Nicole R. loved the honkey tonk piano keys, the hummingbird feeder and the mountain range map by the window seat.

Steph from Des Moines said the house was “very clean.” She spent at least an hour looking at the plants and lamented that she couldn’t stay longer.

William S., celebrating his second wedding anniversary, was equally enthused. “Waking up with your loved one with the sunshine and vivid blue sky was heartbreaking,” he wrote in the VRBO review, five stars for “total bliss” at the “Waterfront with Hot Tub & Panoramic View of Mountains, Seattle.”

Katherine Kennedy, who started renting out the Skiff Point property in 2009, estimates she’s booked 230 nights per year.

“And just about every year, it gets more successful,” she said. She’s using her earnings to fund a doctorate’s degree in transpersonal and integral psychology — a second career for the retired attorney.

Running a vacation rental is something of a job, too. In between guests, Kennedy spends half a day cleaning, often recruiting her daughter for backup.

“We basically scrub everything and polish the stainless steel,” she said.

On the logistical end, she has emails to send: the rental agreement, Seattle construction warnings, directions. She updates the calendar. She follows up when there’s missing paperwork.

But the job she loves the most is in the greeting.

“I really see myself as an ambassador for Bainbridge Island,” Kennedy said of her interactions with her guests. She’s full of ideas of where they might go and what might they might see, from the island’s award-winning distillery to the bald eagle that perches in her fir tree to consume a fresh catch.

Kennedy has met him countless times, but her guests haven’t and their joy is contagious.

“It never gets old because we have people here marveling at what they see.”

Six years in, the decision to convert two floors of her abode into a vacation rental might seem like a no-brainer, but Kennedy said she had to tackle some reservations before she went all-in with her husband and moved into their basement.

“We were concerned about living next door to the people we were renting to and not knowing who they would be,” she said.

She talked to potential guests on the phone before making a reservation, finding that the initial contact often teased out red flags and helpful clues.

“I had a young man call one day, he seemed to be very nice and said that 10 of his friends would be coming,” Kennedy recalled. “I said we didn’t have beds for 10 — we just have two queen beds — and he said, ‘That’s OK, we won’t be sleeping anyway.’”

He wasn’t invited to stay.

She’s also learned to ignore certain emails.

“People say they want to rent the place and they ask you to send all your information, your address, your full name,” Kennedy explained. “They say they’re going to have a bank send you a draft.”

Fortunately, the entrepreneur, a member of the Bainbridge Island Lodging Association, hasn’t had to learn about these scams the hard way.

Founded 15 years ago, BILA serves owners of vacation rentals, guest houses, bed and breakfasts and boutique hotels. The nonprofit’s primary mission is to market Bainbridge Island, Kennedy said, but members also circulate warnings about potential scams, make referrals and collaborate on best practices.

Kennedy pays $200 annually to belong to the group, and in return, she gets a listing on BILA’s website and the capacity to make bookings through the listing.

“It’s much, much less than VRBO,” she said, adding that she pays the company almost $1,000 a year. An even more affordable membership, at $25 annually, is another option the association is adding this year.

The number of vacation rentals on the island is exploding, Kennedy said. Her colleagues have counted an excess of 200 listings on Airbnb and other rental sites, though the city is only aware of 31 of those, spokeswoman Kellie Stickney said.

This month, they’re coming together to host a series of free workshops for owners and prospective owners of vacation rentals.

“We want to educate people about how they can be successful and do things the legal and safe way,” Stickney explained.

Lodging 101, held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18 at Waterfront Park Community Center, will provide an introduction to the business, addressing topics like industry trends, innkeeping basics and internet marketing.

Lodging 102, which Kennedy will facilitate the same time the following week, will cover insurance needs, financial models and legal issues.

The series will wrap up on Wednesday, June 1, with Lodging 103. A panel of experts, including a city business licensing representative, a fire department inspector and officers from the Bainbridge Island Police Department, will discuss business licensing and taxes, ADA compliance and safety and security issues.

To register for the workshops, contact Stickney at kstickney@bainbridgewa.gov or 206-780-3741. Visit BILA’s website at www.bainbridgelodging.com.