**** 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.  😉

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

"Hosts who use Instant Book may be able to cancel penalty-free if they have concerns about the reservation or a guest’s behavior."   - failing to read all the house rules and comply is a "concern". 

Further information from the Help Center regarding House Rules:   https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/472/what-are-house-rules

"If a guest breaks a house rule, either before or during their stay, you can cancel their reservation without penalty." 

[Susan151]

@Alice-and-Jeff0  Thank you very much for your reference. Much appreciate this.

My 20+ years experience running Vermont B&B's and hotels in major cities does inform my hosting style. Very personal and hands-on. It is good to understand the rules that we are using since they differ tremendously from a more commercial enterprise.

[Mandi-S-Just-Business-Ro0]

Right you are, Alice and Jeff!

I am a very new host - less than 3 months - and have bargain basement prices plus IB. I became leery, even panicy, about certain prospective Guests who did not respond to simple and/or essential questions, never mind rules. One didn't even know the correct name of their employer.

I have both myself and other Guests to look out for, and these situations could potentially have been a problem for all of us.

In each case, Airbnb backed me up 100% by terminating their trip without penalty to me.

Thanks for the great ideas on this post! 

[Momi0]

@Alice-and-Jeff0 @Susan151 @Jude7 I would like to address some of the things I am reading on the "thread" of replies since I am the originator of this post with regards to how rudely I was treated by another host who wanted to book our home.

Jeff and Alice are 100% completely right!  I have personally hosted 3 "SuperHosts" at different times during 2015/2016 and they were some of my BEST guests. ( I learned some things from each one too).   I was a bit shocked to read some of the things on the replies about hosts being the most challenging as I have also been a guests twice in 2016 and received 5 Stars from the host who's house we shared with him.  Along with a great review.  

People are people, and I am discovering that having a lengthy back and forth chat on the message board is telling me all I need to know to decide if I am going to accept their booking.  I don't just accept one message.....EVER!

With regards to INSTANT BOOKINGS, I DO have IB.  If you clicked on my profile, in this thread, you would have seen that I have IB activated, however, I have selected the option to ONLY accept bookings from previous Airbnb guests with 5 Star reviews.  And that has worked out beautifully.  But I can  also say, that if the Instant booking guests doesn't comply with my request for them to follow the instructions as laid out in my House Rules, thats a red flag.  And  I would have no problem contacting Airbnb to say I have concerns and request the IB be cancelled.  (only happened once bc the girl from China was booking my place for her mom & aunt, which is against the rules at Airbnb, as she was not joining her mom.) < this is considered a 3rd party booking!!!

Its extremly important that ALL HOSTS take the time to read everything they can. I have noticed hundreds of hosts asking questions on this community center that can be easily answered if they take the time to read and do their research.  Everything about Instant Bookings is there as well as your right as a Host.  And you can believe, that if I find a guest continuously breaking rules after 1 friendly reminder, they will be asked to leave.  Its happened now twice.  (sadly).  One brought a girl from the beach into our home for sex and the other one was verbally and physically violent towards me and my husband.

I'm sorry you have had these experiences, but I want to encourage both ladies to spend more time "chatting" with your guests thru the booking process to get the best feelings you can.  Me personally, I like to get messages from potential guests telling me why they chose us....AND those who express gratitude getting a  FAST FIRST REPLY from me in 5 mins or less are the ones I keep talking to. And they turn out ot be awesome guests.  Especially the ones who thank me for such a detail listing and great photos.  Those simple acts of kindness and manners mean the most to me. 

MY ORIGINAL post was written solely to express my heart to remind ALL hosts to be respectful to each other and remember, as a host, its your house, your rules, and if you find someone disrespecting (breaking) these rules, Airbnb will support you 100% in ending their trip.  Guests forfeit ther stay and their money.  Unfortunately, the host who contacted me to book our home was not just disrespectful, but outright mean and vicious after I declined her.  (and Airbnb took it seriously after I reported it.)

(she didn't follow my required instructions laid out in our House Rules to book our home), and I was happy to give her a 2nd chance but instead she proved to me I dodged a dirty bullet! lol 

@Andrea9  Mahalo Nui Loa for your replies.  I'm still laughing......

Aloha, Momi

Superhost

#LiveAloha

[Roz4]

You might be right about hosts being hard to host. I had @Momi stay and she was great, but I was nervous- hahaha. I had some others stay last week and they wrote one sentence in their review, but gave me 5 stars. I want more than one sentence!!! 

I was was a pretty bad guest myself recently, because the hosts had no idea what they were doing and had not read the hosting rules themselves. They rented me a place that was not the one pictured. They promised me a breakfast pack and for the FIVE of us there was two 20gr (tiny) pets of cereal and 2 eggs and a carton of UHT milk. That was it!!! No bread, no spreads, no where near enough food!!! 

I checked out out early and got a refund. They won't want to host another host again. The place showed a suburban green outlook and it was on a 6 lane highway. They advertised a king bed and gave me a queen. They had 7 good reviews until I came along!! 

[Maria-Lurdes0]

This is the place to have a rant, but I'm missing the part about the helpful advice.  Maybe I'd better give it another read.

[David126]

I am a Super Host, well currently, such a capricous system who knows what the future will bring?

Personally I am likely to be more symathetic to other hosts, I did have one odd experiance with somebody whois a Super Host. Do not think that was much to do with qualifying eother way, people are people.

As I see it not reading your house rules is not a reason to cancell, not obeying them maybe.

[Marni0]

I have never been to your part of the planet, but if and when I do, I hope to meet you Sir.

You sound like the perfect host, one that I hope to aspire to myself.

From Oakville, Ontario

[Jenny149]

Would you mind if I use some of your wording? It's so good and I'm just not sure what to write. I'm new to hosting - just trying to get my listings up and done well. Can I use this but change a thing or two?: "HELPFUL TIP: If you are new to Airbnb, and have not yet completed your profile, it is highly recommended by both Airbnb and myself, that you do. If this is not completed prior to contacting me, then take the time to introduce yourself in your first contact message when sending in an inquiry or booking request. We would like to know who is coming to our home. Please take the time to share more about yourself, job, hobbies and what you will be doing in Hawaii while staying in our home. ( IF a couple is coming, then please included some wonderful things about your traveling companion as well as their name)."

[Momi0]

@Jenny149  Hi Jenny, it was brought to my attention by a friend that you had written this post asking me for permission to use "my words" from within my listing.  I am happy to help you create your "own words" especially since I use the word Hawaii, and you will need to change that. haha.  I originally didn't get your post because you hadn't tagged my name like this ------>  @Momi0  so unfortunately I didn't know you had asked this important question back in Nov 2016.  Maybe I forgot to sign up to have ALL added on posts to my email but I definitely would not have ignored you. Wierd...it should have been sent to my email since I am the one who originated this post to begin with.  Sent you a private message...hope you get it soon.  Congrats your outstanding reviews...you are definitely doing alot of things above and beyond for your guests!  FYI....I have an Airbnb consulting business and have helped over 150 hosts since I started it.   - "The Sixth Star"