Top 5 Tips - Hosting Indian Guests

[Jeet0]

Hello fellow hosts!

Hope you are doing well 🙂

I'm writing this post to help you welcome and host Indian Guests in the best possible way.

A little bit about myself - I'm a host from India and have hosted more than 100 Indian familes in the last 2 years. I have been a little around the world and stayed at Airbnbs and thus I can understand the differences between hosting styles, guest expectations etc. across different cultures. Below I'd like to mention 5 points to remember while dealing with booking requests and reservations by Indian hosts.

I'd like to mention here that I'm not trying to sterotype Indians and only sharing my personal experience with most Indian guests. I hope you find it useful [Hit the thumbs-up button if you do, and I shall post more tips]. Also note that India is a country of extremely diverse cultures, thus you might not have similar experiences with all guests.

So here we go:

1.  HAVE PATIENCE - Airbnb is still a fairly new concept in India and is growing faster than ever before. Most guests are first time users of the Airbnb platform and aren't very familiar with the concept of Home-sharing. You might encounter some obvious questions like "What's the total price?", "Can you provide your contact number?", "Would we have the entire place to ourselves?" etc. although these answers are present on your listing, please try to be patient in ansering these questions. Remember that these are people who haven't used online payments as much as you and are sceptical about it as it's their first time. Airbnb is yet to establish a strong user trust in India as conventional hotels still dominate the market however people are quickly realizing the benefits of staying at an Airbnb and are willing to try out. So be a little patient, helpful and supportive in your approach.
   
   
2. NEGOTIATION IS COMMON - Negotiating before renting any service or purchasing any commodity is a common practice in India. It's a necessary skill that most posses and use quite frequestly so in case someone tried to negotiate with you by asking to give a Special Discount Offer or offer Free Meals or Airport Transport, don't be surprised or upset. It is not considered as bad practice and guests might sometimes appear to be a little more pushy/demanding. If you aren't okay with this, try explaining the same politely if you are successful, the guests would be convinced that you aren't overpricing and would readily book. Give them context about the normal rate in your surrounding, add details about some of the extra facilites that you provide and why your costing is appropriate.
   
   
3. GREETINGS AREN'T COMMON - In a country of 1.33 Billion individuals, it isn't possible to smile and wish "Good moring", "Good day" to every person you see on the street, Or pull the door at stores for other customers. So in case your guests don't greet you everyday in the morning or when you see them, please do not confuse this as rude behaviour. We are just not used to pleasantries, however you could initiate this and I'm sure your guests would reciprocate with a lovely smile and greet you back.
   
   
4. CLEARLY ESTABLISH THAT THIS IS YOUR HOME AND NOT A HOTEL - As mentioned in point 1, most guests are quite new to the concept of Airbnb and so it is important that you firmly yet politely establish prior to booking that your are opening the doors to your home which is your personal space to a complete stranger and it is absolutely necessary necesssary that guests follow the house rules and treat your home with respect and care. Use the word "Home" insead of "Property", "Listing" during your communication to emphasize the same. Once guests understand this well, they'll be more thoughtful about how that treat your home.
   
   
5. KITCHEN HABITS - In case you are allowing your guests to use your Kitchen, make sure that when you are giving them a house tour, you explain in detail what they can use and what they should not. Use sticky notes to mark cabinets which have stuff that's for guests to consume/use. Note that Indian/Asian food uses plenty of spices and flavours, so if your guests are cooking, it's quite possible that you might be exposed to strong aromas/smells which you haven't experienced before. If you aren't going to be okay with this, talk about it in adavance and arrive at an agreement. Another important point to note is that most Indians who can afford to travel oversee also can afford to have maids at their homes and thus might not be used to washing the dishes after use or might have never used a dishwasher. Ensure that you have this conversation in advance and explain that guests are expected to clean the dishes and the kitchen after use. I'm certain they'd be happy to do so.

There's much more to learn but I shall stop here. Indians are mostly very humble and caring folks and are known for their hospitality  and if you communicate well, you might end up making friends for life. Always over-communicate so that there's minimal scope for confusion later. If you have ever hosted Indian guests, feel free to share your experiences below 🙂

Thanks,

Jeet

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Huaai0  I would think that using someone's clean white towels (that were clearly provided to use after a washing your hands or taking a shower) to wipe mud off your luggage or leave stained and ruined with hair dye is unacceptable in ANY culture. I get that you are really really upset about your towels and in my opinion difference in cultures is no excuse for bad manners. 

Plus, every culture has different opinions and conflicts among themselves about their own traditions and beliefs in world that is ever-changing. I just wanted to express my support and understanding that I get why @Jeet0 posted what he posted, and I think it was quite brave of him to do so. 

[Huaai0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0@Jeet0

Thanks for your sympathy and empathy, but I have gotten over it 🙂  The towel issue (twice, both by Indian guests) only made me upset for a few hours. Life has to carry on and it is too short to be bitter.

I don't really blame those guests. I like the saying, "Poverty is the source of all evils." When I travel in Finland, I can relax and take a nap on a taxi cab because I totally trust taxi drivers there. But in Czech Republic, I have to keep awake, but it is not that bad. In Russia, I have be super alert and watch the metre all the time. And in India... you can imagine... I have heard tooooo many stories lol.

I have shared my travel stories with my students and asked them to analyze-- why in some countries when I ask for directions, people would ask me for money (I was charged USD$16 for directions in this country), and while I travel in England, no one charges me for giving directions, but even uses the navigation on their their cell phones to help them illustrate and even walk me for a few blocks or ask someone else to confirm? 

When everyone can afford an iPhone, when everyone has a decent place to live, then gracefulness, self-esteem and pride will arise. Of course I'm here talking about societies collectively, not individuals. 

Therefore, totally understand and have subsided and let go. Life is still beautiful. 

[Randall-And-Jeanne0]

Thanks for the post Jeet, but I'm hoping you or someone can also tell me what sorts of welcome gift would be appropriate to provide for guests from India? We usually provide some fresh-ground coffee and fresh juice, which most guests appreciate. However we've had Indian guests who don't touch the coffee; I presume they just aren't coffee drinkers which is fine but just wondering if that's common, and would tea be better, or wine, or something else?

[Jeet0]

HI @Randall-And-Jeanne0,

That's a great question. The reason why guests might not be touching the coffee would be because here in India, Instant Coffee powder is more widely used in houses. Ground coffee, most of us our not familiar for to prepare it. But people do love coffee, tea and fresh juices. In juices, try keeping the extra sweet varieties, instead of the sour or bitter ones or less sweet ones. I hope this helps.

It's great that you offer these gifts to your friends.

Back home, I welcome my guests with a fruit juice of some tea/coffee with bisuits.

[Alison3]

@Jeet0 Thank you so much for this posting as the last two full-house rentals have been to groups of 8 Indian men and the experiences were not the best. I was wondering if the challenges were cultural, gender-based, or just two groups of inconsiderate men. After reading your information, I have determined it to be a combination of all three. LOL

The first group of men treated my home like a hotel... rearranged the furniture and left it for me to put back, filled the garbage can with recyclables and pizza boxes even though there are signs explaining that we recycle.

The second group stayed for 3 "nights" with another vacation rental being the primary place that they were hanging out at. The first night they all tromped in at 4:30 in the morning and stood in the hallway talking rather loudly. I addressed this the next day and they were apoligetic. I also let them know that there was no maid service, afterwich they cleaned up after themselves. The next night they returned at 5:30 a.m.... though one gentleman said they would be back between 10-11 pm... but they were quieter. On the third morning I didn't even hear them come in. So, things improved in that respect. One morning, the bathroom floor was soaked and at some point during their stay, someone broke the shower handle. Additionally, due to this being a large group, I opened up my personal bathroom for them to use out of courtesy.

I do have a question. The organizer of the group stated that they enjoyed their stay, that the accomodations were very nice, and he would leave an excellent review. But when he left the review, only check in and communication were given 5 stars. Every other category (value, location, and accuracy) was given 3 stars... with "bathroom" being listed as an area for improvement. Because of the rating, I received one of those annoying emails threatening to pause my listing.   Could you shed some light on this matter? 

Thank you,

Alison

[Eva100]

Hello,

I had my first Infian guests and they were very nice people. At the point with kitchen habits I would add that they cooked for two hours straight and at 7:00 in the morning or after 23:00 in the night. So expect your kitchen to be occupied for hours and the gas/electricity costs to be higher. The other thing that I found a bit inconsiderate is that they insisted on dropping off their very heavy luggages, full of indian food, at odd hours such as 8:00am and they came hours past the check out time to pick them up during the last day. So my advice would be to not bend your rules because they will take advantage to the maximum and be strict with check in/out.

[Sandra126]

Hi @Jeet0, excellent post. I occasionally have Indian guests, mostly it will be an Indian who lives in Australia who has overseas visitors, showing them the country. So it will be a mix of long time out of India / 5 minutes out of India. I have a purely technical problem you will hopefully have the answer to. Red (bindi?) dye on white towels, pillowcases, what is the best way to remove? Has happened more than once and I found it virtually impossible to shift the marks. Is there a special way which everyone knows but me?

[Huaai0]

@Sandra126

Same issues here, but certainly not all! Among them, the good ones can be very good and the bad ones are just too bad. Speaking of the red dye stains, I have found out-- it is an Indian herbal hair dye product called Henna, which I was not aware of at all until I had made some Indian friends/acquiantances. The stains can be removed for sure if you wash/bleach properly. 

[Thais-and-Luiz0]

This post was good, I'm currently hosting two Indian friends and I'm having a lot of problems.
How could they not understand that my house is not a hotel.
They talk a lot, it does not matter if we're reading a book, eating, watching a movie.
They start talking and end up taking up our time a lot.
On Monday night one of them at dawn came and opened the door to our room, saying that he was looking for the bathroom. My wife gave a fright.
We have already received 160 people at home, and we never have to lock the bedroom door at night to sleep. Now we're locking up.
For example, I'm writing now and one of them sat in front of me and started talking and did not stop.
One of them wore my slipper to get out. I was cooking and he went to the stove opened the pot and sniffed the food.
They enter the bathroom and remain for a long time.
Well, this is one of the worst experiences.
I almost asked them to leave home. Tomorrow is the last of them.
I think you should write more about how to better cope and understand the culture.
Thank you for your text

[Josie51]

Hi,

My name is Josie and I also had a similar experience except mine was worse. I had a Sikh Indian stay with me. He talked so much that I had to move my desk to my bedroom. He always wanted to talk! Also I felt that he thought my house was a brothel. He kept telling me that I should wear more make-up since it made me look better. He kept staying in the house a lot and so I brought him around the city. Then he kept asking me how to get a work permit and so I suggested he work with me in my nutritional company but then he complained about it. Lastly, he made fun of my house rules. 

The funny thing is that the profile was under Gurpreet who was his relative in Montreal. Anyways, I did tell him to leave and then he wanted his money back after 2 weeks of staying with me. I said no. Then he cried and I decided to make peace with him.

After this conflict he had gone in my bedroom and took my passport. At this point I had problems breathing due to my asthma because I was so stressed. After I noticed it was gone I confronted him and he said he had it. He told me he took my passport out of revenge. By the way this was the first guest who had access to my bedroom. I had him use my bedroom a few times because he liked using my mirror to fix his turban. So anyways, just 3 days ago he left my place and he did not tell me about it. I was suppose to meet him at the library but he decided to block my calls and when I returned to my apartment all his stuff was gone. He left his keys for me. Then when I contacted his family they all got angry at me and said I was to blame. It seemed like everyone was ganging up on me because I was not Indian. 

[Shashank4]

Hello Everybody,

Thanks for creating this forum.

I am an Airbnb host in Puttaparthi town of Andhra Pradesh state in India and have been on Airbnb since 2015. 

In case you happen to plan a trip to India, this place is a must see to experience Spirituality & learn about the sacred Guru Sri Sathya Sai baba.

More about Puttaparthi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puttaparthi

More about the shrine at Prashanti Nilayam & how to reach here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puttaparthi

More info about Sri Sathya Sai baba (Swami): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba

Link to my Airbnb Home:: https://www.airbnb.co.in/rooms/23439460?s=51 

Kindly feel free to connect with me for any queries.

Thanks.

Shashank

[Jan209]

Thankyou, Jeet, so helpful. I have had a few young Indian Guests ( who live in Melbourne, though). They were delightful Guests and I look fwd to Hosting my first from India! 

[Sean433]

@Jeet0 

I cannot stand the request for discounts or total price. This happens too frequently that i just decline.  I get that it is a cultural norm to negotiate but if you do that for every single item in your life, don't you just waste a lot of time and energy doing that rather then focus on how to make money? I never understood that. Also, I can't imagine them coming to a big chain store in Canada or USA like walmart and ask for discounts. Does that actually happen or is there a limit on who and when they ask for discounts?

Also what is the point of having a price if it is meaningless? It is not the way to do business because as you keep asking several hosts with a copy and  paste request for lower prices, eventually you will get one to say yes to a unreasonable price request. But guess what, the guest will likely get a crappy home and then complain they got a crappy home

Cheap people get cheap homes.

[Jeet0]

Hey Sean,

Maybe, MAYBE,

People are on a tight budget (therefore choosing an Airbnb over a conventional hotel - does that make all Airbnb guests cheap? Something to think about.), people travel for leisure rarely, so they want to have the best experience, sometimes the best might be over their budget, so they might take their chances to see if a host can offer a small discount (many hosts are okay to take a small cut in their profit instead of having an unreserved night which is 0 profit), moreover, Indian currency is very weak compared to Canadian, so even a tiny discount can make a big difference. 

If offering discounts doesn’t suit your business model, you can politely decline. 

I feel there’s no need to be derogatory. 

[Jan209]

yes, I agree, I had some Indonesian Guests, (delightful Guests) who'd stayed before and second time asked if there might be a little discount. At first I felt a bit affronted, but thought it through, and realised it was a cultural thing to ask for discount. I gave a small one, a "welcome returning Guest" discount. They were happy, and so was I, cos I know what they are like as Guests and what I could expect....They've stayed with me a number of times now and they are more like friends than simply  Guests, really.