Is anyone else experiencing a decline in the calibre of guests enquiring for places to stay?

[Patricia3001]

Over the last year I feel it has really gone downhill. Enquiries from guests who don't have any information in their profiles,

nor introduce themselves to you more than" Your place looks nice, can i come now" at 10pm or "I like you place can i book it 

now"  What happened to an introduction or filling out your profile. I feel air bnb has become too big to handle it or maybe 

they dont care any more.  New Guests registering should have to answer questions to give more details in their profile 

and perhaps receive a welcome pack with guidelines how to approach a Host politely. Anyone else feeling this way?

If air bnb are reading this I hope you will take my suggestion on board.

Trish

[Helen350]

Yes @Patricia3001 , assuming we hosts are desperate for any old business may explain, but not excuse a bad and entitled attitude?!

[John5097]

@Patricia3001 

I've had good quality guest but most are very brief first message. A recent one with zero profile info IB with no first message, just joined and was canceled by Admin, then approved a few minuets later, and she only said "Thanks!" I did notice their ID was verified so not going to worry about it. I'll likely start requiring more profile info. But I like the idea of ABB sending guest more info on communicating with host, or making sure they read the listing, and not ask if its ok to check in at 8am. 

[Elisabeth40]

I am actually tired and fed up with guests who don't understand anything:

- a guest who want to pay cash an imaginary amount for a room, which cost 3x more in rent, gets even upset, doesn't understands that I cannot pay 2/3 of a rent for him. 

- guests who hate you  even if your listing is on insta book and they chose you.

- guests who pass me in the morning and don't consider to say "good morning", just look at me hateful 

- guests who don't understand that it's not ok to bring friends to my home, because it's covid

- guests who use my personal creams during covid

- guests who don't understand why they cannot check in at 8am, even if you explain to them, the previous guest checks out at 11am, and cleaning needs to be done.

- guests who think they want your place 24h, don't understand that you need to clean after previous guest and that's why there is no option for 24h hosting. I even need to explain that the laundry takes 1,5h, still don't understand

- guests who book, never appear, block calendar, want afterwards a refund

-guests who don't read listings, house rules, absolutely ignore everything.

I came to  a conclusion, there are many people out there, who have no feeling or knowledge for value of things, it's just a blank entitlement and ego and the review is their weapon. I am so over it. I even don't want a super host status anymore, you cannot be a super host and dealing with so much ignorance. As higher the ignorance as lower is your review.

[Emiel1]

I still have bookings, but the are odd people (or people in weird situations).... just deal with it, make some money and still have happy guests !

[Anthony223]

@Patricia3001    Hello Patricia. Yes I agree with you.  The quality of pandemic guests is much worse than normal.

[James2566]

I’ve definitely had the worst guests during the pandemic and I’m not surprised. People traveling to the Caribbean for a week in the sun during this pandemic are not followers, they’re boundary-pushers and risk-takers. They’re spending half their trip quarantined until they’re unleashed on the island (if they don’t escape and get arrested, like two of our guests). They’re cranky, fed up with restrictions and feel entitled to exceptions. They’ll ignore laundry hours clearly posted and will purchase produce to throw at our sign that says “don’t feed monkeys”. I’m constantly asked to communicate off-platform from the first message which I can hardly read due to everything blocked and flagged by AirBnb. I’ve had to switch all towels to charcoal grey due to damage and stains, and remove anything not strictly essential from inside my villas. It’s a different market for sure and one I will be weary of for the rest of my life as a host, if I don’t transform into a troll under a bridge before then.

[Ana7]

@James2566  hillarious but very true post!

[Elaine701]

I've had too many bad experiences this past year with "no profile, no history" guests.

So, for guests with no profile asking to book the villa, they are now subjected to a somewhat lengthy interrogation 🙄. If they make it through the gauntlet, then I'll consider letting them book. But not many pass. Or they just vanish before you're through with them. 

Ahh, for the good ol' days when you could just let anybody book and it would all turn out nice for everybody. I think those days are over. 

[Laura2592]

I am seeing more issues now that during the pandemic. People are flocking to ABB who have no idea how it works. If you even ask them a question they get totally offended. The idea is that because they want to book you, you OWE them a yes.

We do IB but we also have settings where any new guests or those not recommended by others need to send a request. No one reads the house rules. I put a codeword in at the end to put in your booking message-- nada. If you say "Thanks so much for your interest! Please check out our house rules and respond with the phrase listed there to indicate that our place fits your needs" I get back "I don't have time/I can't find it/Can you just accept/Why are you being difficult?"

I think this is a failure of ABB marketing. People truly don't understand that this is not a cheap alternative to a hotel. They don't know WHAT it is. ABB lost its "live like a local" in favor of "Squeeze every dollar out of each listing" and guests are truly confused by the mixed messaging. Even though we do IB, we want people new to the platform or those who had issues with their first stays, to understand what we offer and what they should expect. How hard would it be for ABB to send out a few quick "great guest rules" with each booking attempt? Not hard.

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  They don't even have to send it out with each booking request. There should be a new guest tutorial that they have to read after they open an account and before they are allowed to book. And a short test that determines whether they have actually read it or not.

"If you arrive to your listing and find it unacceptable in some way, you should:

A.  Immediately cancel and expect a full refund.

B.  Stay for the entirety of your booking, then demand a refund.

C.  Contact the host to give them an opportunity to correct the issue.

D.  Send the host an irate message, telling them how awful their place is and that you are going to leave a bad review unless they refund all your money."

I know, I'm dreaming.