It's important to get the guest onside.

[Robin4]

There have been a few posts lately about advice and helpful tips for new hosts.

I find the most valuable tool I have is my ability to be able to communicate.

That first message between host and guest has a massive effect on how the hosting will go.

I received this reservation just a few minutes ago from a couple from Point Wilson in Victoria and here is how I responded......

The guest has approached me in that classic 'passive/complimentary' way so I don't want to check their background, I know it will be good. 

In my message I have given that personal verbal handshake, these guys now feel comfortable about their booking and this will be another nice experience, they will arrive almost as friends.

First impressions are lasting impressions, create that comfortable atmosphere before they arrive.....and the good review will follow! 

Cheers........Rob

**[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Emilia42]

@Robin4 Agreed. The first message is everything. You and I operate in a very similar fashion in welcoming guests with initial communication. I have booked with Airbnb hosts who offered no upfront communication whatsoever. Just a very transactional check-in message a day before arrival. It gives a weird feeling and especially since somehow these hosts still get 5-star reviews. 

[Robin4]

@Emilia42 

Two years ago we were travelling interstate and stayed in an Airbnb listing where it was not possible to have any personal communication whatsoever with the host. All messages were the result of generic text from the initial welcome message through past the end of the stay. A number of times I tried to contact the host, the first being, the lock-box code we were given was incorrect. After 2 messages were sent half an hour apart the response we got was....

Eventually after 50 minutes of waiting a cleaner turned up with the key and put in a new code into the lock-box for us. I can't think of too many people who would have been as patient as we were with this host!

When we left at the end of the stay my wife hadn't realised her phone had slipped down between the sofa seat cushions and it wasn't until we were about 80Kms away from the listing that she realised she didn't have her phone. Once again I tried to call and text the host to ask if the cleaner could retrieve the phone before the next guest arrived and we would pick it up from her.

The frustration was just simply extreme, all I got for three days was this message....

Leave a review of her......did I ever!

I subsequently found out she has 12 listings and has 2,411 reviews. She never speaks with guests, operates all her listings generically and remotely.

This is about as far away from the genuine Airbnb experience we are all told to offer (and all that advertising currently promotes) as you can get, but with her number of reviews the company must be rubbing their hands with glee! Every time her name pops up, and it must repeatedly, she is not a Superhost and has an overall rating of 4.20 all the company would see is dollar signs! Most other hosts with an overall rating that low would be threatened with suspension but, with Airbnb dollars talk above absolutely anything else

Cheers..........Rob

[Ann72]

Absolutely agree @Robin4 and @Emilia42.  Rob, those auto-messages would drive me crazy.  My average booking lead time is about 3 months, so I don't want to load the guests up with specifics when they book.  Instead, I just say:

If they seem to want to plan in advance, I share my guidebook right away and give them recos.  If they have any questions before, during, or after, I answer them.  That's the job.  Most people are a little nervous when they travel to new places, and we can set them at ease and give them one less thing to worry about.

[Suzanne302]

@Ann72 

My message is almost identical!

"Hi Guest, Thanks so much for choosing my home and I'd be happy to host you! I'll send check-in details 2 days prior to your arrival, but if you need anything in the meantime, please let me know."

If the initial message gave details about their trip, I throw in a personal note about whatever they said as well.

[Ann72]

I knew we were separated at birth @Suzanne302!  😊 

[Emily352]

THE DECALOGUE OF THE GOOD HOST, INCLUDING 10 GOOD HABITS HE SHOULD PUT INTO PRACTICE IN HIS FIRST CONTACT WITH A STRANGER

1. The first impact is decisive. The first contact  marks the future relationship. You are the first person your guest interfaces with. You represent the home you manage.

2. Express gratitude for being chosen. Be happy in meeting your guest. Half of the work has already been done.

3. Respect and kindness. Exaggerate in respect. Kindness is free. But be careful. Be respectful, but not shy. Be kind, but not weak. Be proud of what you offer, but not arrogant.

4. Put yourself in his place to understand his emotions and needs

5. Make the guest feel important, create a bond. His happiness is your happiness. If you understand this, the guest is yours.

6. The guest is the cornerstone of everything: without him you could not live your passion in hosting. You have to take care of him through words. Pay close attention to the words you choose.

7. Use words that create a feeling of well-being and welcome, lively words, verbs that express movement. Eliminate the word problem.

8. Use the adjective easy. It's easy to get to my house. Ask the guest if he is coming by car, plane or train. Tell the guest how to get to you from the airport, station or by car. Tell him the bus or cab fares

9. Follow his mental path. Continue to be friendly.

10. Surprise him with something he doesn't expect. Do you have bedding preferences? Do you wish to eat in a really special restaurant with typical dishes that you will not easily forget? Do you want to visit the surroundings? What makes you dream? Let me know and I will be happy to give you the best advice, make reservations for you and arrange fabulous experiences!

Bonus track

Continue to interact with the guest before, during and after his stay. The ability to communicate makes the difference between success and failure in hosting (and in life).

[Helen744]

@Emily352 you were going well Until that number ten . He/she /them is/are a guest/ guests for goodness sake it sounds like a marriage proposal. A bit too unprofessional in my opinion .H

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Robin4  this was 3 y ago so I am curious, are they still on Airbnb or they were suspended eventually? 🙂

[Robin4]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 

Yes Branka, her profile still comes up, she is still an active Airbnb host, but there is no way on Gods earth I will have anything to do with her again.

We stay in the country town where 2 of her listings are on the way to the East coast 3 times a year being the half way point in the 1,400 Km trip between Mt Barker and where our girls and grandchildren live. We stay in that town on the way over and on the way back. That is 6 overnights a year. But under no circumstance would I book one of her listings again, We stay in other accommodation now where it is at least possible to have some form of human to human contact!

You don't travel expecting to have problems Branka, but if you do, it's important that help is available.

The thing that so annoyed me, this host is about as far away from the Airbnb model as it's possible to get, and if you or I behaved this way we would excluded from the platform, our listings would be taken down for not following Airbnb's principles.

But as I said in my previous post, where Airbnb are concerned it's not principals that matter......it's money!

Cheers.......Rob

[Suzanne302]

@Robin4 

If you can't respond personally to your guests, you have no business being a host. Just my humble opinion. 🙂

As always, on point @Robin4 !

[Huma0]

@Robin4 

I stayed at an Airbnb a few months ago that was actually a traditional B&B which the host just happened to list on Airbnb but she got most of her bookings direct, so I guess had a different approach, that approach being as little communication as possible!

I sent a request booking with a nice message explaining my plan, which was quite specific. I wanted to book a two night stay, but make two separate bookings of one night each in order to use two super host vouchers. She never responded, but accepted the first booking. When I went to book the second night, I couldn't because she had blocked it. She said it was booked. This was annoying because the calendar was completely clear for the whole of the rest of the month, but hey, these things happen. Perhaps I was not quick enough.

I saw that she had another listing available for both nights for the same price so I asked her if she could do an alteration. She told me to cancel and rebook. I explained that I couldn't do that because Airbnb do not refund the Superhost voucher once used and that I would not get my money back, nor would she get paid!

Anyway, this back and forth went on for weeks with her taking two weeks at a time to respond. I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to book elsewhere for the second night and for us to have to pack up and move for no reason when she had a listing available for both nights! 

I explained several times step by step how to do the alteration (I have done it several times for my guests and it literally takes seconds. It's so simple). Now I'm starting to feel like I am being a pain in the *rse guest, but I am asking for something really straightforward, which is of benefit to both me and the host. Why would she want to turn over two listings instead of one for the same payout (there was no cleaning fee)? Still, she just kept telling me to cancel and rebook.

In the end, it worked out, because it turned out the room was not booked for the second night after all!

Also, she never sent any kind of message proactively, e.g. check in instructions etc. I don't think I would have had any correspondence with her at all if there hadn't been the booking issue.

I understand that when you book a traditional b&b in the traditional way, the owner may not expect to have any further contact with you until you arrive, but I would want to help my guests if there was a problem and to offer a solution where one existed (and it did). 

It made me think twice about sending a request booking rather than an enquiry in future, let alone make an instant booking.

[Robin4]

@Huma0 

Huma, as hosts we have to put ourselves in the guests shoes.....they are not as familiar with the whole process as we are. 

I take all this into account, and I bend over backwards to make my potential guests feel as comfortable as possible with the procedure. 

I kicked off this thread with a specific booking! Well tonight is the night, that guest is here. When Belinda and Trev walked in, they had suffered a hard day in the middle of winter here trying to sell toys at a toy fare. It was 7c outside and a nice 24c in the cottage, I showed them around and she said to me, they had stayed in dozens of Airbnb's, being on the road with work much of the year and this was the nicest, most interesting, thoughtful Airbnb that they have ever walked into! Hopefully in the morning after a good nights sleep they will still feel the same!

These people felt good about this before they set foot on the property!

I am expecting a great review from them and a few return visits in the future.

It's a bit like building a house Huma, you have to put down great footings and a solid foundation.

Cheers.........Rob.

[Gordon0]

I too send an (automated message), and am meticulous about following up if the guest hasn't. A youngish couple - honeymooners - from North America booked many months ago and were due on Wednesday (gone). Despite several friendly 'nudges', they didn't respond, so I expected them at 9pm on the day in question.

At 1pm - just as I'd returned home from work (30m before my cleaner was due) said guests turned up with a 'Hey, we're early [and jet lagged]'. After sending them off for a coffee - and helping the cleaner do his stuff - I was keen to find out what had gone wrong.

Mr Honeymooner said he didn't [ever] check his Airbnb app. When I asked about the text I'd sent to his mobile - 'Oh, I don't really check text messages either'. Mrs Honeymooner asked why I hadn't contacted her and was surprised to hear I didn't have her details...because she hadn't booked the stay. This is a 20-something, middle-class couple.

They turned out to be 'always-out' guests (my favourite) but pleasant if uncommunicative. I thought they didn't have a decent stay, but they left me a great review.

As my mum often said; 'there's nowt queerer than folk'.

[Huma0]

@Gordon0 

This sort of thing happens more often than one would expect. Certainly, I didn't expect it when I started hosting because I mostly host professional people whom one would think would have basic communication skills and common sense, e.g. notice the check in times CLEARLY stated on the home page of the listing and not assume they could just pitch up hours early when other guests might not have checked out or that the listing needs to be cleaned first or leave a host waiting for hours with no communication.

Your example reminds me of a girl who showed up three hours late for check in and didn't answer any calls or messages in the meantime. Her story was that her phone battery died. She hadn't made note of the address and so went to the wrong door number (but on my street). Then she went to an Internet cafe to charge her phone. So, apparently she was on my street for three hours. Of course it makes no sense. After a few minutes, she would have had enough charge on her battery to see my messages/missed calls and to message me back and get the address. Or, even simpler, enough charge to see the address herself on the booking. Oh well...

I have many, many similar examples. Sometimes it doesn't matter how good your communication is if the guest is hopeless at it. I do wonder how these people manage to function in day to day life, but perhaps they just have their 'holiday brains' on.