Do you keep up with the guest experience?

[Sybe]

Hey everyone!

As time goes by and society changes and evolves, so does the behaviour and the needs of guests. The experience you provided 10 years ago may not necessarily be as relevant today. Guests may be travelling for different reasons than they used to, or expect different amenities or service. On the platform guests may be looking at listings differently as well, for example which pictures and in which order, or the information that’s in your listing.

There is, however, also a case to be made for sticking with what you know. You can gather more insight into what guests think of the experience you provide, and use your time to tweak and perfect that which you already know how to do well.

Do you keep up with the guest experience? Do you update your listing frequently or not at all, and how do you make sure the experience for guests both during booking and during their stay is still relevant?

I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts in the comments!

Sybe

[Cathy170]

I communicate with guests prior to arrival, I meet them unless they are return visitors and know how to get to the property.  We do have a lot of that, so these guests know what is going on here and how to reach me if they have any questions or needs.  I haven’t had anything through Airbnb in a long time and lost my super host status because we were closed down for two years or longer due to covid.  Even at this point, people are required to be tested and get approval from the government to enter the Federation, so tourism is not back to normal.  Hopefully, that will change soon as the most of the rest of the world has dropped testing prior to traveling into a country.  Once that happens, hopefully tourism will pick up.  I have gotten quite a few rentals from VRBO, so I am not sure why Airbnb has been so different and so few requests even.  One house I rent used to be booked constantly, so I can only guess the Covid and our travel restrictions have changed that.  Also, I rent for different homeowners, and cannot go by the suggested rates at all.  Expenses here are very high and right now, electricity is through the roof!  

Guests tend to come and turn on the air conditioners in the bedrooms, leave the doors open and have windows open in the living and kitchen area which is a total waste of electricity.  Some are considerate, but more often than not, the just blast the a/c as cold as they can and never turn it off.   With no one in the house, the last electric bill was about $250.00 with a gas stove, no a/c running, no fans running, only the pool with the timer set to only come on once or twice a day.  With people in the house it will go up to $500.00 or more per month, so suggested rates of $150.00 or less per night for a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath with a pool are unthinkable.

[Mike2709]

I'm in my 9th year as an Airbnb SuperHost.  I come from 30+ years in corporate America in business development, marketing and hi-cap sales.

My guest experience program:

--immediately call guest upon new booking and thank them & field any questions about the property

--1 week before arrival send a personal "Welcome email" with more info about amenities, door code and features

--"meet & greet" and give a tour of the property at time of arrival

--day after arrival, check with guests how everything is and ask if we can do or provide anything more

--day of check out, check with guests,  thank them for staying and welcome them back as their travels bring them back

[Eileen0]

HI, I've been a host for ages, just letting out a room in the flat where I  live.  Most guests are here to visit London, and so just need a comfortable, safe and welcoming place to stay, after siteseeing all day.  I ask guests to tell me why they are coming to London before they make the booking, so that I can work out what their stay will be like and if the room will be suitable for them. If they go ahead with the booking, I contact them a week before their arrival with lots of information about staying here, reminding them that they are staying in a room in a flat where I will be as well. I always meet them, show them around, show them how the keys work and where everything is. I try to think of their stay as if friends are coming to stay with me, and treat the guests in that way. I've been doing long enough to work out what sort of people they are when they arrive, and what problems might arise so that I can provide solutions before the problems arise.  
Since Covid, when I lost my Superhost status, I have been more careful about taking bookings as in my outside life, I mix with lots of vulnerable people. I was also annoyed with Airbnb about losing my status due to reasons outside of my control, and also when they had that ridiculous suggestion in 2020 that we go out to all all previous guests and ask for money because hosts were losing money (while thousands of people around us were dying!)  Before Covid, I used to have bookings for almost every weekend, but now I am not so keen to have short term guests.  Now I am looking for bookings for 5 days or more, which has been working out well. It's nice to be back into Airbnb, meeting people from around the world and reading the forum again

[Sybe]

@Eileen0 It's great to have you back as well! 😃 What was the reason you decided to go for longer stays instead?

[Eileen0]

@Sybe re slightly longer stays - I used to have someone outside of Airbnb stay with me on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, so only the weekends were available then.  She doesn't stay with me so much anymore, so easier to have longer stays.  It's the same amount of work setting up the room etc for a 2 night stay, as it is for a 5 night stay, so I thought I would try it out. So far it has been working well.

[Tresa4]

Summers in our area are very busy and most activities require a reservation. So I usually check with guests a week before they arrive to ask if there’s anything special they want to plan or a favorite restaurant/food they like. Sometimes I offer to make a dinner reservation if no deposit is required.  It’s easy to take a peek and see what’s available online, then make the reservation with my account (opentable, yelp, etc.) and change the name later.  So far all eateries I’ve booked this way are understanding about the

change and appreciate the business. Taking time to set up a comprehensive online Airbnb guidebook Is also helpful and worth the extra effort since I don’t have to answer individual questions about area attractions and activities. I simply share my guidebook  link when a stay is booked. To help guests think ahead, make reservations, pack accordingly and get excited about their trip 

[Sybe]

@Tresa4 That's really going the extra mile for your guests, the last thing you want to do after a long day of traveling is having to worry about where or what to eat!

[Sarah4615]

Hello Airbnb Community, I have an Airbnb vacation rental cottage in Door County Wisconsin.  I update my listing frequently.  When I had an issue with too many vehicles marking at my rental cottage, I added verbiage to my listing in three different places. When a guest parked in the neighbor's driveway, I added verbiage about that in three different places.  When I had an issue with a guest booking the rental, and when we told him we had limited parking clearly listed three times on the site he asked if I would just cancel the booking, which I did not do, and he was too late to do.  We ended up working out a parking resolution, but I added verbiage in my listing about that after that issue in three different places.  Sunrise Cottage is in a four-season location, so I have information on all four seasons but modify the description to have relevant information pertaining to the current season and events in the area for that time.  As bookings fill in the calendar, I update the description so I'm not advertising a weekend that is not available.  I change the Cover photo and pictures to reflect the current or upcoming season.  I recently added a couple pictures guests sent me to share.  I have a "Guest Journal" that 90% of guests write in, it is left at the cottage so all guests can read and add to it.  Both guests and I get great information on what they did and what they liked during their visit.  I'm going to do a "Guest Favorites" soon and add that to my description.  I ask guests to let me know if they are bringing a boat (cottage is on the water) or if they are brining small children so I can accommodate them with information on boating in the area or getting the baby playpen and highchair out.  The more I know about the guest without being nosey the better I can make their visit more personal.  Some share that it is a visit for their anniversary, and I will leave a Happy Anniversary card and or flowers for them.  I truly enjoy hosting Sunrise Cottage.  https://airbnb.com/h/sunrise-cottage.

[Sybe]

@Sarah4615 It sounds like you try to address issues not only to solve them but to also prevent them from happening in the future. Did you notice the difference between before and after having added the verbiage to your listing?

[Antya2]

I've just started out and I'm making changes to my 'room in house' listing description, rules, and other information almost daily, learning from experience.

The one thing I dislike is the disabilities and service animals policy. My guest room is on the upper floor and I have a reactive, un-spayed dog. But according to AirBnB policy, I wouldn't be able to refuse someone in a wheelchair or accompanied by a guide dog, as it would be discriminatory. Yet they wouldn't be able to reach the bedroom and my dog would be in distress, and potentially become impregnated.

Hopefully this won't happen, as I make it clear in my listing where the room is located and that I have a female dog, but it could.

This 'rule' should be flexible according to the host's circumstances.

I also totally agree about guest reviews when filled with lies. I had a couple recently who were super happy, full of praise and very grateful, only to leave a 3* review based on lies. So unfair.

[J-Renato0]

@Sybe 

I always pay attention on what the guests have to say by reading reviews or talking to them in person.
We have to be sensitive to the needs of our guests.
The main thing that springs to mind now in term of differences between the needs of an average guest of 10 years ago and nowadays guests is like:
Something that has changed drastically is the need for high wifi quality.
Most of my guests of nowadays do not care for cable TV.
So I have improved the internet connection quality and discontinued cable TV.
I have to say that I joined Airbnb in 2014 but I have been renting short term since a long time, much before 2014.

[Sybe]

@J-Renato0 That's a very good point, I can imagine that with all the streaming services available right now people would rather continue watching their show.

[Sudsrung0]

Over the year as the seasons change for different countries we get many different nationalities we think we have it covered what people like, the latest addition was a blender people are into smoothies these days and here local fruit is really cheap.

These days good WiFi is a must we get lots of people who work remotely,

Personally I dont think a TV is important, if you have a smart TV they can connect to which ever platform they want.

Guest do ask if we have a smart TV, yes we do.

I think a washing machine is important, lots of guest do ask if we have, although we do mention we have in the listing, they still ask,

[John5097]

Yes I keep up with guest!

I happened to see a recent guest last week, was headed out when I was working on a project in the front yard so had a chance to say hi. Two sisters. They said they were going to an Italian restaurant that I had suggested in the guest guide, and asked me how it was. I made the guide before covid, 2.5 years ago listing about 30 places. I often have guest mention in the reviews that guest guide was helpful but they never mention what they did or where they ate. I admitted I hadn't been there myself, and asked if they had called ahead to make sure they were still open, as I posted on the cover, and they said no and if they were closed would just drive around. I said ok have fun! So I see them a few days later back at it with my project and asked how the Italian restaurant was and they said it was wonderful! 


 

[Rasheedat0]

I need help I just received the message below from airbnb without any issue 

Hello Rasheedat,

The decision to remove you from the Airbnb community was made after gathering and carefully reviewing all related documentation and communication from the parties involved.

You can contact our appeals team if you believe this decision should be reconsidered. You can do this by going to Airbnb.com, entering your email and password, and following the guided steps.

Best regards,
Ayesha