Debi Hertert interviews Portland Superhost Evan Ross, owner of Cycle Portland. She visited Evan at his Cycle Portland business in downtown Portland. They first met at the 2017 Host2Host conference where Evan participated as a vendor. The two began with Evan’s hosting experience in the popular Alberta Arts area. He began hosting in January, 2017. Evan does the cleaning himself – he initially thought he would see how it went by doing the cleaning himself, and so far just doesn’t find it so difficult and can fit in other work like phone calls while he cleans. He has prior experience as a guide and finds that experience helpful in hosting. Bicycling – this is Evan’s 9th year of leading bike tours as a business. He initially went to school in mountain guiding, whitewater rescue and other outdoor challenges. He had traveled in several continents and when he moved to Portland he found there was no one providing tours. Being entrepreneurial, he opened his own touring business. Their talk ended up with a discussion about Evan’s involvement in Portland’s transportation committees, his thoughts about the housing shortage, and the impact of the local Bike Share program “BikeTown”. It’s very clear that Evan stays involved in trying to help Portland deal with contemporary issues. One of our podcast goals is to help hosts connect with their local small businesses. People like Evan who do both roles can really help make this goal happen. Check out these links: Cycle Portland: https://www.portlandbicycletours.com Evan's Airbnb listing: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/16255848
