To greet or not to greet, that is the question

[Inna22]

Up until last December I never greeted my guests. In November we travelled and stayed at an Airbnb. The host greeted as was incredibly nice. A few things went wrong (including roaches) but my husband forbid me to give him a bad review because he really connected with the host. So I have decided to start greeting in hopes to further boost my reviews since it clearly has a profound effect on some people. This week I had two comments from guests about how intrusive they felt it was to be greeted. One said he booked Airbnb for privacy reasons but still gave five stars. The other one said he was tired after the long drive but was not comfortable saying no to me. I spend about 5-10 minutes with each guest (unless they want to chat) and this one also had a lot of questions about parking so I told him I would help him sort it out when I come over.  He gave four stars and in his comments said it was because of the greeting. It is a pain in the behind for me to greet guests because it is usually when my kids have activities, during dinner or when I am putting them to bed. If I am loosing just as many stars as I am gaining, perhaps I should go back to not greeting. I understand some hosts need to exchange keys, collect certain forms etc but mine are designed as self-check in. Of course I would always come for any suspicions reservation as I have done before

[Inna22]

@Rowena29 thanks for the link!

[Linda-And-Richard0]

Someone asked about sayiing goodbye as guests are living.  Yes, again we live next door so it's easy to pop over to thank our guests for booking the Guest House and to wish them a safe journey home.  This gives us a chance to check to house for damage or missing items while the guests are still in the area.  On several occasions I have had to call guest because they left an item behind.  One group left a  bag of snacks they had packed for the trip home.  A lady forgot her handbag and another left their  phone charger.  Each were grateful to be able to make a quick turn around to retreive the items.

[Inna22]

We check the house for lost items immediately but guest really want/can come back. I do ship things to them and if it is first class feel to petty to ask for reimbursement but it does add up

[Anna2229]

To greet or not to greet? Be polite and then be gone. Guests don’t want a biography.

[Inna22]

@Anna2229 welcome to the boards! That's a deep insite. Please add a picture when you get a chance

[Kate-Mary0]

It can be tricky to find that happy medium between being too hands-off and being too hands-on can't it! It's difficult as different guests will have a different take on it, some enjoy a good natter and like the idea of a personal touch, others just want to turn up and check themselves in. 

As another forum member mentioned you could give your guest a choice: 

e.g. We offer self-check in or I can be there to greet you, which would be best for you?

Remote hosting can feel a bit like you're distancing yourself too much, but there are things you can put in place to make you feel a bit more comfortable about it. I have no choice but to remote host a couple of my places! This gave me a few ideas if you want to have a look:

https://www.airgms.com/manage-airbnb-remotely/

My top tip would be to have a comprehensive welcome book, that way whether you host remotely or not, your guest always has access to up-to-date info about your place and the surrounding area.

[Laís2]

Giving them a choice is perhaps a good option in this case, @Inna22 

I could set my home for self check-in only, or both.  But I don't. I selected the "hosts will meet and greet you upon arrival" box. So they already expect that they will have to see either me or my boyfriend when they arrive, so it's not an option. When I can't, we send the self check-in instructions, apologizing that we won't be available. I do this because I want to see who's staying at my place.

But not only that, I noticed the same as you assumed before: I get amazing, 5-star warm reviews when I great the guests personally. Every time. They mention the personal greeting as the cherry on the top of their check-in experience and can't stop giving us both personal compliments. I've got guests leaving me flowers multiple times and heart notes of 'how nice' I was to them. In contrast, I noticed that in most cases (not all but most) when I don't check them in person, they don't leave a review at all, or end up giving 3/4 star reviews in the check-in option, or the extreme version for example, that 'there was not enough toilet paper: overall 3 stars' (I live on the floors above so one message asking for more toilet paper would have been enough).

It seems to me that when they meet me they feel like they can ask me something, or even as they know me for some reason. They get personal and very thankful for ' letting them stay here and my hospitality'. I think it really adds to the human side of Airbnb for some. But I guess there are other kinds of people in the world, so try to filter them beforehand, so you know who you are dealing with 🙂 

[Inna22]

I followed everyone’s advice and started to offer the choice. So far two refused the greeting, turning into disaster for one. They cannot figure anything out at the house. They claimed fire alarm was set off from bathroom steam (??!!) where in reality they did not fully close the door so the sensor was announcing entry all night (which I told them over messaging was the reason). Eventually it did start saying fire in bathroom. I guess my poor sensor just could not handle them anymore. When I arrived, doors were unlocked, lights on, thermostat set on 82 (the were not at the house). Is soon as I locked the door, alarm stopped. I just fully disconnected it for them. They also could not find the trash cans even though I have a note ABOVE THE TRASH with directions on how to find it. They also told me they made a video of the alarm sound so I suspect I will be getting a message asking for refund after the “sleepless night”. I offered to walk them through the house three times at this point. Although I have a feeling these people would have been trouble walk through or not.