Read this BEFORE you host Chinese guests!!!

Answered!
Yu31
Level 6
Milford, MA

Read this BEFORE you host Chinese guests!!!

I'm a Chinese. I'm both Airbnb host and guest, and I live in different countries and experienced different cultures. I would like to share some tips about hosting Chinese guests/expecting their certain behaviors.

 

- 95% Chinese follow rules well - if you tell them "DO NOT..., OR..." clearly, they will follow.

- 95% Chinese are peace and cooperative - no violence/always try to avoid conflict.

- 95% Chinese like cooking Chinese food in your kitchen/making hot tea - expecting grease and smell/smoke.

 

- 95% Chinese don't have the habit giving tips - never part of their culture.

- 95% Chinese don't have body odor - they don't use strong cologne.

- 90% Chinese clean up the room before they leave.

- 90% Chinese take shower before going to bed - they may use more water than other guests.

- 90% Chinese use your washer/dryer/laundry - leave detailed instruction or they may break your machine.

- 90% Chinese adolescent are shy/quiet, but kids under 10 years old can be loud - some Chinese parents never trained their kids to be quiet/wait.

- 90% Chinese are fine if you wanna check up their room to see if they break anything before their departure.

- 90% Chinese are rich/highly educated (if they can get the visa and afford air ticket to travel abroad), but that doesn't mean all of them are generous/polite/speak English well... because of the cultural differences/personal reasons, some nice/sweet Chinese can be rude in certain ways/seem to ignore rules (maybe they don't understand/never paid attention).

 

To Be Continued...

 

Ps. Let me know if there's anything I could help.

1 Best Answer

@Ma0   Taking hour long showers in some places is not okay no matter whether or how much someone is paying or not. It's not always about the water bill- in some places there are drought conditions and everyone who lives in, or visits those places has to conserve water or the whole area will run out. Just as leaving a cookie wrapper laying on a bedroom table may not attract insects in downtown Paris, if someone leaves a cookie wrapper here in the tropics, there will be ants swarming over it within a few hours. Travelers have to adjust to the conditions of the areas they are visiting. And just because someone has paid for a place to stay and expects to be comfortable, doesn't mean they have some right to waste the planet's resources, especially where those resources are scarce. That's how I see it, anyway.

There's nothing less comfortable about getting yourself clean in a 15 minute shower than an hour long one, even though it may not be what one is used to. People who expect to be able to live exactly like they do at home when they travel shouldn't travel- they should stay home where they can do whatever they are accustomed to.

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182 Replies 182
Maria12246
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Quite accurate about Chinese guest I find women are the worst and they all wash by hand their underwear which they hand all wet in the bedroom furniture damaging it . 
Yes they like burning the oil to smoke point leaving your Aparment full of smoke . 

Elizabeth429
Level 10
Madrid, Spain

@Yu31,

 

Interesting facts. Thank you!

You're welcome!

Hello Yu thank you for your great information as I have been struggling with how to better “manage” my Chinese guests.  We are getting more and more bookings from Chinese groups.  My cleaner usually charges more after each visit because there is a lot of extra litter to collect (tissues left on the floors in each room, lolly wrappers, cigarette butts around the front door etc) burnt pots and pans and dirty ovens, crockery and cutlery moved between units etc. (If there are two groups staying in two separate units they take the cutlery and crockery into one unit and don’t return it before they leave).  The last clean involved her collecting soiled disposable G Strings off the bathroom floor.

 

I will definitely be leaving a copy of the House Rules in Chinese language in place (Is there a translation service online you would recommend?).  

 

One question - our holiday units are located in a small coastal town where the local grocery store closes at 7pm.  Chinese guests (usually in groups) ALWAYS arrive after dark and don’t seem to want to take my advice to eat at the local hotel which has great bistro meals including seafood.  They almost always ring me to ask the for keybox code (which I have always sent to them previously) and then they seem to want to heat up food or cook.  Would it be a good idea to have a rice cooker for them and also perhaps some prepacked noodles in the containers where they only need to add water?  Do you think this would help to stop them from trying to use an oven which you said they aren’t  familiar with?  We have a microwave of course.  I just want a happy cleaner as we have had her for years and she is so good - but her patience has been tested a few times lately.  And yes occasionally we have similar behaviour from Australian guests but it is very rare.

 

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Yu31

Thanks for posting this topic, I am sure there are many of us who would appreciate these clarifications.  

Renting my apartment, I have had mostly positive experiences renting to Chinese, except those with a limited command of the English language.  

Clear instructions are provided, but when guests do not understand those, and when guests say yes, yes and nod their head even though they do not understand what you are saying, then we struggle a bit 🙂

Hardly ever ask any questions - perhaps for the fear of appearing foolish ?

90% have given lower ratings than my average guests and I wonder why ?  Before Instant Book I used to decline some requests - I could only "afford" so many without loosing my superhost status.  After going IB I removed the photo of the wok and rice cooker and that seemed to reduce the numbers.

That's so true - "say yes, nod head, hardly even ask any questions" - perhaps they don't understand what you say in the first place (language barrier/culture difference), or they understand you but they don't know how to express them well, or they think they can figure everything out by themselves later instead of appearing foolish when you are there.  

 

Lower rating possible reasons:

- loud

- cold

- smelling/wet/humid environment

- no hot food/hot tea

- no kitchen/rice cooker

- I couldn't think more (I guess, better to ask them directly, "could you please tell me 1 thing that I can do to make your stay more comfortable", use Google Translator on your cell phone if necessary =))

 

 

@Yu31

None of those, so I can only assume they were mistaken about the type of accomodation provided (apartment rental, often self check-in, offsite host). I can see that some of my Asian guests would have been better off with an on-site host, like someone renting a granny flat, their basement apartment or similar.

I agree with you, Marit Anne! On-site host or at least a patient tour of the house/equipment at the beginning can be very helpful!

 

Yu, I think it is cultural. Two very nice Chinese boys gave me 4 stars for one category and when I messaged to ask, they said it was because in their culture they would never give 5 stars. Another couple of Chinese ladies left a review complaining that the room was cold and I thought back to when I was explaining about the heating and showing her how to turn it on and off and her nodding as I was telling her, but when I got the review I realised it may have been a blank look I was getting while she was nodding and she mustn’t have understood. Such a shame as I try to make sure guests are comfortable.

Interesting when they decide to book with a host that speaks a language they don't understand and then they rate you badly because they don't understand.

well...very interesting.  Who knew?

 

 I asked one set of very nice Chinese boys why they only gave 4 stars even though the review was perfect. They said it was because in their culture they would never give 5 stars, but they said really they could find no fault.

Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

Nice post. 

Hosts must be extra sensitive. Conflict avoidance may mean that when they need something,  will not ask. Showing guests how to use things and clearly spelling out common area usage will help put them at ease.

Yes, exactly!