SHARING MY HELPFUL HOUSE RULE TEMPLATE

[Cammy0]

Hi Airbnb Host Community,

I have been an avid Airbnb user as a guest since 2014, and in the Summer of 2016, became a host. The last 2 years has been an incredible learning curve and my listing(s) today have drastically improved because I picked up new information and ways to host over time. I would like to save new and existing Airbnb hosts some tears and torment from ill-informed guests by sharing with you my House Rules. Please keep in mind that by no means are my House Rules perfect. From time to time, you will still get an unpleasant host experience, but this is the top way to mitigate the chances. My House Rules is and will always be a work-in-progress (any new suggestions would be appreciated!), but since we are a community striving for the same goal of providing a great experience for our guests, I thought I would share it with you all. 

COZY HOME HOUSE RULES: 

As a Superhost, we aim to make your stay as comfortable as it can possibly be! Our mission is to help our guests create beautiful family memories in our cozy home. For us to do so, we would truly appreciate it if you can follow these house rules and confirm that is has been reviewed WITHIN 48 HOURS OF YOUR BOOKING. This is to ensure that if there is any reason the House Rules cannot be followed, you, our guest, will have the option of cancelling the booking penalty free as we have a Strict Cancellation policy. Thank you in advance and truly appreciate your cooperation!

- No shoes within the house.

- Keep noise to a minimum after 10pm.

- There shall not be smoking inside the home. Extra cleaning fees to remove odor and stains may be applied.

- PLEASE WASH YOUR DISHES after use. If dishes are not washed, extra cleaning fees may be applied.

- PARKING: parking is provided on the driveway side by side. Our driveway is suitable for sedans or smaller SUVs. If larger/longer cars or if more than one car, you can park parallel in front of the house where the bushes are.

- We have recently added a Foosball Table and Pool Table in the home for our guest's entertainment. Please return all accessories to their rightful places at the end of your stay.

- Feel free to use the barbecue outside that is set up for our super guests’ leisure use only. The BBQ is to be used by the guests who stay at the home and is not to invite others to the home as it will be considered as hosting a party. Please clean up after yourselves and keep the grill clean. If found left dirty and requires extra cleaning, an extra cleaning fee may be required. You will also need to add your own gas to the BBQ as it is not supplied.

- Please acknowledge that from occasionally, we may leave consumables such as condiments or snacks left behind by previous guests if they are not empty. We try our very best to ensure that it is not expired or stale. HOWEVER, ultimately, it is up to the guests' discretion and inspection to consume these items if they wish.  The host does not take any responsibility for the consumables.

- Please do not rearrange our furniture.

- If you would like to host an event (i.e. wedding, graduation, not party), please speak with us about it first.

 - If guests are found to have had a party without host permission which results in extra cleaning, guests will be responsible for extra cleaning charges and in the unfortunate event of the disruptions alerting neighbors, GUESTS WILL BE ASKED TO VACATE THE PROPERTY IMMEDIATELY.

- If guests are suspected of carrying and/or using illegal drugs of any kind, the authorities will be engaged, and GUESTS WILL BE ASKED TO VACATE THE PROPERTY IMMEDIATELY.

- Lastly, because this is an Airbnb community not a hotel, and is also my home when I stay in Vancouver, please be respectful of the property and keep it clean before you leave. (Respect our property and our things)

If you have read it this far, THANK YOU for being a SUPER GUEST! Please reply back with my favourite quote: "EXPECT NOTHING, APPRECIATE EVERYTHING." so that I know that the house rules have been reviewed 🙂

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

Hi,

Wow, so much to know...

I linked part of your post to here:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Can-I-charge-a-fee-of-25-per-night-for-full-Kitchen-and-BBQ...

Thanks, Ian.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

I would just like to add:

I've read on the community pages that you need to be specific. "an extra charge will be made" is too vague. "An extra charge of $xx will be made " is more appropriate because should a charge need to be made then a 'quotation' for that extra charge would be needed in order for Airbnb to administer this.

As time goes on it seems that the list of additional charges for extras and options might be increasing as potential problems and pitfalls pointed out in this forum become apparent.

[Cammy0]

Hi Ian and Anne-Marie,

Thank you for your reply to my thread and for sharing it to other hosts' posts to gain awareness and bounce off ideas. I agree that adding a dollar value to it will be better. I have not updated my house rules in a while, but with the increase of 'potential problems,' it is probably a wise idea to do so. 

Thanks again,

Cammy

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

Hi @Cammy0 

Another thing I have noted is that should any charges need to be made for any purpose, then having a security deposit from which to draw those charges from makes those charges easier to be paid.

We haven't done this previously but I have added it to our House Rules now, pointing out - that the security deposit payment does not impact the accomodation charges - essentially it is a payment bond promise held by AirBnb.

[Cammy0]

Update to my house rules: 

As a Superhost, we aim to make your stay as comfortable as it can possibly be! Our mission is to help our guests create beautiful family memories in our cozy home. For us to do so, we would truly appreciate it if you can follow these house rules and confirm that is has been reviewed WITHIN 48 HOURS OF YOUR BOOKING. This is to ensure that if there is any reason the House Rules cannot be followed, you, our guest, will have the option of cancelling the booking penalty free as we have a Strict Cancellation policy. Thank you in advance and truly appreciate your cooperation!

- No shoes within the house
.
- Keep noise to a minimum after 10pm.

- There shall not be smoking inside the home. Extra cleaning fees to remove odor and stains may be applied.

- PLEASE WASH YOUR DISHES after use. If dishes are not washed, an extra cleaning fee of $15 may be applied.

- PARKING: parking is provided on the driveway side by side. Our driveway is suitable for sedans or smaller SUVs. If larger/longer cars or if more than one car, you can park parallel in front of the house where the bushes are.

- PLEASE NOTE: Children friendly DOES NOT MEAN the area is CHILD-PROOF. It is the responsibility of the guardian/parent to monitor their children's actions AT ALL TIMES.

- We have recently added a Foosball Table and Pool Table in the home for our guest's entertainment. Please return all accessories to their rightful places at the end of your stay.

- Feel free to use the barbecue outside that is set up for our super guests’ leisure use only. The BBQ is to be used by the guests who stay at the home and is not to invite others to the home as it will be considered as hosting a party. Please clean up after yourselves and keep the grill clean. If found left dirty and requires extra cleaning, an extra cleaning fee of $50 may be applied. You will also need to add your own gas to the BBQ as it is not supplied.

- Please acknowledge that from occasionally, we may leave consumables such as condiments or snacks left behind by previous guests if they are not empty. We try our very best to ensure that it is not expired or stale. HOWEVER, ultimately, it is up to the guests' discretion and inspection to consume these items if they wish. The host does not take any responsibility for the consumables.

- Please do not rearrange our furniture.

- If you would like to host an event (i.e. wedding, graduation, not party), please speak with us about it first.

- If guests are found to have had a party without host permission which results in extra cleaning, guests will be responsible for an extra cleaning charge of $300 and GUESTS WILL BE ASKED TO VACATE THE PROPERTY IMMEDIATELY.

- If guests are suspected of carrying and/or using illegal drugs of any kind, the authorities will be engaged, and GUESTS WILL BE ASKED TO VACATE THE PROPERTY IMMEDIATELY.

- Lastly, because this is an Airbnb community not a hotel, and is also my home when I stay in Vancouver, please be respectful of the property and keep it clean before you leave. (Respect our property and our things)

If you have read it this far, THANK YOU for being a SUPER GUEST! Please reply back with my favourite quote: "EXPECT NOTHING, APPRECIATE EVERYTHING." so that I know that the house rules have been reviewed 🙂
 

[Patricia1467]

Thank you Cammy and others...

for sharing what you do regarding guests and house rules.

I just started hosting this year but have been a guest with Airbnb since 2012 when it was in its early days. 

This is an issue after my second guest who had good reviews left my place in a mess with missing cutlery and damaged chair ( found 6 weeks later). We have just added to thehouse rules and now will also use many of the suggestions and positive ways of putting it in writing.

What a great idea asking and reminding guests to read the house rules within a certain time limit therefore offering them the option of cancelling without penalty.

When it is a group -my place sleeps 8- the guest who booked may have read the rules but the others may not have. I think the guest booking is meant to let me know who else is coming to stay and provide email addresses but this hasn't happened  otherwise I could email them with the house rules.  So I have stuck a copy of the house rules on the fridge as well as in the house manual.... just as a reminder.

I am interested to know if other hosts ask for the names and email addresses of every adult coming as a guest. When I travel with friends and make the booking I always provide this information as a courtesy to the host.

I also like the reminder that our places are personal spaces and not hotels and should not be treated as such. When I first joined Airbnb as a guest this was a clear piece of information but I haven't seen it for a while.  The organization has morphed into a booking engine now.

Thanks again from a newbie. Hopefully these conversations will help minimize the bad experiences we cannot avoid altogether.

[Joy243]

Great lists and information!  I am preparing my very first rental, and I am so nervous!   This is a huge help!

[Suresh17]

thank i will modify and use this

nb

[Guillermo195]

Cammy,

Thank you so much for sharing your house rules.  It is important and vital to have a healthy and good host-guest relationship.

Everyone who is interested, please to read our home rules.

Thanks again.

[Marta516]

How do you send this to the booking people? Do you message them that they have to read the house rules within 48 hours when they message you?

[Liz528]

When the guest books the listing it will require them to say they have read the house rules before they can proceed. You can edit your houserules under Booking.

[Cammy0]

HI Marta,

I save this as a message template that I can send out with a click of a button as soon as I receive their booking confirmation. This gives them the 48 hour countdown to ensure that if for any reason they do not agree to my house rules, they can cancel penalty free within the period as I have a strict cancellation policy thereafter. 

[Liz528]

A few more things that I found helpful and gave me some piece of mind:

- Guests should use the small black towels provided to remove makeup/ foundations, creams, tanning products, or any other products that might stain. Unsalvageable linens/bath towels will be charged to the guest.
-Late checkouts longer than 1 hour will be charged a fee of $10/hour. In cases which other guests will be arriving the same day, late checkouts may not be available. The request of both an early arrival and a late checkout will be a 1/2 nightly rate. 
-If you book a stay on behalf of additional guests, you are required to ensure that every additional guest meets any requirements set by the Host, and is made aware of and agrees to these Terms and conditions. The primary guest is held countable and liable for all actions of the non-registered guests.

[Cammy0]

Hi Liz,

All great points!

[Huma0]

@Liz528 

Interesting inclusions definitely worth considering.

- My rules vaguely state that guests will be liable for items they damage, but usually when guests do stain things like towels and linens, they don't seem to think those count. Perhaps they think damage only refers to completely trashing the place. 

- How does the early arrival/late check out fee of half a day rate work out for you? I mean, is this mostly a rule to deter guests from messing you around or do they actually opt to pay for this?

- I do like the last point. I feel like sometimes booking guests do feel they are responsible for the actions of others in their group. Also, the additional guests sometimes don't consider their actions impacting the booking guest's ratings.

On one trip as a guest and part of a largish group, I had to stress to others that they needed to follow a basic house rule, i.e. take out the trash when checking out. They were feeling too lazy to do it and ready to ignore this request.

I pointed out (and was backed up by another couple in the group who were also hosts) that it was literally the ONLY THING that the host had asked us to do so it must be important (we were staying in Athens in August in intense heat so it was pretty obvious to me why we were asked to do this - erm odours, ants, cockroaches etc.).

Then I added, "Surely we didn't want X [the friend who booked the listing] to get a bad review because of this?" That finally made them understand but, if I hadn't made a point of it, they couldn't have cared less.

That experience made me realise that guests who aren't also hosts (even if they are middle aged and consider themselves clean and responsible) simply don't think about that stuff when they are renting a holiday accommodation. Unfortunately it has to be spelt out in no uncertain terms.