Do fellow hosts make poor guests?

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

Do fellow hosts make poor guests?

Just curious. I always identify myself as a fellow host when I book, and I had another host tell me that they have had bad experiences with hosting hosts (say that three times fast.) No one has booked with me thus far who seems to also be a host, so I have nothing to compare this to. Wondering if I shouldn't lead with "I am a host" if there is some kind of stigma. So have you hosted other hosts? Good experience? Poor experience?

29 Replies 29
Dimitar27
Level 10
Sofia, Bulgaria

4 or 5 for the last 3 months. Nothing unusual. Another one will arrive after 2 days.

Yulianna0
Level 10
Madrid, Spain

@Laura2592, as for me, fellow hosts are “red flag”. First of all they can book instantly, so we can not know about them a bit before accepting the reservation. I assume that they know what house rules are about. And it is true. They know. And also they know the power of bad reviews. So some will try to accommodate your life to their needs. 
In fact my worse guests were hosts. And I had to shorten their stay, they were just unbearable. It was the only case when I was ready to call the police. 
Other fellow hosts were asking for early check in, luggage storage (both clearly stated as impossible). Good thing that they left good review, but mentioning things that are already in the description:) 

And one really great experience. Those are really super hosts and super guests. 
So 2:1. 

Worst review I have ever received was from another host in Xmas week. She wanted discounts and her 2 teenage children to stay for free! I politely refused and she completely trashed my previous all 5 star reviews with untrue claims. Now very wary of other hosts. I n my head I thought I thought they would be more understanding of the multiple issues and difficulty in the hosting life.....

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

Interesting that there seems to be a lot of bad experiences with other hosts! I wonder why that is? If it were a competitor, I can understand someone just being sneaky and trying to undermine business to make theirs look better (not that it would work.) But I don't understand why a host would be overly difficult to another when they understand better than anyone what we all go through. 

 

The messiness? I guess I can see that a little. If you spend a lot of time and energy cleaning your own place, you may want someone to clean up after you? Maybe there's some of that. But slamming with reviews? I don't know what that accomplishes. 

@Laura2592  I don't think unwarranted slamming in reviews has anything to do one way or another with whether someone is a host or not, since plenty of non-host guests do it as well. I think its just a personality type that somehow enjoys some feeling of power by doing so. Like I said, just because someone is a host doesn't mean they're a nice person. They feel no sense of camaraderie with other hosts, they aren't concerned about your ratings, they are self-centered people.

@Sarah977You just voiced my thoughts as I too believe it is a personality type and staying as a guest gives them a feeling of empowerment.  Agree with your post 100%.

Alice595
Level 10
Concord, CA

@Laura2592  There are some points which are presented in @Yadira22 's response. 

 

I have seen two extremes. One extreme is very bad because they know how Airbnb system operates and can abuse the system with their hosting knowledge. The other extreme is a very good and considerate host because it is known from experience how hard a host has to work to be a good host.

Helen350
Level 10
Whitehaven, United Kingdom

@Alice595 Indeed! When I worked in health care, I remember a tutor observing that supervisors of students who were themselves bullied by THEIR supervisors, when a student - went on to go one of two extremes, when they became supervisors themselves, - they were either super nice & empathetic with their students, or nastier than the person who had bullied them...

Suzanne302
Level 10
Wilmington, NC

I've hosted one host who was perfectly pleasant and left me a great review. I use Airbnb about 6x a year and as a guest who is a host, I find I'm more forgiving of some things, but will also provide private feedback on anything that I consider an issue.

 

I stayed at one place where I was awakened at midnight, 1am, and 2am because they obviously had drunken friends over. And one friend even used my "private" bathroom. I still gave the host 5 stars but mentioned in the review future guests should confirm that the bathroom is "private" and not shared. Did I do future guests a disservice by not mentioning the loud behavior? Maybe, but it was a Saturday night and I felt it was probably a "one off" and we've all had times when we were louder than we usually are and didn't want to penalize the host for that. When I mentioned in private feedback, she was mortified and offered a partial refund, which I declined.

 

I've always given 5 stars overall and I enjoy seeing how other host's operate as it gives me ideas of what to do and what not to do.

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

It seems to say something negative about human nature though, that other hosts, who know how hard it is to get your place 'sparkling clean' who know the costs of damages and how hurtful a negative review is...would do all those same things to other hosts.  We don't use airbnb very often, but have always left the places spotless, and if not able to leave a good review then leave no review and private feedback, only in 1 case where the host was truly unhinged, did we leave a 4 overall, and believe me, he deserved worse.

Lawrene0
Level 10
Florence, Canada

@Laura2592 , I get the good hosts here, it seems, knock on wood. Hiker hosts, I suppose, because we're a camping listing. It's usually a fun chat at breakfast. None have ever given less than 5 stars. When I am a guest, it's the same. Full stars, and if something were to need to be fixed because it would impact future guests, I'd keep it private. So far I haven't had to do even that. I book with experienced hosts who don't need my "expert" advice. 🙂

When I was very, very new to hosting, back in the dark reaches of 2012, the closest listing to me was about an hour away. A host from there sent an inquiry asking me to block two weeks for them while they decided which night in that two weeks they would come. Although new, I managed not to get tricked into doing this. I don't know what was up. Trying it on with me, I guess. It made me think I had to watch out for competing hosts, but luckily my subsequent experiences, and this forum, have shown me otherwise. 

I wish it were otherwise for all!

@Lawrene0  The hiking/camping crowd tend to be pretty laid back people- they aren't going to be freaked out by some trail of ants nor give a hoot if you missed a little dust somewhere when you were cleaning. They don't care about fancy cookware or any of that. They're used to adverse conditions and quite adaptable.

I wonder if those types, who were also hosts, had private room home-share listings or entire place, off-site host listings? I think it would be interesting to see if there's some kind of pattern to the host/guests who leave nice reviews and those who don't. Seems like home-share hosts would have to be a bit more laid back and less critical of others' habits than entire place hosts, otherwise we wouldn't be able to tolerate guests in our home environment.

Helen350
Level 10
Whitehaven, United Kingdom

@Sarah977 , @Lawrene0 , @Laura2592  I can only recall hosting one fellow host, here to visit his son, who'd just moved 3 miles down the road. I was a little apprehensive because he hosted a high end, entire place, city apartment (nothing like my lived-in home share, best suited to hikers.) When showing him the  room, his wife said "Well, it's nothing like as bad as I thought!" The husband looked embarrassed & replied "Oh,  Tell it  like it is dear!"  We then had a little mutual host support, where I sympathized with him over his first dreadful review, which some unreasonable foreigner had posted, despite his obvious high end luxury. He gave me 5* in every category!

@Helen350  Interesting story. The wife's comment is unreal. How rude! I imagine when he was booking your place she was sitting right next to him expressing doubts as to whether it would be up to her standards.

Reminds me of a friend of mine's experience when her husband's old college chum and wife, who neither of them had ever met before, came to stay as non-paying house guests. The visitors went to their room and unpacked and showered, then came downstairs. The college chum's wife's first comment was that my friend should really fire her maid, because she saw that there were some dust bunnies under the bed.

Some people just have no "is this appropriate?" filters between what goes through their mind and what comes out of their mouths.

I think I might lose stars if I missed dust when cleaning, @Sarah977 !

But anyway, I just quickly went over in my head my guests-who-are-hosts, and you're right. The five I can bring to mind are all hosts of private home-share rooms. Small sample size, and all five had camping experience, so the evidence may be skewed. 🙂