London Airbnb-ers receive lessons on top hosting tips

With home hosting on the rise, John Lewis and Airbnb have combined their expertise to create The Perfect Host masterclasses in London and Birmingham.

Personalized experiences are in high demand and range from projects linking urban foodies with local farmers to summer camps for hopeful YouTube stars. In the UK, peer-to-peer accommodation is on the rise, with London and Birmingham proving particularly popular with Airbnb visitors. Held in John Lewis’ London Oxford Street and Birmingham stores, The Perfect Host masterclass combines the brand’s knowledge of home products with the Airbnb experience.

Potential hosts can learn what products guests find essential, and practice top tips for making cleaning and changeover quick and easy — research by John Lewis and Airbnb found that one of the biggest worries hosts have is what effect hosting would have on their daily routine. For the most comfortable guest experience, the research found that cotton sheets, blackout blinds and a high-quality mattress and mattress topper trumped the list. To give their place that unique UK feel, the most popular optional extras for guests include a red, white and blue decorative theme, umbrellas and guidebooks. The masterclasses ran throughout the week prior to May’s last Bank Holiday, and with John Lewis now selling a GBP 925 starter pack of products for hosts, the masterclasses could well return.

How else could retail companies make the most of the sharing economy?