Is there such a thing as host fatigue? Or are guests becoming more entitled?

[Dionne1]

I love hosting through Airbnb. Our guests are generally friendly and gracious. However, after coming off a difficult reservation, I am now hosting another family that seems less than appreciative of our efforts. Within the first 24 hours, they complained that the house is too warm (we turned down the heat) and that the suite is too loud due to outside traffic. At first, I thought they were joking, since no one has ever mentioned hearing the outside traffic. Additionally, they chose to sleep with the windows open (letting even more noise into the suite) and that flooded our bedroom with cold air while we slept.

While most people would find something positive to say then offer feedback, they’ve had nothing positive to offer. They just went right to a series of negative comments about the heat, the noise, having to figure out how to turn on the Keurig for coffee, and offered unwelcomed commentary about how much money we must be wasting on heating our house. (Seriously?)

We don't mind constructive feedback or tips for making our guests' stay more comfortable, but at this point, I'm about over it. 

Is there such a thing as host fatigue? Have you experienced it and if so, how did you address it? Or are guests becoming more demanding and entitled? What are your thoughts?

[Sarah977]

@Dionne1 You poor thing. What trying guests. Too hot, too cold, too hard, too soft, just like Goldilocks.

I've been very fortunate to have non-complaining, non-demanding, appreciative guests. But you know what? I think a lot of people out there are just basically unhappy these days- their life is a rat race, they don't like their jobs, they have a hard time keeping up with the bills, they've racked up huge credit card bills, they fight traffic commuting to work every day, they don't know how to deal with their back-talking kids, etc, etc. So unhappy people are discontented in general and an Airbnb host is an easy mark to take it out on.

I host sporatically, simply because there is a definite tourist season here, Early Nov- late April. My calendar is open in the summer months, except for a 1 month break I take to go up to Canada in the summer, but there just aren't many bookings then regardless. I also have friends and family show up for a few weeks here and there, so I block off my calendar and enjoy good relaxing times with loved ones in my home. So I don't find I get burned out myself, and I don't do 1 night bookings- 3's the minimum, 2 weeks the max. Also 3 day advance notice and 1 day prep time, so I'm not frantic to turn over a room.

I'd say give yourself a break from time to time, do something super nice for yourself, but I know that's hard if you're really relying on the $ to pay the mortgage and so on.

[Mandrake-And-Karen0]

Great advice, Sarah!

Dionne,

We host quite a bit and had nearly two back to back longer stay bookings that were not good experiences.  First time it was a couple who stayed for over two months.  The boyfriend had a V-8 engine that revved up when he went out at 10 PM for grocery shopping.  We live in a quiet close knit residential neighborhood.  They started cooking dinner nightly at 11 PM to midnight, clogged up the drain and left 24 bags of trash in the apartment when they checked out! We left them a review but Airbnb did not post it. Eventhough it was quite gracious and stated facts as I just did above.

The guest was in town for a training for a month.  He was quiet but he ripped up the leather chair with luggage or some sharp thing and overstuffed the washing machine with laundry. 

We were experiencing hosting fatigue and made changes as well.  For starters we have a five to six night booking minimum.  It takes me upwards of 8 hours to clean the 800 sq ft apartment from top to bottom.  This includes washing all the linens.

We also changed to a 3 day advance notice on bookings and block off a few nights after a particularly long or trying guest stay.  If you have opted for instant book you may want to require that guests have all positive reviews from other hosts.  This may help you to avoid those new to Airbnb and those who don't behave as good guests.  Also, consider changing or adding more rules.  As we had gotten guests that behaved in unfavorable ways we just adding to the house rules to attract guests who wouldn't repeat that behaviour.  We find that helps.  

Deep breath, get some rest for a bit.  Think about redefining how you'd like to host and how that may affect the kind of guest you will attract.

Best,

Karen

[Dionne1]

@Sarah977 Thanks for the advice. These folks seemed to show up with an attitude, so who knows what their issue is. They do have good ratings, so this was a surprise. We usually take a break in January, so that is thankfully, right around the corner. 

I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday! 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Dionne1

Oh yes, people from some countries are very spoiled and lack of common sense become universal . It is soo similar to being a parent  - you have to provide everything they may need, think in advance to avoid any  trouble or accident ,  fix and resolve every problem .... while they don't think and don't listen to you. And, of course, at the end you are always the one to blame if something goes wrong 🙂

We all have to take a break from time to time and recharge our batteries as  @Sarah977 said 🙂

[Dionne1]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Thanks for the feedback. Good thing we will be recharging in January!!