Why seniors are swapping retirement villages for Airbnb
NEW YORK: Seniors are flocking to Airbnb to garner friends and revenue to avoid isolated retirement village life.
In the downstairs bathroom of their Papamoa Beach home, Phyllis Paul and Alan Spence have a framed map of the world.
They use it to look up all the far-flung destinations their guests have come from. Since 2018, the couple have opened their doors to travellers via Airbnb, welcoming visitors from the likes of Sweden, Germany, China, Russia and South America.
Retired nurse Paul, 88, is now considered a superhost on the platform – someone who provides an “extraordinary experience” for their guests.
Guests have a private room upstairs, while Paul and Spence live downstairs, but they are welcome to join the couple in the lounge for a chat – “or to watch the 6pm news”. They have full access to their kitchen and can help themselves to herbs and vegetables from the garden.
“It’s just lovely having contact with different people and finding out about their families and what they do in other countries,” said Paul.
In the past year, they’ve still enjoyed a mix of domestic visitors and travellers from overseas who had remained in New Zealand throughout the pandemic.
The couple have forged special bonds with many of their guests, keeping in touch via email or Facebook. One South African woman based in New Zealand, who had stayed with them on several occasions, had even invited them to her citizenship ceremony as her guests.
“That was very special.”
Paul said hosting guests motivated them to keep up their independent lifestyle, as they had “no desire” to move into a retirement village.
“They’re good for people that want to go there, but everybody is the same age and they’re all doing the same thing,” she said.
“We like being in contact with people of all ages.”
Figures shared by Airbnb for the United Nations’ International Day of Older Persons 2021 reveal New Zealand has the world’s highest proportion of “senior hosts”, with 27 per cent aged over 60, ahead of the global average of 15 per cent.
Senior hosts tended to have more favourable guest rating scores than other hosts – in New Zealand the average score for a senior host was 4.87 out of 5, above the total average rating of 4.81.
As one reviewer raved about Paul and Spence: “Phyllis and Alan’s home represents who they are, loving and caring people. We were made to feel at home and felt so comfortable, it doesn’t matter of the size of the room or how comfortable the bed is, it’s the quality of the hosts that makes the home warm and welcoming.”
Airbnb country manager for Australia and New Zealand Susan Wheeldon said senior hosts played a pivotal role in making guests feel welcome, “in a world where we’re craving connection and belonging”.
But for the hosts, it could be just as beneficial. Part of the motivation for senior hosts was to supplement their income to ease the cost of living, especially for retirees.
“Many senior hosts on Airbnb share their own home to help combat rising costs of living and meet mortgage repayments,” said Wheeldon.
“By rolling out their welcome mats, our senior hosts really reap the rewards of meeting new people from all corners of the country and indeed the world.”
