Reviews

[Elisabeth40]

Over the past 6 years of hosting I mentioned a pattern and would love to hear your opinion on it.

My long airbnb hosting journey showed me, that the majority of the guests who use airbnb for the first time, are very angry people and demanding.

Most of them have no feeling for the value of things. I asked myself why? And I finally came to a personal conclusion that this problem is a lack of experience with using airbnb. Out of my observation I see that the first time users lack on empathy and have an imagination about how they want you and your home to be.  There is a lack of tolerance and acceptance. I feel like the guest needs time to understand the concept of airbnb and accept indifferences and learn to value the nice opportunities. Till now I never declined on guests, who don't have reviews, who never used airbnb before, but today I think, I am scared of people who come off, as they would know it better, how you need to be. 

I would love to open a petition  to restrict new guests, who have no experience in airbnb to be able to give hosts reviews for the first 5 bookings at different places. Because I am tired to give people chances and be demolished by they lack of understanding and their aggressive entitlement. I feel like a guests who wants to profit from this community and the value must gain/ learn certain understanding and feeling before they get weaponized with reviews. I do think I am an experienced host, but I am more and more scared to host guests who never attended any airbnb places before, because I do not want to risk my value to someone who lacks respect towards all my work and my personal experience. Hosting is more as just giving your guest a place to stay. I am very accurate in what I sell people here, I do get upset about people who cannot read listing description and house rules and dictate and judge me how my personal space and my persona needs to be. I am definitely tired of people who do not have understanding for values and effort. I also think it's wrong to give reviews on the first place you ever used in your life through airbnb, if you as a guest have no comparison at all.  

[Anonymous]

@Elisabeth40 It would be a shame if first-time guests were excluded from some of the features of Airbnb. It's in hosts' best interests to have a constant influx of new users trying out Airbnb and not feeling like second-class members. I actually really like the newbies, as often they're excited about trying something they haven't done before.

However, in the request process I might apply some extra scrutiny to a new account, and ask a few questions to verify that they understand what they're booking. Not only does this occasionally catch one who mistook a Private Room for an Entire House; it also gives me a bigger sample of the person's communication style - which I find to be a better predictor of how they'll behave as guests than past reviews are. Nothing wrong with having a little chat before deciding whether to accept, and making sure the guest's expectations are a good fit.

[Elisabeth40]

my place and me got pepper sprayed wile I was asleep yesterday, by my guest. 

[Elisabeth40]

I cannot give people reviews who live 2 blocks away from me. I got pepper sprayed wile I was asleep and I cannot give a review to my guests.

[Helen350]

So sorry about the pepper spray @Elisabeth40 . Many hosts would advise NOT to allow locals to book your place. Whatever they want to do at yours that they can't do at home, or their parent's home, you don't want it either! 

You don't have to accept ALL or ANY guests, you know?! Why not switch off Instant Book, and screen your guests very carefully?

[Elisabeth40]

Do you see here review here! I was nice, going along with her ignoring my house rules, accepting her friend staying for free at my place, being nice as you suggested. The guest pepper sprayed my apartment and me wile I was asleep, I woke up, had to jump out on a street in my sleeping cloth, didn't called a police, believe my guest that it was an accident, the guests wanted to book another night, I said, it's to much for me, I cannot handle this pepper spray, I am not willing to extend her stay, now she gives me this 1 star review!!!!!  I do believe in people, I do want and love people, but I do not feel respected at my own home for opening my home to people, and I do not choose my guests, they choose me. I welcome everyone. I always had my listing on insta book. I want to give new guests the same opportunities as to experienced guests, but newbies, young guests do not appreciate that. If I need to keep up with this, and my house rules are not something out of this world, why and how is it possible to be punished for being nice to people. Her review is a revenge to me, but could anyone of you hosts here continue going along with disrespect and being pepper sprayed wile you are asleep, just to get a 5 star review?! I am ok with my decisions and I do believe people need to learn how to treat other people's places and not ruining their business just because moody pepper spraying. If someone pepper sprays others at the store, I am pretty sure, the store will call a police on you.

[Sarah977]

@Elisabeth40   The idea of being nice to people and allowing them to break your house rules and disrespect you is what is leading to your problems. 

You seem to think that letting entitled, pushy guests do what they want, letting their friend stay for free,  etc, will lead to getting a good review, but it is the opposite. People who take advantage will continue to do so, they don't appreciate you being nice, they think they deserve to have whatever they want.

You need to politely but firmly establish with guests what is and isn't allowed. Being nice to people who abuse your hospitality is just giving them license to continue to do so-they are seeing you as a pushover who is letting them dictate what goes on in your space.

You need to learn to say no. "No, I'm sorry, but your friend can't stay- you booked and paid for 1 person. If that's not acceptable to you, you are free to leave." 

Your house, your rules. Respect yourself enough to expect and demand respect from others, not let them take advantage of your good nature.

[Elisabeth40]

There is no way IN or OUT @Sarah977 , here is the point, it seems like it doesn't matter how I would have reacted, I called the airbnb support and discussed this situation with airbnb, I told to airbnb, I don't want the second guest, my listing even is not made for hosting 2 people on an none extendable couch. I ask the guest, did you guys read my listing and the house rules, they say, YES, I ask them, did you mentioned that this listing is not for 2 people and this couch is not extendable, YES, do you intend to stay here anyways?, I see you both already took a shower too. YES MAAM THANK YOU WE ARE FINE LIKE THAT! So after talking to an airbnb representative, I said to myself, ok, if the kids are ok with it and aware of it what they do, then it's fine. I went to bed, today in the morning I wake up, cannot open my eyes and take a breath, I am literary suffocating, I jump off and run out of my place, coughing and throwing up.  I believe it was an accident. I didn't called police, waited for 2 hours and returned and opened my windows. Now I get this review?! For me going along with a second guest and accepting being pepper spayed! WHY?! 

[Sarah977]

@Elisabeth40  "YES, do you intend to stay here anyways?, I see you both already took a shower too. YES MAAM THANK YOU WE ARE FINE LIKE THAT! So after talking to an airbnb representative, I said to myself, ok, if the kids are ok with it and aware of it what they do, then it's fine."

See, that is where you went wrong with them.  It wasn't fine with you that they showed up with 2 when you only accept one, they saud they read your rules, they just felt entitled to ignore them. So why was it suddenly fine just because it was fine with the guests?

[Elisabeth40]

@Sarah977 

here is the thing, I am ok with hosting on insta book and young guests, I love people, just people do not understand. my experience showed to me, young guests, first time users cannot review hosts. Is it fair? NO. Is it fair for me to wake up in pepper spray and keep up with extra wishes? NO. If the are being stupid, I will start selecting my guests. But then please do not complain when get excluded. 

[Sarah977]

@Elisabeth40  You say you are fine with IB and hosting young guests, yet in fact you aren't- you have all these complaints and bad experiences.

When you have guests who don't "get it", you have to act like a responsible parent would. Responsible parents know that being a parent isn't about being their child's 'friend' and giving them everything they want, it's about teaching them the skills to get along in life, to have good manners, to follow what is expected of them. To go to bed at bedtime, not to eat a package of cookies half an hour before dinnertime just because they throw a tantrum if mom says no.

You know what happens to kids who aren't given any rules and who are allowed to be the boss? They end up being brats who no one else wants to be around.

The guests you describe are acting like entitled brats. So you have to act like the responsible parent and be firm about what your rules are and that they are to be respected.

[Elisabeth40]

@Sarah977 

you say something real here! I absolutely agree with you. I do not want to be a parent for my guests. Indeed, sometimes I tried to explain, I end up having 2-3 hours conversations, it takes to much time. It is a question of age. But I agree with you. How amazing it would be to embrace everyone, if the sacrifice wouldn't be so high. well maybe one day we will figure out how to handle this without paying off with our points. 

[Donata12]

@Elisabeth40 i am so sorry for what happened to you. 

You actually can choose the guests that chose you by vetting them prior to accepting their booking. You do that by not accepting IB (these days it is best anyway not to, especially for Covid and quarantine related issues depending on where you are), and by asking them questions prior to accept the booking. I always wanted to give guests with No previous reviews the chance to have one and everybody, in the Airbnb style, should be allowed to be a first time guest. However, with those guests i go the extra mile and ask them questions and give them information as to what expect. I also make all my guests sign a contract where they give me their full names and addresses and accept the building bylaws. This has prevented me to having bad guests so far.

Example of my message to a guest with no reviews prior to accepting the booking:

"

Hello ....... and thanks for your interest in our condo for your visit to Toronto!

It looks like you have never before rented with Airbnb and we want to make sure that our place is right for you. Our house rules are pretty strict and we would like to make sure you have read them and that this accommodation suits your needs. We believe that everybody should get a chance to experience Airbnb and we hope you don’t mind us asking a few questions to make sure we are a good fit.

Could you please tell us more about your party? Who will be joining you on this trip and ages?

What is the purpose for your visit?

We strongly invite you read our house rules again as well as our Building Security Undertaking contract that each guest is required to fill, accept and sign to be granted access to the building.

We look forward to hearing back from you and thank you!

Cheers

Your Toronto Hosts"

Form here on you can have a pretty good idea of who might be coming and if to accept the reso or not. 

As somebody else mentioned, also never accept bookings from locals, that is always a red flag, unless it is for a specific reason, like home relocation etc.

Last but not least, check your rates. Low prices always attract the wrong crowds 😊

[Sarah977]

@Donata12  "Low prices always attract the wrong crowds ."

Nope. While the rest of your post is spot on, I get really irritated when hosts say this as if it's some irrefutable universal fact. It's so discriminatory.

I have a budget-priced listing for my location and I have always gotten wonderful guests. Nor do they all fit into the same demographic- male, female, white, black or brown, ages ranging from 19-70. 

The one thing they all had in common was that they were respectful, appreciative guests who caused no trouble, left their space and the shared kitchen clean and tidy, damaged nothing, never angled for a refund, and all left 5* reviews.

I do think that the location and reason why guests book has a lot to do with it, as well as the tone the host sets from square one, but "low prices bring low quality guests" simply isn't true across the board and I hate hearing budget-minded travelers slagged like that.

[Donata12]

@Sarah977 

about pricing, i did not mean to be discriminatory at all, i understand that prices depend on your location, the market and demand. But, as a general rule, the lower you go, the more entitled and problematic the guests. This is very much true especially in big cities. Also, another filter for me is the number of guests allowed. The bigger the number the more possible issues, again, because of more affordable rate per person and party attractive. I agree with you, not all low budget guests are bad, but chances are, they are less well travelled, and a lot of times their expectations are completely wrong. Those are usually the ones that leave bad reviews.

At the end of the day, we are the ones that have to price and cater to whatever works best for us, and vet all possible guests and educate them prior to their arrival as to what to expect (or not to). A clear description of the listing is the key. I try to leave nothing out, even the possibility that sometimes wait times for the elevators can be long.....🙃

[Anonymous]

@Donata12  You appear to be coming from the perspective of a host renting only Entire Home listings. One thing that might not have occurred to you is that hosts of Private Room listings in shared homes are almost exclusively serving the budget-travel market. If demand in your area is so high that you can charge similar to hotels, doing so is not going to get you better guests. Rather, it gets you the kind of "entitled" people you warned about - ones who wanted a hotel or private apartment but couldn't find a vacancy, and had to settle for a homeshare. 

I don't agree at all with the classist presumptions some people make about budget travelers - I'm often one myself, not because I have unrealistic expectations but because I like to spend my money on the things I enjoy rather than waste it on a room that will sit empty when I'm not sleeping. Where I think we do agree is that pre-booking communication is the most effective way to establish whether each party has accurate expectations and the booking is a good fit. This is especially important when you're hosting in-home and essentially living with the guest. But if your impulse is to look down upon low-budget travelers, Airbnb'ing your guest room is not the job for you.