Laura’s Letter: What I learned staying with private-room hosts

[Laura_C]

May 20, 2019

Hi everyone,

Congratulations to all of you who achieved or maintained your Superhost status in the April assessment! The longer I’ve worked at Airbnb, the more I realize what an incredible accomplishment being a Superhost is. Thanks to all of you for providing wonderful experiences for guests around the world, and for setting the standard for hospitality for Airbnb.

As many of you know, my role at Airbnb is to look after the team that builds products, community, and resources for home hosts like you. When I joined Airbnb last July, one of my top priorities was to quickly immerse myself in the world of hosts and hosting—in particular, to learn more from some of our amazing hosts (and Superhosts!), gather some great tips from them, and bring those back to our host community (and our teams here at Airbnb). There’s nothing quite like firsthand experience, so as part of my journey, I decided to stay in a private room once a week. I have three small children at home, so it was a pretty big commitment, but it ended up being such a delightful experience in some fun and unexpected ways. I’m excited to tell you about what I’ve learned over the past few months.

Getting to meet Superhosts like you was one of the highlights of my recent adventures staying in private rooms. There are more than 161,000 Superhosts who share private rooms on Airbnb— that’s 29% of all Superhosts. And private-room listings are popular with guests, too. In 2018, tens of millions of bookings were in private rooms, which was a significant share of all bookings on Airbnb. Private-room hosts and listings are a really important part of our community.

I had 3 goals for my private-room stays

1. Experience variety (staying at listings with different price points, and different types of hosts: new, Plus, Superhosts, etc.)
2. Have personal interactions (I reached out to hosts ahead of time and invited them to chat with me more about their experiences, and share thoughts on how we can help them more)
3. Gather learnings (What was my experience as a guest? How can we support hosts more? What is the host doing brilliantly that other hosts can learn from?)

So, what did I learn? Well, the first big takeaway was that we need to do more to help you better set guest expectations (which can help with better reviews). This is something that’s really important for all hosts but absolutely crucial for private-room hosts, many of whom share a bathroom or kitchen with their guests. On our end, I think that starts with categorization. How can we better differentiate different types of listings on Airbnb (need a room in a castle, anyone?), especially as we begin to welcome more bed-and-breakfasts and boutique hotels alongside homes and rooms? How can we help you make it clear to guests that there are cats in the listing? (I am much more of a dog person than a cat person, but I have to admit that I made friends with many cats during my stays!)

Next, I learned many things about what can make a stay great from a guest’s perspective. I appreciated a lot of different things—clarity on where I could go and what I could use (shampoo? fridge space? through that random unmarked door?) was a big deal. Having some information from the host on who else was going to be in the house was also hugely reassuring. Knowing the hours of the other people in the household was also great so that I could be a respectful guest (I get up early, and always wanted to be thoughtful of not waking up everyone else in the house!).

In fact, many of you have already shared some wonderful tips for hosting a private-room listing here in the Community Center. (This thread really impressed me, and I enjoyed the comments on this article, too). I’d love to continue to hear from you on this subject, and I’d love to learn more about what we can do to help you as private-room hosts succeed. Please tell me your suggestions in the comments, below.

And finally, and perhaps most importantly, I was reminded again of what an incredible community of hosts we have. I met one host who started hosting so that she could have more flexibility to support her children with special needs, and another who took a big pay cut to follow their heart and work in the non-profit sector … hosting helped them have the financial flexibility they needed to make that move. I met one host who has developed extraordinary relationships with her guests (many of whom come back often to visit) and another who started hosting so that she could afford to keep her family’s home while her children went to college. I love that Airbnb is helping people around the world build wonderful connections and support their goals and passions in life.

Congratulations again to those of you who are Superhosts, whether you’re sharing the spare wing of a castle, an entire home, or an extra bedroom in your apartment. I hope to meet you on my next outing. Until then…

… Happy hosting!
Laura

[Diane452]

I completly agree with Beverley andTony! I offer clean rooms, comfy beds, full access to house, toiletries, and breakfast, yet Airbnb wants me to lower my prices because "similar listings in my area" are (for example) $18 less? I think not. Nobody lists this kind of offering for only $17 a night with breakfast in the morning. I have checked, I charge 30-70% less than the other local bnbs in my area.

[Carolyn295]

Diane, I agree with you, in that it aggravates me when I get those notes from Airbnb saying I could lower my prices for more bookings.  I already have plenty of bookings, and I do my own cleaning, plus, our water bill, electricity bill and food bills are all more, so why in the world would I want to lower my price when it is already only. $30 a night with one night given back to the guests if they are there seven nights.     Also, we have decided not to accept children because we live at our house and here in the United States if you so much as touch a child and the child does not like it, you risk losing everything and going to jail.  Many teachers have quit teaching school because the risk is not worth it.     This is suburban Houston, Texas, so I don't use duvets.  I use bottom and top sheets and quilts, with plenty more quilts in the closet if you need one but it is usually warm and quite often, hot, here, so one doesn't need much.  We have central a/c and heating and ceiling fans, and have found that sometimes people from other parts of the world want to open the window and we have to explain that with central air or heat you can't do that because we cannot cool the whole outdoors.  We try to cooperate and let them open the window but the a/c or heat has to be shut off and they will soon not be comfortable.  We rarely have that problem with people from the US.  Mostly we enjoy the hosting experience very much.

[Kelly-And-Nancy0]

I agree with you. With our power company increase their rates and our water company keeps going up along with all other increases it is hard to break even on my rate. I wish Airbnb wounld not send those request to lower rates.

[Caroline1155]

Hi, I'm new to Airbnb and just recently became a super host. 

I don't use top sheets. On each bed I have pillows with pillowcases (pillow slips), bottom sheet and duvets with cover. After each guest checks out pillowcases, bottom sheet and duvet cover is changed. I also have an extra duvet and pillows in closet and ask the guest to leave them out if they use them so covers can be changed.

I absolutely love meeting all the wonder different people from all over the world.

Happy hosting everyone

Caroline 

[Cryn0]

Hi Laura,

What a great way for you to get a feel of what we hosts do.  Delighted you spotted how much our listings need to be separated from whole apartment listings or listings where the host is nowhere to be seen. After all that is how Airbnb started - hosting in a spare room.  We have been banging on about it for ages so it’s fabulous you are now in a position to help us. 

Meanwhile I’ll  continue to host guests from all over the world in the peaceful haven of my house and garden in the East End of London.   You too?

Cryn

[Lyn68]

Hi Cryn, Hello from Australia. You are so right about separation. Airbnb needs to recognise difference of hosts  hosting in homes where host is present to make their extra space earn a little extra cash for them as well as the cultural learning by doing that, as opposed to those who choose to make their empty investment apartment or house into a business of renting rooms or the whole place with no host present.  There is no comparison between the 2 and for that reason I don't understand how reviews can be the same for both or have any bearing re the experience for guests.

The New South Wales Governmeent has made it very clear by legislation ( and some of your Councils trying to do same in London) by limiting the number of nights/annum an apartment or house for airbnb can let for, whereas in case of a home and the host is present then there is no limit to number of nights an host can host.  I think that legislation says it all.

One can't compare apples with oranges yet airbnb tries to do that on the same platform and review process.

[Rodrigo528]

Amazing 🙂 Thank for your advises.

[Margo-and-Mike0]

Excellent comments... and great to know other bnb people have the same I also have.

since we started being Hosts we have used top and bottom sheets, many guests push the top sheet down to the bottom of the bed! Soo to experience why we started to not put top sheets on our bed and fount just the duvet very cuddly and comfortable, during winter  we connect two summer duvets inside the duvet cover clipping the corners to stop them separating.

what would be amazing and practical would be to have zips on the duvet covers. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all your tips hosts and BnB.

Namaste Margo & Mike

[Kym6]

Hi Laura

I enjoyed reading your experiences. I have been hosting 3 years now and I love meeting new people from my own country as well as from around the world. It's getting to know their culture and way of life and putting into perspective.

My place is not extravagant by all means. It has a very homely feel and quite cosy. I love being a superhost!

[Marcia-E0]

Glad you are going to do something about the cat issue. I stay in Airbnb private rooms a good bit and often have trouble finding out if the host has cats. I am allergic to them so it is important. You Airbnb folks might like to know that about 20% of people have this allergy. People planning to host should realize they will loose some guests because of that. Far fewer people are allergic to dogs. 

[Laura_C]

Hi Marcia! You know what, I didn't think I was allergic to cats (and I've owned dogs my entire life) but I definitely had a reaction in a few of the homes I stayed in. 

[Bill141]

Thanks for this! We are Superhosts and we’ve stayed in private room arrangements with Superhosts. Quite honestly, if a home with a private room listing  has a kitchen, television and other amenities, it does not mean that the guest will feel comfortable “jumping right in” and using those amenities outside of the private room. This can definitely lead to miscommunication and unfulfilled expectations.  We as Superhosts pride ourselves on offering exactly what we describe - a studio with private entrance attached to our home on a road that can be busy at times.   Let’s all strive to offer exactly what we advertise!

[Lyn68]

I disagree re what you say about private room in a home and  guest not feeling comfy to jump right in---that's what listing description is for so guests know what's available, plus all host has to say on arrival is "feel at home and you are welcome to use whatever you see", if you don't want them to use something then either say so or put it away.  Never failed for me. They love the feeling of 'being at home' & I like nothing better when they take a sherry off the sideboard without having to ask---because they can see it.  Most guests thesedays have translation apps on phones if language is barrier so no reason for misunderstanding.

[Lyn68]

RE translation apps & the joy of helping someone:  I recently spent 3 evenings  at dinner in my home with a lass who had not one word of english & had difficulty with our language no matter how hard she tried,  yet she returned each evening after a day of sightseeing to have dinner in my home, probably because it was free but more importantly we had 3 evenings of absolute fun translating on her phone so we could converse,  she arrived not knowing hello but left being able to pronouce Thankyou properly. She was delighted to learn Thankyou like an english person. I loved she learned it whilst here, That is the difference that hosts make.

[Ann-And-Ricardo0]

Hi Laura, 

Thank you for the lovely article. What a brilliant idea to visit the private room Airbnb's. If the wind ever blows you this way, please visit us. My husband loves people and I care about people and so our guests have felt comfortable with us in our floating home.  We are enjoying meeting people from all over the world.

Kind regards

Ann & Ricardo

Fullcircle Bahamas