Hi, Airbnb community,
I joined being a host now 6 months ago and would like to give a brief overview of my experiences.
I do have a small 2-3 person apartment in Vienna, pretty cheap and well located. I'm doing all stuff, which means admin, cleaning, and preparation on my own, as professional cleaning would be far too expensive. Nevertheless, I'm still slightly below break even, but I started doing this with enthusiasm and the wish to give people from abroad a chance to learn about Vienna, which is a wonderful town.
Most people do appreciate the effort, and special little items I put behind this, as I'm not hosting for money but for the fun first line. Those guests do recognize the willingness, empathy, and spirit behind what I'm, we are doing.
Others are the opposite. Some just ignore, they come and go in a way as if nothing would have happened, and some are even complaining about everything. Things like, there was a "strange smell", "some dust", some stuff left from previous guests etc.
Well, fair enough. I know some guests have expressively asked to leave used shampoo or such stuff, as it still can be used, some say this is not possible. It will always be difficult to get all under one hat.
But those who come. and pay < 50 € a night for an apartment, well prepared, with some weaknesses, which had been mentioned upfront, should better go to Grand Hotel Sacher, but there they pay 300 € a night and still will not be satisfied. Those guests make me feel to stop the whole exercise.
My view on Airbnb is so positive; a great organization, all admin stuff is solved in an easy and proper way, and guests are usually very nice! So the idea is perfect and the Airbnb team is as well !!!! Many thanks to them!
Maybe it should be more clear to guests that these are private homes in general and not 5-star hotels, but maybe I'm wrong.
I wish all Airbnb community a Happy new year and a lot of success and nice guests.
Wolfgang