How has Airbnb changed you?

[Paul154]

As I  was reading an curious article today http://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Cabin-overnight-bus-San-Francisco-Los-Angeles-LA-12195820.php I now realize how much Airbnb has changed me.  

This reporter reminded me so much of some of my reviewers.  

So inappropriately entitled.  She took a bus ride and expected that it would be the Taj Majal on wheels.   She would take some valid, but minor point like " no mirror in the bathroom" and overly dramatize it. She also would take an obvious expectation like “bus got caught in traffic” and make it all about her. Me. Me. Me.

All  hosts know this person.   Books a room and expects a luxury spa.  Sigh.

Anyhow, since being a host, I am now much nicer to service people.  I now know that there are a lot of complications providing good, reasonable service.  Sarcasm and haughtiness do not help service people provide better service - but it does justify host’s response to raise prices 🙂

How have other hosts here changed since becoming a host?

[Lara16]

It has not changed me, but Airbnb has certainly enhanced my appreciation of, and participation in   the sharing economy and collaborative consumption.  It has enhanced my appreciation of appreciative people, if that makes any sense.  It has increased my already strong commitment in being extra kind to individuals worksin in service professions.

It's helped me be much more clean and tidy in my own home, which my family appreciates ;  )

Lara

[Robin4]

@Paul154

You were always a nice guy Paul....and not just to service people, it didn't take Airbnb to make you into one. You have always been a conciliator, you have always been prepared to accept that there is another point of view.

I miss guys like you Paul, I don't see a lot of you any more!

Every one who comes to us has a problem, most of them are angry and just want a validation of their point of view, no matter what that point of view might be. This is pretty much typical of what I have to deal with now....

I will spend twenty minutes telling this guy why his reservation has service fees, cleaning fees, VAT, other governement charges,  hospitality tax.....and explain to him that check-out times are important to hosts because we all want to present a property to an incoming guest just as it will be presented to him ...........and those in between hours are precious to a host.

I will do this Paul and get an abusive, 'unhelpful' post in reply!

I had to deal with a 'redneck white race supremacist' who had his account cancelled by Airbnb because he wanted to go to Charlottesville and protest in the recent race riots....Airbnb do exercise a duty of care to their hosts just as they do their guests!

I would love to see someone like you on my screen once in a while Paul!

Cheers....Rob

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

When I read that @Huma0 got complaints for her amazing home, it sharpened my hosting IQ about micro aggressions. 

There has been a lot of stuff that I have kept out of reviews for guests.  I just take it as a joke but the meanest ones are the time wasters like dragging it out for many hours even weeks and refusing to respond so you end up with issues. 

I don't get the reviews that crappier listings get, worst value listings get and I do the SAME Things and more that are mentioned in those glowing reviews for others and I never get that mentioned. 

And I certainly plan to start getting negative reviews in the future. 

I'm not going to text BOGO at anyone but I would have liked to have dealt with Dyne Suh myself and see what would have come about - it's always those trendy people who are in the news but I get invisible ones too -- I can feel the gears spinning in the back of my head.

[Judy71]

I read the article and felt she gave a fair review as this was a business review after all.

Airbnb is different in that many of us are actually sharing our homes. I host on airbnb when away so guests have place to themselves. 

Likewise,I  consider myself a guest in someones home when I stay in an airbnb.

That said, my home is not a hotel, my guests get way more than a hotel experience and for the price of the cheapest hotel have a whole house deck and yard.

I appreciate my guests and work hard to make their experience a good one.

Negative comments are sometimes pretty nit picky to say the least and I try not to let them bother me too much. I wonder would those folks go to a friends for dinner and complain about the carpet color or the smoke from nearby fires or drive time ... which I do mention in my listing. Some people look for things to complain about. Most guests are wonderful and it has been an overall 5 star experience for me