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. 😉
If you feel that me or another host have helped you, feel free to click on the "thumbs up" button at the end of any post. Thank you so much.
Aloha, Momi
Great way to contact Airbnb or via Twitter at AirbnbHelp / Facebook