Hosting can be a very thankless task, especially in TC3. I would imagine it is very hard without roomies.
I've spent a lot of time skilling in TC3 lately (my old TC sim has oodles of locks to fill !) and I've been quite surprised by what I've seen. Demanding guests that have little consideration for the host, expecting to be sung too at every possible opportunity, fed whenever they choose to come back from being afk and need to green their sim - all for free !
That said, I've also experienced a few places where the guests have tried really hard to help out roomies who were clearly struggling on their own - serenading for them, helping cook if the roomie didn't have good cooking skill, repairing stuff or calling the repairman and of course tipping.
If you really want to continue hosting, I suggest that you do the following:
a) find at least one good roomie to help you out.
b) take a day or two away from the house and earn some money
c) when you're ready to open back up - either put several tip jars out near where people sit to eat - make them clearly visible and easy to find, - or, as others have suggested add pay doors and put the food and seating area behind the pay door.
I think often people intend to tip but may end up erroring or leaving in a hurry and forgetting. Make it easier for ppl to tip you, or just start charging.
If they don't want to pay to eat, they'll go elsewhere and thats fine - better for you to have guests that want to stay and help you out, then those that want everything for nothing
I also like the idea of serving meals at set times and announcing that you are doing so. I would definitely do that if I ever go back to hosting a skill lot. It shouldn't be your problem if they were afk and missed the food and they sure as hell shouldn't expect you to cook for them
now, just because they are hungry, particularly if they're not intending to contribute towards the costs.
Perhaps people would be more inclined to pay attention and not run off and do other stuff and expect you to babysit their sim for them, if they were aware they would only get to eat at certain times.
Be brave and make the changes you would like to see.
I would probably do all of the above if I opened a place - oh and in addition I've have a few beds somewhere central so that people could see them and whenever they said "I need songs", I'd politely point them towards the bedroom ! Then I'd make a point of serenading everyone that was obviously not afk ! Of course I'd make sure that there were enough skill objects on the lot, so they wouldn't be worried about going to green and then not being able to get back on a piano/work bench whatever. There is nothing worse then 35 ppl on a lot all wanting to do creativity when there are only 27 pianos.
Polly