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 🙂

[Mónica118]

@Cammy

Thank you so much for sharing! 

May I ask how do you charge those extra cleaning fee in case your guests don't comply your house rules? Are you present at your guests checkout to verify that your place is in the required conditions?

Is it possible to charge extra fees after the guests stayings trough airbnb's platform?

[Cammy0]

Hi Monica,

You would charge the extra fees after the reservation completes using the "request money" feature on Airbnb. I am not always present, but my cleaners take photos of the condition of the home everytime they enter the house upon check out to confirm the extent of "extra cleaning" that is required. 

Hope that helps!

[Mónica118]

Thank You so much!!
I never noticed/used that "feature"... it was a huge help!
I had some problems with guests and I need to change the way I filter them.

I'll definitely use these valuable tips. Thank you one more time!
All the best, Monica

[Helen267]

@Cammy0 great post - thank you.  My one concern is your last line:

"Please reply back with my favourite quote: "EXPECT NOTHING, APPRECIATE EVERYTHING." so that I know that the house rules have been reviewed :)"

As a guest, I would feel a bit miffed by having to retype that quote because I slightly feel that you are implying either - or both - that I was picky, or that your place wasn't very nice but I shouldn't complain.

It clearly hasn't been a problem for you since it's working so well, but it would put my nose out of joint 🙂

[Cammy0]

Hi Helen,

Thank you for your comment! We haven't had a problem with it after hosting more than 180 sets of guests. I am quite lenient to guests who speak a different language since they may use online tools to translate the rules and the quote may come out weird. As long as they agree to the house rules in writing I am fine. For native/intermediate English speakers, I do enforce upon them in reading the rules and replying with the quote, as this is really my last remaining line of defence in making sure that the guests have reviewed all the details. 

Funny enough, I did have one instance where a guest was quite "miffed" and asked me if I was "OCD" to request for someone to post the exact quote. I promptly cancelled their instant booking reservation penalty free with the help of friendly and understanding Airbnb support staff 🙂 I'd say if they didn't like the way I ran my Airbnb, they probably wouldn't enjoy their stay anyways. 

[Elena465]

Hi Cammy,

Your home looks lovely, I saved it in my favorites! Could you please tell what do you use to cover the clean toilet seat? Is it a special tape? I also loved the ribbon presentation for the clean towels! Do you reuse it or the guests have it?

[Cammy0]

Hello Elena,

Thank you for the favorite! It is just a big ribbon over the clean toilet seat. No tape required. The ribbon presentation for the towels I re-use if it isn't damaged. It is a great "presentation" booster. 🙂 

[Sewamobilsolo0]

thanks you for sharing  

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@Cammy0 wrote:

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 🙂

---

best regard 

https://sewamobilsolonesia.com/

[Rosa465]

That was so nice of you to share your amazing experience in posting these rules.

Thank you. 

[Sue700]

Cammy,

I have my first guest next Friday and am so happy to have found your post.  The voice of experience is wise!  I will use a variation of these rules. They are very through.

Thanks for posting and hopefully saving me from learning too much from experience.

Sue

[Mark-And-Nikki0]

@Cammy0I’m About to list my cabin on Airbnb tonight and I was so worried to write up my house rules!  Can’t thank you enough for sharing!!!

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Cammy0 

I'm trying to dot the i's and cross th t's on my House Rules and I'm wondering if you can help with these points?

Smoking  / Dishes - Extra fees may apply... What are those fees? Do yu have them listed somewhere?

- 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.

Do guests actually go out and obtain their own gas?? Do guests clean up the grill properly? What is the extra cleaning fee amount? 

Thanks!!

[Yuri90]

Thank you @Cammy for the sharing,

but I have a concern. Although English is not my mother language, it seems, something wrong with grammar here:

"if you can follow these house rules and confirm that is has been reviewed"

Can somebody fix it or confirm everything is good in terms of grammar here.

The point is I use this sentence for my Welcome message and would like to be sure everything is Ok about grammar. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Yuri90 

"if you can follow these house rules and confirm that is has been reviewed"

In this context, this would be better;

"if you can follow these house rules and confirm they have been reviewed"

[Yuri90]

Thank you, @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

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I assumed the same, just wanted to be sure. Because "these house rules" is plural.