Can you tell when a guest is going to be ‘needy’?

[Amanda660]

How many hosts out there just know that a guest is going to be needy/big communicatiors throughout their stay even before they arrive?  It makes me anxious for the  entire duration of their stay waiting for the next message/question. 

[Anonymous]

@Amanda660  Yes you can often tell in the initial messages. Like when they ask questions that could have easily been answered by a simple web search. Or when they insist on exceptions to your check-in time or House Rules. Most certainly when they ask for discounts. And especially when they request things that were never offered in your listing in the first place.

These guests don't tend to leave 5-star reviews, no matter how much you do for them, so it's not worth tying yourself up in knots to please them. Instead, I suggest establishing a pattern of communication in which you remain polite and professional but also make it clear that your parameters are precisely what are advertised in your listing with no special favors or exceptions on demand. 

And if the questions are about trivial stuff that they don't need to know ahead of time (like "where's the best place to buy purple underwear?") your default answer can be something like "I'll tell you all about our local amenities and attractions over tea when you arrive, see you next week!"

[Luana130]

It is hard to say... I haven't been doing it for long, but I kept reading what other hosts were saying, and most say that when the guest asks too many questions and have too many requests. I had a coulple like that and I was really worried about their stay... They kept asking to see the place beforehand, had to say no several times, kept asking lots of questions, before and after the reservation, what types of pans we had, if the Tv had USB, if the tv had wifi, did we have toilet paper, did we have sugar, did we have salt, and so many others... I was really dreading their arrival... But I had no problems during their stay, and they were very laid back guests. So, what I want to say is... we can't judge.

[Anonymous]

@Luana130  To "judge" does sound pretty harsh, but there are a few things we can reasonably infer from correspondence with strangers, and for non-IB hosts those are the most important clues for deciding whether to accept a booking.

For example, we both live in fantastic cities that can also be rough and daunting to people who aren't independent and self-sufficient. You put a lot of faith in someone when you hand them the keys to your home, and you need to know that they're not going to make careless and stupid mistakes that will put them or you in danger.

Also, if you care about keeping up good ratings, you will find yourself declining those who seem to want more than you're offering, as they're less likely to be happy with what they get.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Amanda660  what? You just got one? 🙂

It really doesn't bother me if they just ask for information about places to visit or the weather, or parking or if they have a problem and trying to solve it (lost luggage or something). We really try to help whenever we can, like we would help our friend.

It would bother me if they would constantly asking for something extra what we don't provide or if they are demanding.

[Andrea-and-Francis0]

We have had a bunch of guests that ask a million questions & then give a huge laundry list of their wants & needs so I have just politely told them that it's best to book elsewhere as red flag guests are hard to please & normally don't give positive reviews but a few on the flip side have been absolutely lovely guests 🙂

[Patricia55]

@Amanda660 

I don't know which I find more exasperating: the under-communicators or the over-communicators 😉 I think, on balance, the former. Just as I like to have a certain amount of interaction – like an icebreaker - before the guest arrives, so, I guess, many guests do too. It's always great when there's a parity on what both sides consider the “right” amount!

There've been some guests whom I thought rather taciturn, ie hard to get more than a few words out of. On the other hand, some of our more chatty guests probably thought me taciturn, lol.

Depending on my mood at the time, I can deal with questions quite happily, or irritably (which, hopefully, I manage to hide!)

Weirdly, I've found that the number of questions/communications beforehand isn't necessarily an predictor of what a guest will be like during their stay, so, if they'd asked a load of questions prior to coming, it was almost as if they'd got all their questions out of the way.

Anyway, hope they turn out to be great guests 🙂

[Linda108]

Not sure why a "needy" guest makes you nervous, @Amanda660  unless you fear the guest will turn the unrelenting neediness into a bad review.  I find 90% of people interesting but there are the 10% who are annoying.  Even among my friends, there are those who seem to need to connect with strangers around them and are unaware that the person is no longer interested in continuing the conversation.  Lack of a ability to read and react to social cues is not something that a person grows out of. 😛