‘LUXURY ROOM IN WELLNESS DAY SPA’
A private room in Salochanee Reddy’s wellbeing centre in Saxonwold proved so popular she added home-stay cottages
Please tell us a bit about yourself
I am a social entrepreneur, holistic life coach and founder of The Equilibrium Centre for Wellbeing in Saxonwold, Johannesburg. It offers access to various tools that enable clients to live a balanced, peaceful and centred life.
How did you get into hosting?
We have beautiful facilities in a tranquil setting. We decided to offer these on Airbnb to earn additional income and to allow more people to enjoy the centre.
How long have you been doing it?
For the past two years.
Tell us a bit about the property
We started with the Pitta room (pictured below),
which is one of two private rooms that can be booked in the centre, giving access to our day spa with scheduled yoga classes, a steam room and sauna, plus Ayurvedic and other massages.
We got so many enquiries from people wanting their own space that we added three self-catering, fully serviced cottages in the beautiful gardens. The facilities are all new and well maintained.
What do you like about hosting?
I enjoy meeting new people and pampering them while making them feel special away from home. With the progressive use of smartphones, the booking and payment system via Airbnb is seamless.
Anything you dislike about hosting?
Some guests don’t respect and care for the facilities that we put so much energy and passion into looking after.
Describe the most interesting guest you’ve ever had
A visitor from Belgium, a most direct and adamant lady, who wanted her bath tub filled with buckets of water from another tap instead of the running water from the bath tubs tap. It took many buckets of carried water.
If you could choose anyone in the world to come and stay at your place, who would it be and why?
In the current times, I would love to have Donald Trump come and stay so I can evaluate his true intentions and sincerity of his “Game Plan”.
What’s your top tip for new hosts?
Your facilities are a signature of you so make the effort to ensure your guests are well taken care of and the facilities are of a standard that you would be happy to stay in. Give it a home-away-from-home look and feel.
Always maintain your calendar, showing when your property is unavailable, as there are costly penalties for mistakes.