Help-guests complained my place a mess

[Jie170]

Hi everyone,

I’m a new host based in Sydney. I’m hosting my entire place out when traveling, so I put in description that this is my residence and has my personal belongings. Had 2 bookings in the past, seemed all good. My third booking  came as a shock, the guest was so angry and complaining it’s a mess. The message was very emotional I couldn’t get much data points, only understood 2 points here:

1: fridge and kitchen wardrobes have food

2: bedrooms wardrobes have my clothes, not enough room for guests

I feel quite bad, of course as a host it’s not about just money, if my place ruined someone’s holiday, that’s awful 😢 so I’m asking all experienced hosts here:

If it’s an entire place on Airbnb, do people expect full time Airbnb place like a hotel? Eg Everything is emptied out

Anyone rented out your place while away, do you empty your fridge and some wardrobes? What is the acceptable condition?

I’ll see what everyone is suggesting, if my place isn’t appropriate to be listed then I’ll take it off.

thank you all for your help!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jie170 as a minimum you need to explain this very clearly  in your listing. You could then put little no entry stickers on the doors/drawers/cupboards where you keep your personal stuff. You do need to make sure the guests have sufficient space to store their gear.

I think guests expectations have changed over the years and whole homes that are still lived in are, I suspect, in a minority.

[Mark116]

@Jie170   Your listing states up front that your clothes and food are to be found, unless you just added this after the last guest.  But, either way, its always good to reinforce something major like that, so if you haven't been doing it, when guests make an inquiry or a request, I would send a message that restates that they understand while they will yes have the entire place to themselves, it is your primary residence and there will be clothing, personal items and food/pantry items of yours.

If you haven't done this already, try to clear out space for your guests stuff, maybe 1 dresser or closet so it is clear where their stuff would go vs. where your own belongings are.  Same for the food, clear out a shelf in the refrigerator and pantry and try to make clear what is available for guests to use v. your own stuff that they are not to use or open.  Good luck.

ETA...unless your place is super messy or something I can't imagine that your clothing in the closet/dresser and your food in the fridge could 'ruin' someone's holiday, so shame on them for being so extra and hysterical about something pretty minor.

[Huma0]

@Jie170 

I agree with @Mark116 and @Mike-And-Jane0  that it's all about communication and setting guests' expectations. You might have already mentioned these things in your listing but a lot of of guests simply do not read the listings properly so you need to reiterate this in the messages to make sure they understand.

I host private rooms in my own home where I live. I also have cats. That was stated on my listing from the beginning, but when I first started hosting, I had guests who arrived who seemed to be astonished to find out that they had only rented a room in a shared house and that I lived here, rather than having the whole house to themselves (no idea who they thought was feeding the cats if no one was living here, but hey... common sense is not so common).

I learnt that you have to really drum in some things to get guests to understand what they are booking.

However, yes, you should also make some space for guests. I make sure that the majority of the wardrobe/cupboard/drawer space is empty and dust free for guest use. They also need at least a shelf in the fridge and another cupboard or drawer space in the kitchen.

Make sure that guests understand in advance that some parts of the apartment will contain your own stuff.

[Sara2]

If guests rent a,whole home they do expect empty closets nowadays…can’t you put your hanging clothes in one locked wardrobe or on a rail in the garage…as for the fridge if they have a whole house for many days empty your fridge so they can buy their own food…dry goods can be locked in a private pantry .Like the reader below I also have a cat and make guests sign re their allergy status before they come as they never seem to read all the information.