Things that make me nervous: guests that don't read the listing

[Lyndsey2]

We had a guest who walked in and immediately looked for and asked for a microwave (which we don't have), checked the refrigerator for cream (sorry, though I would have stocked it if they'd requested it), asked if there was breakfast available (no), and wondered where the the second car would fit in the driveway (we list one available driveway parking spot - I guess I'll just go park my car in the street then). All of these things are pretty clear in my listing and I've never had this happen before. 

I looked at the guest's profile and realized all of her previous stays were in home-share/private room situations whereas this is a private apartment. Not sure if that makes the difference. But it has certainly put me on edge that I have not met her expectations (even if they weren't based on the listing description). Should I expect a bad review?

I am considering adding a private comment in my review that says, "I was a bit nervous at first when you were looking for ammenities not included in my listing - I hope you were able to feel at home and have a great stay!" Is that too passive-aggressive? I don't want to attack her for it (giving her the benefit of the doubt and keeping fingers crossed for a good review) but I'm thinking about future hosts and want to maybe suggest how she might make future hosts more comfortable.

What do you think?

[Helga0]

in the spirit of hope: my funniest guest and rules experience was with a man early 40, with prior reviews saying that he did not speak French nor English. I google translated a few messages for him and he wrote back in French by google.

I dreaded the arrival, but he walked in, greated in French and laid a small piece of paper on the kitchen table. A closer look: a cutout from a page, containing only my house rules!

We had great conversations with pantomime, a few common words in about four languages and on my new ipad, google translate, keypad set to toggle between his language and English.

Great guest, I hope he comes back at a date, when my place is free.

[Lyndsey2]

Love this!

[Kelly149]

@Lyndsey2 this is timely for me bc this week's guest asked at noon if her college age daughter (yes, on the reservation but not the primary guest) could arrive at 230 (my checkin starts at 4 and they had origninally requested a 7pm checkin). Fine, yes, of course.

Then she never notified me that she and her husband had arrived (house rule)

Then she never responded to my morning arrival after message asking if all was well.

But she did wake me at 830 on Sunday morning with a message saying "our plans have changed, can we checkout 45 minutes late?"

When I answered that the cleaners & next guest were already booked and arriving before she had asked to leave, she did not respond at all and then did not message that they had left (house rule).

Oh, and of course this was a guest who kept saying "well, yes, of course I read all the rules and the listing" but never answered the question in the rules...

So, you cant get what you don't ask for and she didn't demand but just asked. But I feel like her review should in some way indicate that she expects a hotel desk and doesn't respect that she is in a host's home... Cant think of how to write it without sounding really petty tho and of course it could have been much worse!

[Lyndsey2]

@Kelly149 I would simply add in your review that she had difficulty with house rules regarding communication with the host.

Someone who doesn't require communications might be happy to have her as a guest anyway. And I bet you probably wouldn't have been quite as bothered by the other more common issues if not for her breaking those house rules. 

[Lyndsey2]

And then she sent me a message saying she is "being asked to leave a review, but has a few suggestions about things I could add." Sigh.

[Clive33]

I now realize some guests are best suited to independant accommodation not house-sharing !!!!!! We now take a break from Airbnb to recover from a guest accompanied by her new partner, no idea about how to keep their private life private, thrilled with the luxury of the en suite delighted it was soooooooooo much cheaper than the nearest hotel. They behaved as if we were their staff.

[Helga0]

Hi @Clive33, 

we met on another thread, but here you write a bit more what angered you, so I had another look at your listing and your texts. I have an idea or two, why you attracted this type of guest and how to limit it. 

Your listing is a mixture of great comfort (the private bathroom, the beautiful bed) and austerity. There is not much in it, that says Loving or Caring. Personally, I would not only add the one chair someone asked for, but two and a small table, maybe a foldable one on the wall. Plus a lot of shelves in room and bathroom, hooks, a long exension cord and a few things, that are not essential, but say "Welcome! I thought you might need that too, you might want to look at that". Give it a friendlier look, to have friendlier people.

Second problem is that you do not exist. Your whole listing text avoids the word I (or we) You write it in abstraction of your person or your couple, so you devaluate your role. The last straw is the house rule. The only houserule but for the checkbox rules: "Flexible household to suit traveller" That says its a household, an abstract entity, not the home of real people, and the ultimate aim is to bend over without a limit, to suit travellers. 

You need to set your priorities differently. First of all, you are people, a couple of persons, and that is your home, where you live. With a small second purpose, to welcome (nice) guests. And (if they are nice) you could be a bit flexible, but don't say so, as they will take more than you offer anyway. 

Rewrite the text in using I and We to make clear, that you are there. You need to send the signal, that you estimate yourself worthy of being mentioned, to make sure guests estimate you too. 

You need to be proud of your home and of your efforts, that you made to welcome your guests in that nice suite. 

You have those assets, that it is a dedicated space, perfect like a very good hotel room and private - more private than a hotel would be. The listing shows that and not much more, so you get the hotel guests. 

You have other assets: The garden and veranda space you mention, but I did not see a photo of it. Another asset would be, that you are around, with all your experience and your dedication to this adventure, which could make the stay much better than any hotel stay and much more personal. You do not communicate that at all, it's a bit visible in the reviews. 

Your pictures are your first filter. Add a few caring touches, pictures of a sitting place, maybe in the garden, flowers, a rug or a plaid for chilly evenings, a welcome drink. A map of the region and some travel brochures, even strawn out on the bed. Imagine what kind of guests you would like to have and stage a few photos for those. 

- An exemple: I take photos before I travel, as the apartment is clean and the bird packed in cage and travel bag. Last minute photos means some things are always forgotten and you see them when it's too late. So I had often the parrot's travel snack, a few fresh fruits in the pictures. Which got me an over the average ratio of vegetarian and organic food loving guests. Those are nice guests and know what organic fruits cost. So I deliberately target them with more photos and descriptions. I guess I'm down to 10 percent snack food eating budget guests now, over half on one or the other healthy diet, which suits me very well. 

You can avoid the kind of guests that made you suffer, not 100 %, but most of them.

The description helps you to get the guests to book, that you attracted with the pictures. It's another important filter too. 

Write something, that puts the guest in the place but says that you are there too. Sentences like "We adore to watch the sunset from the open door (if it's visible)/ we like the evening light, that transforms the garden into a magic place" - you get the ide: You are  there + you give a special appreciation to a feature of the place + the place has something unique. 

Last not least: the houserules are there to set limits to your generosity. You run a well ordered ship and the captain says: No xxxx! Paradoxically, "No to absurdity 1 to 3 " is very reassuring to guests you want to attract and who would not think of committing absurdity 1 to 3 in the first place. 

Good luck!

[Clive33]

Helga, Thank you so very much for taking the time to paint the picture we imagined! There are many informed points in your response we must think about and apply to our listing. All our previous guests have be really interesting and easy to share space with so it lulled us into a false sense of security to feel we were being helpful to travellers. There are other scinarios we had not considered, so thank you again for facilitating our nessary deeper thinking.

regards, Clive & Ruth 

[Maria913]

@Helga0 brilliant post Helga, well done.

[Becky9]

Can we as hosts put something in the rules that say, "guest has read the listing desciption as to amenities"? Then they have to sign off to the fact that they know what is or is not provided.

[Lois-and-Darryl0]

@Lyndsey2:  I recently read on another Help posting where the Host has a secret word or phrase inside of their House Rules, and it's like a test to confirm that the Guest has read the rules.  I love this idea and don't know how others use it, but I'm going to add a phrase like:  "Add these words in your Booking request:  _______."  If those words are not in their request, then you've confirmed they didn't read the House Rules.

[Kelly149]

@Lois-and-Darryl0 if you'd like to see this concept in action, you're welcome to look at my rules for the Real Texas Barn Listing.  The long and the short of it is that 1 out of 15 of my IB guests ever reads the rules. It's kind of a bummer unless you realize that it is an automatic 'get of jail free card' in terms of asking CS to cancel the booking

[Michael-and-Dru0]

@Lyndsey2 we recently had a problem with a guest who didn't read our complete listing.  He replied to an email thread with a super agressive, all caps locked statement regarding a map to our airbnb.  We use a dropbox link to provide a hand drawn map for guests convenience.  In addition, we provide a written description of how to find the apartment.  The guest gets both an option fo a map and the written word.  This guest couldn't download the map for some reason and he didnt' read the paragraph of how to find the place.  He was outraged!

I immediately called airbnb and asked for them to intervene in helping this guest read!  He simply hadn't read the listing.  After they worked him down from his craziness, he came to his senses, and did eventually find the place.  I've learned over time to just immediately involve the airbnb help center.  There is no reason to tolerate guests who don't read.