“Airbnb is about hospitality.” ~ Irma

In Southeast Asia, hospitality is woven into the culture and once you step in the door, you become part of the family. Our lovely Airbnb host, Irma, takes this to heart and invites her guests to not only step in the door, but step into a home and a family. Through her experience hosting, she understands how hard traveling is, especially long term travel, and hopes that she can provide a feeling of home to those she hosts. She is more than willing to help out in any way that she can, from doing laundry to gladly sharing information about activities, places to go, and more, because “that is all part of being family”. She admits that this means sometimes things won’t be the most tidy and put together, because it is a home. Sometimes there will be messy hair, stressed and moody moments, but there will also be conversations, cheers and hugs.

Irma sees the trend in the younger generations of traveling and not settling down, yet how sometimes they crave a little taste of home when on the road, especially budget travelers, whom she caters to. And since she cannot travel as much as she would like, this is her opportunity to host and have the world visit her.

To Irma, Airbnb is also about empowering local people and local businesses. She is passionate about networking, learning and growing through this opportunity as a host with Airbnb. She also enjoys working with other hosts to encourage them, promote their business, and learn and grow together, whether that is through suggestions, references, or learning more about guests, their needs, and practicing English. She loves meeting new people, learning about new places and experiences as well as being her own boss. She sees Airbnb as a great way for budget travelers to feel at home and for locals to benefit. As her Airbnb space is a shared, local accommodation, it is not interfering with hotels or resorts, as her guests wouldn’t likely be staying in those accommodations. Irma sees Airbnb as a way for local businesses to network and thrive and for local people to be empowered and play a role in tourism and the positive benefits of it.

I loved hearing her vision and dreams for Airbnb in the future and the opportunities it provides. The possibilities are endless. Some of the reasons that I enjoy utilizing Airbnb during our travels are that I get to meet awesome people, like Irma, and I also feel that my money is more impactful, going directly to local people and local businesses. And in Irma’s case, her Airbnb income is helping her keep her house and pay back the loan she needed to buy the house.

Jared and I were so blessed by Irma during our stay in Seminyak, Bali. If you are headed that direction, want a local accommodation, and to make a wonderful friend with a love for life and a great laugh, contact her and tell her we say hi!