Guest feedback and suggestions

[Laura2592]

We ask for feedback via a suggestion box at our space. What we are requesting is ideas about major improvements...should we add a hot tub for example? What we get is a large range of ideas and feedback which is interesting.  

Some of this is helpful. We have made small changes to our welcome email and instructions to include a few actionable items like telling guests how to adjust the bedroom heater.  But much of the suggestion box is filled with ideas guests have about modifying the space to their own preferences ("I didn't like the pillows on the sofa because they are filled with down feathers and I prefer foam")

What kind of feedback do you find really useful from your guests? What do you consider irrelevant? When you are a guest yourself do you give your hosts feedback? As a host do you find guest suggestions useful?

[Lawrene0]

@Laura2592 , I don't ask for suggestions, but I'm fine with them. When they are useful, I say thank you, I will do that. When they seem irrelevant, I say thank you, that's certainly something to think about.

Useful suggestions: a cellphone/mittens/flashlight shelf in the outhouse, a can opener, mosquito repellent, getting rid of the 1981 Trivial Pursuit game as no one in our guest demographic knows any of the answers.

What I consider irrelevant: a kilometre-long aqueduct to provide running water to the treehouse (I'm putting that in our 500-year plan...), an axe for guests to use, a dartboard on the door, fewer blankets, more blankets, fewer pillows, more pillows.

[Clare167]

Friends stayed (free) and the husband afterwards gave "constructive feedback". I felt offended and miffy but after a while reflected and adopted nearly all of his suggestions, low cost improvements to the experience. I did not put in a teapot, thought guests would just block the drains with leaves. With Airbnb guests I found that asking for suggestions led them to think of reasons to mark down in the review. After that any feedback was sought only after the review. 

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  It wasn't really a suggestion, but one guest sent private feedback that there was a lot of cat hair on the patio cushions. I was very grateful that she didn't mention it in the public review, as the cat was a stray who had recently decided those cushions were her new home and I hadn't even noticed the cat hair. I thanked the guest for alerting me to that and made sure to vacuum those cushions regularly after that. 

The only other suggestion I had was from a good friend, who is a host herself and has stayed in the guest room. It was that I put a garbage basket in the bedroom. There's one in the bathroom, which I thought was adequate, as it's an ensuite bathroom, and a smallish space, so only a few steps from the bedroom into the bathroom. But I have followed her suggestion.

[Ann72]

@Laura2592  You are a saint, and it's not the first time I have thought that.  I don't ask guests for their suggestions, but I handle the ones I get exactly as @Lawrene0 does.  Sometimes when guests screw up - like the ones you posted about recently who always have to be right - they give suggestions as a way to regain their dignity.  I had one like that recently and I just told her I would certainly take her suggestions into consideration - even though I wanted to say something else entirely.

[John5097]

@Laura2592 

If I asked what improvements they might like I'm sure it would be an oven, their own thermostat to control the AC, canoes, kayaks, bikes! 

If I asked what improvements they might like and how much extra they would be willing to pay in nightly rates it all would be perfect the way it is set up!  

[Laura2592]

@John5097 ooohhh that's a great way to phrase it! I'll have to think about how to say that and change the sign on the box 

[John5097]

@Laura2592 I've thought about including that as well. I'm maxed out on what else I can offer. BTW I also include an AC or heat instructions in the listing and final day before check in message. A few guest made suggestions that I incorporated, better lighting for the driveway, and a little oven mitt for removing hot dishes from the microwave. 

Not to get off topic, but I used to stay with my friend's family in Braddock Heights for weeks at a time. We would all go camping together at Asiatique Island. Would be nice to visit there again and see them and stay somewhere close enough. Is your's anywhere near? 

 

[Colleen253]

@Laura2592 In my checkout thank you message I ask guests to let me know, via private feedback, if there’s anything I could have done to improve their stay. I do value and appreciate the opportunity that provides. Human nature being what it is, I think most people will not mention things unless asked. Especially little things. But if there is something, I’d like to know, and I’d rather provide an ‘out’ for it privately, rather than have it possibly show up in the review or be reflected in the ratings. That's not foolproof though, as two guests who gave glowing feedback and nice reviews awarded me 4 stars overall, so I don’t know what happened there. 🤔

I've done this since day one, but I have only received a few useful suggestions. I did add the games and a basket of toys for kids after my first family stay suggested those. That was my one 'doh' moment. One time the can opener went missing, and I didn’t realize it until a guest suggested “a can opener would be useful”, as their feedback. Ha! Yes, yes it would, thank you.  I stopped providing more than the minimum of bath towels needed after experiencing abuse of supplies, but then one guest with long hair suggested an extra bath towel for her hair would have been nice. I hadn't considered that. Since I can’t always know when that extra towel would be appreciated, and I’m not going back to stuffing the bath closet, I went and bought a few hair turbans! All of that was very useful feedback, and I think the house is now pretty well stocked, as I get lots of positive comments re comfort, attention to detail, and thoughtful touches.   

The irrelevant feedback is the suggestions that I agree would be nice, but for various reasons I can’t implement.