Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: guest room fees survey from 2002

[Joani Blank (joani]

At 04:05 PM 11/16/2004, you wrote:
> Hello. I'm a member of Jamaica Plain (Boston) CoHousing investigating 
> other cohousers' policies re guest rooms. Our community is under 
> construction, expected to be ready for move in in March and we're working 
> on all the "living there" issues.  It'd be very helpful to see the results 
> of the survey you conducted on this subject in 2002. Hope you still have 
> it on your computer.
> Thanks a lot,
> Jane Hans

A member of the Jamaica Plain Cohousing  group asked if I still had the 
summary of the little survey I did about community guest rooms back in the 
spring of 2002. And sure enough, I was able to find it.  It is hardly 
exhaustive, but I'm posting it on this list (again) on the assumption that 
others might find it useful as well.

Here it is:

Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 13:21:29 -0700
From: Joani Blank <joani [at] swansway.com>
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: [C-L]_Cohousing Guestroom Fee Survey


Here is the report from my little survey of guest room user fees in
cohousing communities:

I received responses from 27 different communities, 9 of which do not have
guest rooms or do not have them yet. Five communities do not charge for
their guest rooms although a few of those accept donations.Two communities
charge $5 p/night, one charges $7. three charge $10., two charge $15., and
two charge $25.

Other arrangements:

1-family and friends are free, cohousing folks $10., general public $25.
2-personal related users $25, unrelated strangers $50.
3-$25. plus $15. for cleaning each night up to five nights,  $1. each
additional night.
4-each household gets seven free nights per year
5-each member household gets five nights a year free then pays $10/night

Thanks to those who contributed their communities' information for this survey.

One little update: The guest room at Swan's Market Cohousing in Oakland CA 
(where I live) was just a gleam in our eye when I did that survey in early 
part or 2002, but now it us up and running. Each household here gets tree 
free nights a year for their guests, and although you can also "use" the 
free nights of others who have no need of them, very few have taken 
advantage of that.  After a household's free nights have been used, the 
charge for the guest room is $10 a night. That is for what we call personal 
guests.  Community guests, such as someone stays for a few nights  because 
they're attending a conference here in the Bay Area, or because they want 
to see what living in cohousingco feels like, are charged $20 a night.

Of course there's more to guest room policy than the fees charged but 
that's for another day....

Joani

Joani Blank
510-834-7399
Cell: 510-387-1315
joani [at] swansway.com
www.joaniblank.com