New guest to Airbnb

Rashelle4
Level 2
Bella Vista, AR

New guest to Airbnb

Hi, I’m new to hosting. We have had 3 stays,  One had great reviews and had used Airbnb before… The other two were new to Airbnb… It was their 1st stay.  And they VERY MESSY. Do you send New people a different message, letting them know expectations and that I as a host will also be rating them as a guest? I know not all new people are messy but I haven’t had great experiences, just wanting to set better expectations… Didn’t know if anyone else has had this issue or what to do? Thank you!! 

4 Replies 4
Kate867
Level 10
Canterbury, United Kingdom

@Rashelle4   In my experience, new guests with no reviews or new to Airbnb are no different to frequent guests with many reviews and are generally respectful.  We do outline in our house rules our expectations and the night before check out we send a message thanking them for staying and at the same time giving them a gentle and polite reminder of what they need to do prior to check out.  Essentially to put things back where they found them etc.  we do not expect guests to clean at all, our Housekeeper does that.  I suspect you have just been unlucky with these two sets of guests.  I also note that when reviewing them, you did not mention that they had been messy (unless you mentioned it in private feedback).   Unless you mention it, they will not be aware that this sort of behaviour is unacceptable and future hosts will not be warned.

I didn’t specifically mention it but did mark a 3 out of 5 stars for cleaning.. does that not show? I guess I need to start saying it also . Yeah, we send a message the night before saying such things. Hopefully it was just these 2 unlucky ones. 

Gwen386
Level 10
Lusby, MD

@Rashelle4  I am also new to hosting and to date, knock-on-wood, I have been both fortunate and pleasantly surprised how guests have tidied up my apt. prior to vacating it. And when I first started hosting, I wasn’t even aware that there was an option to check hosts’ feedback on guest. 

 

I think—but am not sure—that I’ve been lucky because my unintentional expectations are already set during the check-in tour. Hand sanitizer/hand soap, Microban and lysol spray are out in the open. In the kitchen when I show where the fire extinguisher, dishes/pots and pans are located, guests see cleaning supplies like Clorox wipes, dishwashing liquid, etc. And in the bathroom, when I talk about the dos and donts because my house is on a septic system and where the toilet plunger is, I open the sink counter and bathroom cleaning supplies are stored there. Since, I don’t charge a cleaning fee and my rental is spotless, I’m thinking maybe they would feel guilty about not tidying up after themselves. 

So, I don’t think it necessarily depends on someone with reviews or not. It’s just whether a specific individual is self-conscious or not about cleanliness. 

So, in your case, as @Kate867 said, put your expectations in your house rules, i.e., please wash dishes, clean counter top, dispose of food, leave dirty laundry in laundry basket, etc. 

On another note, I had my first LTR check in last Saturday for 2 months. So in his case, when touring the apt and in my welcome letter, I did talk about putting his trash out for Tuesday pickup days and that I would supply clean towels and linen every 2 weeks. He informed me that he brought his own and asked me where the closest laundromat was. He even offered to wash my sheets and towels. 😁 I politely declined, but oh how so lucky I felt. 

Thats one of the things that’s confusing and frustrating, I have everything clearly explained in House Manual and plenty of cleaning supplies left for them 😞