Hi all! We have had a very busy - and gratifying - first mo...
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Hi all! We have had a very busy - and gratifying - first month of hosting! But guests who raved about how wonderful our pla...
Latest reply
After over 200 stays and a consistent 4.96 to 4.98 rating for 3.5 years, I am selling my place and my last stay ends May 10. I can't say I am sad to be leaving Airbnb and know I am not the only seasoned Superhost to wave goodbye in recent months. I would like to offer some suggestions to @Catherine-Powell and others who look at host experience to consider: perhaps changing some of these would be a means to retain other hosts. Community, please feel free to chime in on things that you feel would enhance your hosting experience. Not all of these issues have directly affected my listing but I have seen enough of this feedback to allow it to prevent my return to the platform.
Another tip. 1 time I actually had a "problem" guest....
She didn't write a review because she knew she had done me wrong. While in my property I didn't say anything. "Kill 'em with friendlyness 😂'. After she left I waited and waited...13 days, 23 hours, 45 minutes. 15 minutes before the time was over to write a review I had 'my hour if truth' and I slammed her in my review. 😅 And she didn't have the time to 'get back at me 1 star rating' me. I WON!!!!! And it felt so good. There are little tricks you can use...We have power, too. You just have to find the little tricks..... Try it....you will see....and it feels so good 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤣🤣🤣
I totally agree with EVERYTHING you suggested. I might add that ABB should include a pop-up that not only confirms a pet or infant will be staying but also confirms the correct amount of guests that will be staying. I can't tell you how many times I have "accidently" found out that more people arrived than was on the reservation. Since my condo is in a ski resort town, it is not unusual for a guest to say 5 people are staying but then cram in another 3-5 people sleeping on air mattresses. I am a member of ski Facebook Groups where this type of this discussed often. I always chime in as a Super Host and do my best to deter this behavior, however, since there is no repercussion for the guests, they still do it. If a host finds out that several more people are staying than specifically stated on the reservation, not only should we be allowed to ask them to leave (good luck with that), but ABB should automatically charge them extra for the stay and the guest should be "suspended" from ABB for like 6 or 12 months. This might deter this type of host deception. Of course, charging "extra" would mean that ABB would have to store guests' CC information and be able to charge it in a situations such as this, which would be a GREAT idea that might make guests think twice before they try to deceive hosts, steal property, destroy items, etc. Before ABB, when I held a guest's CC information until after check out, I had MUCH better behaved guests.
@Tammi50After a confirmed reservation....do you ask the guests in a message if the number of guests they booked for is correct? I do that. And I also ask if they are bringing an animal. Just for clarification. I always say that I would need to prepare for more guests or animals.
Also, write it into your house rules. Once they booked they agreed to the.
And then don't write a review and wait until the very last day to write it. 15 minutes before it's over to write request the money. That would be 2:45 pm your time. At Airbnb the new day starts at 3 pm your time. Interesting, isn't it? I figured this out after one reservation. The guest wasn't able to "bad star rate" me because the time was over. But I had my money request in and I also reviewed her as a bad guest.
At Abb the new day starts at 3 pm. Keep that in mind. Not at 12 am. If you use this method the guests don't have time to "take revenge" by giving you a 1 star rating.
Been in the business for over 20 years. I never wanted to use AirBnb, because of its bad reputation and the fear of getting my units trashed. Some friends convinced me to give it a shot. So I did join 2 months ago. After all I needed to see for myself. I can tell with certainty that AirBnb concoct their own rules ONLY seen on AirBnb. Most of their rules is to "protect" the travelers who can trash your place with no consequences. In the last 2 months, I have had more issues with AirBnb travelers than on any other platforms and I am going to tell you why:
Most hotels ask for security deposit that are refundable. On AirBnb no security deposit so a lot of guests have ZERO respect for your property. And to give my opinion, YOU BET THAT THE CLEANING FEES ARE JUSTIFIED. No doubt.
Per AirBnb, the guests paid so they can party and trash your property at-will. That is what happened to me. I am in a condo hotel. We provide daily room service and clean daily. That service is paid and expected.
While doing a service, I entered (always knocking first but in this case, the guests left the door open), and OMG I thought a bomb went off inside that room. I kicked out the disgusting guests. No way were they going to destroy my expensive furniture any further.
The same guests complained to AirBnb that I had no business entering the unit to do room service. That slob was a lawyer on top of it with his family and it was horrific in there.
Indeed, AirBnb told me that I could not enter the property without the guests consent to do room service. That is all dandy but I told AirBnb we are a COMMERCIAL CONDO HOTEL WITH RULES. I told them no way I am going to allow people unattended in my condo hotel. You open the door for hidden drug dealing, prostitution, etc. especially where we are located in South Beach, Miami.
Well I have been a VRBO user for 20 years, and I can tell you that I do not encounter any of those issues I have encountered in 2 months on AirBnb. Being a condo hotel, all my guests on VRBO wants the service we provide.
It is really sad but onAirBnb the hosts are 99% wrong. The traveler is given free reign to do as they please. Lately I read an article of someone renting a home on AirBnb and then doing paid parties at that house with about 80 people inside. Oh boy!! The "traveler" was caught thanks to a security camera at the entrance door.
The traveler can do no wrong. They can destroy your place, they can lie, the host will be always wrong. Not only that, but today, AirBnb took a UNILATERAL decision to cancel a reservation WITHOUT checking the facts with us. That is surreal. So the traveler can lie, it is all good for AirBnb.
Unfortunately accepting large reservations is a risk on AirBnb so I am limiting the number of days per stay because I am afraid of AirBnb lack of fairness. So since the traveler is always right, at least I don't lose that much.
I am ok. After 2 months, I know what to expect. And I agree with the assessment above. We have zero control of our OWN properties on AirBnb.
Booking.com, Expedia, VRBO all give respect to the hosts. They don't take unilateral (one way) decision without first conferring with the host. And see those platforms want your business, they do provide fair assessment of any issues.
Excellent write up, Laura. I hope AirBnB will heed your advice!
16,269 nights across 4 doors in 6 years. F airbnb. Just deleted my 3rd of 4.
Hello fellow Marylander!
Thank you for your summary of hosting recommendations for Airbnb, I agree with everyone one you mentioned. I have additional ideas that focus primarily on Airbnb making changes with how they cultivate guests. My recommendations are:
1) That Airbnb set up their payment system so that hosts can opt to place security deposit holds on guests stays that are 29 nights or more. Guests would treat hosts' properties with care if they were going to be held financially accountable for any damages they cause.
At our rental we get extended stays and generally the longer a guest stays in the unit the more likely damages may occur, particularly if guests are staying in the apartment most if not all of the time. Some guests are indignant when we mention to them that they will be responsible for any non wear and tear damages they've caused during their stay.
2) Provide orientation for new guests via online video tutorials. These instructional videos can educate guests on how to be a 5 star guest while staying in a host's home. The video orientation would include booking, adhering to numbers of people permitted, following house rules and also not throwing parties, Consequences should be included, i.e. that guests may have reservations cancelled and not refunded for the booking. They may be suspended, banned, etc from the Airbnb platform. The video would instruct them to conserve energy, shutting off lights/tv, etc when not in use, adhering to quiet hours, not sneaking in kids, pets, or any additional people. Then quiz guests on their knowledge at the end of the tutorial to see how much info they retained and provide them with correct answers if/when they answered incorrectly. The tutorials can also be used for guests who are seasoned ,but not good guests ,in efforts to help them "remember" next time to do things differently. The anonymous host question- "would you host this guest again?" can be used to trigger a link to be sent to guests to improve their behaviors in future hosts rentals.
3) Airbnb needs to be transparent with guest reviews so that all can see, just as they can see hosts ratings and category scores. A new category for guests should be added-
"Guest left the rental space in check in condition." 1-5 stars. Also some headers that can be clicked on that provides more details i.e. maintained condition of furniture, kept drains clear, linens were intact, etc. That would alert hosts to previous behaviors of guests and hold guests accountable at future bookings.
4) I would like to see a Guest Passport that has guests answer a few questions about themselves and posted to their profiles. After all hosts are recommended to do that to make guests more comfortable. We hosts are having complete strangers stay in our homes! Don't we have the right to know a little about guests to put ourselves at ease? My husband and I started requesting a government issued photo ID, under our house rules. Also we ask guests a few questions to get acquainted before/during the booking process. We don't rely on Airbnb vetting guests for us.
5) Provide hosts with an option to charge guests for cleanings at what ever frequency they are providing for long stays, a month or more. Currently hosts are only able to charge a one time regular cleaning fee or at a reduced fee for shorter stays, at the time of the booking. I'd like Airbnb's payment system to allow for hosts to have an option for charging for recurring cleaning, particularly for long stays. It could be charged to guests credit cards on a daily/weekly/bi-weekly or monthly basis depending on how often hosts clean the space. The costs/frequency would be under guest rules that the guest reads and agrees with as part of booking.
6) Agree to take away location rating category all together. Instead, have guest fill in a zip code of their desired location. This may be where they will be visiting/working/etc. Then Airbnb reservations system can have rentals pop up listed sequentially, from closest to farthest in distance, from guest's desired zip code.
Sooo if the Host Advisory Board reads this message as well as the other recommendations, from you and the other hosts, this will give them something for them to work on!
Wishing you the best in your future endeavors.
Karen
Silver Spring, MD
Forgot to mention that Airbnb should drop the Guest Favorite or better define it so that it is measurable and trackable by guests and hosts. Be respectful of superhosts who bust their asses to provide high quality rentals, customer service and guest experiences! Bring back the Superhost filter for searches!! Don't unilaterally strip superhosts of their "benefits" or "awards:" of earning superhosts status.
Airbnb is giving some displeased superhosts good reasons to leave the Airbnbh platform!!!
I totally agree
After 2 years of hosting, we too have decided to take our beach property off of the AirBnB site due to its poor rating system and the ability to allow guests to rate you on very silly things like location or accuracy when both are listed and the pictures are clear.
My last guest who stayed in June was a host on AirBnB, and said my listing was not accurate and also said some inaccurate things about my place in her review to me such as not having dining seating in the room or that my patio furniture was small (when I didn't advertise that I had large patio furniture nor showed any pictures of any large patio setup). She even said I didn't have a grill, but I never even advertised for a grill. I should have known she was trouble when her first question to me prior to reserving the place was "is there enough natural light in the room"....it seemed harmless enough of a question at the time but now I know you get many wackadoodles via AirBnB.
The year prior, another host stayed with me and trashed my place, spat sunflower seeds all over the room, left the microwave very dirty with food in it, left sand everywhere, etc. etc. She even thought I would show her around town although I did not advertise that I do tours. It's a beach town so there's lot's to do, and there's google.
Another time, this guy brings a prostitute to our place. It took me a whole day to get him out of my home when I told AirBnB this was inappropriate and I will not tolerate that kind of behavior. AirBnB was VERY difficult about it and what I expected to take only an hour, took a whole day to have AirBnB tell him to get out when it should have been automatic and a no-brainer that illegal activities will get you kicked out.
No more AirBnB for us. We're just going to enjoy our beach house and if we ever rent it again, it would be long-term rentals.
I 100% agree with everything you've said here @Laura2592 ! I hadn't already seen this post when I wrote about my own gripes about Airbnb's current policies and platform features seriously impacting the ability of hosts to protect themselves and their properties.
EDIT: I just realized your post is from April 2022 – over two years ago!! – and we're all still having the same exact issues!
I just de-listed five properties from the AirBnB site due to their hostile policies towards hosts and inadequate, almost laughable (if it wasn't so detrimental to my bottom line) attitude to the host community.
I have been successfully managing rental properties for longer than most and usually have a portfolio of between 5 and 10 separate rentals listed on various sites, including my own website. I also owned a highly successful, actual Bed and Breakfast Inn for the past 20 years, which I recently sold.
I understand that rental guests are looking for a top of the line hotel room, with the convenience and privacy of a private house. This is what I provide along with great service, expensive welcoming gifts and being available at all times if there is an issue that needs addressing.
AirBnB on the other hand, runs an impersonal, bottom line, profit motivated business that caters entirely to the renter and abuses and takes advantage of the property owner. I just had a renter, who had booked for a week, check out after using the house for two nights. After sleeping in all the beds, using all the bathrooms leaving their dirty towels on the floors, eating all the fresh fruit and local farm produce I left as a welcome gift they claimed they were ' allergic' to an 'odor'. The guests from the week before gave the house a 5 star review, and let me know when they damaged a piece of furniture so I could have it repaired before the next guest checked in. So I am confident given my experienced cleaning staff, that the house was in perfect and welcoming condition to be rented.
Based on the renters claim, AirBnB refunded their full rental cost, EXCEPT for the AirBnB fees. So AirBnB loses nothing, and the host loses everything. I was not given the opportunity to send one of my staff to offer mitigation for whatever issue the renter said they had, and only found out they had left when they messaged me to say they had forgotten a laptop.
The first customer service agent I spoke to said the issue had to be 'escalated'. The escalator rep could barely explain why the renters had been permitted to cancel and get a refund, except this was 'AirBnB policy'. I told him, that I was not satisfied with his answer, and my response would be to remove all my listings from the platform.
I know there are less than ethical hosts on the platform, and there are some wonderful renters. But if renters are treated unfairly by their hosts, the reason is most likely, too many of the professional hosts, good ones, like me, have quit AirBnB. Why would we continue to put up with their substandard customer service when there are so many alternative options?