Hosting in general has been a great experience where we get to meet a lot of interesting and nice people with the added benefit of extra income. On the flip side, the hospitality business is extremely difficult and although I have found ways to get better and better, there are certain things that are unavoidable which are people who are not well traveled or don't travel with this very famous quote in mind.
The guests who tend to be hard to be please are those who come to a new country and expect the exact same standards as their native country. I am from Toronto, Canada a first world country but we do some things a little different then say the U.K or even the U.S.A. Not differently in a bad way but just differently. Yet, occasionally we have international travelers who complain of these differences not understanding it has nothing to do with us. In general, guests from all over the world love our standards here, I find it is only the U.K and American guests who have a hard time adjusting and I am not sure why that is. Maybe a sense of national exceptionalism.
When I travel myself, I always keep an open mind. In Italy for example, every airbnb and hotel I stayed at had small showers and weak water pressure. I understand this is the norm in Italy and that their plumbing system is a lot older. Some guests would have rated the hosts harshly because of these things and I think those guests are the ones that need to adopt the saying of "when in Rome, do as the Romans". This saying should apply any country guests visit.
I often hear suggestions that are impossible to address such as the frequency of city garbage collection or our house being too cold when it is set at 23 degrees and additional heaters (multiple) have been provided or too many leaves on the deck (leaves fall on a daily basis especially as the season changes) etc etc
I am thinking of having this quote in our house books now except modifying it to say, "when in Canada, do as the Canadians" although I am not sure how many people understand the meaning of this quote or whether it will have any benefit. Are there any quotes or language you write in your house book to help educate the uninformed to certain differences they may experience so that they don't judge you for them in a review?