@Sybe
A bit late to this conversation. I thought I had replied as I remember finding your comment about separate hot and cold water taps funny. While this is still a thing in som UK homes, I wouldn't say it is common anymore and anywhere with recently renovated bathrooms is more likely to have a mixer tap. I have five sinks/basins in my home and all, bar one, has mixer taps. The only reason one of them has separate hot and cold taps was because I was looking for a really specific type of basin and this was the only option of it that I could find within my budget .
As for your question about cultural differences, well, where does one start? Before I started hosting, I never thought I would encounter so many. I couldn't possibly list them all, but here are a few:
- A rice cooker is a pretty basic requirement for most Asian guests. I have even had guests (tourists on a short stay) travel with a full size electric rice cooker in their suitcase.
- Asian guests usually like to shower at night, often right before going to bed, rather than in the morning. @Jessica-and-Henry0 explained to me the reasons for this and also why Asians often prefer to use hand, rather than bath, towels after showering. You also have to watch out for flooding in the bathrooms as in many parts of Asia, the whole bathroom is waterproof (like a wet room), not just the shower cubicle.
- Walk in showers are rare in the USA. Who knew?
- Americans are pretty much the only guests to use the bath tub. They love it and often say it was the reason they booked the listing.
- Asian guests are less likely to eat out. They seem to not trust the restaurants here and assume they cannot get Asian food, or at least good Asian food, in the UK, so most of them cook a lot and are good at it.
- Americans eat out more than other guests.
- Guests of various nationalities think that the British live on fish and chips.
- American guests over 30 are the most likely to expect things to be the same as at home, whereas the ones under 30 are often the most excited to experience and embrace European culture. Not sure why.
- Older American guests are the most likely to break things. On the other hand, men of all nationalities tend to break things more than women.
- Americans, Germans and British are the most likely to complain about/mark you down for things clearly stated on the listing.
- French guests are the most likely to leave low ratings, especially for random things, but again this tends to be the older, not the younger ones. It has been explained to me by French hosts that in France, it's just not normal to give 5* for anything.
- Canadians, the Dutch, Australians and New Zealanders are the most chilled and least demanding guests.
- Germans are generally the best at following house rules (although of course not always).
Obviously, a lot of this reads like a list of stereotypes and of course there are exceptions to all of the above. I have hosted Asian guests who cannot cook AT ALL, Germans who broke numerous house rules and Americans who cooked a lot. I certainly don't mean any offence to any nationality and one of the biggest pleasures of hosting for me has been to meet people from so many different cultures and learn about those differences. These are just some observations I've made from hosting hundreds of guests.