Changes in Guests Behavior since Pandemic

[Dave1077]

We have been hosting on Airbnb & the naughty V word site for several years. Since the Pandemic we have seen a dramatic increase in guests becoming more unruly, disrespectful, and destructive. I was wondering if others have noticed the same and if anyone has found a way to better screen &/or detour them. 

Thanks 

Dave 

[Pat271]

I’ve read other hosts complaining about that, but I haven’t experienced it personally. My guests have been great since the pandemic.

Now I’ve probably jinxed it! 

[Anonymous]

@Dave1077   I Googled the term "naughty V-word site" and I can only say, if one of those search results is where you host your listing I can imagine you'll be seeing some things you can't unsee.

But yeah, I wouldn't have very high hopes for the quality of people who choose to travel in large groups during a pandemic.  

[Dave1077]

I hope I didn’t jinx Pat. My location was designed and built for a single large group so I guess I need to ban bachelor: bachelorette parties and hope that the families (including wheelchair bound guests) will pick up the booking slack. 

thank you both

[Lorna170]

@Dave1077   My property is also on the "V" site -- guests from that avenue are pickier, older, and more willing to honor our house rules, pay for their pets and leave the property in great condition.  My advertisement on Air attracts younger, cheaper, self-centered individuals who feel that they are above simple household tasks and "rules don't apply to them".  Hence over-occupancy, undisclosed pets and sometimes nightmarish clean-up.   In 15 plus years of hosting, guests are becoming less considerate.

[Inna22]

@Lorna170 great description of guests from both sites. Unfortunately because they are pickier on Vrbo, I find them to be too picky. Sometimes I feel like you would trade the extra clean up for extra complaining 

[Tony-And-Una0]

Hi Dave

We have experinced more problems since the start of teh pandemic.

It's down to the demographics of the newer guests. They are mostly more local people driving to us with groups of friends. They want to party as they haven't been out much for 18 months

Previously it would have been overseas tourists who don't tend to fly to ireland solely to party in a flat.

We tightened up our instant booking criteria and increased minimum nights to four. This has resolved most of the issues for us.

All the best.

Tony

[Dave1077]

Airbnb is a booking site period.  They have NO investment in the properties we all own, take care of, and cherish. Most Airbnb owners are not merely property owners looking to make a buck. They are entrepreneurs who are social and enjoy helping theirs guests enjoy their property as much as they do. We all love hearing how we “made people’s memories”. 

Airbnb seems to really push the owners to get things right for our guests, but needs to do a better job protecting owners from the guests. 

This needs to happen sooner rather than later or else a different booking site will replace Airbnb for the more “Premium Hosts” that require and deserve the respect from their guests. 

[Elaine701]

Guests pay the money.  Hosts do not, yet suffer all the responsibility, with none of the authority. 

>You< must become the authority, despite Airbnb. Otherwise, you leave it to Airbnb, which has every motivation to favour the guest, not the host. 

[Tony-And-Una0]

It would also help if Airbnb allowed us to set maximum number of adlults per booking like other  platforms.

We can accomodate five, but would like to limit this to three adults, but two children can also stay. We don't want to lose the family bookings.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

We have more cancellations than ever, mostly because they don’t read house rules and check in time and don't read listing description. This may be related with recent Airbnb layout changes...or not.

We also hada first fraud / extortion attempt , after 5 y. of hosting

[Jennifer1897]

I have noticed a shift in guest quality as well. I used to get the "not so great guest" every 15 or so reservations. Now it seems like every other guests has an issue.  I have had people bring extra guests, break or destroy things, smoke in the home, undisclosed pets, multiple arrivals between 8-10am for check in, refuse to leave, and best of all, getting intimate on the living room sofa because they failed to read that it was a room in a home and I lived there. In their words "We rented the WHOLE home." 

[Zoë32]

We've hosted on Airbnb, naughty V word and naughty T word (and quite a few others) since 2012. 

Airbnb

2012-2019, we had one or two awkward guests, but otherwise our guests were stellar.

Since our county opened up in Oct 2021, we've had 3 horrific experiences and  very few guests of the quality we had happily grown accustomed to.

Guests have become demanding, entitled, unreasonable and hugely intolerant of the realities on-island since COVID, also noticably more suspicious/paranoid.

Not having the ability to properly screen guests without penalty, as we used to, is a part of this major issue - I find it very disconcerting not to see a picture of the potential guests.