have experience with > this working successfully? My experience is that Guest Rooms don’t > really work for much of anything else, so just checking in on the > experience in other communities. Appreciate hearing your experiences. The only activities that have been repeated — suggesting that any others were not successful — have been temporary uses by individuals. Even before Covid they were a quiet place to study, read, take a conference call, etc. And to practice musical instruments. We have small desks in the rooms but lots of people work sitting on their beds anyway. There are usually other spaces available in the CH but the guest rooms are more reliably quiet — as long as neither of them is in use. Our rooms are closed as guest rooms now but individuals have still used them, by arrangement, for the purposes above. The north wing has had construction going on outside their windows, but this was true even before construction and pre-Covid. A Play Station was once hidden under one of the beds to maintain discipline at home. But for regularly planned activities shared use would be a problem. Normally, check out time is 5:00 and check in time is 6:00 (as I remember) so if the rooms are in use, the belongings if not the people are likely to still be in the room during the day. And the room would be locked. Regularly scheduled group activity would at minimum increase friction. It would mean too many scheduling conversations and misunderstandings. And conflicting use of space. Crafts people usually need storage for supplies and a much larger working surface than most guest rooms could accommodate. There is also the issue with crafts of residual toxic odors or at best, obnoxious odors. Some people have serious reactions to things others might not even smell. And sleeping with odors is problematic for many. Crafts people can also have lots of stuff spread around that is inconvenient to put away sometimes. There would be pressure on guests from crafters who might say “Well since you are only here overnight, is it okay if I leave this out?” Of course it is, but what guest wants to say that? When my kitchen was being redone, I reserved the guest rooms to store all my kitchen stuff because they are right across from my unit. Others have reserved them for similar purposes. Or when their HVAC was broken in August. People also like having the rooms available for last minute reservations, so to schedule them for conference break out rooms, for example, would be unwelcome except rarely under special circumstances — like a crisis resolution emergency. Sharon ---- Sharon Villines Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC http://www.takomavillage.org
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Using Guest Rooms for other uses Fred H Olson, July 22 2020
- Re: Using Guest Rooms for other uses KAREN A CARLSON, July 22 2020
- Re: Using Guest Rooms for other uses Sharon Villines, July 22 2020
- Re: Using Guest Rooms for other uses BETSY ALGIRE, July 23 2020
- Using Guest Rooms for other uses Susan Green, July 23 2020
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