House Rules Awareness

[Isabel12]

Hi Air B&B hosts - Just to let you know that I've just written to Air B&B to draw their attention to the fact that I have now had three guests that have arrived with no awareness of the hosue rules.  Has anyone else had this experience?  I'm guessing that when guests book in there is a button marked 'house rules' but unless they press it they don't know them.  In my case there is only one rule which is that we are a vegetarian house so we ask guests not to bring meat or fish into the house.  All guests are happy to keep this rule. But it's not nice for them if they walk in quite innocently with a pig sanwhich and try to put it in my fridge.  If I the have to say 'I'm sorry that's against my one and only rule' they are upset to have broken my rule.

Have others had this experience with any house rules that you have? And if so - please can you mention it to Air B&B so that we can get the 'House Rules' button more prominent in the booking process rather than an optional extra?

Thank you. 

Isabel (London - England) 

[Alexandra316]

@Isabel12 This thread topic seems to come up on a weekly basis. Even though a potential guest needs to click a button to see all your rules if they are casually browsing, they are presented with all of the rules if they go through the booking process, and they have to acknowledge them. So if the guests still aren't reading them, it's fully on them, because the information is presented very clearly. 

[Geoff22]

I don't count on people reading anything.  If something is important I make sure to message guests ahead of time, and follow up with a reply message if they don't respond.  I also have a card inside with important info (like the WiFi password) and printed 'house rules.'  And a tent card with the most important info conspicuously on the table when they enter. 

[Isabel12]

I sometimes write it in a message as well but I'd rather not have to do that as it doesn't seem very friendly. x i

[Isabel12]

It comes up on a weekly basis?  Oh - I'm sorry to be so unoriginal. 🙂 Well are we writing. to Air B&B about this or just chatting between ourselves?  If they have to acknowledge them are the 3 guests I've had that said they hadn't seen them being untruthful then? I must try being a guest again myself to check this.  Anyway it  obviously needs to be clearer still if it comes up so often? x i

[Letti0]

@Isabel12  I would say 20% or less actually read your rules, they just click through the booking without looking at what they have agreed to. Sad, but true. 

[Kelly149]

one other option:

ABB has put these fields from your listing into the Saved Messages function:

House Rules

House Manual

Directions

I have found that you must use this function bc as Letitia has said, most guest click the Accept House Rules button, but don't actually read.

I have a "answer this question" at the end of my rules so I know if they read or not. The answer is usually not

[Kath9]

@Isabel12, everything everyone has said is correct - it's one of the major frustrations for hosts. People have to accept the house rules before they confirm the booking but they just don't read them - they can't be bothered. An example: I stopped the use of my stove and oven ages ago due to the sheer overuse (to the point where I couldn't even get into my own kitchen to cook my own dinner most nights) but guests still regularly turn up with food expecting to be able to cook (BTW I'm vego too and my cutting boards, cookware and utensils being used for meat, not to mention meat fat being spattered everywhere, was not pleasant for me).  I am then placed in the awkward position of having to tell them that the stove and oven are not available (I have explained that they have a kettle, toaster, microwave and rice cooker provided for them, but do they bring food that can be prepared using those items? No they don't).

I now have saved messages that I automatically send to all guests who enquire, asking them to read through the listing and house rules carefully before proceeding with the booking. I do the same with guests who have instantly booked and suggest they cancel if the house rules are not a good fit for them. Something else I realised recently is that I don't think they can see the 'Additional rules' under House Rules if they are booking on a mobile device. So, I have also listed these 'additional rules' under 'Other things to note' and refer to that in my message to them. I know it seems long-winded but I don't know what else to do. At the end of the day, if the guest hasn't read the house rules, it's their problem.

[Isabel12]

Goodness. I don’t mind people cooking in my kitchen ( they often cook for me)  but I would never allow anyone to bring meat or fish into the house.  But I see from this correspondence that I’m going to have to mention it every time someone books. Ok - thank you. Xx

[Linda108]

Being vegan or having any personal requirements when you put yourself out to the public, you must understand it is YOU not the guest who is outside the norms.  This is definitely not a bad thing as I admire people who have strong convictions.  Again, you have a business and you are choosing to market on a general booking platform for the general population.

Perhaps, you need not to think you are being unfriendly, but you have a unique opportunity to market to like minded guests.  I would think someone like @Kath9 might be attracted to a home that is just like yours.

Celebrate your perspective and invite others to do the same, but do not blame the guest who is not reading or remembering every detail in your description.  How about your welcome message includes, "We are strict vegans and would love to celebrate that perspective with you, but if you prefer to eat meat, we ask that you limit use of our kitchen..."  Not unfriendly, but informative.

[Stay-Asheville0]

You're better off "guest proofing" your house instead of expecting every single guest to read the rules.  

[Te0]

I had a similar post a while ago: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Additional-house-rules-are-by-default-hidden-to-guests/m...

Simple things Airbnb can easily improve but they just don't care *shrug*.

As I don't count on Airbnb too much, I am doing an experiment with my listing to see how the views and requests change after adding "please do not request if you haven't read the house description and rules". Since I re-listed my room this year, my decline rate has been increasing as many new guests just don't read the listing while my place isn't a fit for them, some just shoot out a request and disappear, they have all been declined 🙂

[Stephanie58]

Yes. I have a guest at the momemt who obviously did not read the discription or the house rules. I thought that it was impossible to book without reading the Rules. Not theur fault. I will take it up with Airbnb when writing  the review