Home Vs. Hotel Staging?

[Ty26]

Hello,

First, I'd like to mention that I am super new to all this. I am sure this question has been asked before. I was just unable to find the answer here, most likely due to my newness!  🙂

I am a independent house and short term retal cleaner. I am also an amateur stager. I have been researching and watching tons of YouTube videos regarding airbnb hosting, cleaning and decorating. What I have been running across is...most airbnb hosts seem to want to model and decorate their space/service as a hotel? From my understanding...and again, I am super new to all this but, I thought the point of an Airbnb was to make the space more of a home away from home experience? 

Well, I hope I did not offend anyone by asking but just curious.  🙂

[Letti0]

@Ty26  What you want is to present the home away from home experience in my humble opinion, not a hotel type of feel. These are just a few of my review comments that back up my thought on this subject. All 5* reviews. 

From reviews:

This truly felt like home away from home!

Letti goes above and beyond to make sure everything you need is available felt right at home !!

Feels like a home away from home!

My family and I were amazed of how clean and beautiful was the house! It felt like our one home! 

Truly a home away from home! 

[Ty26]

Wow! Amazing!!! How proud you must be. 😀😀😀

Nice to know my thinking is not too far off. I appreciate the kind response. 😀

[Letti0]

@Ty26  I think your thinking is right on the mark. AirBnB is pushing this hotel feel with the new plus program and it's not working so well for either the hosts or AirBnB. My speciality is families and I cater to children. AirBnB was founded on the home away from home idea, they are trying to reinvent it but it's just not what a family or extended family of 5 or 12 is looking for. They want a place to eat 2 meals a day, usually breakfast and dinner to cut the cost of the vacation down. If they are not comfortable or don't have the conveniences of home made available to them to do this easily they will not be happy. I provide a nice family friendly environment with everything they would have access to at home, it makes their stay great for them and they won't complain because I go above and beyond what my listing states they will get. This is really necessary because of the new review process, you must be much better than expected to get a 5 * review, so hold back on some things you offer in the description. Let them be pleasantly surprised by what they actually get at your home that they did not plan on getting. This works for me so far, so I'm going to continue doing it until it proves to no longer be working for me.

[Sarah977]

@Ty26   There's nothing offensive about your question at all.

The originally promoted concept of Airbnb, which they still give lip service to, was indeed "live like a local" and home away from home.

But now they seem to be encouraging and featuring more and more, generic looking hotel-style stagings and photos. Hosts have been getting "warnings" from Airbnb that their photos are "too blurry" or "too dark" , when they are no such thing, and being encouraged to apply for a professional photography session. 

Many hosts are going along with this, but many are perfectly fine with having their place be cozy and homey, as opposed to slick, modern, and generic. And their guests are looking for the same, and are perfectly happy with what they get- a comfy place, sometimes with really interesting decor which hosts have picked up during their own travels, and personal, hands-on hosting.

Of course a guest space should be clean and uncluttered, but characterless, no.

[Ty26]

Hi Sarah!

I was so nervous to ask the question but I am glad I did. As a newbie, I would hate to offend anyone. Hotels are great too. 😀

I am not an Airbnb host but,  I have cleaned more than a few that didn't seem very welcoming. Took all it had in me to not run to a local Walmart for a few things to spruce up these places. A bit of my OCD I suppose. Lol!  Well loving the community board. Learning at lot! Thank you for your nice comment. 😀😀

[Fred13]

@@Ty26 Yes, the original concept of Airbnb was an alternative to a typical hotel experience,  which usually have a general 'sameness' about them. 

   Perhaps what Airbnb is re-evaluating and struggling with now is the per-unit cost of that original model, especially as they have become also such a sucessful and profitable just-booking agency for many new multiple-listing entities.  

[Claudiu-Nicolae0]

@Ty26

AirBnb is now adapting their original concept, because it is a little bit outdated and has less demand.

1) There are more professional hosts announcing their accommodation.
2) There are more guests, who want hotel-like accommodation.
3) Also, from the point of view of a host, a hotel-like design is more practical (less maintenance costs, easier to clean, easier to repair, less loss in case of damage, etc.)

4) Etc.

In my opinion, market research is always a good idea, but it is up to you, what kind of service / accommodation you would like to offer your guests. If you want to provide more homelike experience, just do it so.

[Fred13]

The original Airbnb concept of informal places (for lack of a better term) also tends to bring up unique hosting 'issues', because they are indeed distinct offerings; perhaps this huge diversity creates the need for constantly unexpected distinct solutions.  Hard to find a few thousand public-relation people well suited for such a very demanding job.