Unfair complaints

[Ettie0]

A recent guest complained that he could not access DSTV, while my house policy clearly states that the full SETUP is available but guests need to bring their own cards OR send me a prior request to activate it.

The same policy applies for WiFi. The guest sent NO prior requests so I did not activate these services.

Is this not then an unfair complaint and unfair reason to cancel?

I would appreciate advice.

[David126]

@Ettie0

I see that under amenities you show both TV and Wifi, I would delete those to avoid confusion as they are not available by default.

Not sure why a guest needs to ask to turn them on, could you just leave instructions where the switch is if you need to keep them turned off?

[Ettie0]

Dear David

Thank you for your response. We are in a small seaside village in SA. These are added extras. But the logistics are not simple. I have to know in advance to buy prepaid services. They are not only a switch away... 

[Monika64]

@Ettie0 I agree with @David126, if these services are not available for all guests immediatelly you need to take them out of your amenities. You can mention it in your description that you can arrange for these.

And please know that there are MANY people who do not read House Rules, even though they have to sign off on it. Mention it in you first text, right after you get a booking that they need to request these in advance otherwise you'll always get complains.

[Jason-Paul0]

If the services are not made always readily available, one you set your listing so guest must send in a reservation after which you contact them through messaging and let them be aware of such before hand. Or you may just have to remove it from your list of Amentities, and you can still message the person and let them know you can have that service offered and the fee..

[Fred13]

@Ettie0(great name btw), they are fair complaints because yes they are listed as 'Amenities' and assumed are included in the price. Which brings up a question: What would it cost to do include those amenities in the price, and would raising the price to say $50 do the trick? 

   I went through the same thing with Internet in my place, I have to buy it in 25g blocks ($75US), the logistics to control its use initially became too awkward, so now buying in cheaper blocks and end of being a special accomodation. I also noticed some guests use say 5gigs during their stay, others barely, so the upshot is 25g is lasting about a full month. Palatable. Just a thought.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Ettie0

I'm with @Fred13 on this. If it's listed in amenities, most people will probably assume it's all inclusive. Especially if we are talking about wifi and TV.

Guests really don't read the descriptions and even if they do they skim through it and probably forget most of what they read by the next day. If there is anything guests need to request prior to their stay I think as a host it would be best if you pro-actively checked with each guest when the reservation is confirmed and once again maybe 1 week or so prior to their check-in dates.

All of my guests say they read my listing description and most of the time I am able to get a good feel of whether they really did or not based on the questions they ask but I always like to send them a short version thru Airbnb messenger a week or so before their check-in date anyway. We can blame guests for not reading instructions properly, or not reading the listing description or not checking the house manual where instructions for all appliances are provided - but in the end even the stupidest complaints (that aren't the host's fault in the first place) are annoying and frustrating. So as a host, I find it less of a hassle and just easier on me to just be proactive, over-communicate and double check with guests.