Laura’s Letter: What I learned staying with private-room hosts

[Laura_C]

May 20, 2019

Hi everyone,

Congratulations to all of you who achieved or maintained your Superhost status in the April assessment! The longer I’ve worked at Airbnb, the more I realize what an incredible accomplishment being a Superhost is. Thanks to all of you for providing wonderful experiences for guests around the world, and for setting the standard for hospitality for Airbnb.

As many of you know, my role at Airbnb is to look after the team that builds products, community, and resources for home hosts like you. When I joined Airbnb last July, one of my top priorities was to quickly immerse myself in the world of hosts and hosting—in particular, to learn more from some of our amazing hosts (and Superhosts!), gather some great tips from them, and bring those back to our host community (and our teams here at Airbnb). There’s nothing quite like firsthand experience, so as part of my journey, I decided to stay in a private room once a week. I have three small children at home, so it was a pretty big commitment, but it ended up being such a delightful experience in some fun and unexpected ways. I’m excited to tell you about what I’ve learned over the past few months.

Getting to meet Superhosts like you was one of the highlights of my recent adventures staying in private rooms. There are more than 161,000 Superhosts who share private rooms on Airbnb— that’s 29% of all Superhosts. And private-room listings are popular with guests, too. In 2018, tens of millions of bookings were in private rooms, which was a significant share of all bookings on Airbnb. Private-room hosts and listings are a really important part of our community.

I had 3 goals for my private-room stays

1. Experience variety (staying at listings with different price points, and different types of hosts: new, Plus, Superhosts, etc.)
2. Have personal interactions (I reached out to hosts ahead of time and invited them to chat with me more about their experiences, and share thoughts on how we can help them more)
3. Gather learnings (What was my experience as a guest? How can we support hosts more? What is the host doing brilliantly that other hosts can learn from?)

So, what did I learn? Well, the first big takeaway was that we need to do more to help you better set guest expectations (which can help with better reviews). This is something that’s really important for all hosts but absolutely crucial for private-room hosts, many of whom share a bathroom or kitchen with their guests. On our end, I think that starts with categorization. How can we better differentiate different types of listings on Airbnb (need a room in a castle, anyone?), especially as we begin to welcome more bed-and-breakfasts and boutique hotels alongside homes and rooms? How can we help you make it clear to guests that there are cats in the listing? (I am much more of a dog person than a cat person, but I have to admit that I made friends with many cats during my stays!)

Next, I learned many things about what can make a stay great from a guest’s perspective. I appreciated a lot of different things—clarity on where I could go and what I could use (shampoo? fridge space? through that random unmarked door?) was a big deal. Having some information from the host on who else was going to be in the house was also hugely reassuring. Knowing the hours of the other people in the household was also great so that I could be a respectful guest (I get up early, and always wanted to be thoughtful of not waking up everyone else in the house!).

In fact, many of you have already shared some wonderful tips for hosting a private-room listing here in the Community Center. (This thread really impressed me, and I enjoyed the comments on this article, too). I’d love to continue to hear from you on this subject, and I’d love to learn more about what we can do to help you as private-room hosts succeed. Please tell me your suggestions in the comments, below.

And finally, and perhaps most importantly, I was reminded again of what an incredible community of hosts we have. I met one host who started hosting so that she could have more flexibility to support her children with special needs, and another who took a big pay cut to follow their heart and work in the non-profit sector … hosting helped them have the financial flexibility they needed to make that move. I met one host who has developed extraordinary relationships with her guests (many of whom come back often to visit) and another who started hosting so that she could afford to keep her family’s home while her children went to college. I love that Airbnb is helping people around the world build wonderful connections and support their goals and passions in life.

Congratulations again to those of you who are Superhosts, whether you’re sharing the spare wing of a castle, an entire home, or an extra bedroom in your apartment. I hope to meet you on my next outing. Until then…

… Happy hosting!
Laura

[Mike-And-Helen0]

Same here @Claire164 .

[Helen427]

@Helen150 

Love Melbourne, had a few Guests from there & been there a few times.

Fabulous place, shame about our beautiful Carlton Hotel near Queen Victoria Markets, it used to be a pit stop when we visited Melbourne.

All the Best

Central To All Home & Location, Auckland

- 

[Helen150]

@Helen427 

There are some great old pubs around Carlton and the Queen Vic Market! Developers are getting their greedy hands on them and so the character of the 'burbs is changing. Have had a few of your Kiwi compatriots staying, even a couple last Xmas Eve at the last minute.  You

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@Helen427 wrote:

@Helen150 

Love Melbourne, had a few Guests from there & been there a few times.

Fabulous place, shame about our beautiful Carlton Hotel near Queen Victoria Markets, it used to be a pit stop when we visited Melbourne.

All the Best

Central To All Home & Location, Auckland

- 

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are always enthusiastic travelers.

[Helen427]

@Helen150

The greedy developers who demolished our beautiful pub I understand have been ordered to rebuild it & soo they should,the fact of the matter is we have Historic Places Act legislation to protect our forebearers contributions who lived in far harsher times than any of us will ever experience.

Kick up a stink & haul those rouges into line.

Hope your Kiwi Guests have been as great ambassadors to Australia as the ones who come to our shores - as I've previously mentioned elsewhere, ABB is here to help foster Closer Economic Relations - check out some of my profile Review comments 😉

See  you sometime in the future

[Helga-And-Peter0]

People from different countries seem to expect, and do, different things when it comes to using the bed. Europeans i.e. Brits, Germans, the French and Swiss seem more than happy to simply lie under the duvet on the bottom bed sheet. No top sheet or blankets required. Americans, Australians and New Zealanders seem to  love that top sheet though, and complain if there isn't one.

I also fold the top sheet over the duvet just because it looks neater. However I NEVER use blankets and ALWAYS wash the duvet cover as well as all the other sheets. I have heard of people doing different things but personally I think it's unhygienic to not provide  everything 100% clean as you do not know what guests may have done with or on the blankets or duvet if they're placed above the top sheet. Nothing worse than finding hair or an unidentifiable something in or on your bed! My advice is to do away with blankets altogether and have a bottom and top sheet, as well as duvet cover, then chuck it all in the wash so everything is nice and clean for the next guest. You may need to upgrade your duvet to something warmer to compensate for lack of blankets though. 

[Sylvaine2]

Hi,

I am French and run a "gite" - rural accommodation for 8. I NEVER had one guest who would not use a top and bottom sheet, and would not even dream of having to recommend the practice. People would think I am weird!

[Helen427]

@Sylvaine2 

That's because French people tend to have class!

All the best with your Gite, they have them in New Caledonia to for those who may not be familiar with what one is

Central To All Home & Location

[Brenda191]

I’m with you 100%

[Gaelle39]

Hi Laura

Great & very wise that you have given yourself a 'real' experience of being a guest, whether or not it's with a superhost. Glad you've had a good experience!

May I make a suggestion - reaching out to the host beforehand about what Airbnb could do better for them probably means they identify you as Airbnb staff, and you may therefore get an altered experience - it's only human nature to upgrade your accommodation & communication and/or put in little extras for a 'special' guest! We all want to put our best foot forward when it's important.

Hopefully hosts do that all the time anyway, but just in case........

...I'm thinking a more anonymous booking could give you a truer experience of potential lows as well as highs, and help you give us more rounded general feedback.

What do you think?

Kind regards, Gaelle

[Linda1563]

That was my tought exactly when I read Laura's article!  I hope you try that next time, Laura.

[Helen524]

Hi Sheryl,

I’ve also had the same experience with guests, and found it a bit strange!

I now have an extra stash of blankets and doonas.

I browse the op shops in my area on a regular basis, and have found good quality manchester at reasonable prices... I’ve also found some lovely bric a brac and art work at the op shops.

Cheers

Helen

[Karen1691]

Hi Helen

What a doona?

I'm in the UK and just provide a base sheet, a duvet with cover, plus pillows each with a cover. I haven't had any complaints, comments or requests for a top sheet even from my antipodean guests.

Thanks Karen

[Adrian190]

Hi Karen,

I'm just up the road from you, near Heathrow. My experience is exactly the same as yours.

I run with 4 complete sets of bed linen and every guest gets clean & ironed linens - as far as I'm concerned, it's not enough for the linens to be clean, they need to look as though they've been laundered too.

I can't claim to enjoy all of the ironing, nor would I say that my ironing skills are the greatest, but my guests always know that their sheets are clean & fresh and this is reflected in the lovely reviews that they give me.

The way I see it is that it's sometimes a chore, but it's an essential part of being a host - no exceptions...

[Jayne101]

I’m From UK too and was also wondering what a ‘doona’ is. Also I thought ‘Manchester’ was a mistype but does it mean what we call bed linen?

Looking forward to a trip down under next year, we’ll be staying Airbnb, of course!

Jayne

[Michelle1229]

Hi Jayne, if your answer has not been cover. A Doona is a feather down quilt or polyester or even wool. A pocket cover just like a pillow case fits over the Doona. I had stays in the USA and was a little disapointed that when I kindly changed the bed for a Host as she asked us to leave early as she had a check in whilst she would be at work. I offered to make up the bed for Her. I was surprised to see that there was no mattress protector.  The same shimmery (cover)blanket was used again at another airbnb the duvet Doona did not have a replaceable cover. so I had multiple others sleeping with it close to their faces. To Me it's like putting on someone elses clothes. Yuck.