Guests during COVID

[Lorissa0]

My husband and I have been noticing trends with our AirBnb guests since the COVID pandemic started:

- Guests are booking longer stays

- Guests are booking to use our Bnb as their work & live space

- Guests are requesting extra services and amenities not in our listing

- Guests are booking to quarantine before they see family in town

The unfortunate part of the above trends is that our BnB space (small guest suite) is being used as someone's primary residence much more than as a jumping off point for vacation exploration and adventure (as it was primarily in the past) causing much more wear & tear on our space. We're noticing that many guests seem to arrive only to hunker down for the next number of days/weeks of their stay and hardly leave the space. Our space doesn't have a kitchen- just a mini fridge/coffee maker/cups & paper plates- so it's not ideal for preparing many meals. We're noticing that people are leaving tons of crumbs, even in the bed, from their order in meals, appliances and bathroom are significantly 'used' and grimy. Our last two guests have also stained the sheets & towels via coffee in bed and blood. These occurrences used to be a one in a dozen maybe and now they seem to be the norm. 

We've also noticed the quality of guest has gone down with people disregarding basic rules like no smoking, no pets, or 'leave no trace' -(trash left in our courtyard area) even with our prices about the same since pre-COVID.

I'm guessing we're not the only ones dealing with these issues. I'm considering raising our rates and doing away with week/month discounts to make up for this added wear and tear which has translated into a decent amount of extra stress, money and work on our parts. I would love to hear others thoughts and experiences with this.

Thanks!

Lorissa 

[Kelly149]

@Lorissa0 yes, I've gotten all these requests too

"could we pay lots less? we'll stay for a long time for cheap!" Hmmm, wonder why I'm not excited by this offer

"I'll fly in from overseas and then shut myself in for quarantine for 2 weeks before I go see my elderly parents." Hmmmm, and what am I going to do with you if you turn up sick all alone in those 2 weeks... and how much garbage will I be dealing with from 2 weeks of non-stop grub-hub? I'm also not excited about this.

Occupancy is down, rates are up, I'm not interested in more of these folks and certainly not for less money.

[Mikki0]

@Lorissa0 

I noticed a drop in quality in the early days of the pandemic. I think there was a level of people who thought they could take advantage of hosts possible desperation from lack of bookings. I countered by raising my rates. Quality of inquiry and bookings increased along with the price! 

I don't offer any length of stay discounts, only discounts for bookings made within a week of booking. 

[Lorissa0]

@Mikki0 I like that. Thank you- 

[Inna22]

Were you booked back to back before? If not, one way of looking at it as that you have much higher occupancy now. In that case, the wear is proportional to the days booked. Another way of looking at it is that you are lucky to have guests. Many hosts are not getting any bookings. Perhaps raise your prices a bit to make up for the extra use. I am surprised your guests can get away with smoking and pets since it is a shared space. 

[Lorissa0]

@Inna22 Our space has always been very booked. We had a drop in May when Airbnb allowed all guests to cancel free of charge. Otherwise we've been booked for 3 years solid. I don't feel 'lucky' as we've worked super hard to maintain our Superhost status and keep very high standards for our space. I've heard many other hosts talking about how busy they've been as well. I'm definitely raising prices- that's been my take away from all of this. The recent guests who have disregarded rules were immediately notified to change their behavior or would be required to leave (they don't share our space- they have their own guest suite attached to our home but separate and private). We've never had this bad of guests in the past- neither first timers nor proven guests. It's been a big bummer. 

[Inna22]

@Lorissa0 I do agree that the quality of guests has gone down dramatically. As far as feeling lucky - I guess that’s a philosophical outlook on life for each person individually. Yes, hosts in certain areas have enjoyed an uptick in reservations but so many of us, particularly in urban areas are bleeding money. So many can’t host because local restrictions currently don’t allow them to do so and most are fantastic hosts who worked very hard as well.  Anyone who is able to fully keep their income during this pandemic should feel lucky in my opinion. That of course should not be an excuse for guests bad behavior.

[Lorissa0]

@Inna22 I’m sorry you’ve been having less luck with your rental this year. Denver where we host has some of the strictest STR rules in the nation- I get it.  I am hopeful that the tides will change for the better for all of us in 2021. 
Take care- 

[Sarah977]

"I don't feel 'lucky' as we've worked super hard to maintain our Superhost status and keep very high standards for our space."

When Inna said lucky, I think she was referring to the fact that many bookings are still getting cancelled due to ever-changing COVID restrictions, Airbnb allowing guests to cancel with refunds just because they claim they have a positive COVID test, and that many people who would ordinarily travel are laying low due to COVID concerns.

This has happened to plenty of Superhosts with high standards.

@Lorissa0

[Lorissa0]

@Sarah977 yep. I get what y’all are saying about ‘we work hard too.’ I’m not in this to make it a contest. I’m speaking for myself & that I’m a believer in creating your own luck. I imagine that there are vast differences of what hosts can expect during COVID times depending on location and other details. Here in Denver times still seem to be booming. My husband & I still also work full time in healthcare (nurse & firefighter) so have never hung our hat on our STR income to pay daily bills. Life has choices. My post is about the quality of guests we’ve been seeing - my personal experience. Can we  proceed past the minutiae & semantics to just talk about a topic at hand? I don’t understand how these forum topics alway seems to derail so quickly.
Take care- 

[Tim-and-Holly0]

@Lorissa0:
Immediately after Covid we began seeing one-nighters. May, June and July we were 90%+ booked, but only seven stayed longer than one night. As you saw, the quality decreased rapidly and we responded by raising our rates which helped slightly. However, most guests now are pickier, quicker to complain, messier and harder to please.

The new rules of November 20 have made it even harder because we are no longer able to socialize to understand our guests better, provide suggestions, answer questions and build any type of comradery thus our ratings are sliding downhill faster than a skier.

We are seriously discussing dropping Airbnb until they get rid of the new rules before our ratings and business are destroyed completely.

[Lorissa0]

@Tim-and-Holly0  Totally hear you on that. I’m with you. 

[Emilia42]

@Lorissa0 I have a place similar to yours - a small private guest suite attached to my house. Honestly, my summer was pretty normal - short stays catering to tourists, no mention of a pandemic. I did get a few inquiries early on for people looking to stay a week+ and quarantine/work remotely. Along the lines of "We love the look of your place and are very covid conscious so need a place to safely quarantine while we work...." I shut these down quickly with replies along the lines of "I think what you like is my price. How will two people comfortably work remotely from the bed? (there is very little table space) And keep in mind there is no washer/dryer and very small kitchen space." So I tried to keep my guest expectations the same - they are getting what they would always get, pandemic or no pandemic and my space works best for people living out of it, not living all day in it. 

[Lorissa0]

@Emilia42 I like your line of thinking. Thank you- 

[Jason114]

Love this response. Thanks!