What we've learned during our first 3 months of hosting

[Jody79]

We've definitely had a learning curve in the three months we've now been hosting.  This is what we've learned so far.

--We've learned to ignore the suggested rate that Airbnb continuously tries to push.  We've found this gets you the least desirable guests that just flat out ignore your house rules. (Airbnb's suggested rate for our place has been as low as $36/night)

--We've learned that guests will try to get around your 'no parties or events' rule by having a 'gathering' instead.  We've added a rule stating that 'gatherings' are also not allowed.  We've also increased our minimum night stay from 1 to 2 nights.  In our first month we had 4 one night stays.  Three of these were 'gatherings' (ie parties).

--We've learned to be very skeptical of local guests, the only bad experiences we've had so far have been from locals looking for a place to party.

--People will blatantly disregard your house rules.  Even when you send them your house rules as part of your welcome message, you will get some guests that will just outright ignore them.  We are still trying to figure out how best to prevent this.

--We've learned that the hosting community is well worth spending some time in, even if you don't post much.  There is a wealth of information and ideas from other hosts.

--We've learned that if you want to block some days so your place is available for when family or friends visit think in nights not days.  We recently had a booking with the checkout date on a day that my father is coming into town.  I had that day blocked.  After calling Airbnb to ask how this occured, I learned that they go by nights, not days.  So, lesson learned, make sure you block the day before your family/friends arrive if you don't want someone checking out the same day.

--We've learned to call Airbnb if we have questions or concerns.  Although we've only called them twice so far, both times they have been helpful.

As we've only been in this for three months now, I'm sure the learning curve is not yet over.  We are making adjustments with each lesson we learn.  We are trying to make our Airbnb a great experience for our guests, and at the same time attract guests that will respect our place and house rules.

[Maureen176]

Hi 

I have been hosting  for 12 years. Anyone who comes into my home  has to be an identified guest through Airbnb platform. All our rooms are single occupancy. I understand I rent rooms and not a whole house - but when we have traveled as a family - we identified everyone in our "goup" ahead of time. I don't think this is unreasonable. Those who have a problem with it may not be your ideal guests. I think it works to start with very strict rules - it weeds out those that want to use your property irresponsibly. Once you meet guests and they are fine - you can always make exceptions or relax your rules.... It has worked for me. 

Best

[Tom41]

I was thinking about your original post, Jody from Chicago, and it made me think about my own experience.  After 3 years of hosting,  I can honestly say that there are only 2 issues that I deal with consistently, that I had to get a real handle on.  The first one is probably the most common to all:  noise.  Party, gathering, get together,  a few friends over,  they just stopped in before we went out, etc.  No matter what you call it, it comes down to the same issue:  Noise polution.  My unit is in a Condo building, so noise is such a concern.   I finally took some advice that I read here on this community, and I think it has helped immensely.  

My House Rules  now state "No one is allowed inside the building or inside my unit, that is not an approved guest".  (I only allow 2 guests)   I remember thinking that this sounds a little harsh.  Even unreasonable.  "Friends cannot even come inside the building or inside my unit."  And then I state a monetary fine if caught with an extra person: "You will be fined $250 if an extra person is found inside our building, or inside my unit."   Does this sound extreme or what?  Well, guess what?  It has worked.  Partiers looking for a room pass me over, and guests who know they have no intention of adding people to the guest list, are not offended by such a policy.   And as a host, I could not be happier.   

It takes people to have a party, and I only allow 2 at the maximum.  Not much of a party.   And furthermore, this single change to my House Rules has helped with my other problem:  smoking pot!  

[Jerome165]

@Tom41 How are you charging people who bring in unauthorized guests the $250 fine?

[Tom41]

Hi Jerome.  I have been thinking about my answer to your question.  I may hurt myself, thinking this hard.  But let me say this...I have not yet actually charged anyone anything.   No one yet has tried me on this.  So we could say that is is merely a deterrent.  Like a well placed dummy camera.  And if it is merely a deterrent, and it is working, then that is good enough for me.    Theoritically,  I would charge them through the Airbnb system, like for any other money exchange.  Would Airbnb stand behind me on that? ..... I don't know. 

[Jody79]

I'd like to thank everyone for all the good ideas and advice that you have been giving on this thread.  All very helpful!

[Susan598]

HI @Jody79 .  I have been able to dramatically improve the quality of my guests (observance of house rules and generally respectful of my property) by:

1. Raising my price

2. Requiring two days notice for bookings (no last minute bookings) 

3. No longer hosting wedding preps for brides (too many people rightly focussing on the bride and not my house rules!!)

4. Providing a daily clean (I live on the property it's so easy and takes 15 mins refreshing bathroom and making beds). This is simply designed to enable me to check my asset, while guests think I'm offering an amazing service. I have been able to turn off heating blaring away in an empty house or remove soaking towels draped over quality wood or leather furniture etc. Etc.

5. During orientation, let guests know that no unregisteted guests allowed at all. I conduct this conversation in a very friendly manner telling the guest that I'm sure it's obvious to them why. I have never had a complaint, or even a look of dissappointment.

6. Any guests that are from the same town are very carefully questioned. Often there is nothing to worry about, but I make it clear I think it's odd. I give dodgy sounding guests the option of a full refund if they'd like to look elsewhere.

My guests nowadays are an absolute delight. Touch wood!!

[Jody79]

Hi Susan, thank you for the tips.  We've already implemented some of them through our learning, but will definitely look into some others you have here.  We have placed a house rule for no local guests without our specific authorization.  Of the four guests we've had issues with, all four of them were locals.

[Kevin1322]

@Jody79   We have learned a lot of the same, specially thinking in nights not days. we are in our first few weeks.hosting. 

I don't know where Airbnb's algorithm gets it's suggested price from,  but it just seems like completely random nonesense compared to our locality..

The only way I would ever trust smart pricing is if my base price was also my regular price, not some bonkers guess suggested by airbnb.  I note this suggested price varies literally by the hour. 

[Jody79]

Hi @Kevin1322 .  We use the 'smart pricing', however we do make the minimum price our regular price.  We've had a few bookings over the Summer that were actually higher than our minimum, so it worked out kinda nice.  The worst guests we've had since this posting have been a few that have left the place a bit messy, but otherwise have been great.  Most of our guests have  left the place in good condition, some making clean-up after them a breeze.  Makes up for the messy ones.  At about 10 months in, I'm hoping we've gotten over the worst of the learning curve now, lol!