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

[Tom238]

Hi Laura, My listing does say the Castle and my favorite thing to do is make breakfast for my guests. We try to not disturb our guests after we give them the tour of where everything is and tell then they can call us at any time. So making them breakfast give us all an hour to be togeather all the best Tom and Adelene.

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@Laura_C wrote:

Sounds like I have a tour of NZ coming up! How fun!! Great idea to stay in your listing ... you really notice little details.

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[Helen427]

@Laura_C @Lizzie @Ann& Geoff

Yes you both do have a Tour of New Zealand coming up, maybe a 12 day Tour 😉

...throw a dart at a complete map of our country & see where you land!

It'd be great to see you across the blue ocean & under our blue skies from far away, yet close by..

[Noelene4]

Love you to come to New Zealand I am in the South Island ,Thank you for sending great guests to my home Cheers Noelene 

[Helen559]

So many different people and settings .It's an exciting opportunity to meet people from all over the world .We love it ! Yes come to New Zealand and enjoy our relaxed culture .

[Florence401]

Hi Laura:

Thanks for sharing your 'guest' experiences, we always want to get feedbacks from our guests so we could do better. We love hosting: meeting and chatting to people from all parts of the world, sharing their stories...you don't get such experience often! The longer I (Florence) host, the more I enjoy it. So many wonderful people in this world, it is my absolute previledge to meet some of them. Thank you Airbnb for providing this opportunity for us hosts:) Would love to see you in this part of the world one day (our place in the Blue Mountains, is part of the World Heritage.)

Cheers, Florence & Eddie (Sydney, Australia)

Listings: Queen & Twin Rooms - Hidden Gem Amongst nature

[Susan1666]

I really enjoyed your article,  hopefully you'll come to Bangor, Northern Ireland  I'd love to meet you! Airbnb has given me the opportunity to meet people from all around the world. I am a widow sharing my house with two wee dogs, so human company is always very welcome ......

Susan Moore

[Sheryl80]

It was great to read your article about sharing your experience with hosts.  I have had many guests stay with me since taking up AirBNB last year. 

I do have one question that may affect other hosts as well.

a)   Some guests do not actually sleep between the sheets on the bed and prefer to sleep on top of the blankets and under the duvet.  This, personally, makes it very hard to ensure the bed is perfect for the next guest as sometimes weather etc prevent washing blankets and I always change the sheets when the guests leaves regardless of if they have been slept between them or not. 

b)   Do other hosts experience this happening to them?  

I would love to hear what is expected by the powers that be?

Thanks for your time and yes we would love to see you "down under" checking us out.  Other hosts that have stayed with me have been ever so helpful in steering me in the right direction to be a SUPERHOST. 

Thanks Sheryl

[Theresa18]

Yes Sheryl,

I am amazed at the nu,ber of guests who sleep on the top sheet with the duvet over them rather than between the sheets and I'd agree, it makes the laundry so much more difficult to complete.

[Donna615]

Hi Theresa

I fold down the top sheet over the duvet. This seems to have solved the problem but there is still the odd guest/s who still sleep under the duvet. I also do,point out that there is a top sheet and for guests to use it.

[Nanette25]

Yes, many countries don't use a top sheet and they think we are weird making the bed like that. They don't have to do the laundry for the next guest. I have bought a huge amount of bedding to ensure I can prepare the room for the next guest. Especially when guests decide to relax and not leave in any great rush.

[Helen150]

Hi Sheryl,

I have also been faced with this situation and I now have a short list of 'instructions' which i go through with most of the guests.

Things like, welcome to use the shampoo etc, take care with water usage, which rooms they can access, free to come and go as they like, use of refrigerator and also please sleep between the sheets and I say it is for hygiene reasons as like you I can't be wshing blankets or duvas all the time.

Naturally, this doesn'talways work but it has lessened the number of times that I am left with clean sheets but still have to attend to the bllankets.

Looking forwad to coming 'Across the Ditch'sometime and experiencing the hospitality of the Kiwis.

I have enjoyed the company of some awesome NZs as guests in Melbourne.

Love your PM.

[Claire164]

Hi Sheryl,

I have been a host for  several years in London and travelled to South Island NZ as a tourist.  I stayed in several Air B&B in NZ and indeed finds it rather strange to have sheets under the duvets. 

As a host, I change and wash the duvet covers and the bottom sheet & pillow cases, air the duvet before the next guest arrive. . I do not use top sheets. It makes bed making so much easier for myself as well as the guests who very often do not have time before rushing out of the house in the morning.  

I have been complimented very often regarding my high standard of  cleaniness, so it does works for me.

[Elizabeth836]

Laura, you sound a great blessing to the entire Airbnb hosting community. Good job.

[Gracie-And-David0]

Get rid of the duvet. Yeah nice bedspread instead. Why fight with that duvet thing.?! Get really nice sheets the best quality you can get thread, White, no other color. And get rid of the  duvet. Get a nice brightly colored simple bedspread. They see the bed, the bedspread, the one sheet on top, of the other sheet, and they sleep. Enough with this duvet nonsense

[Gracie-And-David0]

Yep. KEEP IT SIMPLE