About a month ago I was sitting outside in Montauk, enjoying the beautiful summer day. And then, all of a sudden, I no longer heard the birds singing. Why?

Apparently Saturday was mow the lawn day.

We’re paying $3,000 for a house for a week, I get to sit around on the porch and I get to listen to lawnmowers mow the grass for 45 minutes.

There’s something not right about that at all.

Why do I need to sit and listen to the lawnmowers? Why couldn’t this have been planned out?

Like, “Hey, the guests are coming and maybe they want to sit out and enjoy their weekend?”

Not only that, maybe they’re late night people who are partiers and drinkers, and maybe they want to go out late, so maybe they shouldn’t be woken up to the massive lawnmowers on a Saturday morning.

I don’t get the Air B&B craze.

Now granted, it gives you an opportunity to stay in other people’s homes, which I think is kind of cool.

But have you ever noticed that, when you stay in people’s homes, they’re always cheapened one way or the other.

They tend to hide some of the good towels.

There are no food staples at all.

You’d think maybe even a little olive oil.

Maybe some salt, some pepper.

Ketchup, mustard.

Just simple little things. Things that are not that expensive at all, but that would make the experience of staying at someone’s house so much more rewarding.

Like paper towels. They’re always hidden somewhere. You got to go on a paper towel search, usually find them in some closet hidden under something, because God forbid the paper towels are used by the guests to clean up a spill in the kitchen.

No matter where I’ve stayed at Air B&B places, there’s always something really super cheap about the person I’m renting from.

Whether it’s extra toilet paper.

Whether it’s paper towels.

Whether it’s something as simple as salt.

There’s always something that makes my stay irritable.

I don’t know… I just think that, if you’re going to rent your house out, or your apartment out, rent it out and have some amenities there. Because you’re not a hotel, and if you were a hotel, you would strongly know how to make you guest feel so much better.

So one thing about hotels: they know how to make you feel great. They make up your room every single day. There’s room service.

Something is broken, they fix it.

I’ve stayed at people’s houses and kitchen cabinets are falling off.

Toilets overflowing.

Texting them, they don’t get back to you for hours at a time.

There’s so much that people can understand and learn from hotels.

So, if you’re thinking of opening up an Air B&B, stay at a hotel for awhile and realize the little things are what’s going to keep people from coming back. People are spending a lot of money. People know that there’s other options, so make their stay really welcome.

And also, look at your cleaning fees.

I’ve stayed at places where it’s $175 for a cleaning fee after spending a week in there and barely using any of the places. Meanwhile, I get my entire house cleaned for $95. So let’s not do added profit, we already know that game, or let me hire my own maid from my own maid service and clean up your place, because it’s a little ridiculous what people are trying to pull off.

It’s like the old shipping and handling fees from eBay.

Remember the old shipping and handling days on eBay, when you would buy a pair of jeans and they’d charge you $20 to ship and handle it?

Meaning they have to drive to the post office and handle the package for you and they deserve and extra $10 because it’s “handling fees.”

And the point of this all is…

I’m not anti Air B&B, I just think it should be a little more, well, welcoming.

But here’s the point. Here’s the message I need to drive home to you today.

The world we live in is so connected. More than it’s ever been.

Think about it. Think about how Uber basically allows anyone to be a taxi driver.

Think about how Air BnB basically allows anyone to open their own bead and breakfast (that’s what BnB means after all).

Social media. Snapchat. Texting. The modern world. We all feel so connected.

And yet, we’re more inconsiderate than we’ve ever been.

I don’t care, personally, if you want to rent your place out to do Air BnB.

Because regardless, you should always try your best to be considerate of those around you.

Have a little mindfulness.