The measure of a good host is their capacity for empathy.
An empathetic host will do their best to anticipate what guests might need for their stay. For our 2 month visit, we didn’t need to make very many special requests or buy things we needed. Most everything we needed was their.
An empathetic host tries to understand how an issue during their stay can impact a guest’s trip and works hard to fix the problem. We did have some old house issues (malfunctioning doorknob) that was impacting our stay. We called Colleen to help us (we couldn’t get out of room). Colleen helped us get out of our little pickle that night. She put in some long term fixes the next day. She then followed it up with flowers and very kind handwritten letter that made it clear that she understood how the incident impacted our family. We really appreciated that letter.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay. I enjoyed extensive porch time. There is a Ranier cherry tree and a fig tree in the back yard. It’s close to MAX and the Hawthorne, Belmont areas. For the kids, OMSI is a couple MAX stops away. You can also go to the zoo via MAX.