@Andrew395
1) Eh, yes and no. People have different likes and dislikes, some like a soft mattress, some like a hard, to me, I feel the midrange price point on a mattress with nice linens is the best option. But, our bed frames are very attractive and high quality.
2) No, this isn't do-able for most hosts, we do leave a lot of complimentary items for them to use, making them breakfast is not in the cards.
3) We do offer this, it's a 15 minute drive around the neighborhood that shows guests the subway and bus stops, the grocery and the liquor store. Not everyone takes us up on on though.
4) We also offer this for guests staying more than 7 days, but again, a lot of people don't want you in the unit and they decline this offer.
5) No. Never. Just No. It is totally unnecessary, a massive waste of water and energy. No. A thousand times. Even hotels discourage this kind of waste these days.
6) No. I don't actually want to encourage people to stay in the apartment, I want them out sightseeing, but it might be different if we had a 'destination' type of listing, and not a listing where people are coming to see the sights out of the house. We have one flat screen TV with many cable offerings in the living room. I also don't want to encourage eating in the bedrooms which would happen more often if we had TVs in there.
7) Agree, our response time is almost always under an hour, and usually under 15 minutes.
😎 No. I am not a maid and will not be responsible for doing people's laundry and then getting blamed because there is a spot or a tear or something.
9) We usually leave a 'goodbye' gift of cookies or breakfast pastries and a thank you note. And yes, this goes a long way toward getting a review and a good one.
10) We have a binder in the apartment that has much information on our neighborhood and the sights to see in NJ and NY.