House Rules acceptance in a separate field/document is a must

[Sylenka0]

I noticed a few threads concernig breaking/ignoring/not sticking to house rules defined by hosts.

I would like to emphasized that having a must of confirming a separate document with a house rule is a must - a separate document, not a field.

I constatntly have problems with guests who are obtaining house rules. My place is one of the cheapest available in Warsaw so people make a reservation mainly because of that reason plus some nice comments from other guests maybe.

I have the basic rules (not smoking, no meat etc.) added but even those basic are not kept until I remind about that.

Still, that is MY PLACE I share with other people who are my guests, MY HOME.  Guests at somebodys place are only guests and should stick to the house rules as that is not their own place. If they do not like the rules they should not make a reservation. 

I would like to be able to specify all the rules (not only the basic in a very short form) and get the confirmation from the guests that everything is clear and if the rules are not kept I may immadiatly cancel the reservation. That is an airbnb's policy mistake focusing on guests only. 
In the past while hosting I had not a bed experience with the guests - they were indeed the guest I shared the flat with as with a part of family or friends , simply the guest I want to have at MY HOME, but that has changed significantly withing last years. That was a "cultural" exchange and I enjoyed it. 
The basic, the primary airbnb's idea had gone since then. Some of guests I would prefere not to host IN MY HOME due to the not keeping the hpuse rules even though I could enjoy their company outside and also I am receiving the enquiries form people who do not read the rules/offer at all as they are mostly convinced that it is one more booking.com site.

My point is, that the place I host people in is MY HOME not a hotel or hostel with cleaning service and only cusomer friendly but not staff. I want to meet people who respect me, my property and the house rules. 

I am not able to follow the guest all the time to explain how to use the kitchen tools in a purpose not having to rebuy them after destroying by guests for instance or that they should clean not only the plate they use and a pot but also the sink and the surfaces which they left dirty, with stains etc. If I have all of that in a transparent document which I may also left printed in the room that would be great. That is my home, not a hotel with all the services included but paid the minimum price.
That is a good practice I learnt from my host in couchsurfing once - he had listed all potential questions from the guest but also those topics which came out during his host experience. I read it after coming to his place, everything was clear including the shower and saving electricy and I no needed to ask.

I believe I am sharing opinion of many hosts who are disappointed with the chnging quality of guests within last few years?
Once again, I demand having a transparent document which may be printed and left for the guest in the physical form with all the information needed.

I hope that you got my point of view although one may aslo may think that I am exaggerating.

[Sarah977]

@Sylenka0  I don't understand. You can write up the house rules yourself and put them in the guest room. Why do you need Airbnb to have some "document"?

You can also reiterate your rules to guests when they request to book and ask them if they agree to follow them.

These are things other hosts do.

And being "the cheapest place in Warsaw" is one of the things that will lead to getting bad guests. Raise your prices a bit and you may see a change in the type of guests you are getting.

[Sylenka0]

That is not only my problem with the guest not keeping the huse rules and so I think that that should be resolved in a better way. That one which exists now, as you also may notice following the threads here, is not enough as guest are, as I mentioned: ignoring, not keeping and simply not reading the rules, that they are, by the way, accepting while confirming reservation (as far as i know; because I am not receiving any information that the guest read, understood and confirmes the house rules).
All must be clear before arrival, not after coming, right?

[Sarah977]

@Sylenka0  "All must be clear before arrival, not after coming, right?"

Yes, that is why I said you should reiterate the rules to guests and ask if they agree to follow them in a message when they request a booking.

I don't know why you think that Airbnb doing this would make any difference from the host doing it. The type of guests who ignore rules and don't show basic respect in a home-share listing aren't going to behave differently just because they got a list of rules from Airbnb instead of the host. 

I think one of your problems, Sylenka, is that your listing description says almost nothing. 

You need to describe the guest room, what spaces are shared with the host, etc. I would really have no idea what sort of situation I was booking when reading your scanty listing information. 

And I don't even see a photo of the bedroom you are renting. Is the cover photo the bedroom? It looks like a living room. Is the couch what guests use as a bed? Guests need to see the bed they will be sleeping in, made up nicely. 

[Anonymous]

@Sylenka0  I think @Sarah977  has a really good point about your listing description. While it's impossible to prevent bad guests from requesting your listing, you still want to make sure your listing is thorough enough to attract the kind of guests you really want to host. Also, demanding that people buy liability insurance in order to stay with you is scaring away the people who actually read the rules - it's a very unusual requirement.

I can hardly imagine what's going on in someone's head when they think it's ok to start smoking in a nonsmoking shared house, but I find that the best way to reinforce that rule is to show people at check-in where the nearest place they're allowed to smoke is.

If it's truly important to you that people don't store meat in the kitchen, you can try advertising the home prominently as a vegetarian homestay, adding a personal mini-fridge to the guestroom, or simply removing kitchen access as an amenity. But if enforcing that rule means confronting someone about their groceries, it's hard to see the benefit.

Also, I have no idea what you actually mean by your rule concerning cleaning. It helps to be more specific about which tasks are guests' responsibility - it's one thing to ask that people wash their own dishes, but the vagueness of that rule seems to suggest that guests are also obliged to take part in the daily chores such as vacuuming floors and scrubbing the bathtub, or even that they might be required to prepare the room for the next guests. 

[Pat271]

Rather than address any individual point you’re making, I’d just like to offer you my general observation, for whatever it’s worth, that it doesn’t appear to me that you are enjoying being a host very much. Guests will pick up on this, even in subtle, indirect ways, and that will create a downward spiral of suboptimal guest interactions and guest quality. It might help to reevaluate whether hosting is right for you, as it’s difficult to force a good vibe if you are not feeling it.

[Sarah977]

@Sylenka0  You aren't alone in seeing a change in the type of guests you are getting- many hosts have reported getting far more clueless, entitled, disrespectful guests since people could get out of Covid lockdowns and travel . So hosts are having to be more vigilant in vetting guests before accepting bookings.

But just as you said your couch-surfing host had a sheet of questions and answers that informed you and made the expectations clear, you can do that also yourself. A "transparent" statement from Airbnb isn't going to be of any use. As you say, it's your home- only you can explain to guests what behavior is expected when staying with you.

We all have different house rules and expectations. Some hosts have lots of rules, some have almost none. And some things I don't think of as rules, but as basic respect and manners. We shouldn't have to make a "rule" about cleaning up after oneself in a shared kitchen, for instance. And if a guest doesn't do so, it should just be a matter of asking them to, explaining that booking a home share doesn't mean hosts are their personal maids, or mommies.

And telling them that it isn't working out and they should look for another place to stay if they ignore you and continue to be disrespectful.