I’m so glad this post generated so many responses. That’s amazing.
I just wanted to clarify why I made the comments I did in previous threads. I am a longtime guest and also host. I am not an investor host. I am actually renting my second home which my family uses and my friends use periodically. I’m also in a city that regulates. I am required to have 55% of the adjacent neighbor signatures because I don’t live there full-time. I got 100%. Because I’m really picky about who rents my space. My neighbors give me a lot of praise about the guests who stay because I they are friendly. But also my co-host lives on the premises in the other unit. She’s my daughter and safety is a priority for us.
1. Change your settings so only guests with prior good reviews can instant book you.
Answer: there are a lot of people who think of Airbnb as a cheap hotel alternative. That got worse as distant absentee investors started buying up homes in my neighborhood and we had parties and shootings. Bad actors know we don’t have the same security as a hotel would have. And over the years, I found that people who did not have good reviews, were my most inconsiderate guests.
But I also know what it’s like to be a new user with no prior history . I want new users to feel welcome. So if new users are willing to communicate, and read the house rules that simply say, “tell us why you’re coming”, they are most likely to be really good guests. One user booked for six weeks but had only signed up that day. We found a way to share info that wasn’t filtered, talked on the phone for 30 hilarious minutes, she stayed with her family and we’re now friends.
People who don’t want to share info have other places they can book and I’m happy to let someone else host them.
2. Change your settings so only guests with prior good reviews can instant book you.
i’ve had guests who booked for one person, and then 10 show up even though my max is five, and the city limit is eight no matter how big your house is.
Again, some people don’t read the rules, but some people are planning a party. I learned this strategy when I was a guest at other host homes,. They had it in their house rules with fines for each additional body that were not on the original reservation. That helps me keep my daughter safe, it helps me keep my neighbors, safe. No hotel lets you book a space for one and then show up with 20.
So part of this is about respect. But part of this is going back to the old days of Airbnb before a lot of investors swooped in and changed the dynamics of where being a Guest and a host was about building trust, and a relationship not an anonymous transaction.
. So my advice is for people who are renting their own homes are their second homes. My advice is not telling absentee corporate investors what to do with investment properties. But I would note that absentee corporate investors is why Kansas City just changed the law to kick out 75% of the Airbnb‘s.
3. Cameras on the exterior door are key.
The front door is a public space and there is no expectation of privacy. But it has been hilarious to see people who booked for one or two then show up with a crowd get that look in there I when the camera light goes on. If they’re under the maximum headcount, I just send them a revised reservation that accounts for the extra people with the additional fees. No one has complained about paying it. If they’re over the headcount I explain they have to remove people or risk cancellation.
4. Enjoy! The guests that are chatty and tell you why they are coming to visit are often a joy!
The people who tell us they’re coming in for a Taylor, Swift, concert, or Beyoncé concert, or to see their kid at the local college, or to visitfriends, have been amazing guests. Because then we’re talking about Kansas City and places to eat or visit and/or things we might have in common. I’m a hands-on host. So again, nothing about this is telling people what they must do. But I’ve been on these community boards for a really long time, and Airbnb has heard me or other hosts comment or turn in complaints about situations that arose because of the rules Airbnb put in that created a firewall between us and our guests.
Airbnb started out being a place that was about building relationships not creating a convenient cheap places for someone to stay with no contact with a host. I recognize it’s grown, but when I firstbooked my first Airbnb, it was in Paris and the host asked if I could friend her on Facebook. We had conversations before I rented her whole apartment while she stayed with a friend. She was comfortable with us coming. I was comfortable with a place I was staying because I got to know the host.
Airbnb has gotten really far away from its original roots, and that’s a shame.
