Top tips for Hosting without burnout

[Kelly3]

Let's share our tips for keep hosting without burnout.

I have been active in the hosts community in my city, and I see a lot of hosts stop hosting after 2~3 years.

Some of them were such enthusiastic hosts, yet they loose that energy over time (sometimes even faster than other hosts) and leave Airbnb. 

They say hosting becomes repetitive, occasional 'negative' guests makes them under-appreciated, and it is just not as exciting as before.

I certainly have had my ups and downs, now I think I am at some what of mental equilibrium - also I started a new project so that excites me these days.

What are your tips to prevent Host Burnout?

[Ireen0]

Great advice!!!! I couldn't agee more! I just loooved to go to NY last year and the fact that airbnb helped a lot paying for that was a great benefit. 

I also agree 1000% with the other hosts: try and make up your mind, is this a nice hobby - or is it a business? I am very happy so see this as an extra income that supports paying my mortgage and allowed me an nice holiday from time to time!

[Kelly3]

@Clare0@Helga0@Edith0@Ed-and-Hugh0

Thanks so much for your input. I think we all are on the same page.

It is easy to misinterpret what Airbnb hosting is - it is a great experience, yet definitely a business.

I agree with Helga that recently Airbnb increase the stress level of hosts - let's hope Airbnb is heading to the right direction, and this is just a transition period. It also helps to think that Airbnb is just another tool to host like Clare said.

I do think all new hosts should read what you guys said - it will definitely help them to be great hosts for everyone including themselves.

[Mathew0]

Be willing to be strict. Have rules that you are willing to buckle down on- it helps you feel like you're in control, and as I've learned, when you give an inch, they take a mile. I offer a huge list of amenities and myself as resources to them. If that's not enough for them to feel like their 40 dollars was well spent, then that's too bad. My attitude is "you get what's on the label". I provide exactly what I say is available on my listing, no more no less. Giving people free rides, free meals, anything above and beyond, and not only does it really eat into your revenue (most people won't really consider those things when booking so you can't price them in), but then you can get dinged- *as an airbnb host* - if they didn't like your driving/cooking etc. 

Also, I've discovered that people see "flexible check in time" as "I can park my butt on his couch at 9am the day before and stay till 7pm the next day". So I'm rectifying that too.

[Kelly3]

@Mathew0

Your advise will also help a lot of new hosts. They want to provide the best they can do, they try hard to please the guest by offer a bunch extras - then they get shocked and hurt when those guests don't appreciate what hosts do for them.

[Mary-Ann0]

Yes I very much agree.  I have rented my little apartment for ten years now before I listed here on Airbnb 2 months ago.  My first guest has come and gone and it was one of the most stressful experiences that I have had in my apartment renting history. I don’t need this kind of stress and I don’t know if I am going to stick around – the jury is out still but I will give it a chance for a couple more months.

Also the guest seemed very odd like a secret shopper or something – it was weird!  A pretty good review but only 4 stars – and the feedback reasons were harsh and frivolous.  It broke my heart.

[Annarita0]

I am new to Airb&b. I have been renting out my holiday apartment for 15years, mostly through word of mouth and it was almost always a positive experience. I think one can do a lot more bussiness through Airb&b, I like the pre-approval thing and the conversation with your potensial  guests. I look forward to getting more bookings!

[Edith0]

I did have such a bad experience and it broke my heart too. It's good to say it! Now it's said, so I archive and forget, this method (or should I say "philosophy") is part of the business. Sometimes I feel that Airbnb is the boss (the "mackerel"), the tourist is the "guest" and I am the host (well, the "bar hostess") if you know what I mean!  So Airbnb should treat us good to keep us working ! The stars system is not the best way to treat us the best way. The system of prices "up and down" is not a proof of good consideration or respect, neither. And how can a guest understand something looking at such variations? And, to end, a "Superguest" distinction should be created so that power would be shared between hosts and guests. Don't you think?

[Johanna5]

We have hosted with Airbnb for just a few months. I feel a key factor in reducing stress potential is to be in control of your home & time. We are currently on Instant Book AND require 24 hours advance arrival notice. We have had people make a booking inquiry one day and wait till the following day to confirm their booking only a couple of hours before they arrive. This can create stress especially if you are living in your home and need to clean and move into an attached flat etc to give guests more room and facilities.

If you like to welcome guests, and we feel this is important for many reasons, your life can be effected by waiting for people and not doing what you may have otherwise done. So we put attention on guests really letting us know their expected arrival time. Also, we ask them to phone or text us when they are 1 hour away. And to let us know when they would like to depart. We are quite flexible in this if we don't have new guests booked and people can leave their things and return for a shower or meal prior to leaving. We are fast learners and are happy to try different things. Reading other comments was interesting. We also had one guest who gave some low ratings, mainly because they hadn't read our listing and even after we gave them full private us of our home, as a surprise. We constantly seek ways to give guests a special stay though we certainly need to balance that with keeping the joy in our own lives. 

[Kelly-And-Fabian0]

@Mathew0 Loved your response. I learned that too with cooking and driving. We did a lot of that in the beginning only to have guests not leave reviews or mention it. Or, they didn't talk while we were in the car. It just wasn't worth it.

[Sydnie0]

I agree with @Mathew0 - be willing to be strict! Especially with check-in and check-out. Give someone an inch and they will take a mile with this! I tell guests they absolutely must be out the door by 11 am. Check-in cannot be before 3 pm. I will, on occasion, let someone drop off bags beforehand, but they cannot be in the house until 3 pm. I've been able to avoid burnout by mixing things up between long term and short term reservations. Some months I'll have 5 or 6 short terms bookings, which can be fun (but exhausting!). Between bookings I'll block off my calendar, because I think it's really important to have down time / guest-free time in order to recharge. Some months I'll have a long term guest (2 weeks or longer), which is a completely different experience. It's like having a temporary roommate, but it also minimizes the stress of having to get breakfast foods, do laundry consistently, clean the room between guests, etc.! I've found that it's a great way to recharge: alternating between the lengths of the bookings and also blocking the calendar for 'personal time.' As for the rating system via Airbnb, I feel that the best way to secure all stars is by having a personal interaction with guests. Get to know them, chat with them about their travels! People are less inclined to focus on the negative when they've had a postive personal interaction with their host. At least that's my two cents! 

[David-Kiran-Maria0]

Dear @Mathew0, I had guests (mostly french) parking their butts at 3am, but I never lose my self control as long as I let them pay my late check-in fee. And everybody is happy apart the ones complaining later on the feedbacks. LOL I still can't  stop laughing wheh reading their silly feedbacks complaining issues not true or there was a hair on  the toilet board just because they're liver got  bloated  when  I charged the late check-in (that is clearly stated in my house  rules). Ha ha

[Sara2]

Ss@ Matthew how did you resolve the guests who spend hours with parked butts?

i have stopped folk who don't go out to work but mine cooks at least two meals a day and apart from the gym spends hours and hours with his butt parked in the dining room I don't need it but he has a massive use of electricity and my internet data it's worrying me financially

any tips@

[Kelly3]

@Sara2

Isn't that part of running this business? They booked your place, meaning they have right to be at your place - for the whole time (unless you agreed prior to some other arrangement). For some people, it is waking up at 6am, get home at 10pm, for some people, it is cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner, and chilling in the dining room all the time.

For my entire house listings, I charge expecting people to stay whole time, and somewhat abuse - so I don't get upset over unexpected huge bill (I expect people to use around 3 times more than what I would use in normal ways, and it is about right expectation to have.) 

For my private room listings, this cost is even smaller. They cannot abuse the heating as there is only one controller, and the electricity cost of lights are pretty small anyway. As I want business guests as well (they are the best!), I do get fast, unlimited internet service.

Also, my husband mostly works at home so livingroom is mostly occupied by him - this gives lessing impression to guests that they can(or want to) stay in the house whole day.

[Sara2]

@Kelly3 you have a point but initial agreement was he would be out most of the time or I would not have extended as I had to drop my price below London rate due to too many hosts my previous guests go out and about and visit London which he said was his intention but now he spends many hours on the dining room table with all lights blazing way past midnight and he is paying for the use of a single private bedroom shared bathroom and use of kitchen diner occasionally 

i guess I will have to have rules stricter I see other people complain about guests staying around all the time

[Helga0]

Sara, is this still the French guest? In France most people have flatrates on Internet at home - it's pretty difficult to get a contract for a landline which does not come via a box "all in" : Internet, phone, TV and all illimted. If you do not have that, just tell him that your Internet is limited. Maybe you can buy more GB of data for the months? We did that at an American friend's place, where I had to set up all her computers, tablets etc and use Internet myself. Calling the operator in advance to add 5GB was cheaper than to let the use run up paying by the MB. 

You should be able to follow the use and your invoice online - I suppose video calls and video downloads are not recommended if you do not have a flatrate. And he should logg off if he plays publicity financed games on the phone or tablet, they are huge consumers of data.

As for the use of the common space: you can limit that in advance in your listing, but it will reduce your chances for further bookings.

I see two ways to react in the ongoing situation:

- have a discussion (probably to be repeated every few days) about use of the dining room and agree upon hours where it is off limits to him, if you use it or not, and hours where you cede it - best to coincide with hours you are out of the house to limit the impact on your nerves. 

- make it subtly inconfortable for him to be there. Like a huge puzzle, accounting with all the bills or cookie dough spread out on the table. (You would have to share some cookies then, maybe he finds jigsaws interesting, but nobody but my parrot loves piles of bills and tickets). 

The more reasonable approach is to talk to him. If he planned to stay out more, but his plans changed and he does not need to, it's understandable that he wants to stay home more and the room is very small and not very comfortable to spend the day*. On the other hand, hosting in a smaller space onsite, you need some privacy too and the use of your place as you wish to use it. I found that it is not the sheer amount of hours a guest may be home that is bothering but not knowing when you will be alone or the sole user of your "common" rooms. That gets under your skin to a point, where I was really furious to go out to leave the lingering guest some privacy and returned two hours  later to discover the guest left at my heels and returned before I had time to hang my jacket into the wardrobe. Had we coordinated our plans, we both would have had 4 hours of paece. 

Now I ask my guests every evening or morning what their plans are and when they will be out of the house. - do that nicely and it passes for interest into their wellbeing, do it too nicely and you get a flood of stories about their day up to the lifestories of their whole family.;-)

*If you remember when you first joined groups, some of us counseled you to make your bed more couchlike to give the room a feeling of a living room as well. I don't see your space from the Community Center to check for changes, but sometimes it's a subtle change that will decide where people stay. My guests stay in their much smaller space, even if I invite them down, because the bed transforms in a very comfortable couch with large extra pillows, a daycover to sit on,  a plaid to cover your feet and a wall to lean to. Ikea had laptop supports that you can place on a couch on sale, so I added that.