People from around the world are cozying up to Cochranites in their bedrooms, basements – and even backyards – as intrepid townspeople take off with their burgeoning Airbnb businesses.
“Every single weekend, we are booked solid,” said Blanche Chymycz, a Sunset Ridge resident who rents out three spaces in her home. “It really is feasible. It’s worth doing – there are so many benefits.”
Airbnb is an internationally known online marketplace that connects homeowners wanting to make money renting out space in their houses with travellers looking for a different accommodation experience.
Started in 2007 by two San Francisco roommates who rented an air mattress in their apartment living room, Airbnb now rents out everything from shared spaces to castles, boats, igloos and teepees.
Currently, there are more than three million listings in 65,000 communities around the world – including in Cochrane, where at any given time there are about 120 lodging options.
Chymycz and her husband rent three spaces in their Sunset Ridge home: a guest room, a rec room and a hammock – yes, a hammock – in their backyard. The inside spots are $25 a night, and to sleep under the stars costs a scant $15.
Guests receive access to the kitchen and bathrooms and Chymycz provides breakfast to all those who come, as well as harvest from her permaculture yard.
“I’ve been feeding everybody,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve been sending them away with a big bag of fruit and they’re all leaving happy.”
Chymycz said she’s had visitors from Asia, the United States, the Philippines and all across Canada since she began hosting in November 2016. Many are on their way to the Banff/Lake Louise hot spots, but she provides each guest with pamphlets and information about Cochrane and area as well, so they can explore closer to home if they want to.
“They’re eager to go to the parks and go to MacKay’s,” she said, adding she loves the enthusiasm of her free-spirited renters. “They’re all so wonderful … each in their own way. They all have great stories, they’re all so excited to be here. I talk to people about where they live and their experiences and what it’s like to travel. It’s interesting learning about people.”
Chymycz first heard about Airbnb when she attended a conference in Edmonton and she couldn’t afford an exclusive downtown hotel room. A friend told her to look into renting an Airbnb property – and she was hooked.
“It was such a great experience that I decided, ‘I could do this,’” she remembered, adding her family was also looking for ways to boost their bottom line, since she had been on medical leave for months. “We had bills to pay and catching up to do.”
Now, she said she makes as much in a month of hosting Airbnb guests as she does with one of her paycheques from her work in the medical field.
“I make good money,” she said.
Just a few kilometres away – but on the far other side of the rental spectrum –those looking for a more upscale experience can rent the Bearspaw Mountain Lodge – a 10,000-square foot mansion just east of Cochrane – from owner Iqbal Haider for $750 a night.
While the properties are decidedly different, Chymycz and Haider’s stories are surprisingly similar.
Haider, too, was feeling a financial pinch after moving out of the lodge, where he and his family had lived in for eight years, and downsizing to a smaller property.
After more than a year of trying to sell the eight-bedroom, nine-bathroom manor with no luck and carrying the bills on the empty house – which total more than $6,000 a month – the insurance broker wasn’t sure what he was going to do.
“I was reaching the bottom of my bottle. I had no money left to keep feeding it,” he said. “(But) I didn’t want to sell … I really love the house.”
It was June 2015 when a niece suggested Haider consider listing the luxury property on Airbnb.
“She said, ‘Uncle, why don’t you put it on Airbnb?’ And I said, ‘What’s Airbnb?’” he recalled with a laugh. “We … got our first guest two days later and we never looked back ever since.”
In the last two years, the mansion – which sits on 4.75 acres and has an elevator, a fully decked-out media room, a spiral staircase and a six-car garage – has been rented for family reunions, Christmas gatherings, corporate retreats, film crews, weddings, and exclusive parties.
Haider said he’s proud he can offer a space for people from around the world to connect with each other under one roof.
“Somebody (came) in for Christmas Eve … these people stayed at the lodge. They just wanted to bring their grandmother here and have three generations (together). (Another) family used to live in Calgary – they went their own ways. They wanted to come back and live under one roof for two weeks, (so) they came to here from Italy,” said Haider.
“There are a lot of emotional stories that develop around the property.”
Best of all, Airbnb has allowed the father of three to keep the house he loves so much – with rentals from 2016 covering the $80,000 a year it takes to maintain the mansion, plus earn him another $65,000 on top.
“I feel indebted to (Airbnb) because they helped me save the property. I can still call it my house,” he said. “It’s been a very good experience.”
