I have been supplying items for guest for 6 years now !

[Michaela73]

I am kind of sick of getting notices from Airbnb that ......

We just supply the basics for guests. We have been doing that since day one when we started 6 years ago  .

It is insulting to send these notices to hosts who already give and give anbd give some more . 

We clean 12 hours a day ,, before , during and after a guest stays .

We have always provided , Toilet paper, soaps , shampoos , towels , hand towels,

dish towels , wash clothes , pillows , all the bedding and extras . We give maps , directions, advice , suggestions .

Always , who wouldn't ? 

Our prices in Albuquerque New Mexico are so low I am unsure how any of us here make it ? 

I what to be supported not scolded . please 

thanks Michaela M. ABQ, NM 

[Robin4]

@Karen957

Karen there are some hosts who's listing has that spectacular peculiarity that people will book it regardless of what is offered. It is ourageously made from all timber, tiles/mozaics or there is some unique feature about it that really sells it. Now that is fine for them because they can gloss over a detail or two.

When you list properties like yours and mine Karen, we have a lot of competition and it is harder to attract those guests.

Once we found out my wife had MS we spent a considerable amount of time and money travelling, I can't tell you how many B&B's, motels, resorts, ship cabins we have stayed in over the past decade but, the yardstick we measured each stay by was, the bed!

Your bed must be the hero of your listing, it must look inviting and it must be inviting. If a guest gets to have a wonderful nights sleep they will forgive you for just about everything else, they will feel relaxed and comfortable.

If they roll around on an uncomfortable piece of rubbish that was thrown in there because it needed to be in order to rent and they get up stiff and tired in the morning there is no way they will give you a good review.

I have just taken on a woman who will turn my cottage around for $30 per hosting and I am absolutely positive that area of yours is not that affluent that there is not a woman in the neighbourhood who would not jump at the chance to earn a bit of money on the side like that.

You have already set a cleaning fee of $100 AU for each of both your listings which should certainly cover a 2 hour turnaround at regular cleaning rates! To say you would have to 'increase' your rate by at least $150 seems to be quite over the top to me!

You don't have to supply high end linens or best quality towels, you should be able to secure three sets for linens for under $100 (which would be covered by one of your cleaning fees) and have them set aside so that guests will have the option of either bringing their own or using yours for an additional amount to cover laundering.

At least you will be complying with Airbnb's requirements by doing that.

I have a feeling here Karen you have set yoursef a low listing amount to make your listing competitive and you are whacking your guests with extras to get what you want from your property. 

I notice you set the same listing amount no matter whether you have one guest or 6. It may be better to set your listing amount for 2 guests and charge an additional amount for each additional guest over that first 2 which you can do in 'Extra Charges' on your listing settings page. 

I do think you need to pay a bit more attention to the bed and I think you will find this a recurring theme amongst other hosts here.

Cheers......Rob

[Rebecca160]

@Karen957Airbnb has made a change and now requries : Provide essential amenities: This includes toilet paper, soap, linens/sheets, and at least one towel and pillow per booked guest.

They just arbitrarily make changes and epect us to keep up!

It should not cost all that much for you to provide the minimum towels and linens. Add the increace in cleaning costs into your cleaning fees.

@Michaela73Your place looks fine and your offerings great. Pay no attention to the annoying emails from Airbnb. These are generated by misprogrammed computer bots and are really set put to annoy us into confroming to their idea of hotelling or leaving the platform.

[Karen957]

@Rebecca160 - i would have to increase my cleaning fee to almost $200 to cover the linens/towels.  For a weekend guest this would not be feasible.  It is crazy and I am wondering how many other people disagree with this.  If I was renting a room in my home, I could understand it, but I rent condos at the Jersey shore and unless you are a motel, it has always been necessary to supply your own linens/towels

[Sarah977]

@Karen957  Plenty of hosts disagree with this and there are already lengthy threads here on the topic- type some key words into the search box.

One way some hosts have suggested getting around this new linen requirement is to have them available, up your price to cover this, but then make it clear in your listing description that guests who bring their own will get that fee refunded.

If you do this, make sure the linens are not just available for the guests if they choose to bring their own- I assume you have a co-host or cleaners who could store these things, or lock them up where guests don't have access and provide as needed. Otherwise they could say they're bringing their own, but use in fact use yours.

[Sarah977]

@Karen957   Also some unsolicited advice, hopefully won't offend you. Take new bedroom photos for both your listings with the beds made up nicely. The beds in all the photos look like someone just got up and hastily threw the covers over- all wrinkled, pillows bunched up, doesn't look that attractive.

[Lupita1]

At my rental, you will easily find at least 15 to 20 rolles of toilet paper trhough out different areas in the house.  But, Its funny to mention that I just rented a place that only had one half-used toilet paper roll and not even one bottle of water. 

So, it does happens!

[Lupita1]

But, I must say that "I gave them a 5 Star ***** review, because as a host I have learn that the expectation of guests come with the price they pay.  And for the location, convenience and the attention of the host I believe that the toilet paper and the water was an insignificant issue. 

For me on this reservation, the price and location "Said it all"

[Huma0]

These notifications and warnings from Airbnb are ANNOYING!!

I am a Superhost and have been for a few quarters, so I was a bit surprised to wake up to this little warning on my dashboard the other day:

My performance has fallen below the average for hosts? What? Look at the stats underneath that statement: 4.9 overall rating, with 87% 5 star reviews. How is that below average? Also, I have always provided all the basic requirements and more. 

So, I clicked on view details to see what the problem was, and it took me a while to figure out it related to one of my listings which hasn't been available since last Summer, but which has 100% 5 star reviews.

Mmm, that's odd. I'm sure I had all the amenties ticked, but it had been a while since I updated it, so I went back through the whole listing and updated every section.

The annoying warning message was still there days later. Finally, I figured out what it was referring to and that's this:

You've got to be kidding me! Acceptance rate? Okay, so this is the thing that Airbnb always told us did not matter to our rankings. Now all of a sudden it does matter and not just for Airbnb Plus listings. Also, why am I getting a warning when I am meeting the requirement? Really, this is stupid.

In addition, the reason why the acceptance rate is not higher on that listing is because of the Airbnb system, not because of me. It was the first room in my house that I listed, nearly two years ago. I set it up, Airbnb showed me the price I could expect to earn and it looked okay to me. I saw the Instant Book option and decided, as a new host, that I wasn't comfortable using that so I made sure it was not enabled.

The next morning, I logged on to find that Airbnb had not only activated IB on this listing, but halved the nightly price. Yes, that's right, hacked off 50% since the day before (I had no idea back then that Smartpricing was not so smart).

Of course, I had been inundated with enquiries that I couldn't accept at that price, which would have COST me money (not why I started hosting!). I immediately switched IB back off but had to honour a booking I already had at that low price. Fine, the guest was lovely and I got my first review (5 star) and could move on.

Apparently not. It seems I am now close to missing the 'basic requirements' and could have this listing removed if I decline a single request that comes in for it?

Thanks Airbnb. Glad to see you have my back after all my HARD WORK.

[Rosie62]

Interesting posts, thank you! I also find their pricing tips unrealistic. Where could you find a great hotel room with amenities for 30$ a night? I offer guests tea and coffee, and if I am cooking or baking and have extra, I invite them to have some too. So far, we have had really great guests.

I was really surprized, however, that Air bnb holds onto guests' rents for 60 days, if the are staying longer than one month. Somehow, I missed that one in the fine print!

[Dallas9]

i just got notice that 2 people in last week didn't rent my place after viewing my listing, and chose other location for average of 11 dollars cheaper a night.  such B.S.  they couldn't have rented my place in the last week.  I have had renters for 21 days straight!!! i have had to go home from work during lunch to clean the house during lunch because the cleaning lady couldn't do it that day.  had checkout at 11am and check in at 3pm.  takes solid two hours to go thru my checklist.  cleaned from noon til 2:15pm, sweating like a pig.  but airbnb says i'm too expensive and losing renters?  i don'tthink so.  its turning into another job.  but at least I'm earning about 1000 a month.  even though I'm losing renters during weeks i have no vacancy.