House Rules mandatory reading and accepting before finalizing the booking?

[Viktoria56]

Is there somewhere on the listing that I can require potential Guests to read and agree to the house rules before they come? I constantly have a problem with people taking numerous long showers, bringing food into the room, bringing groceries to use the kitchen when it is not listed at all in the amenities, and many other things... personal heaters etc... Maybe they feel so entitled because of the rates that the company air b n b charges on top of what we charge?? How can I find that out as well... how much over what we get paid are the guests charged? I never see those numbers.

[Scott1066]

I believe Airbnb requires them to agree to your rules before they book. I believe it is agreed they have read and agree to your rules if they book the rental as well. 

[Viktoria56]

Hi Scott, Yes, I thought that too but it has been a constant problem so I'm wondering.... literally people arrive with bags full of groceries! 😉

[Lawrene0]

You can see those numbers by starting the process of pretending to book your own place, @Viktoria56 . Do a listing preview, pick an open date, and see what comes up above the "reserve" button. It will show your nightly rate, your cleaning fee, and the service fee.

I don't think guests think the service fee gets them access to extra utilities or the kitchen. I think assumptions and not reading make them think that. Guests actually are asked to read the rules before completing the booking - I have just had to book three places in three weeks thanks to my job, and that was a requirement. But that means nothing. It's just like terms and conditions. Most people click "agree" without reading those either. 

What does your welcome message look like? In my case, I have to ask certain things right off the bat, like whether they read that it is backcountry camping here. If you are not already doing so, mention the really important things in that message, for example: "Did you read that there is no kitchen use? Did you read that long showers are not possible? Hope so! We like all surprises to be good ones!" 

It's not perfect, but it does seem to help.

[Viktoria56]

HI Lawrene, Thanks again 😉 The welcome message box is so short. In our case I need profile pics of ALL Guests coming to the house so I mention that and one other thing... have to look.. We've had a problem with 3rd party bookings plus Chile has been in a major political civil upheaval for the past 3 weeks so we are being even more vigilant. I also have to write everything in English and Spanish so that takes up room. I think that that Welcome message box should allow as much as you want to write in it. It's very short.

[Sarah977]

@Viktoria56  You don't have to use the welcome message box. Not all of Airbnb's features are useful to all hosts.  I just send my guests a regular Airbnb message asking them to confirm that they are aware of the most crucial things in my listing. Those messages can be quite long. Sometimes i divide it up into shorter messages, so the guest doesn't have so much info or questions to wade through at once.

[Lawrene0]

Oh, yes, sorry @Viktoria56 , by "welcome message" I meant the first message you send to your guests after they book.

You are talking about what my version refers to as the "pre-booking message". Yes, indeed, it is much too short for anything meaningful.

Your welcome message, or the first message you send, can be as long as you need. 

[Viktoria56]

Thank-you!

[Yadira22]

@Viktoria56 

I agree with you- guests should realistically read entire listing and rules as to manage any expectations. 

When booking the entire rules section does not pop out but is more hinted at- whether booking or inquiring etc we ask the guest to read this and confirm agreement to these- otherwise they can cancel penalty free up to 48 hours after booking. 

Regarding the need to have your listing in both Spanish and English the app/website automatically translates it to the users preferred language. Also I think you can publish them both as separate languages (as certain comments etc get lost with translation):

i am so sorry to hear about Chile- it’s the same in Ecuador, keep safe! 🙂

[Viktoria56]

I don't trust automatic translations. Not very good. On my listing it asks me to do both in the same box... or it doesn't give me the option to translate it all myself on every box. I will double check it all. It's not quite the same in Ecuador. Different. Are you sure you're not talking about Bolivia? Evo Morales just got taken out by the Mexican army plane and got political asylum in Mexico. Different mostly because of the present ruling governments... the cries of the people pretty much the same though. Inequality. Mexico is actually one of the worst on the GINI Index.. worse than Chile even... and Chile beats the US by far. Then of course you have Argentina REELECTING a corrupt extreme left government and Venezuela... the people are "content" because Russia has stepped in to "save the day"... hmmmm.... personally I think there are outside forces at work here in Chile... taking advantage of an already volatile situation.

[Yadira22]

@Viktoria56 

Regarding my point made with reference to Ecuador it was more on so the manifestations which are happening- as oppose to reason for these. Either way- it is very saddening to see such beautiful countries/states and people needing to protest for things which should realistically be always readily accessible and In simply living in the UK I often take for granted... like government aid cuts leading to unaffordable petrol prices (Ecuador), lack of protection to both indigenous people and land, primarily the rainforest (Brazil), clean water and food shortages (Venezuela),  freedom of speech (Hong Kong) etc. However, this is not a political place- Facebook is for that. 

Regarding the language point you need to go to the specific listing on a desktop. If you select “title and description” and “edit” something like the below appears and you can then select “Español (Latinoamérica)” or what ever and it will add the same layout below your original listing description which you can then manually fill in with your own translation in Spanish! 

I personally do not use this as I stay away from using expressions and stick to literal meanings as to avoid it being incorrectly translated in another language. 

Either way- good luck to you and hope this helps! 

Yadira 🙂

ps. To tag someone you need to @ (Add their name), otherwise they probably won’t see it- just an FYI. 

[Kelly149]

@Viktoria56 I find it best to see an ABB booking as the beginning of the process, not the end.

(yes, of course all the details you wrote out in the listing are really the beginning, but as others have pointed out folks really don't have to read....)

So, at the moment they book you begin clarifying:

"Welcome! we see that you've booked for xxx people on xxxx dates. We've had people miss certain details in the past so just to confirm:

we don't have kitchen access for guests, and then whatever else is important for them to know, etc, etc......."

some of us find it helpful to "hide" nuggets in the listing that prove that guests have read certain sections by what they know or don't know.... also, don't hold it too much against guests, it is abb fault that they've hidden the house rules and many of the listing details.

good luck

[Viktoria56]

Yes, now on every guest I have been reiterating important points of the listing and asking them to read the house manual/rules. I also ask them questions so that they have to write back and when they don't I have AirBnB contact them to answer the message so that I have everything in writing. It has been resulting in less bookings, better bookings and way less headaches and we've been able to charge a little more even. Funny how that works 😉  Sad though the reason why we had to start doing this. The lack of support we had from AirBnB representatives for bogus reviews over things that were clearly spelled out was maddening. We finally came across a fantastic rep. manager and she ended up actually helping but it took about 10 reps before and a lot of time, anger and some tears even out of frustration, who did no investigation and just denied our requests even though the guest's review was breaking AirBnB protocols for reviews.

[Viktoria56]

yes! Thank-you!