We (John and Noelle) and our two daughters started sharing our Seaside home with travelers using Airbnb in 2015.

We found that we loved hosting people and getting to know them. Coffee and dinners were typical venues for chatting with our guests. Connecting with people—learning about them and their lives—was fascinating to us. And as writers, it was fun to bounce our ideas for books and other projects off new people. 

After we had our third child, we moved to Boulder, Colorado, where we have some extended family, but we have continued to rent out our beloved Seaside home. 

In 2023, we decided to start an LLC called “Ark Vacations,’ because we want our home to be a place of refuge and peace in a world that often feels like a chaotic ocean. For this reason, we made the decision not to put a TV front and center (there is one large screen TV in the Butterfly Suite), to encourage our guests to spend more time enjoying the view and one another - and many of our guests have shown appreciation for that.

Back when we began in 2015, Airbnb was still relatively new. Big property management companies weren’t using it like they are today, and booking on Airbnb was, more often than not, a highly personal and down-to-earth affair. We’ve tried to hold onto the spirit of our earliest forays into Airbnb. We are sharing our home with our guests. A home that is very close to our hearts and filled with love.

We hope you will feel that love when you enter our home and that you will make memories that you will take with you for a lifetime!

-The Ehab Family