Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Question about Guest Rooms

[fergyb2 (fergyb2]

     At Swans Market in Oakland CA we have 20 units and 1 guest room.  It’s an 
adequate but not generous size  with a queen sized bed and has a disability 
accessible bathroom with shower next door which has proved very useful not only 
in accommodating disabled guests but residents have sometimes used it post knee 
surgery when stepping over the edge of the bathtub was a challenge at first. 
The guest room is in use maybe half the time overall, more heavily around 
holidays.  I think we don’t need more.  It is rarely used for other purposes 
except by naughty teens (we have learned to keep it locked when teens are in 
residence or even visiting as an empty guest room is too much of a temptation). 
 Grandparents and other relatives and friends visiting from out of town, 
friends who are being support people for residents post surgery, and guests 
from other cohousing communities are the most common users although sometimes 
residents who are painting or otherwise remodeling their unit have used it as 
well.  One of the unexpected benefits of cohousing is the ability to stay 
cheaply all over the country and sometimes the world in other cohousing 
communities.  A benefit we have happily used and extended to others.  It helps 
to have one resident act as guest room concierge to make sure there is a host 
resident to orient guests and someone responsible for collecting fees and 
making sure cleaning happens promptly.  Our rule is that no guest can stay 
unless there is a resident who agrees to be their host available.  We also 
found that some residents never use the guest room and others use it a lot so 
we have instituted rules limiting the length of stay any one resident can sign 
up for in the interest of fairness.  Good luck and happy hosting.
    Bonnie Fergusson
   Swans Market Cohousing
   Oakland, CA

Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 1, 2020, at 7:16 PM, Ellis Cohen <e.cohen [at] acm.org> wrote:
> 
> Appreciate it if any of you could answer some questions that will help us as 
> we're finalizing the # of guest rooms we will have at Bay State Commons.
> 
> How many units do you have?
> How many guest rooms do you have?ab
> How big are they?
> How well are they used?
> Do you wish you had a different # of rooms, or that they were a different 
> size?
> When guests aren't using them, do you reuse the space in other ways?
> Anything else it would be useful to know?
> 
> Thanks
>   -- Ellis Cohen
>       Bay State Commons
>       Malden, MA
> 
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