Pre booking questions require reading? What?! No body told me!!

Brett3
Level 10
Gold Coast, Australia

Pre booking questions require reading? What?! No body told me!!

Aloha all,

I was delighted to see the modifications Airbnb made to the pre booking questions & greeting. Allowing more scope for personalised questions seemed like a great idea.

I actually logged in using a friends account to see exactly what prospective guests see, since my account advises guests MUST acknowledge reading this little package. The questions and greeting appear as a speech bubble, and the guest must indeed send some sort of message to the host before they can continue with the booking. This is a great step but seems to do little to get guests to read or follow the questions. 

 

I ask my guests what time they plan to arrive and if they have read the listing description and House Rules. Simple stuff that doesn't take long and helps make sure we are all on the same page in terms of what's expected and what to expect. Since the modifications came in I have had a total of ZERO guests that have done what's asked of them.

I reposted the questions for one guest because they said they were never shown them. The guest then sent the questions back to me as a message and still didn't bother answering them. I declined the booking request.

 

I also find it disappointing that so many people are happy to so quickly lie and say they have read the information when I know they have not. (I include a suggestion in all my listings and advise guests if they ask me about this suggestion they will be rewarded with FREE chocolate biscuits) Needles to say no one asks about the suggestions because no one has bothered reading the listing they just told me they read.

I can already hear people asking why I care either way? Well after 5 years hosting, I have found that when my guests understand what's expected and what the House Rules are, I have very few problems and the property is left in a clean and tidy condition. The guests that say "yes, yes, yes" to reading the information they ignored are generally the ones that leave rubbish, check out late, smoke inside etc, and are also the ones most offended when they are asked to pay for extra clean or deodorising. One of these guests actually sent the message: "no body told me I had to read the House Rules!! How was I supposed to know they applied to me!"

I want to hear how other hosts get guests to read the information, particularly those hosts offering a private room in their home.

 

Brett

18 Replies 18

@Brett3  That's certainly a piss-poor percentage- 1 out of 20. Pretty shocking, really. The distressing thing to me is that I'm sure this carries over into other aspects of life- why read the instruction manual for a new power tool or device you purchase when you can just watch a youtube video about it? Why do your own research and fact-check what your politicians are spouting when you can just watch talking heads on TV and believe whoever says something that bolsters your views?

According to many studies, it's known that reading increases intelligence level. Your brain waves are most active when reading. Personally, I think the general population is getting stupider.

Wonder how guests would like it if you said "Oh, sorry, I forgot to put clean bedding on the bed, I sort of forgot I had guests coming today, my memory's not too great."

I don't use IB myself, don't have any pre-booking message (sort of pointless when only one out of 20 actually read it)- I message with every guest to make sure they are aware of the important stuff about my listing to ascertain that they've read it all before accepting their booking.

Kira32
Level 10
Canary Islands, Spain

In my house rules I mention a fee every time they want to use the washing machine and I mention it 1 more time upon arrival and how much it cost. So much better now!

Brett3
Level 10
Gold Coast, Australia

Gosh I am glad that is working for you @Kira32 .

I have a sign on my clothes dryer that says it is not available because previous guests broke it. Guess how many guests ask if they can use the clothes dryer?

Sammy35
Level 10
Pittsburgh, PA

i wish i had answers.  there are none.  except consideration of hosting termination.  or come to terms with the lack of non compliance because people will never ever read them.  good guests won't need them and the ones that do will never be the type of person to read them

i tried having them sign the paper copy house rules/manual but still had to parent.  its inherent in a crummy guest MO

read it at checkin before i show them to their room (didn't set a good tone)

i have put up friendly little sticky type starburst colored posts as reminders for my intolerable pet peeves which has helped--slightly

i tried offering courtesy monetary amount refunds for compliance.  that proved to be useless.

the best thing to do is read past reviews, discount any reviews that are a single phrase or few words as superfluous, and disapprove people without the substantiating documentation from past hosts.  if you have ANY question whatsoever forfeit the revenue, that's your gut and intuition screaming...its the only way to sleep at night on this topic.

people even try to book listing that will clearly not meet their needs.  ABB just did me the lovely courtesy of "temporarily pausing" (aka suspending--sammy you bad, bad girl and sh!tty host lol) my listings for repeated declination of users with no verification or past stays/reviews.  i'm not sure i'm going to bother agreeing to more CYA with superfluous tips on hosting etiquette that has nothing at all to do with my experiences.  their antics will push me off the platform once and for all in the near future no doubt.

~~~~~~~
like nikey: just do it