Tips on creating your House Rules?

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Tips on creating your House Rules?

House Rules

 

Hello everyone,

 

I hope you are having a great week.

 

I often see discussions here in the Community Center where suggestions or tips on the house rules have been given and it is always well received. This is why I thought it would be great to start a discussion on this. 🙂 

 

It would be great to hear tips on things you would recommend including (especially for a new host who is about to create theirs), also ways to write the 'rules' and perhaps even whether less is more in terms of points.

 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts. 

 

Thanks so much,

 

Lizzie


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134 Replies 134
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

As I understood from numerous posts here on ABB, some hosts write extensive house rules where they try to cover all possible situations in case of any damage claims or disputes. I am not sure if it helps and is it really neccessary...  but, some rules can be really helpful for example I've just heard today that in Germany you should have a house rule " forbidden illegal download" otherwise you are also guilty if your guest do it and fees are very high, like 1700€ per mouvie.

We have just few most important rules and they are also printed on few languages in the apartment. 

 

 

Bruce43
Level 10
Kfar Blum, Israel

I keep it quick and to the point;

HOUSE RULES

No one wants their special experience ruined by loads of unnecessary rules. Which is why restrictions are kept to a minimum. They are:

No smoking inside the apartment, but smoking on the porch is OK.

No extra guests without prior consent, thank you.

No parties. This is a beautiful, quiet part of the world, so please be respectful towards the neighbors and keep the noise down, especially between 10 pm and 7 am.

 

 

Nutth0
Host Advisory Board Member
Chiang Mai, Thailand

@Bruce43 thank for an idea .... I have use some of your word "No extra guests without prior consent" 

@Lizzie for me in Thailand - " No shoes in a room " is common house rules

update to my house rules;                             I posted this one after a winter of pets.

 

No one wants their special experience ruined by loads of unnecessary rules. Which is why restrictions are kept to a minimum.

They are:


No parties. This is a beautiful, quiet part of the world, so please be respectful towards the neighbours and keep the noise down, especially between 10 pm and 7 am.

 

Pets are welcome, although we do ask you to ensure they don’t climb on the bed or other furniture with dirty paws. There’s a secure space in the porch area for them to sleep.

 

Please also respect the property and its contents. The owners are opening the doors of their property to people from around the world, and want as many as possible to enjoy its unique charm, so please take care around the apartment.

Our homes belong to us — not to Airbnb.


Please respect my neighbours, no loud music or parties or unknown overnight "GUESTS" or "Couch Surfers

"Photo ID must match the guest it is a rule from Airbnb.

James88
Level 2
Birmingham, United Kingdom

But airbnb allows the guest to remain anonymous due to data protection. Ive received many requests from guests whos profile picture is taken from a distance or a picture of their dog or pot plant.

I questioned the policy but was told that the guest can put any profile picture up as air bnb have verified whom they are when going through the verification process

@James88  take a look at my house rules ,  specifically house rule  NO 1.  I do not allow anyone to book my home without a Clear Facial photo in their profile as well as a photo of each guests needs to be sent to my email or phone number. Airbnb stands

by my House Rule 100-%.... 

If you feel that me or another host have helped you, feel free to click on the "thumbs up" button at the end of any post. Thank you so much.

Aloha, Momi

Great way to contact Airbnb or via Twitter at AirbnbHelp / Facebook


Hi Momi,

 

I have read your rules, etc. and borrowed from them heavily.

Apparently, a lot of us are learning from you, as your profile mentions that it is getting a lot of views lately!

Well done.

I must say, I am very curious now to know what you put into your house manual!

 

Aloha,

Frances on Vancouver Island

@David-And-Frances0 

A lot of views you say?!?  LOL.....I WAS wondering but then again, my photos of breakfast alone get me alot of views.....but I am glad to know that my House Rules have helped you and many others.  And yes, there have been quite a few hosts who have been "Borrowing" heavily from my listing house rules because I see copy and paste jobs all over on other listings.  Not quite exactly what I had in mind when I suggested to hosts around the world to take a look at my House Rules, hoping they would make it their own, but it seems that many people are unaware of copyright infringement laws.  haha.  That's ok...the main goal for me is to help everyone have a better situation going forward with precise and clear House Rules for the host and guests. 

 

Speaking of House Rules, let me tell you just how much I appreciate Airbnb having my back and supporting me 100%.  Just 2 days ago, I received an IB from a California guests who just started using Airbnb 30 days ago according to her sign up date and her ONE good review in May 2017.  She sent me a pleasant short message but her short message clearly proved to me that she had NOT read my House Rules.  I quickly thanked her for her IB, thanked her for choosing our family/home, and would love to host her and her traveling companion I will just call " ElmerFudd" for the CC post.  I quickly followed up with another message that I have saved in my ABB account whereas I remind my guests that even an IB is not confirmed if they do NOT follow my house rules at the time of booking.  In other words, this young lady, had NOT complied with House Rule #1, House Rule #10 and her check in date was within 13 days.   I am always willing to give everyone a second chance to redeem themselves by offering them a chance to read my House Rules and correct the errors.

 

Here is what she had not done yet...and I waited 24 hours too.  

1.  Did not provide her MALE guests first and last name.   (only gave first name)

2.  Did not provide a photo of MALE guests to me.

3.  Did not have an Airbnb profile at all.   Nothing, None, Nada.  (and yet her first host was okay with that)

4.  Did not provide the arrival time or departure time from our home.....(too many guest assume I am handcuffed to my home)  LOL

5.  Did not provide a government ID of herself which is 100% required to stay in my home. 

6.  Did not send me the required Movie quote embedded in my House Rules proving she hadn't read all the way through.

 

After 12 hours and again, 24 hours later, I sent ANOTHER kind reminder that her IB was not confirmed with me as her hosts bc the following had not been done.  Her answer:  "I am not willing to do that. Its too much. And I am calling Airbnb to complain."

 

My Reply:  I am sorry to hear that as I don't think its that big of deal to expect to know who is coming to OUR HOME.  My listing is very clear on what I need from our potential guests who share our space.  Over 200 guests did NOT see an issue with it and were very welcomed to our home.  I would love to welcome you as well but I need to know who exactly is coming.  Feel free to call Airbnb but they stand by my House Rules 100%. I am very willing to give you a 3rd opportunity to comply which should take about 5 mins or less.  But please know that I am very much looking foward to hosting you and "ElmerFudd" once you have completed the necessary steps.

 

How did she respond?  

She called and complained to Airbnb.  Airbnb communicated that Momi is 100% correct,  and reminded her she should have read.  Apparently she was told she was already in default of not complying with House Rules that are duly noted for at the time of booking prior to check in.  They also told her that Momi has given you plenty of time and chances to correct this situation but you are choosing otherwise.  They also warned her that if she didn't comply, she would be cancelled upon and lose everthing.   This guests chose to cancel the booking.  As far as I am concerned, I have dodged a bullet of possibly hosting a very disrespectful guests as she was already showing many signs of being disrespectful during the booking process.  HENCE......WHY......I have the rules I have.  And I also know its helped other hosts around the world for the last 20 months who reached out to me through social media to try and overcome the problems they were having with guests consistently breaking house Rules and thinking they can stay in the Airbnb unit. 

 

Its always a thrill when I get private messages in my CC INBOX from other hosts about how my House rules have helped them with a very specific guests during the booking process or after check in.  (got 3 this week)  :))

 

I want to reiterate how important it is to make sure that every host communicates/documents through the Airbnb message website.  That is the only communication that Airbnb will support.  If one of my guests is found breaking a rule, I always give them a friendly reminder to try harder.  If the rule is broken again, I send a mesage to that guests using the Airbnb website to document the infraction.  This protects me as the host.  And hopefully the guests will try even harder to be a better guests.  I mean come on...how hard is it to turn off a ceiling fan???   Or stop walking on my clean floors /carpet with their dirty shoes???  ( I even have a cute sign at my door reminding our guests about our Hawaiian culture of removing shoes....guess they don't read that either!) hahaha 

 

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts of gratitude publicly.  Perhaps one day I can welcome you to my home with a complimentary delicious cold fresh Mango Margarita from my Mango tree - they are so yummmmmmmyyyyyy!!!!  

If you feel that me or another host have helped you, feel free to click on the "thumbs up" button at the end of any post. Thank you so much.

Aloha, Momi

Great way to contact Airbnb or via Twitter at AirbnbHelp / Facebook


Ricardo85
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Momi0 

 

Is your House Rules still available?

 

Ricardo

 

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Coloque "@Ricardo". Assim eu recebo uma notificação.

@Momi0 , about your nr. 4 requirement : do you really require an incoming booking - with 13 days to go until arrival date - to provide you  with arrival and departure times to your home already then, at the time of booking? 

@Annette33   Yes I do.  Because last time I checked it takes an airplane to fly to Hawaii from California. 

 

1. The REASON I need that arrival time is to coordinate my very busy work schedule to make sure I am here to check them in when they would like to come.  That's me being a thoughtful host.   As mentioned in my House Rules. 

 

2.  I have experienced guests who COMMUNICATED to me at the of booking that they had not purchased their plane tickets yet and didn't know what time they would like to check in.....to which I reply:  Is absolutely fine but to make sure they remember to let me know as soon as possible to ensure I am here to check them in at the time they would like.  Heavens forbid a guests surprises us by just showing up at 6pm and I am out to dinner with my husband.....oh wait, am I not suppose to go on dates with my sexy husband??   haha 

 

If you feel that me or another host have helped you, feel free to click on the "thumbs up" button at the end of any post. Thank you so much.

Aloha, Momi

Great way to contact Airbnb or via Twitter at AirbnbHelp / Facebook


@Annette33

I'm guessing that Momi meaning is that she wants to be informed rather than asking?

The idea of the guest taking the responsibility to notify of arrangements.

Make sense?

Frances

That's great, Momi!

Best of both worlds: instabook plus you can cancel if you have proof that they did not read your rules!

Great system.

I am working through my listing now... It's only a temporary plagiarizing while I work it into my own language.

But the concept is Brilliant!

We only recently started to hit upon a 'rash' of folks not reading the description or the rules.

Had one person show up with her boyfriend, who was very nice, and he was quizing her as to whether it was okay for his cat allergy and she was pleading ignorance. So, we are including a requirement that all parties be aware of what they are getting and whether it suits their needs. As it turns out, we are cat free, but we were not too happy about the care that went into the booking process and happy to write in some rules to help prevent this type of sloppy behaviour.  Most concerning.  Good to play our part.

We also had some newbies recently, and while I was not impressed with their act, I realized that I had not fully played my part as a 'teacher' and have been working at bringing myself up to be ready in future.  We have been playing it on the nicey nicey side and realized that it was time for a change to lay down some rules according to how we feel about the action we have been seeing.

Thanks again for your help!

Aloha,

Frances

If you come to the island, you can stay in our suite as our honoured guest!  🙂

 

 

@David-And-Frances0   WOW....thanks for sharing that.   I am glad I can help!  I wish more hosts would take the time to be more proactive in their House Rules but that's also why ABB has implemented the Co Hosting feature which I am now doing for several other hosts who just can't put the time and energy into taking of their listings and guests too but want to ensure that their guests get awesome service.  The Co Hosting feature has been beneficial to the hosts in hiring me to help them establish their listing, their House Rules to set standards  and expectations for the guests too.  And I get paid for all of my hard work efforts by each booking I secure for the hosts.    Plus, I live nearby so I can always go check on the listings for them to ensure the right amount of people are staying there and not having parties.  WIN WIN for everyone.  Have you considered applying for Co-Hosting in your area?

If you feel that me or another host have helped you, feel free to click on the "thumbs up" button at the end of any post. Thank you so much.

Aloha, Momi

Great way to contact Airbnb or via Twitter at AirbnbHelp / Facebook