Off season = bad guests

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Roberta150
Level 7
Flagstaff, AZ

Off season = bad guests

I'm a Superhost and have entered into my first off-season.

 

What I've learned is due to the lower prices because of so many available listings, the guests I've had so far are mostly (not all) horrible compared to high-season, high-paying guests. They seem to have the same mindset of those who want a discount, which is a major red flag for a bad host experience.

 

I've gone in and blocked off Mon-Wed in January through mid-March when good shoulder-season guests start booking. And I raised my low and high prices to discourage cheap guests from booking the available days. I'm taking a break, and plan on using the time to get long-awaited projects done. For hosts who need the income, I'm so sorry: It's much better to have another source of income during the off-season and enjoy the time off from hosting rather than deal with rotten, cheap guests who may cost you more than the booking fee to let them stay.

 

You may also make the mistake I made by politely but firmly reminding a guest of the house rules that they were violating - yep, they retaliated with completely unfair star rankings in every category when normally I get all five-stars. Luckily the comment was "Great host!" and I have enough five-stars that theirs was diluted and doesn't affect what shows during a search by future guests - it still shows me as five-stars in all categories.

 

However, newer hosts with few reviews would be negatively impacted by such reviews which I am convinced are much more likely during the off-season.

1 Best Answer
Mike170
Level 2
Vientiane, Laos

@Roberta150 Love your post.

First, we get, almost without exception, wonderful guests.  

Our high season is December through February/March, when we can get very congested.  We sort of tag along through the rest of the year - but we continue to have a very regular number of guests.  Our price is relatively high, but we offer a very comprehensive package of goodies for it - you could stay with us for a month and never put your hand in your pocket.  Our prices stay the same throughout the year.  We have discounts for a week or a month, but that is it.  

 

I continually get messages from ABB saying

- why don't we reduce our price? 

- we are  more expensive than other establishments 

- why don't we do instant book? 

- why don't we change some of our criteria (such as minimum two nights booking)?   

 

I just wish I could reply to them!  

They are not comparing like-with-like!

And we want to remain in control of who comes to stay with us in our home.  

We are not income maximisers:  we are satisficers.

 

Good luck.  

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45 Replies 45

I love the preferred guest idea!

Lawrene0
Level 10
Florence, Canada

You guys! I just got offered a deal for the off-season! Fellow says he will come live in my treehouse for free for "three to six months" and "keep it going" for me. I only have to make him breakfast every day, and maybe dinner but not every day for that. He will burn my firewood, and borrow my canoe, and come up to the main house for wifi. I might have to drive him places sometimes. The girlfriend has kicked him out and he has no job right now, so, in case I was wondering, that is why he is free to do me this favour. He is not on Airbnb. He found me via a neighbour. Whose name is Mudd. 

Unfortunately I had to turn him down because I get too many winter bookings, and I don't own a snowmobile (which is something else he would like to borrow), so he wonders if I know any other Airbnb hosts.

I do not. 

Lol, that’s a good one! 

We got a few crazy requests for winter in a seaside town, mostly to rent three months for the price of two weeks, which could mean to live for free and pay a part of the electricity and gas bill. We always got them, long before airbnb, on newspaper ads and first platforms. 

They target new hosts especially, thinking they might be desperate. 

Our best one was a mother living on a sailboat on the other side of the ocean, but coming home for the winter to see her kids. Her problematic ex husband insisted that the kids spend time with her only in an apartment, not in a freezing cold boat. So whow could we keep a poor mother from her kids? We could. 

@Lawrene0 What a deal! How could you possibly turn that down? 😉 

Last week, I was asked to rent my 3 bedroom apartment out to a woman from Calgary from January until March with a week at Christmas time for her adult son who got a job with the ski patrol. Of course, she wanted to stay in it too, whenever she came to visit him. She wanted a discounted monthly rate and to include the week during Christmas. The apartment is slated to bring roughly $3500-$4000 per month, depending on time and if we are fully booked. So far, it's looking pretty good. We are at a very reasonable rate to begin with, and bookings are picking up. I know that it's rather difficult for seasonal ski hill employess to find housing when it's only the ski season they will be staying for and this year seems exceptionally tight. If we rented the place long term, we could easily get $2000/month, but I know that what this young man would be making at the hill could never pay fit, so I envisioned him turning my place into a flop house or sharing it with several others, which is the only way would be able to swing it. I also know that the ski hill staff really like to party on their days off. This particular apartment is right above ours, with the living room right above our bedroom. I know that at the end of the term, there would be a huge mess to clean up and perhaps damage and missing/broken items. I also know that regardless of how it was rented or what was agreed upon, even in writing, if it is a stay l;onger than a month, then it becomes a regular tenancy, according to the Residential Tenancy Branch and that can be a real nightmare to deal with. I had a terrible gut feeling on this, and it ate at me all that day and over night, and I know my husband was leaning towards the sure money in the pocket, but thankfully, I convinced him that this would be a bad idea. Not only would we not have AirBnB's backing because the person renting the place wouldn;t actually be in residence, but why would we  drop our price and say no to better income, especially when families come to ski during the holidays and spring break? Why would we have the risk of being stuck with a noisy bad tenant? I reminded my husband that one of the reasons we chose this model to rent was so that if we had a terrible tenant, we could get them out in short order, which we would not be able to do in the above situation. We could theoretically be stuck with them the whole time without them even paying rent!

We did rent to a girl employed at the hill when we first bought the place 3 years ago, and it was a mistake. Our property is strictly no smoking anywhere on the property. I caught her smoking in her apartment when I was driving by one night and could see in. I gave her a warning and reminded her of the rule. Then it was cigarette butts all over the entry way and the hall stunk like smoke because I presume she stood in the doorway with it open and smoked. The issue was that she really didn't care because she wasn't going to be here long term anyway so it really didn't matter to her. We stuck it out, but I learned my lesson. Never again!

I guess I should expect that I would be approached to rent on a long term basis, but I'm not sure what these people are thinking when it comes to price. They want a huge discount on top of everything and, I'm willing to bet, that they would actually make money themselves by subletting the extra beds. NO WAY!
As for off season, ours is a couple of weeks in April, when the ski hill shuts down and the golf courses fires up, and again in the fall from around the end of September (sometimes into October, depending on weather) to the first week in December when the ski hill fires up again. I think we can weather it Ok and can take that time to relax and perhas do whatever long term maintenance/sprucing up the apartments need.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Wow @Lawrene0

 

Why didn't you snap him up - a new concept Airbnb host pay guests to stay at their home.

Mari-And-Di0
Level 3
Miami Beach, FL

@Roberta0,

        I hear you but I think the quality of guest has changed for the worse over the last 2 years when Airbnb became popular among the masses both here in the USA as abroad.  When Airbnb first started, it attracted a more well traveled demographic, who appreciated the gesture of an inexpensive and safe option at popular destinations.

      

      

 

I fully agree with that opinion.

 

In the beginning of Airbnb ,it was a bit idealistically,and thus the guests as well the hosts.

 

When the platform became mainstream, it seems the some hosts use it as a easy way to make money,without never seeing the host.

 

On the other side, I see a lot guests in my house that are not willing to have contact at all and just use it as a cheap hostel, and they just come in and locked them self up in the room I rent out and not talking at all.

 

I go also as a traveller over the world , but I always keep in mind that I enter the very private place from an individual,and I feel very thankfully that they welcome me.

 

I really like to have a conversation with my hosts to know how it is living in their place and country.

 

That was the original goal from Airbnb I thought, and from many hosts as well.

 

But I agree that the guests are not so nice anymore ,and sometimes just rude, and antisocial, and breaking the rules about smoking and drugs in my house.

 

It makes me taking the decision to quit making my place available on the Airbnb platform.

 

I will still book a place by a host and I always keep in mind that I am a GUEST and not a CUSTOMER.

And if I break something in the hosts house, I will mention it to my host and offer to pay the damage.

 

Some guest don't do this at all unfortunately.

Glen-and-Esther0
Level 2
Christchurch, New Zealand

Hi Roberta,

Sorry to hear what you've gone through. Through our 4 year hosting experience, there are also "low quality" guests during peak season too. When we first started, the guests used to be more respectful. Recently Airbnb has been marketing hard on new customers then we start getting some bad guests who think they deserve 5 star hotel service and become demanding and unreasonable. This makes being a host extremely difficult and often the Airbnb customer service does not talk to hosts before making any fair decision and we only get the finalised result and terrible demanding arguing guests are not really penalised. Thank goodness, there are only few and not majority. With all we hosts put into, it seems unfair but I am sure there are still great guests that appreciate the good work you've done. 

I'm worried about this too. On another note, I just bought a house to use for Airbnb and I have a booking in Jan. over the MLK holiday. Not only did he talk me out of my two night minimum stay, but he talked me down in price. I'm getting full price for 1 night, but probably loosing overall for that weekend. I did this only because this is a new listing and I'm trying to fill my calendar. The problem is, he said it's for his church group and first he said 6-8 people then, within 2 minutes, it jumped to 11, then 12. I'm worried he will be bringing more than 11 and I'm not only mad at myself for giving them such a deal, but I'm afraid they're going to deceive me by bringing more than 11. I'm new to this business, only since June, and I have a lot to learn. I sent him a message to tell him, "just so you know, the limit for the cottage is 11". he did not respond, so I'm thinking he's going to bring more. How should I handle this? Charge more for being deceitful when I get there and see there's more than 11? Let it go? report him if that occurs, should I cancel his reservation? I have not cancelled 1 yet and I'm a super host. Contact him and tell him I'm not comfortable with our arrangement? Any advise? I feel I should stick to what I agreed to but I don't want to be deceived and used.

Hello David and Annie,

 

I don't see why not you can not cancel, you still on time... I just will start hosting my first guest next week and I already decline 4...  for dates not available at their request.

This is a business is like Landlord/Tenant relationship, with the difference that you can choose who can stay in your house and follow your rules... your instinct is sending you a message... if does not sound right... it not always right... I think you have to follow your instinct and apologyzed... if he is not book yet just decline them... anyways when you decline the guest, airbnb give a list of reasons why you are decline the guest and you pick the one that fits with you...  Just remember... is your property, is your investment and you the only one that decides who can be in your property.    Good Luck!!!

Pete27
Level 4
SF, CA

Roberta, you're absolutely right about this. I host only 30+ day guests due to regulations in San Francisco and I've had to take on some bad guests to get through the slow season. Navigating the issues that come with high-maintenance and disagreeable guests has proven to be my biggest challenge of hosting. Higher rates do bring higher quality and lower-maintenance guests. If you're able to maintain rates through low season, I'd highly recommend doing so!

Helga0
Level 10
Quimper, France

@Dave-And-Annie0, did you settle the matter with your guest yet? I would erite in such a case, that the original offer was made for 6 to 8 guests. Extra persons are not included in the special offer, bug have to be paid extra. If you have an extra person fee, you can aplly this one. Otherwise you could always say, that ghe teduced offer was for the original requests and if tgey want the house in full capacity, the full price applies. If they wish to find another place able to house 12 or more, you would offer a refund / a refund if rebooked, should they wish to cancel. 

If they wish to stick with the original offer of 8 persons, they will have access to 4 bedrooms (0r however is the layout of the place), the other rooms will be locked.  / / the extra beds oand bedding are not provided. 

I can’t see your listing in the phone, just describe it in a way, that you will honor the original request, which you offered and they booked, but it would make no sense to arrive with a crowd. 

 

If the answer is not reassuring, you vojld discuss it with the service to get the booking cancelled for fearing gor your property. That’s not so easy after a request to book, but you could try. 

Did uou call the booker yet? Some things may be solved by phone. Written words are always harsher. I would try to discuss it on the phone first and confirm in writing afterwards. 

Good luck!

Hi Helga!

  They booked at full capacity and paid full price,but they mentioned bringing in more than the maximum. I sleep 11, they were talking about bringing 12 maybe more. I sent a request to them for 150.00 for any additional guests over 11.

This, I explained, is because I would need to procure an air matress or two plus additional bedding and towels. I really don't want to refund anything if I can avoid that. I think they mean well and are not trying to be bad guests. He is now keeping me updated on how many are coming. So I feel everything will be fine. I took the advise from another host and I'm feeling much better about this booking. Thank you so much for all your input, and it's great advise for future bookings!

Alex-and-Sergio0
Level 2
Málaga, Spain

Yes, Yes, Yes! 100%. Off season - bad guests! I´m from Spain and I want to talk about my bad experience. I have new townhouse near the beach and city center. Very comfortable infrastructure and easy going by car. One of the first guests - girl, rent a room at the lowest price (for the first guests). Ok. Violation of all rules prior to arrival. Insulting and abusive phrases in the correspondence. She couldn´t find the address even though I sent her sms min 3-5 times! When she went into the house, had a lot of complaints, criticism, aggression. I wanted to cancel her booking, but it was already midnight... Result:  Bad and false review, 1 star, bad experience, disappointing + a warning from Airbnb. 2 weeks the house was closed dates. Now I again opened dates for booking, increased the price. And now I don't give to book for many peoples. This "off season - bad quests" is VERY relevant and important!

Sorry for my english:)