Guests just ain't what they used to be...

[Amy-and-Brian0]

It can't just be us but we used to get 1 out of 20 guests who we would not host again.

Now? It's 1 out of 4. 

Yes we can change our settings yada yada yada. But the guests are getting worse.

Dirty. Entitled. Asking for extras wildly out of bounds. Giving 4 stars because of something THEY did or out of our control or not part of the deal at all.

Breaking house rules. Not reading the listing or the instructions or any words at all that were written.

REAL questions we've asked lately:

Who puts dirty dishes back in the cabinets? 

How do you even get spaghetti on the ceiling?

Do you live like this at home?

What is THAT? Put on gloves before picking that up.

If reviews are our ONLY recourse for crummy guests, well guess what? They are getting REAL ones from us. 
My new rating scale is now:
5 stars - you left the place spotless, were a joy to host and we'd love to have you back.

4 stars - you required a little extra but hey, it's ok and we'd still love to host you.

3 stars - yeah, I'm not so sure you're right for us and we'll just kind of say "Hope you had a nice time".

2 stars - you are gross. total disrespect for our place and I'm letting people know you should not be welcomed. 

1 star - left the place like a frat house and you should be banned.

We're getting A LOT more 2 stars lately. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Susan151 

The point I made previously was this...:

A group of 7 currently have 3 registered. Half are unknown. The guest did send us the names of all guests as the Airbnb system was so obtuse. Guests hiding in the crowd are potentially the worse offenders.

Guests understand that security is an issue in the same way as when they fly. You will note that the extra guests didn't register, not because of any data loss issue - but because they couldn't do so easily. The names were obtained anyway. That was the point. In the case of any problem even from a name the guests could be traced.

You said you did exactly the same by sending your names ahead, so although the Airbnb system is not perfect, having a requirement that guests are fully identified was fulfilled and by asking for the information in advance.

I fully understand your concern and how easy it is to view any data stored in a database, but that data is there to help not hinder... my data is there, and its at risk - so too is yours . You are afforded no more security than I.

My question which you didn't really answer was " it seems you are promoting to only host complete anonymous stangers, which most hosts want to avoid - so what's your solution?"

[Laura2996]

ive had bad luck the last year with guests. ive had the room/apt trashed 3 times where i had to totally redo it, had to call the cops  twice, twice dealt with someone booking for a family member adn then had to deal with someone who lives across the country, not have airbnb stand up for me  and my rights, and am dealing with a guest who thinks i am supposed to be around at all times for her (i said i can be reached via text at all times but it was apparently a problem that i was in my room all morning 'doing god only knows what'.... she also is throwing a fit over the fact that i have things on my kitchen counters (contaienrs with cereal, flour, smoothie ingredients... ive got a ton of counter space, she can cook whatever she wants, but the fact that its not a vacant sterile environment (but it is veru clean) is apparently my purposefully misleading them.  i rent my 2nd bedroom in the apt i live and work in.... is it not acceptable to assume if someone lives there and works there so spends most of the day at home, that they would have stuff around? havent had a good guest since last august. times like this really make me miss the good ones

[Anonymous]

@Laura2996 This sounds like an extraordinarily bad run for a host who appears to have only 6 reviews over 4 years. If most of your record is attached to a different profile, you might be inadvertently attracting guests who underestimate your experience and expect that you're a "new" host who's easy to walk all over.

A lot of hosts here do express the opinion that they wish Airbnb would stand up for their rights more, and I can certainly sympathize. But when it comes to dealing with guests, hosts have to be prepared to stand up for their own rights first and foremost: set clear and unambiguous rules and boundaries, enforce them consistently, and terminate a booking that has gone rotten before the situation gets worse. The second some people catch a whiff of Doormat on you, they put on their muddy boots and start stomping. 

[Larry-And-Kristi0]

We have been hosting since last August, with 4 bedrooms listed in the house we live in. We've had so much fun hosting so many lovely, interesting people. Last week we got a 4:30 PM instant book registration for a married couple (She said "My husband and I"). We don't care, but it was the first lie. She had one 5-star rating, so no worries. The short story is at 1:20 AM the police were ringing the bell and pounding on our door. The couple was outside, both "badly beaten" according to the officer. The room was a wreck, blood on the rug and wall, and Dixie cups from the bathroom full of whiskey. Arrests were made and 1 was taken by ambulance. We had NO WAY of knowing this would happen in our home and wanted to put out a warning. Because the woman only lives an hour from here and they have our address, we will not give a bad review because of the danger of retaliation. I think this is a major oversight on the part of Airbnb that there isn't the ability to warn other hosts privately. 

[Leen12]

I tottaly agree! And I don't know why Airbnb now accepts any guest! Without an ID or a profile picture. I just think it's unfair that the guest can make different accounts if they get a bad review but for us hosts, we have to keep the bad review and that will affect our bookings. 

[Robin4]

@Amy-and-Brian0 

reading the various threads on the CC one cannot help but be scared, but, the reality is, I don't think guests have changed much. I think we (as hosts) get lulled into a false sense of security after having a few good guests and we let our guard down and start accepting guests simply because they are guests.....and they put bread on the table.

In my last 50 reviews I have 49 five star reviews and 1 four star review, so I don't feel my guest quality is suffering. I don't see guests as becoming more demanding, but Amy.....or Brian, I am possibly declining a few more requests or IB's that I don't think would be a good fit for me.

I had one yesterday that had a series of questions which I simply dismissed in an instant......

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Slightly-weird-review/td-p/1061621/page/2

Airbnb are definitely expecting hosts to drop their prices in order to accept guests who expect a bit more......but it's our fault if we go along with that and play Airbnb's game!

Either we are the master of what we do, or the guest is, and I think, as hard as it is to make a buck, we do need to consider that before accepting all the 'flotsam' that Airbnb will channel our way!

@Leen12  @Susan151  @Laura3281

Cheers.......Rob

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Robin4 

I am possibly declining a few more requests or IB's that I don't think would be a good fit for me.

Maybe thats an indication that the quality of guests are dropping?

I have a group of 7 males arriving in a couple of weeks who I'm a little bit wary of so I'm promoting the Airbnb "Request your guests to join your booking". Failing completion there, I'll be requesting a guest list prior to check-in. They're first time Airbnb's, no profile picture on the main guest and scant (generic, non-commital) information about the reason for their visit. 

They possibly would fall into your "Not a good fit" category?

[Amy-and-Brian0]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0- hmm... 7 guys who don't communicate, with no verifications or reviews? Yeah, that's a risky booking at best.

[Robin4]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

Ian, the problem is pretty minimal with my hosting, I think the fact I live on the property helps a lot but I would say possibly 1 booking in 40 would give me cause for concern.

I understand you can accommodate consideranbly more guests than I can, but Ian, a group of 7 males should be a red flag!

Four males would be an absolute red flag for me. Men don't just sit around and 'chew the fat' the way women do....they are always trying to outdo each other with a better story, sonsume that extra glass.

I have had situations I thought I might have been loosing control over! I had this one IB message...

"Coming for a wedding in your area, can't wait to stay"!

That seemed to tick my boxes, complimentary, didn't want to ask anything so, into the future reservations it went. Two months later and a couple of weeks before there stay....a message came through...

"I hope I mentioned the two kids will be with us"......sh*t, here we go! I sent back....

"No hasn't been any mention of 'extra guests' but what are their ages?" to which she said....

"It will be ok they can sleep in the bed with us" to which I sent back.....

"That will just make things uncomfortable for all of you, I will make the other bed up"

See, this is how we lose control of things Ian, I am seeing what I thought was a good 5 night booking that has closed my calendar for two months slipping away....I start to do what I say you should never do! I become accommodating and start giving in to their requests!

Two days before the stay another message comes.....

"My Uncle hasn't got anywhere to stay the night of the wedding, is it ok if he just camps on the floor?" ........Ian, I am in deep sh*t now! Two days before the stay and I have to dump 5 people out of my reservations. How could I have let things get this far? I kept saying to myself. 

What I did I got onto CX and showed them the entire message stream and she said....

"Do you want to cancel the booking, it won't affect you, it will be a neutral cancellation!" 

I said to her...."It's a $500 reservation I would prefer not to lose at this stage but you can see my concerns. If I have any issues will you stand behind me here?"

She assure me I would be fully supported and that everything was on file.

It turned out well Ian although they paid for 5 nights for two people when 5 actually stayed, because of his sudden work emergency they left after three nights and did not want a refund for the extra 2 nights, they were appreciative that I had bent a bit and fitted them in and I ended up with a good review. 

But it questioned my resolve Ian, I broke all my rules, and it was just good luck that it went OK.

If I was in your situation Ian I would be getting onto CX and tell them....'I want to be a good accommodating host, but I have severe reservations about hosting a 7 male person booking, can you open a ticket on this, in case I do have an issue that needs your assistance!" and ask CX to instruct the booked guest for the names and email addresses of all guests.

Good luck with it!

Cheers.....Rob

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Robin4 

We've hosted all male groups before and they've been surprising good! One group was probably the quietest and most respectful group we have had. All female groups are good too, the recent one was brilliant. Mixed groups are the worse of the combinations.

With this forthcoming group it is evident they don't read and the booking guest only has an email address and telephone number as ID (ID photo/avatar has (?) in it at the moment!). Our House rules state that the booking guest needs to have a fully verified account and that all guests need to be registered, so an 'informative' message has been sent.

What I like about the Airbnb 'Add a guest to your itinerary' is that those guests are related to the booking by review. This means that any review given by the host will reflect on them too, as well as directly on the booking guest. If every guest can register then each guest is invested in the review. I don't like how difficult it is to use this registration system and still think it would be a great improvement if it was made a lot easier or if Airbnb did this directly with the guests as part of the booking process. In light of this thread, this won't make guests any better but it does remind them that they are not anonymous.

I know we could insist on only booking guests with verified ID, but in the same way that Airbnb promote a booking by railroading to a payment, we don't insist on a verified ID at that stage (we could), so we rely on guests verifying later.

This really is like a game, isn't it?

[Mark116]

@Robin4 

We've definitely felt a change over about the last 8 months, starting last fall.  Guests are less communicative, people don't bother even acknowledging messages, they make it clear on arrival they have no questions, e.g. they don't want any interaction at all, which I don't mind, except that the people with no questions who don't answer or acknowledge message are the ones who damage items and leave the place a mess, fail to follow the basic rules, etc.