How would you rank guests?

[Robin4]

You have gone through the minefield of taking a guest reservation, tried to assess what the guest will be like,  what the likely risk is to your property or your reputation. You have taken the bull by the horns and had them stay....how do you look back on them and rate them!

I find my best guests in order are......

1/. Gay couples: They always respect the property and are keen to be pleasant. They are clean and tidy, great conversationalist and have a wonderful sense of humour. I can never have enough of them.

2/. Asian guests: They love the garden, are very respectful of their elders, they adore the dog and are always appreciative of what is offered.

3/. First time users: They don't know what to expect, but don't want to make a mistake. They always leave the place spotless and are the most likely guests to have read all the house-rules.

4/. Young couples: They have no expectations and keep to themselves. They are keen to experience the area and spend very little time in the cottage.

5/. Single working guests: They just want a bed for the night, no hassles, they consume very little of what is offered, leave early and always leave a great review.

After that things deteriorate considerably

6/. Guests from New Zealand: I find them harder to please than any other nationality. They compare everything with home. My only ever 3 star review came from a New Zealander.

7/. Couples in their 50s: They want to take over my property, use my garage for their car. They are great to talk to and very friendly but always want something I don't supply, and they always leave something behind.

8/. Guests who are hosts:  Somewhere else was always better. They know how the platform runs, use it to their advantage and are critical of whatever I do. They never read my house-rules.

9/. Single women in their 60s: They are always confused about how to work something. The library of books smells musty, there were too many mosquitos and they always break something...." Two of those plates attacked me from the cupboard"!

10/. Couples in their 70s: They compare everything with those 5 star hotels they have spent their lives using and there is no such thing as value for money. They will take whatever condiments they did not consume when the leave. They have a 'scorched earth' policy to my listing!

So, If I had to rate guests from my experience it would be as I have described. 

How does this list compare with yours?

Cheers.........Rob

[Anonymous]

From the in-home hosting angle, I find that every demographic group contains some of the best and worst. Anyone who thinks gays are always clean and tidy has never met my husband, and my experience with gay male guests (and hosts) has occasionally been awkward due to a fuzzy sense of boundaries. My personal ranking would come down more to what led the guest to choose a homestay in the first place...something like:

1. Homestay enthusiasts. People who consider the social aspect of staying with locals more as an experience than a room rental are my ideal guests. Genuinely fun to hang out with and show around the neighborhood; only downside is the occasional hangover.

2. Dog lovers. People who mention the dog in their requests are instantly accepted - I prepare the room, and the dog does the rest of the hosting. Very easy to please; 5 star reviews guaranteed.

3.  Budget weekend warriors. Just in town for a few days,  jam-packed itinerary of culture and nightlife, just using the guestroom for bag storage and disco naps. Easy money. 

4. Work travelers. Great to have around if their job is going well, but they bring a lot of stress and frustration home with them when it isn't - and it comes through in the reviews.

5. 10-city Euro-trip.  They've come from far away, they're trying to hit way too many countries in too little time, often homesick and worn out from all the time in transit, no clue what they really want out of Berlin. Often unexpectedly broke due to blowing their budget too early in London or Stockholm, now running out the clock with supermarket Merlot and oven pizza, streaming videos on their phones.

6. Germans.  Apart from several delightful exceptions, Germans traveling in their own country can be the hardest to please. Often immune to Berlin's charms, they see shabbiness where foreigners see character. The only visitors who see it as a failure when a historic building hasn't been given a generic renovation to cleanse away all reminders of the troubled past, and casually express disdain for the neighborhood's radicalism and racial diversity. Perhaps the cool ones don't need an Airbnb, as they already have family or friends to stay with here.

[Kelly149]

@Anonymous Thats a really good point, it isn’t so much who they are but why they came/why they picked your place that makes/breaks the stay. 

1. best: they read everything, they like everything, they aren’t trying to make you be something you’re not. They know they’re in my home. They come, they go, they say please/thank you, they leave glowing reviews. 

2. middle: this one covers a lot of ground... they got sucked in by the pictures but don’t notice the rules or limitations. They got sucked in by the price but they really wish you were downtown or more rural or bigger or smaller. They heard abb was cool, but they’re really thinking this is a Marriott mostly. They don’t answer your questions, but have plenty of their own. Many of their queries begin with “well... I thought...” Their reviews are nit picky. 

3. worst: they absolutely cannot afford your town & travel in general but they’re coming anyway so why do you care that they want to come early, stay late, bring 4 extra guests, a dog or 2 and they’ll spend the whole trip on your sofa gobbling up every amenity, creating mountains of rubbish from all the cans & boxed meals they ate, and they’re all kind of annoyed with each other so no one will clean up and they’ll burst out the door 15 minutes past checkout without checking to see what destruction they’ve left behind. Oh and they never read anything so they also sent dozens of messages asking basic “how should a functioning adult do xyz” questions. They don’t review unless your insistence on following the rules and not caving to their wishful thinking gets them ticked off and then it’s an incoherent rant. 

[Robin4]

@Anonymous 

Dog comment very relevant Andrew, you hit the nail on the head, every guest who says in the message stream they are looking forward to meeting the dog turns out to be great........ even some that aren't !!!!

I had Nick and Hannah from London book for a week. They said in their initial comments they were a bit concerned about the dog, Hannah had been bitten as a child and had developed a lifelong canine fear.

I told them I had a daughter living 2 Km's away and I could relocate the dog to her place if the situation required it. We agreed to play it by ear, they arrived and the dog (Betts) seemed to sense that Hannah was afraid and kept her distance which is most unlike her. The 3rd afternoon we were sitting chatting and having a few nibbles when Betts came up and sat at the table alongside Hannah and after a while Hannah dropped a biscuit for Betts. That was it nothing further, no further interaction, but two afternoons later both Nick and Hannah came out with me while I threw the ball for the dog on our neighbouring park, and Hannah had to have a turn on the ball thrower and loved Betts bringing the ball back to her feet. 

On Sunday when they left Hannah had to give Betts a hug goodbye, and this was the review they left for us.......

Guests who love dogs are definitely a winner Andrew!

Cheers........Rob

[Mark116]

This feels like a dangerous topic, so I'll only give my top line, in our experience Germans are the best guests, by a very wide margin.  Even Germans with children are great guests, and we typically find that families with children of any age are more messy than any but the worst of the worst. 

[Laura2592]

@Mark116 that is what our cleaning crew tells us. We used to only alert them ahead of time if there were going to be pets. Now they want to know if children were on the reservation so that they can allow for extra time. 

[J-Renato0]

@Robin4 

I usually do not have contact with my guests, except when they arrive.
Then I exchange some message on the day after of their checkin and on the check out date.
To me It is difficult to rank them.
What I have to say is that, I agree that gay couples are great guests, respect house rules and usually leave the property clean.
The straight average couple from any country are usually great guests as well.
I usually do not take a high number of guests. Usually, at the most 3 in a listing. Dependes on the season I can take more guests.
So, I have been having a good experience when hosting group of friends as well.

I have been hosting guests from throughout the world, mainly from Brazil, Europe, South America and North America. Usually very good guests.
Since South America is too far from Asia, I almost never have guests from there.
As for Australia and New Zeland I have had some guests. All of them very good as well.

I must say, as we know it, every rule has exceptions! Once I hosted a couple from a faraway country that made my chin dropped when they left. When I entered the room, it was smelling. Believe you me, I had to throw out all the pillows. When I was carrying the pillows to the common trash bin of the building I had to cover my nose to keep from vomiting. Very bad smell of sweat. They didn't seem to be taking a shower. And they did not come from an underdeveloped country. I had to throw a sheet out too. Some sheets required two washes.
I think that, because they are from a cold country, I believe that they do not take shower on a daily basis. And when in the tropics and in hot weather, they thought that they should keep their habits.
What is interesting is that, I have had other guests from that same country, but all of them when leaving, did not left a bad smelling in the listing.

[John5097]

@Robin4 

This is my first year so my approach is to be as accommodating as possible and make adjustments with more experience. This isn't a raking either as the majority of guest have been extremely considerate. 

-- Most of the reservations were women, and with covid year tended to be younger women in their 20. Very positive communication. Very straightforward and easy to accommodate. Left great reviews and didn't drive me crazy. Most had boyfriend or husband in tow. Quite a few honeymoons and anniversaries. Some single and some girls trips when I had the pull out sleeper. In the review they would even say it was "low key" girls trip. 

2) Couples tend to be easy to accommodate. I also enjoy hosting guest in town for medial procedures, testing or follow up at local hospitals. Also guest with severe allergies love it and say in the review they are just happy to have a place they can vacation.  

4) A more diverse range of guest also seems to be best. Vast majority of guest make a point of being very clean and responsible. So far only been missing a USB charger that had my name on it. 

5) Everyone demographic has had an outlier. I'm also more compatible with other cultures than average American, so have set it up as best I can to be a super clean place very close to everything. 

6) Families tended to not be as ideal for this listing. I tried to offer a cooktop, and had rule not to cook anything greasy, but family would cook hamburgers the entire time, saturating the entire place in grease. I had to degrease the entire place. Also families staying for two days would run the washer dryer non stop, obviously bringing extra blankets and laundry from home, while I wasn't charging anything extra for the use of the pull out couch. So wasn't worth the extra expense and wear and tear. 

This could all change when all the bars open back up. A few young couples also broke the pull out couch. That was the major reason I don't offer it anymore. But it wasn't intentional and just don' t think a pull out sleeper would hold up and too expensive to replace. I also loved some of the families, so just have to see how it goes. 

[Laura2592]

I don't want to get in the demographical data of who is a good guest culturally or via orientation. Most of our guests are couples traveling with or without a pet. In general, they tend to be decent to excellent overall. 

Because we are not far from a major, very currently politically divided urban area, we have a built-in population of professionals who are immersed in a culture that does not value relaxation and encourages entitlement and a status-driven, competitive mentality. Those tend to be my least favorite guests, whatever group they find themselves in demographically. We have had them retired and working, gay and straight, male and female, and everything in between or combination thereof. They choose our space to "unwind and get away from the chaos" but then start asking why its not exactly the way their own space is/making strong recommendations that we create an experience similar to what they have at home or what they had in their head.

These are the guests who don't follow our house guide but contact us with every little thing, point out innocuous characteristics as though they will ruin their experience (i.e., they don't like the sponges we provided) and lose their marbles if they see an insect in our rural location whether in or outdoors. These are the guests who complain about the neighbors' political signs (we have had complaints about both sides) or the TV channels that come up when they first turn on the remote. They ask that we change out mattresses or furnishings to their preferences for  "next time" as though our cottage is specifically set up for them alone. They may leave the place clean or messy-- it really doesn't matter much because we are usually worn out by the time they leave no matter what. And their feedback to us is often full of backdoor brags ("in my home we have  XYZ and I have found it to be so much better than what you offer") but lacks pleasantries, basic gratitude or thanks. 

The other type of guest that drives me nuts are the bargainers. Want extra people beyond what we offer. Want extra nights that aren't available. Want to bring more pets, want better rates, saw the place 6 months ago and thought it was cheaper, why do I have to pay for cleaning etc etc etc. Usually they ask these questions before booking and we can let them know what we offer and that we are firm in that. They don't book. Sometimes they start the bargaining after booking which is never a good experience.