My husband and I have been noticing trends with our AirBnb guests since the COVID pandemic started:
- Guests are booking longer stays
- Guests are booking to use our Bnb as their work & live space
- Guests are requesting extra services and amenities not in our listing
- Guests are booking to quarantine before they see family in town
The unfortunate part of the above trends is that our BnB space (small guest suite) is being used as someone's primary residence much more than as a jumping off point for vacation exploration and adventure (as it was primarily in the past) causing much more wear & tear on our space. We're noticing that many guests seem to arrive only to hunker down for the next number of days/weeks of their stay and hardly leave the space. Our space doesn't have a kitchen- just a mini fridge/coffee maker/cups & paper plates- so it's not ideal for preparing many meals. We're noticing that people are leaving tons of crumbs, even in the bed, from their order in meals, appliances and bathroom are significantly 'used' and grimy. Our last two guests have also stained the sheets & towels via coffee in bed and blood. These occurrences used to be a one in a dozen maybe and now they seem to be the norm.
We've also noticed the quality of guest has gone down with people disregarding basic rules like no smoking, no pets, or 'leave no trace' -(trash left in our courtyard area) even with our prices about the same since pre-COVID.
I'm guessing we're not the only ones dealing with these issues. I'm considering raising our rates and doing away with week/month discounts to make up for this added wear and tear which has translated into a decent amount of extra stress, money and work on our parts. I would love to hear others thoughts and experiences with this.
Thanks!
Lorissa