Away with Words: Paris Achen Covers Responsible Renting Around the World

With a company name like ours, communicating effectively about responsible renting is paramount yet incredibly challenging and ever-changing. We must make complex regulatory processes easy to follow, translate legalese-laden ordinances into plain English, make rule-following fun and interesting, and celebrate those doing all the right things in a world where scandal captures headlines.

But there’s one byline that cuts through all of those challenges with ease: Paris Achen.

Paris is Rent Responsibly’s staff writer. She’s based in Istanbul, Turkey, where she lives with her three cats, Cleopatra, Eleanor, and Benny, a three-legged cat she rescued.

“He likes to curl up next to me while I’m writing or, alternatively, hide my pens and pencils,” she said.

When Benny’s not causing mischief, Paris writes most of our articles, white papers, case studies, feature profiles, and guides. She also proofs and edits nearly every piece of content we ship, and she covers regulatory news as a part of our partnership with VRM Intel.

“The most exciting part of my job is producing content that helps hosts improve their businesses, communities, and guest experiences,” she said.

One of her favorite pieces was a guide to making a vacation rental autism-friendly. “I loved that because it was an easy project that can make a big difference in people’s lives,” she said. “And it was personally meaningful to me. My 12-year-old nephew has a severe form of autism, and many of the issues addressed in the article are things we have personally faced while trying to vacation with my nephew.”

She loves writing articles like these because she always learns something new, even with things she has experience in.

Another favorite was a news story about Rentals to Rescue, an initiative by a group of industry podcasters to rapidly respond to the needs of Ukrainians at the outbreak of the war. The piece was a part of Rent Responsibly’s #FindtheHelpers series, which places special focus on members of the short-term rental community stepping up to help in a crisis. It’s a subcategory of our cornerstone Humans of STRs series that spotlights STR operators doing amazing things through short-term renting.

In addition to being some of team Rent Responsibly’s favorite pieces, they often become the most popular among readers, too. For example, Paris’s profiles of Lorraine Woodward of Becoming rentABLE and Victoria O’Connell of Golightly both made our Top 10 Articles of 2022 list. 

“I’m not at all surprised,” said Alexa Nota, COO and co-founder of Rent Responsibly. “The power of this series is in its equal parts of inspiration and actionable takeaways. Paris captures both so beautifully.”

Joining Team Rent Responsibly

On top of her natural talent for crafting beautiful profile stories, she loves creating actionable guides on responsible renting topics and covering regulatory outcomes and trends.

“Basically, I love news you can use,” Paris said. 

Paris joined Rent Responsibly in March of 2021. 

“I saw a job posting for Rent Responsibly and thought I was dreaming,” she said. “I had some interest in transitioning from newspaper journalism to marketing writing but needed a topic that I could get behind. Rent Responsibly’s mission was exactly what I was looking for but didn’t know about until I saw the job posting.”

Alexa is a former journalist and has based Rent Responsibly’s content program on the principles of journalism. Paris said she liked that about the company.

“That’s funny because that’s what we love about Paris!” Alexa said. “We weren’t looking for someone who was just good at writing; We were looking for a skilled professional journalist so that everything we produce will be backed by sleuth-like research, seasoned interviewing, fluent translation of complex topics, engaging storytelling, and deep care for written communication. Paris exemplifies these qualities and then some.”

Most of Paris’s career has been in print and online journalism for daily newspapers. Prior to Rent Responsibly, she worked as the chief copy editor at a daily English newspaper in Istanbul, Turkey. Before moving to Turkey in April 2019, she worked as a political journalist for the Portland Tribune, where she often wrote about housing issues.

Her interest in short-term rental advocacy stemmed from her experience as a homeowner. “Being able to rent out rooms in my home gave me a degree of financial freedom I’d never experienced before,” she said. She began renting rooms in 2017, hosting traveling nurses, state agency contractors, and even fellow reporters traveling to the Oregon capitol. 

“It enabled me to have the confidence and the financial security to take a risk and fulfill a lifelong dream of living overseas. I was able to take a job in Turkey that paid significantly less but would provide me with an unforgettable life experience.”

Coming full circle around the world

Staying in a short-term rental also was one of Paris’s favorite experiences when she first moved to Istanbul. “My Turkish host and his girlfriend’s kindness and help made the difference between sinking and swimming as a new ex-pat in the country,” she said. 

They helped her do things like finding the shuttle to get to her job at the newspaper, filing her address with the Turkish authorities, and showing her how to operate the conundrums that are Turkish stoves and water heaters. 

“The host and his girlfriend were my first friends in Turkey, and when they got married, I was a witness at their wedding,” she added. They remain dear friends.

Traveling and learning about other cultures are her chief off-duty passions. “I enjoy exploring their cuisine, music, and history, and sometimes I try to cook the cuisine myself,” she said. 

She has traveled to dozens of countries, but one of her favorite experiences was in the Black Sea region of Turkey because it was a trip where she got to know and stayed with locals. 

“I had adventures I never would have had and tried home-cooked cuisine I never would have tasted on my own, including going up into the mountains to remote villages, trying honey from their bee hives, and visiting high plateau houses with extraordinary views, she said. “I’m still friends with them. This is one of the reasons I love short-term rentals, particularly home-sharing. The interaction with locals and the knowledge and experiences you can glean from them is priceless, and they often become friends.”

Waterfall rappelling in Costa Rica was another favorite. “I’m not a daredevil, so rappelling down a waterfall was outside my comfort zone, but after two waterfalls, I couldn’t wait for the next ones,” she said.

“When I’m traveling, I enjoy going to secondhand shops to find interesting castoffs, and at home, I like to sew and repurpose items I’ve found to try to reduce my environmental impact on the planet,” she added.

Her travel, wellness, and sustainability interests were, in part, what drew her to Rent Responsibly and what she loves most about the company. 

“I love the emphasis on wellness, self-improvement, and appreciation of each other’s efforts,” Paris said. One of her favorite memories so far was our company retreat in Chicago in the Spring of 2022. “We were able to work together on developing our mission and vision, and we got to know each other on a more personal level during activities like tie-dye, visiting a salt cave, and just hanging out at our shared short-term rental.”

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