I was hopeful and thought gift economy would work out for my model as well. So far, it hasn't. Out of the one month test, only 1 person actually gift back. Few more just left me some gifts.
My conclusions:
- it attracts many people who just want a cheap stay
- many when asked, didn't know what this gift economy was. When told needed to pay after the stay, just cancelled. So, mostly just wanna have a free stay.
- actually, the first one was the honest one that actually made the effort to gift back via PayPal.
- some didn't even answer back anything
Maybe it works for other kind of business, but it doesn't work for me, when I am not there. It might work if I am actually there.
I have changed the gift economy to real artists only. You will need to gift back a piece of your work, we prefer painting, drawing or something that we can hang or decorate at our place. Anything environmental friendly is highly welcome.