The reviews we had forgotten
Green Gables B&B, East Georgia Street, Vancouver, Canada ca. 1990
I was surprised—and delighted—when I recently rediscovered 26 positive guest reviews buried in our personal Airbnb account.
I had forgotten about the reviews, but not the experience behind them.
Years before ipyum, I helped create and run an independent bed and breakfast in central Vancouver. Over four years, it grew from three rooms to seven. This was before platforms such as Airbnb existed, and one of our breakthroughs came when the B&B was mentioned in a Japanese guidebook.
Later, Komaria and I rented a townhouse in a Vancouver suburb. We had struggled to find a pleasant and affordable one-bedroom home, so we chose a newer two-bedroom place and offered the spare room on Airbnb.
I had to do some convincing at first, but Komaria soon took charge of the room and ran it largely as her own small business while I worked full-time as a consultant in the United States.
It was only one room in a rented home, but that is what makes the reviews meaningful. Guests were not reviewing a remarkable destination or extensive facilities. They were responding to the way they were welcomed, how clearly we communicated and how comfortable they felt.
Looking back, I think that experience helped give Komaria the confidence to create ipyum with me. ipyum is a much larger undertaking, but the foundations are similar: trust, care, clear communication and attention to detail.
These are not reviews of ipyum or Raja Ampat. They are reviews from an earlier chapter in our lives and a record of the hosting experience that helped shape what we are building today.
For transparency, we have published all 26 reviews, with none selected, omitted or edited.
