The tattie holidays may be over but the staycation boom shows no signs of slowing, in our corner of Moray, at least.
We have found ourselves unexpectedly part of the tourist industry and it has been illuminating.
During lockdown, we renovated the remains of an old ramshackle wooden shed in our garden and turned it into a comfortable cabin. The idea was just to create a camping bothy for the kids, but then it became clear that Scotland was about to face a massive influx of tourists.
Friends from England told us of dinner parties where eight out of 10 guests were planning to spend their summer holiday in Scotland.
My Facebook feed filled with horror stories from those living along the North Coast 500 who were already being deluged with campervans and their gung-ho owners who thought it was part of the “experience” to go to the toilet on the beach.
That’s all very well when you are Bear Grylls, but doesn’t prove so popular when you’re doing it in plain view of residents.
Airbnb attracts a younger clientele
So, you might think we were mad to put our shed on Airbnb, but the expectation was that we’d only get the occasional booking. To our surprise it took off. But the guests were quite different to what we had expected.
Airbnb seems to attract a much younger, more eclectic guest than the usual hotel demographic and, along with the pandemic, this has tempted a new generation of Instagram-obsessed trendsetters to consider north-east Scotland for their summer beach break. We have been inundated with the under-30s in their playsuits and performance cars.
Every guest seemed delighted with our ‘glamping cabin’ and were especially besotted with our two pet pigs, who generated at least two bookings all on their own
We hosted a lovely young couple who brought a specially shaped suitcase just to transport their baseball cap collection. Then we had the stressed-out Londoner who said she needed to escape her boss and her boyfriend and dashed around doing more in one day than we could do in a week. We suspected that the boss and the boyfriend enjoyed her solo vacation more than she did.
However, every guest seemed delighted with our “glamping cabin” and were especially besotted with our two pet pigs, who generated at least two bookings all on their own.
The shame of a 4.5/5 rating
Contrary to expectations, I’ve never met such a bunch of spotlessly clean people as Airbnb-ers. This is for the simple reason that each guest is rated by the host, and needs to be approved by the next host before they can book again. Woe betide you if you lose half a point because you leave some washing up in the sink.
This happened to one poor chap who applied to stay with us. Oh, the shame of being rated 4.5 instead of five as a guest! We took pity and allowed him to stay and he was very nice (and clean).
Another couple who had their own Airbnb boutique hotel told us they only approved guests with the most perfect profiles, who would particularly enjoy their style of accommodation and be more likely to rate it highly.
Nothing as rewarding as showcasing the north-east
Guests, as well as hosts, can be scathingly critical. There was a couple who stayed in a stunning renovated cottage, owned by friends of ours, at the tip of a hidden loch. They complained that the loch wasn’t suitable for swimming, despite the fact that the hosts had never claimed it was. And, just for the record, plenty of local kids have swum in that loch and it’s 100% cleaner than the open-air ponds in London.
We know this because of all the trout and eels at the bottom. Not my cup of tea as a swimming option, admittedly, but you can’t be squeamish about wildlife if you want to go wild swimming.
Another friend saw her bookings take a nosedive when a woman claimed that her young son had picked up a bug from a hot tub that he shouldn’t have been using anyway.
It is inevitable that we’ll get a negative review eventually and, when we do, it will be devastating. But, so far, everyone who stayed in our basic little cabin has seemed very happy, even the ones who only came because they liked the look of our pigs.
Moray’s empty beaches, fabulous countryside and distilleries have made their staycation much more enjoyable than they anticipated.
So, although our experience suggests there’s nowt so queer as folk, there’s nothing as rewarding as showcasing this beautiful corner of the world to a new generation who will hopefully return, with their baseball caps and sports cars, for many years to come.
Eleanor Bradford is a former BBC Scotland health correspondent and now works in communications in the education sector
