Meet Caylene, your local host on the Mornington Peninsula
I’m Caylene. I’ve properly called the Peninsula home for six years, though after almost 50 years living in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs, it’s always felt close enough to be mine.
I’ve hosted my own Airbnb here for six plus years, and I bring 30 years of running big, complicated operations to looking after your property like it’s my own.
How I ended up here
My first Airbnb, Indulge Bnb, started right before Covid hit. It was meant to be a private retreat for couples wanting to escape the city, wine, the beach, good food, and slowing down for a weekend.
Over 500 reviews and a 4.96 rating later, I’d say it’s worked. What began as wanting to build a lovely place to stay turned into something bigger: I genuinely love hosting, and I’ve learned a lot about what actually makes a stay feel special (hint: it’s rarely the big things).
Somewhere along the way, I realised I could put that to work for other owners too, people who want the good parts of short stay hosting without carrying every bit of the workload themselves.
What 30 years in supply chain taught me about hosting
Before all this, I spent over 30 years in supply chain, 25 of them with the same company. For 10 of those years I was General Manager of Supply Chain for a malting business, supplying beer producers to domestic and international global brands.
I'm talking 280,000 tonnes of malt a year, moving in bulk, containers, bulker bags, 25kg bags, the lot. Hands on, solutions focused, no room for "close enough.”
Turns out short stay hosting is basically a supply chain problem wearing a nicer outfit. Turnovers, cleaning, linen, maintenance, it’s all the same logistics loop I’ve been running for decades.
Forecasting occupancy and pricing swings is exactly the same muscle as forecasting seasonal demand. Having a plan for cancellations or damage is just risk management with a different name.
And knowing how to train people properly and manage contractors, well, that doesn’t change whether you’re shipping malt or managing a beach house.
What happens after every stay
Every stay ends the same way. The guest checks out, and within hours the place is cleaned, restocked, checked over, and ready for the next arrival. I schedule every changeover well in advance, brief the cleaners where needed, and run through a proper checklist before anyone new arrives. If you’d like an update after every stay, you’ll get one, so you’re never left wondering what’s happening with your own home. In between, I’m handling guest messages, pricing tweaks, maintenance issues and supplies, quietly, in the background.
I do the guest communication, pricing, quality checks and your reporting personally, and I’m hands on with cleaning and linen alongside my team. For trade work, I lean on local people I’ve vetted and worked with plenty of times. I always know exactly who’s doing what, and if something’s not right, that’s on me to fix.
What I won’t budge on
Thirty years of running operations taught me one thing: “close enough” isn’t good enough. A clean property, honest communication, no surprise costs, and treating your home exactly the way I’d want mine treated. That’s non negotiable.
When I’m not working
You’ll usually find me at a local cellar door, walking the beach, catching up somewhere with good coffee, or hanging out with my very spoiled pugalier, Taco.
Ready to make hosting easier?
Let’s have a chat about your place and what you actually need help with.
Full management, a bit of support here and there, or you’re just not sure yet, that’s fine too. No pressure, no obligation, just a proper conversation about taking the stress out of hosting on the Peninsula.