What are you hosts doing about increasing heating costs and fuel bills?

[Alexandra199]

Hi all you lovely hosts, I wanted to open a conversation about the costs of heating and other fuel costs associated with hosting now that energy bills in the UK are rising exponentially. My bills personally are almost doubling, I suspect the situation is similar around the world. I know some guests will feel that when they go away they shouldn't need to worry about heating costs, but in the current situation surely they cant just ignore the fact that the costs are rocketing for everyone, including hosts. There is, of course, also the climate change issue which no one can ignore.

Does anyone have any tips about how, as hosts, we can ask our guests to be thoughtful about these costs?

What do you guys do to mitigate against thoughtless guests?

How should hosts deal with guests who it appears are taking advantage of the heating?

Would you mention in reviews guests who are thoughtless about the heating? How would you word this? (I know there are some hosts on here who word reviews brilliantly!)

Anyone got some thoughts on this?

[Alexandra199]

Oh Amanda this is so annoying. Did you feel like putting something in their review? 

[Amanda660]

I really did think of commenting something along the lines of ‘future host concerned about excessive heating costs may need  to discuss radiators on versus windows open’ but I didn’t.  

[Alexandra199]

Its very difficult to know how best to mention it in a review. I had guests recently who as soon as they came home they whacked the thermostat up to 24 degrees constantly, plus they used a ton of wood in the log burners. It really infuriated me! no-one needs to be that hot. Put a **bleep** jumper on for goodness sake. I really wanted to say something in my review but couldn't work out how to word it.

I know some hosts on here have a great way of indicating an issue without coming across as unfair eg. suggesting guests might prefer hotel accommodation (treated the place and like a hotel leaving it a mess) or the guest made the most of the accommodation on offer (used every bed in the place even though there was only two people, and took all the toilet rolls with them) I wonder if there is a tactful way of telling other hosts that the guest is an 'energy bandit' (phrase stolen from another host)

[Huma0]

@Alexandra199 @Amanda660 

It's a tricky one, but I would just be honest about it:

"X and her friends were a really lovely group. They seemed to love the house and were very pleasant and enthusiastic (or whatever other positives you want to include). The only problem was that they turned the heating on full blast and left the windows open all day every day during the middle of winter. Although I did specifically ask them not to do this during the house tour, future host may wish to emphasise this point more strongly. Other than that, they were really delightful and I'd be happy to welcome them back."

Or, if you really don't want to be specific in the review, you could just tell them this in the private feedback. Try to stress that we are in an energy crisis and that type of wastage is just not acceptable to most hosts. Because they were so nice, you did not want to mention it to then in the public review but they should really not do this in future as the host might not be so generous!

[Huma0]

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@Amanda660 wrote:

I can only guess that they are in student accommodation that includes bills.  

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This is exactly it. I've even noticed it with older people, not just youngsters. When bills are 'included' or fixed in some way, people just don't care. I've got middle aged friends who live in flats where the heating is included and they behave the same way!

I used to live in an apartment complex that had a communal heating and hot water system. There was no way to control when the heating came on and off. It was just on all the time from October to April and then off for the rest of the year. There was a dial of some sort in the flat, but that didn't do anything. So, I had to resort to turning individual radiators off so that the place wouldn't overheat.

The thing is, the bill for this, which was charged upfront every six months, was expensive. Because people thought that there was no link between their usage and the cost, they would leave their windows open all day during the winter. Obviously, because a lot of people were doing this, it was increasing the cost for everyone, including themselves, but they didn't see it that way as they didn't get a bill telling them they had used X amount of gas and therefore were being charged accordingly. People are so stupid sometimes even with their own money!

[Amanda660]

A friend of mine has some student HMOs..  A few years ago she included bills but changed the set up to include up to a set amount then the tenants would be charged any excess.  

She couldn’t believe how much they suddenly focussed on wasted energy when they were billed for it and watched the bills plummet. 

[Huma0]

@Amanda660 

Now, if there was only a way to implement that in my homestay, but sadly, I can't see how.

Before I used Airbnb, I used to rent my rooms to long term lodgers. The bills were split equality between the four people in the house (including myself). Of course, that didn't mean everyone made an effort, but overall it kept things in check. It also meant that it wasn't just me nagging when someone was wasteful. Other housemates would not be happy when they saw someone in the house wasting their money! 

Sadly, that's what it comes down to. People are happy to waste other people's money. You have to hit them where it hurts, i.e. their own wallet. Look what happened when they introduced a mandatory charge for shopping bags in supermarkets etc. Suddenly, almost everyone was taking bags with them to the shops. This suddenly became normal overnight. The change in behaviour was dramatic.

[Bob1240]

A very real issue. I just tried to start a discussion but the system wouldn’t let me.

Like everyone else my heating costs are rocketing. My last guests who apparently said they ‘feel the cold’ raised the thermostat so that the cottage was ‘like an oven’ according to my neighbour.

I think Airbnb should get involved and start a campaign and, although I try to avoid giving adverse reviews, I think misuse of resources should be mentioned.

I suspect there are many guests for whom this is not yet an issue or who are just plain selfish.

[Robbie54]

@Alexandra199 since I started hosting over 6 years ago I placed a little piece of wording directly above the thermostat in the lodge that says "Please remember to turn down the thermostat when leaving the lodge. Thank you." It's not much but a little reminder does sometimes help. You could try something similar, noting environmental issues instead of the cost as guests probably wouldn't care how much you're paying as it's not their problem.

Personally I find that some guests guests either don't care and turn it up full blast then leave it, whether they're in or not, or some use it sparingly. It's not a cold property and well insulated, but I do get the feeling that some guests are of the opinion that as they paid for the property they can do what they want with the heating, regardless of the current fuel and climate emergency we're going through. The only thing I recently done to combat this is I put my prices up, not much but enough to help, and it doesn't seem to have affected my bookings. I'm sure a lot of hosts have dont the same. 

Btw, since day 1 the central heating goes on at 6am and off at 11.30pm, which is normal in the UK. Although I do mention in the info book that if they want the times changed let me know and I'll do it, in 6 years no one has asked and no one has complained about the heating.