Critique my listing - Lily in London, UK

Lily489
Level 3
England, United Kingdom

Critique my listing - Lily in London, UK

Fairly new to hosting - and struggling to be welcoming and warm but also clear and direct with choice of words and information provided. 

 

Please do read and check out my listing. Open to all feedback.  

 

https://airbnb.com/h/streathamhillhotel

 

Thank you. 

 

 

11 Replies 11
Bes175
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

Hi Lilly, as far as I can see you are doing things well. Best critique is there already [15 reviews at a rating of 4.89] and the words of your guests 'kind people, warm home, nice stay' 

 

You can explain  e bit more about local area - what interesting thing people can expect/ see around [with a walking distance] or simply make a GUIDE, that appears at the bottom of your listing and guests can read before they arrive. Good luck. 

Bes175
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

rating is 4.87

Lily489
Level 3
England, United Kingdom

Thank you for taking time to review. @Bes175  I will work on Guide. 

 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Lily489 

 

Judging by your reviews so far, it doesn't seem at all like you are 

"struggling to be welcoming and warm but also clear and direct with choice of words and information provided."

 

 

 


I would just keep doing what you are doing because it sounds like you're doing it well.

 

Or, were there any particular problems you had with the guests you hosted so far?

Lily489
Level 3
England, United Kingdom

Thank you @Huma0 for taking the time and reviewing. 

 

I am struggling with some of the guests' behaviour towards the house and the room. 

 

A host must be welcoming, therefore I can not really have a rulebook of 100 items, (no one reads it anyway) but things that seem obvious to me, for any individual who ever lived in a house were not obvious to some of my guests and I want to tell them ; 

 

Don't keep rubbish in the room and allow it to leak on to the carpet 

Don't yank the under floor heating to 29 degrees throughout your stay 

Don't tell me you work in the city and sit in your room all day 

Don't scratch the wall as you take your luggage up or down the stairs

Don't ask for a new towel every day it is not a hotel 

Don't throw your metal teaspoons in the bin 

Don't move furniture around 

Don't put your cups down without a coaster and create ring marks on wooden furniture

Don't assume you can check in early or later.

Don't do all of the above and top it up with 4 star review.

and

Do use the toilet brush!

 

Hard not to take it personally when it is your precious home you worked so hard to set up.

 

Of course nobody is making me hand my keys to anyone, I am also enjoying being a host to nicer guests and extra income this provides our family.

 

I felt that I could write a book with my experiences then i found this forum to realise - all hosts face difficulties similar. I am not sure how to overcome and attract guests that respect the space without being the last place to be booked.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

OMG I am sorry to hear of your problems @Lily489 .

 

I have been hosting for nearly seven years, and haven't had most of the problems you have encountered as a homeshare host.

 

1. I don't allow food or drink - apart from water in bedrooms

2. I have a Hive heating system to control heating.

3. What do your guests say when you ask them why they aren't working in the city as they advised you?

4. I have had damage to walls and my staircase caused by guest luggage (but factor a repairs budget into my daily rate)

5. Never been asked for an additional towel 

6. I ask guests to confirm check in times on booking, reminding them of specified check in times. If guests want a very early check in I advise them to book the night before.

 

I have had 99% five star reviews for the last three years. Only brought down by an unreasonable guest (who is a host) who marked me down for location (she chose to stay here as her daughter lives here -so she knows the area) and marked me down for check in and communication as I told her her she couldn't check in five hours early as I had guests the previous night so couldn't accommodate this.

 

Deep breath - sometimes guests can be frustrating and unreasonable 🙂

Lily489
Level 3
England, United Kingdom

Thank you @Helen3. You give me hope 🙂

 

We are going to install a lockable clear cover to the heating system after a few hosts suggested it, I looked into it. Makes perfect sense.

 

Often people are nice, and having people from all over Europe and wider world come pass by is very special. 

 

I have not confronted guests and have not reflected their behaviour in my reviews - which I must do but I never quite know what to say. @Huma0 suggested in one of her posts "better suited to a hotel" could be said. Polite enough. That will probably be my review to next unreasonable guest.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Happy to help @Lily489 

 

Personally I would never use a phrase like 'better suited to a hotel' in my reviews as it tells your fellow hosts nothing about the problem this guest gave you.

 

If it took you an additional five hours cleaning because of the mess they created I want to know. If they brought in additional guests not on the booking, I don't want them. Similarly if they partied and upset the neighbours this is information I need.

 

I would say what is important is to be succinct, honest and factual. If you are struggling to write reviews for difficult guests you can always post a draft here in the Host Circle forum and ask for a critique.

 

 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Lily489 

 

I am afraid I don't think there is an easy answer to some of your problems, hence my rather long response below. I never intended to (or thought I needed to) have a long list of rules when I started out hosting but, unfortunately, I have found it necessary. I realised pretty quickly that what I thought of as 'obvious' isn't obvious to everyone and that common sense isn't that common.

 

A long list of rules might put some guests off booking but, to be honest, I'm happy to discourage those guests from booking. I want the kind of guests who see my rules as 'common sense'. They might think it's weird that I spell all of that out, but I just explain during the house tour that they'd be amazed what some people do, and then tell them a funny anecdote about it.

 

But, there is another reason too. On the couple of occasions I have needed to contact Airbnb CS about a guest who had gone too far in disregarding the rules, the first thing the agent did was read my rules. You can't say a guest has broken your rules if that particular thing is not in there. For example, it might seem to any reasonable person that repeatedly making very loud noise at 3 or 4am is not okay, but CS told me that I needed to have quiet hours specified for this to be seen as a violation of rules.

 

1. Don't keep rubbish in the room and allow it to leak on to the carpet 

 

Like Helen, I don't allow guests to eat or store food in their bedrooms. It's in my rules and they are reminded when I show them the room. That doesn't mean nobody does that, but it has reduced food/drink related damages significantly.

 

2. Don't yank the under floor heating to 29 degrees throughout your stay 

 

Sounds like you have already come up with a solution for this. Personally, I do not let the guests touch the thermostat. I tell them to let me know if they need the heating adjusted.

 

3. Don't tell me you work in the city and sit in your room all day 

 

Well this is a very tricky one. If the guest has booked the room/listing, they will feel entitled to use it 24/7 for the duration of their stay. Not sure what you can do other than to specify in your listing that it's best suited to guests who are out and about most of the time. I have never tried it, but I know some other hosts do this. Or you can be more specific and say it's not suited to working/studying from home.

 

4. Don't scratch the wall as you take your luggage up or down the stairs

 

Had this too. My only solution has been to help guests carry their stuff, but then I always do an in person check in, so that is more feasible for me anyway.

 

5. Don't ask for a new towel every day it is not a hotel 

 

I have had this too, but only very rarely, so just let it slide. Are you finding that a lot of guests expect this?

 

6. Don't throw your metal teaspoons in the bin 

 

Had a guest do this the other day and I did bring it up with her. However, again, it's not something I've encountered frequently.

 

7. Don't move furniture around 

 

In my house rules. This drives me a bit crazy as it's when damage is most likely to occur.

 

8. Don't put your cups down without a coaster and create ring marks on wooden furniture

 

Ample coasters are supplied and guests are reminded when shown the room. With all of these things, it's good to do it in a friendly way. I just remind them that my furniture is vintage and that, unfortunately, guests in the past have marked it, so it would be really great if they could please use the coasters. I find that no one wants to be held accountable for damaging my vintage/antique furniture and this makes them more careful.

 

9. Don't assume you can check in early or later.

 

This was a nightmare in my first year of hosting, so I had to get strict about it and spell it out very clearly at the beginning of the house rules. See: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/How-can-I-stop-guests-ignoring-the-check-in-time/m-p/304...

 

10. Don't do all of the above and top it up with 4 star review.

 

In my experience, great guests tend to leave great reviews. It is the ones that are a pain the backside to host that either don't review or leave less than 5*. I am not sure what is to be done about it (there is so much discussion about this here on the CC already), but one suggestion is to make sure you read the reviews that the guest has left for previous hosts. You won't be able to see the star ratings that they left, but you might spot some red flags in the written reviews they have given other hosts. I have turned away a few guests on this basis. I don't want to invite serial complainers into my home.

 

As for 'better suited to a hotel", I am wondering if you saw that on an old post that I wrote or where I was referring to what other hosts write, because that is not really a phrase that I use. It doesn't tell future hosts much about what the problem is. However, some guests are definitely better suited to a hotel, I would just writes something a bit more specific about why.

 

Finally, 11. Do use the toilet brush! 

 

Again, don't have a general problem with this, at least not to an extent where it's that extreme but, on one occasion I did, and I simply told the guest it was not acceptable to leave the toilet in that state. There are some things you will need to grin and bear and just put down to being part of the job and others that are beyond the limits and where you have to say something. Luckily, the latter are less common than the former.

@Lily489  you are always welcome to come and vent and get some sympathy, cos we all can relate to that list. I have a long guest manual and it's written in a chatty, friendly way rather than bullet points of "don't do" items. 

 

as @Huma0  points out, we all hope to start with the basic rules, but over time that guest manual just keeps on expanding, and sometimes I add in rules based on experiences shared here.  

 

Kia272
Level 10
Takoma Park, MD

@Lily489  Yes, guests can be trying sometimes- even the good ones. You will find your groove after you've been hosting for a while.

 

Anyway, two things I noticed that I would definitely change: 

First, you need to put a purchase block on your streaming accounts. Chances are that you will NOT get paid if anyone starts charging movies or shows to your Amazon or other streaming services. It's simply not a good idea. Personally, I don't offer any streaming services. I figure most people have their own, and I'm not offering them mine. I have a smart TV, and I do remind them to have their login credentials in my check-in message. Definitely don't offer this or put a block on the service so they can't purchase anything. 

 

Second, I'd put a cap on check-in times. I can see that you offer check-in from 4:00 on. That's very open-ended, and you will run into problems with guests wanting to check in at all hours. You can always make exceptions if you want to, but put an end time in there like 10:00 pm, or whatever suits you. 

 

Maybe also clarify a bit about the common space in your home. If guests don't have access to it, other then the kitchen, be very clear. Otherwise they may start hanging out and trying to be your new best friend. 

 

That's all I got. Good luck! Kia