No words....

[Laura2592]

My last guests specifically mentioned our mattresses in our review calling them as good or better than a high-end hotel. We get compliments on them pretty regularly but I understand that everyone has their own preferences. 

Today i answered a call from the current guests. Older couple. One took a nap and "could not move" because the bed was "so stiff." Guest wondered if we had any "different mattresses" we would be able to trade out. We do not have a selection of mattresses for guests to choose from, no. We have a topper that she can use and we told her where to find it. Ironically we took it off as another guest said the bed was too soft. 

The guest seemed surprised that we were not coming to put the topper on for her immediately and that she would have to do it herself. As she was complaining I was actually sitting at the vet with my cat who had eaten something weird and was throwing up nonstop. I politely explained that no, we can't offer a linen change or daily maid service. She then asked "why on earth" I would not just keep toppers on the bed. I explained that people have different sleep needs so we had taken them off and just allow guests to use them if they wish.

I just can't wait for this review. At least we have the last one to cancel it out. 

[Lenore22]

Wow. You can't make this stuff up...

[Laura2592]

I think I have 10 or 11 more stays until we sell. If I can just get through them without getting arrested lol. 

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  It might be an interesting experiment for you to be 'less than' what you normally are in terms of communication, gifts, etc. and see if that does or does not make a difference.  I'm not saying be unavailable, but possibly try a little less 'tell me what you want in your gift basket' and 'anything else I can do' type of statements.  Just a thought.

I might have been tempted with someone who thought we had some other mattresses lying around, to tell them, yeah, sure, we've got a huge storage space of mattresses for you to choose from, we'll meet you there at midnight...to see what response you would have gotten.

Mattreses are a difficult thing.  The mattress we have is a few years old, but was very expensive when purchased, it's extremely firm and maybe 1 set of guests a year will mention that it's too hard for them.  We did add a fake down mattress topper to soften it up, and since then no one has mentioned it.

[Emilia42]

@Laura2592 

I agree with @Mark116. For these last 10-11 stays, don't go out for your way for anything. No gift baskets, simple communication with only the check-in instructions. See if it makes things less stressful or if it deliveries a different guest. What do you have to lose?

[Laura2592]

@Emilia42  and @Mark116  our communication has already gone out to all guests who are booked telling them to expect a follow up on baskets etc. We use this opportunity to double check on guest counts so it always the pleasant followed by the "please follow our rules." At this point the wheels have been set in motion. But if I ever am crazy enough to do this again it will be truly remote with a cohost and the minimum of interaction possible.

These guests contacted my husband about a variety of small issues-- the body wash in the upstairs bathroom is about to run out, they used up one variety of coffee and didn't like the other...etc. In the course of the conversation they said they wanted to do a long term stay and that is why they were so interested in the mattresses. They have an adult child nearby and want to rent the place for a few months for visiting so they wanted to know how "flexible" we could be with trading out the mattresses. Super presumptuous as 1) we don't offer (and never have) long term stays through ABB 2) we are selling the place. My husband just said that it wouldn't be possible to do a long term stay as he didn't want to get into a discussion about the sale. At least there is a little insight now as to why the mattresses were so important. It sounds like they were auditioning rentals.

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  We had one set of guests who were staying for 2 weeks in the interum between buying/selling a house.  They found the mattress was too firm and wanted to know if there was 'anything' we could do about it?  Like what?  Buy a new mattress for you?   Go out and buy a mattress topper for you that might or might not meet your needs?  Nope.

They ended up getting their gross brown edged foam mattress toppers out of storage and then left them on top of the bed for us to throw out! I can't believe anyone would have slept on them but am glad they didn't apparently ever come in contact with the mattress.

It was after their stay that we bought the mattress topper, which I'm not sure does much, but every time I look at the foam toppers, except for the extremely expensive and thick ones [which I believe the 3-4 inch ones would mean our sheet sets would not fit], they all look kind of gross to me.  Plus we thought whatever we got should be washable so that only left the down alternative.  

People are very strange.

ETA I truly cannot imagine contacting my host to complain that I didn't like the brand of free coffee!!!!!

[Laura2592]

@Mark116lol. We have 3 types of coffee. Some Folger's, ground coffee from Wegman's or Starbucks (can't remember what is there right now but we usually do a medium roast) and Nespresso pods. They loved the Folger's  and used it all up, don't like whatever else is there. Too "strong."

I wouldn't be caught dead drinking Folger's but a guest left some of theirs behind. It seems to be popular with some guests.

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  We pretty much buy what's on sale, although we try to have Starbucks for non USA guests since we thought they might get a kick out of having an 'American' brand. 

It's a revolving door of 8 o'clock, chock full a nuts, Starbucks or Trader Joe's, we keep the Green Mountain for ourselves. We have a plain old Mr. Coffee and a french press.  We at one time had a fancy milk frother but someone tried to make coffee in it, so that was the end of that.  We've considered putting in one of those Ikea $2 battery operated milk frothers, which we love and are great...but there is 100% chance someone will try to use it to beat eggs or cream butter and ruin it, so not an option.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

yes @Laura2592  tell them you are selling the cottage and leaving Airbnb and you don't care about their reviews and stars so they better behave!  😄

This is better than any psychotherapy haha

[Laura2592]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  with these kind of people if you tell them you are selling, and they somehow feel that they missed out, they never leave you alone.

I said on another thread we bought our main house in 2020 and won it by a few hundred dollars in a multiple bid situation. One couple that lost out still contacts our realtor and asks if we are "done" with "their" house, offering ridiculous amounts of money for us to sell to them. Some people just do not understand "NO" and its better not to engage, especially if they feel like there was some kind of chance they missed and the rules could be bent to change that. I want the sale of our Airbnb to go off without a hitch and don't need that kind of energy anywhere around it.

[Huma0]

@Laura2592 

Oh dear. Well, we all know that different people have different preferences when it comes to mattresses and pillows etc. and it's hard to please everyone.

Pre-COVID I had the luck to stay in a lot of 5* hotels due to my work and, while I never had a problem with the mattresses, most of them have those feather/down pillows. I absolutely hate those squishy feather pillows. I know they are supposed to be 'luxurious' but they offer no support and I would always wake up with the worst neck ache. So, if there was an option to change them out to something else, I would take it. 

However, that's a 5* hotel (some of them even had 'pillow menus', not an Airbnb, and we're talking about pillows, not mattresses. Who in their right mind thinks that an Airbnb host (or even a hotel) has a selection of mattresses that they swap in an out according to varying guest needs?

Well, I have reasonably firm mattresses (not expensive but not cheapo either) and the thickest mattress toppers I could find. I find this to be a winning combination and get a load of compliments about how comfy the beds are (wish more guests would remember to actually mention this in the reviews). 

Still, you will get the occasional one that is not happy. I had a lovely late middle aged couple from New Zealand come and stay a few years ago. It was a once in a lifetime kind of trip for them and they had an insane amount of luggage, including pillows. The lady apparently suffered from neck ache and migraines resulting from that and so brought her own memory foam pillow. During her stay, she complained of terrible pain and stress etc. etc. due to this. Eventually, she tried my regular, not fancy pillows and suddenly the neck pain went away. She actually dumped that memory foam pillow here. Sometimes people don't even know what they actually need/like and just imagine problems are going to happen. If guests arrive with that attitude already in their heads, you can sure it's going to end badly...

[Pat271]

I’m so sorry, Laura. I hate to say this, but the majority of the few whines or prickles I have gotten have been from the 55+ crowd. Not profiling, just the facts.

[Darin57]

The only four star review we ever got was from an older couple.  Just saying. 

[Kirsten266]

Same here. Sorry but old locals are often very demanding...