Call me crazy but are guests being especially angsty since COVID?

[Katrina-and-Jamie0]

We've been hosting for over 2 years now and we've had more complaints in the last couple months than we have in the entire time we've hosted.

We take complaints VERY seriously and we always do whatever it takes to make it right. But the complaints we're getting seem like the guests have insanely high expectations and very little interest in being self-sufficient and finding a solution themselves. 

For example, the smoke detector was giving the low battery alert (very obviously not a fire-related alarm) and the guests messaged twice, called twice and left a voicemail within a minute. They were irate. we even have extra batteries available.

For the next guest, the cleaners forgot to unload the clean dishes from the dishwasher. In my opinion, a minor inconvenience but honestly not even worth mentioning. The dishes were CLEAN. They complained and asked for a refund on their cleaning fee because they had to hand wash their own dirty dishes (didn't even occur to them to put away the dishes).

It's really sucking the joy out of being a host.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Whew. Maybe I just needed to vent. I feel better just typing this. 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Mike-And-Jane0  Living on-site is a huge factor in avoiding problems. I would never want to host a place I didn't live right next door to.  It seems so stressful and ripe for abuse.

And it does seem like US hosts get the worst guests, but I know hosts in every country get bad guests occasionally. However, the party thing with 100 people totally trashing houses does seem to be a more commonly American phenomenon. 

[Emilia42]

@Mike-And-Jane0 I think it has a lot to do with "being away from city centers"

[Elaine701]

I don't like to categorize by nationality, because in our experience, that hasn't been a metric which you can reliably determine whether a guest will be a "good one" or not. We get lots of different nationalities of guests, and there's "good" and "bad" in all of them.

The main metric that seems to reliably set expectations is families vs. groups of singles, particularly young ones. Families just seem to consistently lean toward the "responsible" and "conscientious" side of the spectrum. 

Having said that, there are cultural things which lend to being rather "extraordinary" guests. And at the risk of doing precisely what I've said I don't like doing (above), we have noted that Germans/Austrians/Swiss in particular seem to be consistently clean, orderly, and respectful of the property. The same seems to apply to Scandinavian nationalities. 

Now, we lived in Germany for decades, and could be rightfully accused of bias, but as @Anonymous and Ute surely know, Germans are stereotypically orderly, and are known for "Deutsche Sauberkeit" ("German Cleanliness"). Often obsessively (and sometimes, irritatingly) .

Generally speaking, in our case, that makes German guests more desirable. And we more actively market to German/Austrian/Swiss and Scandinavian markets for that reason.

Not that others aren't nice guests, but after German/Austrian/Swiss guests, we often find the villa looking as if nobody has even been there (with the exception of the beds having been slept in). Not always, but I'd say about 80% of the time, it's left pretty spotless. But it's also generally true with Scandinavians.

It's a cultural thing. Some other nationalities tend to be consistently messier, but nonetheless are also respectful and conscientious. 

It's the groups of 20-somethings you need to watch out for 😳

[Mark116]

@Elaine701  Germans are by far the best guests, we had hosted dozens of German guests before we got a slightly below par group.  I can't speak to the other nationalities because we either haven't hosted them or only had a handful, and I agree that generalizing about nationalities isn't too useful, but, my experience is what it is.

[Alexandra316]

@Katrina-and-Jamie0  I've had a lot of very silly enquiries and attempted bookings during the pandemic, but most of the people who have actually stayed have been good. For a lot of the pandemic, people have only been allowed to stay in Airbnbs in Ontario if they're in need of primary housing, so I haven't had the guests who are ready to let their hair down and have insanely high expectations for a perfect getaway. My last 3 says have all been about a month long and they've all been professionals who have gone out to work every day and just used the flat as their residence.

The inquiries, though... people who clearly haven't read the listing at all asking clueless quesitons right, left and centre. I got a guy a couple of weeks ago who said that he was only interested in booking if I gave him some great insider tips for places to go. Sir, this is a province-wide lockdown: what tips would you like apart from "stay the f* home"?. I didn't say that of course: I just said that I'm always happy to provide tips, but given the state of things it was difficult to predict what might be open as nothing currently is and some businesses may not be reopening once the lockdown ends (sadly a big problem with small businesses in my area). Never heard another peep. I love being able to simply point at the "sorry, no non-essential travel!" sign when I get these requests. 

[Mandy356]

I have definitely noted a difference in guest attitudes since reopening in April 2021 - in fact more petty moans in these recent few weeks than in the entire previous 6 years. It’s disheartening. A recent guest publicly said she was surprised she was uncomfortable since the mattress was a Simba (brand new at that) Surely this is feedback for the mattress manufacturer not me?  She felt unwelcomed because the wifi wasn’t switched on and she had to do it herself.  I got a low rating and a scathing review which prompted AirBnB to warn me about potential suspension of my listing - like I’m operating some kind of sh**hole and don’t care about my guests. I feel we are expected to provide uber-perfection or be treated as pariahs. I am a host, this is my home not a hotel.  These few frankly rude, personal moans translate into a subjective rating that is negatively impactful. The culture of AirBnB has changed - it seems over-regulated and unnecessarily critical.   Expectations have changed and it is anxiety-making as one feels there is no recourse when you know you’ve been unfairly judged and found wanting.  I kind of want to complain about the complaints.  

[Karol22]

Yes, it's been tough during Covid and there's a lot of angst. We've had to change a lot of things and work with our cleaners to upgrade their processes to the new expectations. This is on top of occupants staying in the listing for most of the day, using more utilities and wearing down the furnishings.  Costs have gone up for us to maintain this across the board and yes it has affected the enjoyment of hosting. I can only imagine how hard it is for restaurants and any major hospitality/entertainment business, the whole world has been put through angst. I know that some Airbnbs in more rural areas have higher demand (in US at least) and that's good.

[Tania606]

We have had the same problem.  Several properties for several years.  Used to be a problem once or twice a year, now it's a couple times a month.  I can tell some pretty crazy stories.   

[Sarah977]

Hosts aren't the only ones who are dealing with this. The FAA reports a 300% increase in unruly airline passengers. They've had to duct tape some of them to their seats. 

New bad guest tactic for hosts? 🙂

[Irina577]

Oh, Katrina, I just got a 1star rating and an ugly review because there was music in the outside bar. My condo is in the middle of downtown, where the weekend's entertainment goes. Also, the guest put something in the microwave to trigger the breaker switch off, and he complained that the microwave didn't work. So much discouragement.

[Gillian166]

@Irina577  omg that review is SO unfair!! I wouldn't mind it staying up as they actually say the place was awesome and highlight what an awesome host you are, but 1* is outrageous, and that needs to be removed. 

 good luck, i doubt you'll be able to