After 6 months of pretty continuous occupancy of our spare room, we are throwing in the towel. We thought Airbnb would be a fun way to meet people from across the globe whilst making a bit of money on the side. Naively we had dreams of buying a property in the countryside and turning that into an Airbnb, we figured a spare room would be a good place to start before we got there. We no longer harbour that dream.
What we have learned is that Airbnb is not the cozy answer to staying in overpriced hotels, creating a homestay experience and offering guests and hosts ways to connect with each other's cultures. How misguided I was.
In an effort to eliminate all fun on part of the host Airbnb concocted a biased rating system and stringent host requirements, these seemingly designed to make us outcompete 5-star hotels and each other. This is all great news for guests who get more, and more, and more for their buck and, as such, Airbnb, who laughs its way to the bank - for hosts, however, this is lunacy.
In the months we hosted we received 32 pretty much stellar reviews but it came at a cost; lurking on the message board and looking at that gleaming five-star dashboard you'll know what is expected. The welcome baskets, the first class linen and the high-end toiletries that hotels triple your price would offer but also a string of things that hotels most definitely would not offer:
- Accept any old random to keep your acceptance rate up or turn off IB and end up at the bottom of the pile.
- Whilst we are at it, keep your prices to a laughable sum to appear anywhere in these search results as well.
- And, of course, accept these any old randoms, for next to nothing, with only a first name to go on.
- Turn a blind eye to your rules for fear of a retaliatory review. Airbnb doesn’t enforce the rules anyway so tough luck.
- Also look the other way if a guest breaks something or whatever as they will definitely score you down for that, which amounts to personal experience.
- Put up with unresponsive guests pending their arrival but get dinged on communication yourself, this regardless of the guest’s level of response.
- And, of course, my personal favourite; the Airbnb suggestion of ‘baking bread before the guest's arrival' on the forum - just to make the room smell nice. They do luckily understand 'that you don't *always* have time for this'. Try never.
At the Ritz, if you don't follow the rules, you’ll end up on the street or heavily penalised. If you happen to break something, your credit card will be charged, no questions asked. If you do not show up at the restaurant at the time of reservation, your table will be gone. If you decide to check out early, kiss goodbye to the remainder of your money.
This is still considered outstanding hospitality, can you actually believe it?
Of course, Airbnb will not miss our listing and there’ll be plenty waiting to take our place, at ever declining prices I would reckon, so I am under no pretence they’ll lose sleep over it. However, no hosts is no Airbnb so I’m hoping that adding my voice, to the numerous other wonderful hosts on this board, will create some progress for those who think hosting is worth it.
Keep up the good fight my host friends. For Airbnb, so long and no love lost.
