@Michelle2145
Yes, I am definitely going to have to give this some serious thought. Hosting long term guests means that I am much more likely to attract digital nomads and working from home types than with short stays. I don't want to be really rigid about it or alienate this market completely because some of them are totally fine and it's not like I am getting tonnes of bookings since the summer release, but I do need to set some clear boundaries in relation to it.
I recently had the first guest in forever who was here purely for tourism (for a month). It was fabulous, not only because she was out all day every day, but because she came home with a chirpy attitude and it was lovely to hear about her experience of my hometown and share tips with her. She left me a glowing review and I was sad to see her go. It reminded me what Airbnb used to be all about.
In contrast, I had two guests earlier this year (one digital nomad and one working from home for at least half the week) who were uptight, passive aggressive and looking to find fault. Maybe they were unhappy or stressed in their jobs, I don't know. I just felt like they had a very different set of expectations.
One complained that the WiFi in her room was weak (once). I went and tested it on two devices and it was showing as 5 bars, no problem streaming movies, no buffering etc. Not good enough for her needs though, apparently, so even though I could hear her constantly on her video calls, she wrote in her review that the WiFi didn't work properly.
The other was on NYC time, so didn't start work until 2pm. He would spend the time before that lurking in the kitchen but not wanting to talk to anyone else, as if that was his personal domain and he should not be disturbed, e.g. he would not sit at the table to eat if anyone else was sat there. I had to bring him up on cleanliness issues a few times because he left the kitchen surfaces and sink dirty, dishes unwashed for days, expired food stinking out the fridge and kept blocking the drain over and over. He marked me down for cleanliness.
The two of them did not just treat me like an Airbnb host, with all the expectations that come with that, but they treated me as an office manager and daily cleaner too. It was exhausting and so not worth it as they left low ratings and I lost Superhost status for the first time in 5.5 years. That is exactly the kind of guest I want to avoid.