How to overcome guests with hotel expectations

[Ele11]

Hi all,

Our lovely two bedroom unit has been booked consistently over the past few months but recently we have been receiving feedback from guests that has us puzzled. “How to make toast without it burning”, “beds were too small”, “couldn’t find the wifi login details” and more are all things clearly outlined in our listing/check in process via Air BnB. Has any one else experienced this trend whereby guests in peak season (summer for us) are rookies to the Air BnB community and thus expect the hotel style check in process, explicit instructions around the place etc? Any tips or tricks how to overcome this would be great! 

E 

[Barry-and-Lera0]

@Ele11: We have a house manaul on our coffeetable. It lays out basically everything a guest would need to know about our guesthouse and property. Everything from the history of the house to how long the oven takes to heat up to 450°. It is a big binder since it also has local maps, brochures, restaurant reviews, laundry services and about 100 more things.

Guests do not read the Airbnb description properly at the time of booking so we make it as obvious as possible to relay information to our guests INSIDE the guesthouse.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Barry-and-Lera0

they read even less since they have to expand "about the place" to see it.

The same with "house rules"

Airbnb should not hide it behind "expand to read more" links, it is in everyone's interest to read what they book.

Common sense

[Lizzie]

Great topic @Ele11, there are already some great tips here. 

Keep them coming, it fantastic to see. 🙂

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Ele11

A lot of it is down to how AirBnB now prods guests to comment on every single thing they can think of or remember. So while I agree with everyone's comments, it's an uphill battle. I find BDC's review process simpler - but they also have location (Grrrrr...)

[Ben551]

@Ele11 I feel for you, I really do. Like others have said, I think guests need information repeated at them in 20 different ways. I had a guest ask me for Wifi details... while they were standing right next to the SIGN with it printed on. I mean, if they had turned their head 4 inches to the right....

A wiser and more experienced host said to me recently : You can’t, and won’t, please everyone. Accept it or you’ll kill yourself trying.

One little trick I can suggest is buying these little ($3 each where I live) stand up signs, which I have dotted around in more than one place (ok I prettied it up with string and sea shell, but just the sign would work):

[Helen56]

@Ben551 This is so much better than a post-it note.  I plan to get some of these stands.  My theme for the guest room is flowers, so I'll give them floral decorations.  Thanks for a great tip!

[Susie111]

@Ben551

What a great idea!

Thanks for sharing 🙂

[Kevin1322]

very good. we've done similar, minus the seashell. Nice touch.  It's actually the sort of thing that makes a big difference to me when staying somewhere.  Make the Wifi easy and the rest falls into place.

[Rich-and-Yan0]

We have nicely decorated laminated signs posted in a few select places, but I like your idea better. I'm going to look for some of these and put them up. Cheers!

[Sammy35]

people are generally helpless and needy.  no matter what remedies hosts put in place, it almost never matters.  its annoying but reality

[Sammy35]

NEW HOSTS CAN'T EVEN OPT FOR ALL GUEST MUST REQUEST PERMISSION

i just added a room listing today for my extra bedroom that is finally complete.  wow, has the functionality changed.  def feel the push towards IB more than ever!!!!  SINCE IT WOULDN'T EVEN PROVIDE THE OPTION TO NOT USE INSTANT BOOK IN THE LISTING SET UP AND COMPLETION INITIAL  PROCESS.  i was forced to allow IB with no option for all guests must be approved and was forced to go back to change it and in the process saw this threat lol.  i feel bad for the new hosts who don't understand this caveat and risk.  oy oy oy oy

oy oy oy oy airbnb.  so much for the startups initial intentions of community and home share.  why just not make airbnb a hotel room only platform like TV or booking or the HT app (which i heard they acquired) lol so much for accommodation diversity.

[Susan151]

@Sammy35  When I first signed up to be a host on AirBNB in the Spring of 2016, I was part of a "test" group that was required to offer IB. There was no other option, and I was not given the option to remove this setting for about 6 months. I was frantic. I pleaded. I begged. Nope. No exceptions.

The three checkboxes above have been true for a long time whether you knew it or not. No question, AirBNB is all about turning lookers into bookers, and reservation requests get in the way of that goal. [Theirs, not yours.]

And, I still have IB turned on. I live onsite, so no doubt, I attract a different kind of person than a whole house rental, but seriously, IB is not the same as the devil. It works. People book. I have 48 hours to convince them that I am not the right place [if I am not] and they can cancel without penalty.

The three

[Sammy35]

You can't really argue someone opinion or experience.

IB is the devil--to me and obviously it concerns me none about whether or not it is to others.  Because its a drive away from the concept of what airbnb is about and it will get worse when they go public next year (wait till you see how the personal touch and vetting functionality is removed altogether and the IB is up-played while that functionality is also enhanced and not for the benefit of the host--which is also the party detracting from the profit margins which is all the shareholders are going to care about, trust me, its my business) then there will be a new startup in the market that will be better for hosts like me. 

I have no intention of utilizing it and while to each their own, I don't really care about host IB experiences because they neither interest or impact me other than to continue to push my search rank to the bottom.  Which is fine.  Because I get all the high traffic low availability booking overflow I care to have because this is a leisurely hobby and not a source primary revenue or income.

Have at it all you like!

And just so you know, if you get reported for trying to convince someone you don't want them staying in their house (even when you so called properly couch it as your listing not meeting their needs--no one is stupid) and they report you for trying to nudge them to cancel, there is direct and indirect impact to your profile and user status.  And while you might not realize cancellation fee monetary fees, there most certainly is a cancel penalty to your search ranking, I promise you that!

[Kevin1322]

some of these people need to stay in some actual hotels at similar prices , it would be a wake up call for a lot of  them.  

I don't know the answer.  But all we have noted is that younger solo travellers really seem to appreciate an honest clean home a lot more than older travellers who seem to watch T V programmes like "4 in a bed" too much.  And it's my own generation I'm moaning about here.  It's not many of the the youngsters who feel "entitled" and have ridiculous expectations for backpacker prices, it's my lot, baby boomers.

We actually had a guest give us a 2 star cleanliness rating purely  because we had dogs in the home, whilst everyone else gave us a 5 star spotless.

Why stay in a home with dogs in the first place if you don't like them.  Read the listing you cr*tin. Or stay in a hotel.

[Marie-and-Owen0]

A few things I'd suggest:

1. Making the instructions short: say maximum one page. The shorter it is the more likely people are to read it.
2. Greeting guests (or paying someone else to do it) on entry: it helps keep down the unpaid extra guests as well as giving you an opportunity to answer queries
3. Early on, getting a fussy guest to give you lots of private feedback on their experience: often it is useful
4. Don't worry too much about the 4-star ratings: when I went round Europe a few years ago and stayed at AirBNB I only put 5 stars if the place was truly exceptional. I now realise that it 5 stars means it is as advertised. I don't think my reaction is that uncommon.