**** VERY VERY HELPFUL ADVICE TO ALL HOSTS ****

[Momi0]

Dear Community Hosts,

My name is Momi.  I am Superhost in Hawaii.  Native Hawaiian, Business Owner, Wife, Mother and Airbnb Host Mentor.

I have been a Superhost for 12 months in a row with 94% OVERALL experience of 5 Star ratings in ALL categories with 47 reviews.   I take such great pride/joy in hosting and being the example of what a Superhost truly is....and its not just about Cleanliness, or Response time....I'm the host who comes to the airport at midnight to pick up guests with fresh flower lies that I paid for at no cost to the Airbnb guests, I'm the host who prepares a meal at midnight when a couple arrives because they were delayed for 8 hours, arrived hungry, with no bags, giving them clothes from my closet and my husbands closest so they can wear something clean to bed and the next day, then rearranged my schedule  the next morning to take them shopping for clothes and shoes, pack lunches for long airport rides, drive guests to the ER, etc.....WE all do things like that......but here's why I am writing today.

I received a request for my home from ANOTHER Airbnb host (of 6 months) who resides in Bay Shore, New York, who started out her long message "telling me" what she needed from me, and how she was so exhausted from so much research that she now wanted me to answer all of her questions to see if WE fit HER needs.  But did spend a quick second saying our home looked perfect but was unsure about the location.  (FYI - I live in the best neighbhood in all of Oahu). This message request said nothing about what kind of guests they would be.  I immediately wrote back and thanked her graciously for choosing our home, wished her congrats on her 11 good reviews, welcomed her to Airbnb, complimented her and husband smiles in the photos, etc  and that I would be happy to answer ALL of her many questions about Hawaii activities, excursions, etc ONCE she was booked but I needed her to do something for me first.  When I kindly explained that she needed to go back to our listing and follow the instructions that are laid out for EVERY guests, and read to see what she missed, and once I received it, I would be happy to approve her and would welcome her with lots of Superhost Service and Aloha Spirit.   (90% of my booking requests have received the same message from me because they missed it too, 100% percent of those requests respond with a sweet humbling apology and thank me for my patience in giving them a 2nd chance)

Here's how THIS HOST chose to respond:

She actually wrote back verbatim;  "yeah, I read it, but I didn't think you were serious! I would NEVER write such a RUDE message to any guests and I have those good reviews for a reasons. Wow!"

I chose to Decline her based on just that one reply because instead of offering up an apology for missing the part that WE needed regarding OUR House Rules, she chose to be sarcastic and rude.  I chose to not reply back either. Not worth my energy or time.  Did it end there?  Absolutely not! 

What did she do after getting DECLINED?  She chose to "Attack" in a vicious personal way that its now been escalated to a Case Manager with Airbnb.  Airbnb contacted me and thanked me for not replying to her, and confirmed that my messages were in no way rude but gracious and kind.  They told me she was 100% in the wrong as my listing is very clear in what we expect from potential guests before allowing them to book.  And they would be contacting her immediately over this behavior.  Its not acceptable.

Seems my instincts about her were correct. Glad I declined.  Who does that?!?!!?  

And 5 minutes later, I received another booking from a NEW person to Airbnb, who missed the exact same thing the host did, but instead of attacking me, he wrote back the most beautiful humble apology and thanked me for approving him after I wrote him to remind him to go back and read my listing to see what he missed.  Seems he knows more about the Airbnb community then the lady who is hosting on this platform.  I thanked him 100xs over for this beautiful reply and accepted his booking immediately.  The funny thing is, it was for the same EXACT days that she had requested an hour earlier.  One door closes, God opens a better looking door.

I share this with all of you because I want everyone to understand that EVERY host is different. EVERY home is different. EVERY family is different, EVERY expectation of guests behavior is different, but what is NOT different, is being respectful to each other.  I was in no way disrespectful to her yet she chose to attack me in such an ugly way that it truly did upset me.  I am mother to a beautiful young girl.  My child has witnessed the most horrible behavior from a guests in 2015  who was caught smoking in our home when we first started hosting in 2015. (he promised us he wouldnt' smoke again, but did,  and was kicked out the next day by Airbnb and us)

 I will do everything to protect her.  And if that means, that guests need to start their booking request message with a "cute funny quote" from our family's fav movie Willie Wonka and Chocolate Factory to ensure they have read our HOUSE RULES, then so be it!  That's my right.  I will not apologize for it either.  As a matter of fact, I have been held up by other hosts, other guests, other hosting companies, INCLUDING Airbnb for this "genius" way of seeing who actually READS our listing and House Rules. Other hosts have even "borrowed" the idea from me to ensure their guests read their rules & listing.  (For those who don't know this, its called the "Van Halen Rule"  Van Halen included a clause hidden in their stage set up contacts to ensure 100% safety, it read:  " ONLY BROWN M & M's IN OUR GREEEN ROOM"  (if the BROWN M & M's were not in the green room, the stage set up company was ordered to start all over for safety reasons!"

After reading the community wall for over a year, I think it might help to serve even more hosts if you were to include this idea into your listing and house rules.  There are hosts in Hawaii whose rules include "No Showers after 9:30pm due to noise", parking rules, vistors rules, etc and most of their reviews state that the guests broke this Shower rule over and over.  And the guests wrote saying they had upset the host by bringing an unapproved guests to stay at their listing".

The point in my post today is " TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE HOST ENTIRE LISTING and RULES!  Its that simple.  Its also respectful.

Thank you & Mahalo for allowing me to share my feelings, my heart and my advice.  Wishing you all the best.....and hope to host another host again soon.  Ive hosted 3 Airbnb Superhosts now in 2016....and every single one of them said...."Momi, you take Superhost service to a whole new level, wow!" 

Momi

Superhost in Hawaii

5 Star Airbnb Traveling Guest 

p.s.  and yes, deep down inside, I am hoping that SHE (FYI - is not a Superhost)  sees this post and decides to apologize for her truly appalling  behavior! And I would gladly accept it.  But she still won't be staying in our home, unless I sell it first.  😉

[David126]

There is actually no obvious connection between being a host and being a good guest, you would like to think that people would see it more from both sides but that does not seem to be the case. Well I am sure it can be but not a given.

[David-and-Fiona0]

I love it! The real moral of the story is that "it's your house, your rules". I equally get frustrated with guests not reading our listing but because of the multicultural nature of our guests I doubt your strategy would work. But thanks for the great story. Cheers  David

[Momi0]

@David-and-Fiona0   When I tried to include your name into my THANK YOU post to everyone today, for some reason your name was not coming up in the reply list, so I am writing this message just for you to be posted (but acknowledged you in my previous post today).  Please take a moment to read what i wrote since I absolutely wanted you included.

But to address your comment, I wanted to let you know that I use my ITRANSLATE app to write back a message in their own language asking them to please write back and acknowledge they have TRULY read my rules and agree to them.  IF that doesnt' work, then I ask Airbnb to send a translation via email asking them if they understand all of my rules and agree to it.  I have discovered with guests who don't speak English very well, that rules can be written in their language for them to understand.  Which has helped quite a bit.  Thank goodness my German and French are up to par (thats been some of my guests mother tongue.) ha ha

Today, I received a booking request from a Professor of Engineering at the University of Texas, and the only thing he wrote was this:

Momi, do you offer free parking at your home?"

(Imagine my dismay and disappoinment that a COLLEGE professor would ask THIS question, when its addressed in 3 different places in my listing AS WELL AS A PHOTO in my gallery showing guests exactly where to park upon check in and arrival, with a full caption under the photo.  Guess which University my daughter won't be applying to!? LOL  and no, I didn't accept the booking.  I am sure you can guess why.  My type of guests are the ones who take the time to READ what I took the time to WRITE.  As I have mentioned many times before, its not about the money first, its about hosting the RIGHT GUESTS.....and I'm hosting those types right now.  🙂

Hope this messages finds you well.

Aloha,  Momi

#LiveAloha

[Dawn33]

Thank you for this post and reminder, Momi!

RIP Gene Wilder. (Gilda has been waiting for him.)

[Eloise0]

Dear Momi,

I am so glad to have read your post and your great advice.  I have a Van Halen Question in my house rules; "what is your favorite CD or musician?"  I clearly state that I will not honor a reservation until they have read my house rules and answered the question found within.  I am always pleased when someone answers that question right off the bat within the first exchange that I have learned to draw strength from it because with the very next inquiry it will take me 2, 3 and sometimes 4 exchanges before I can get people to comply.  I also let people know that if they have any reviews that I read them.  My first exchange outside of  thanking them first is to let them know that I only correspond through the airbnb platform as I have found that it has saved me a lot of time having to answer inquiries from people that want to break the rules from the get go..

What I want to especially thank you for are your comments about respect.  I personally believe that this is at the core of almost all the problems with airbnb Guests and Hosts.  I love Hosting but as one Guest's review stated, "Eloise is picky, so count yourself lucky if you get chosen."  I am picky and it takes me longer  getting  people through the reservation process, but by the time they get here we are friends and they know that they are going to be spoiled and taken care of, regardless if they want a private stay or a guided, informed tour of whatever it is they want to see or do.  I greet them at the gate with fresh flowers in hand. The ones that didn't make it.......well it was for just cause.  Most of the time I don't even have to decline people as I have found that  people that are the most thin skinned that they can't stand even the first hint of not getting their way just never follow through or change their mind with some kind of nasty comment which basically reads as "I shouldn't have to answer your questions, I am special and your just the woman who is going to clean up after me."  So I hope you can imagine how relieved I was to read your comments about the woman who wanted to TELL you what she expected.  I have had several of them and while I try my best to weed them out, the full blown personality disorder can be pretty hard to detect through this medium we call email.  I have started adding my airbnb stories into my personal journal and one of my favorites is "The Vegan Who Ate a Pound of Bacon."  On the other, brighter side of this interesting experiment in social anthropology I have truly made some wonderful friends and several who now make return visits and call, write and are just wonderful, beautiful, gracious, and real people.  I am profoundly grateful for that while wishing that I could somehow have  that  be a prevailing reason for more people to embrace Hosting from their heart.  Yes, I realize that we want and need to make money but I have to believe that we can be great Hosts and still make what we need and even more while enjoying it,  and not be like one Host who was charging extra for sheets...........Really?

My latest embroidered sampler:  Respect my house and you respect me.  Respect me and you respect yourself.

Thank you so much for your comments, it was a real pleasure to read them.  Happy Hosting.

Eloise at Happy Trails

[Roz4]

@Eloise0 Please make my day and write the story about the vegan who ate a pound of bacon 😂😂😂😂

[Genya0]

Great post, fortunately all the awesome people on Airbnb make up for the few bad apples 🙂 

[Momi0]

@Genya0  Yep, and I can say....that YOU are one of them!  So happy I got to host you!  Hope to see you again.

Aloha, Momi

p.s.  Made my delicious Hawaiian breakfast burritos today for my guests and totally thought of your mum who enjoyed them, brought a smile to my face as I cooked the tortillas.   The guests loved it. I made it with Pineapple Sausage they are now selling at Costco.  

[Edwin-and-Shirley0]

I sure hope this is the case, as I just had my worst guest. Left the newly renovated home in shambles, bath towels and kitchenware missing, had to throw away cookware it was so badly burnt, didn't follow check-out rules....and the list goes on. I haven't been doing this long enough, but this was surely an eye opener. Such a dissappointment. Live and learn, right?

[David126]

Short term rentals is a very high risk business.

Especially if you are not on the premises.

So then the issue is how you manage it.

I personally do not think the AirBnB system is set up for such a business, I can see security deposit might be more suitable for short term home stays.

Otherwise you need a good margin in your rates to set aside for the inevitable issues.

[Roz4]

@David126 You are right. It is costly. I'm on site and I still find things get damaged in minor ways, that don't seem worth claiming for, but all add up. The guest who dyed their hair and you don't notice the stains on the towels till it's too late, or the guests (2x now) who claim the wind knocked the lamp off the side dresser. The curtain rail that fell down when they were just opening the curtains... All these small repairs and $20 here and there. I was just wondering this morning if it was worth it. 

[David126]

@Roz4

Some costs you just need to allow for in your rates.

[Sandra126]

I love it, well done you!

[Gladys5]

Aloha and thank you for this info.  I host on the Big Island and learned so much from this.  I hope to impliment something similar!