Reds under Beds!

[Robin4]

Contrary to many hosts I find I am becoming more relaxed about simply accepting guests because they are guests. I can’t remember the last time I actually looked at a guests profile on booking and I have only declined a couple of times over the past year and a half because I felt uncomfortable about the wording of the request. The quality of my guests has been so good that it has possibly lulled me into a false sense of security where I have let my guard down and now just don’t expect or look for problems. In the past two years I have only had one guest who shook my faith in the system, but I quickly dismissed her from my mind and I concentrate my memory on all those good ones.

I think I know what to look for in a problem guest, but I am just not getting any!

I understand a lot of hosts are becoming increasingly concerned about the company’s promotion of guest privacy before a guest books, and although these concerns are quite legitimate, maybe a lot of us are getting a bit carried away and looking for ‘reds under beds’!! Many hosts here are talking about giving hosting away because of this guest secrecy!

The way I look at it, if I was placed in a room with 500 random people there would be 300 I would never want to see or meet again! I would have nothing in common with them and I would have no level of appreciation with them. But put me in a room with 500 guests and I would have a level of compatibility with just about all of them….we would all share a common interest, a meeting ground where there is some level of respect!

And we have Airbnb to be thankful for that, sure, the platform is not perfect but it does bring two people with a common goal together, and that is not all bad.

I hope that by posting this I can take some of the steam out of the paranoia about prospective guests privacy, it is the same on other platforms! I don’t get to see my guest’s photos on Homeaway/Stayz, but I can ask them to detail themselves if I want to.

I am allowing Airbnb to do their job and, by and large, I think they are doing it OK!

Cheers…….Rob

[Mark116]

@Robin4  Good for you!  I just don't care that much anymore, airbnb has taken away all the tools and my ability to enjoy hosting as any kind of 'exchange' or of meeting people.  Guests use the apartment as a hotel, they don't want any personal touches, our last guests didn't even bother to give a 1 word response to acknowledge they were getting our messages, that is,until it was time for something they wanted.  We've done well with airbnb, have made money and had fun, but it seems pretty clear now it's about playing out the string until we move to a different platform.  It isn't fun, guests are barely even intersted in the most basic pleasantries when we meet them.  I feel like I may has well put in a key box and stop bothering with the meet and greet altogether, I can't remember the last time someone brought a host gift, must have been at least a year ago.  Things have really changed in the last 6/8 months and with the hiding of guest info. it's only a matter of time before we get someone who is really, really awful.  But, it just doesn't matter that much anymore, I much more look at it is a source of $, rather than a fun hobby as we did in the beginning.

[Robin4]

@Mark116 

Do you feel it's your guests, or is it maybe that you're 'burn't out' and are less excepting of what you are getting?

The tools Airbnb have taken away, I never used anyway, I didn't feel I needed to! I understand that some guests can give the impression of being rude and un-interested. The ones that do not get off on the right foot with me are those who will not pay attention to what I am telling them on entry! I may be explaining how the Wifi works, or in the process of showing a couple what is where, and one of them just walks off and goes and looks around the bathroom!

But my attitude does win them over before they leave and almost all leave enjoying the experience.

Maybe a break for a while may change your perception Mark.....or have you really struck a bad run of guests where nothing you do is adequate. If that's the case I feel for you Mark!

Cheers.......Rob.

[Ann72]

@Mark116 It makes me sad that you seem so down on it.  You have a beautiful place, really incredible, and you're a superhost with 130+ reviews - so what is it?  Is it burnout, as @Robin4 said?  I wish you could get back the joy in it.  I'm actually kind of stunned every single time someone leaves a review.  I mean, seriously, they've planned their trip, looked for a place, found mine, booked it, and paid me to stay in it.  And then they've taken the time to say really nice things about it.  The few times I've been in Maine when guests have come to the place next door, mostly it was clear they wanted nothing to do with me.  And still left glowing reviews.  They didn't come to hang with me - they had their own plans, and keeping the illusion that it was their own house for a short period of time was probably important to their enjoyment of it.  So I always remember what Don Draper said to Peggy in Mad Men, when she asked if he appreciated her work.  "Appreciate it?  That's what the money's for!"  Appreciation is great, but it's hard to find when you're looking for it.  And yet expecting the worst often seems to work out really well for people.

[Sarah977]

Mark, (can't tag you). I've been lucky in that I have almost all really great guests, but I think that has a lot to do with the private room/shared home thing I do, as well as the area, the price, you know, all those things.

I do think, reading all these bad guest stories, and how long-time hosts say it's changed a lot over the years, and especially lately, is that even if we feel we can vet guests well, what the anonimity Airbnb has created for guests has done is attract the type of guests who are the kind of people you're talking about- they want nothing to do with the host, it would never occur to them to bring a small gift, they couldn't care less about listening attentively when you run them through how things work, it's just a cheaper alternative to a hotel. When a guest no longer has to have a face photo, or any information about themselves, and can just Instant Book a place, with no prior contact with the host, then it becomes not at all like what Airbnb first started out as, and is attracting a large amount of undesirable guests who don't get at all what it means to book someone's home. Because Airbnb is essentially telling them that it's all impersonal.

[Christine1]

[Susan151]

@Robin4 I know that I am in the minority of hosts who post on this board, and as such, have kept my mouth shut while others have ranted about the rule change.

I could care less about pictures. I have hosted numerous cartoon characters, waterfalls, empty grey circles, and guests pictures where they were about 3 miles away from the camera lense. A picture tells me absolutely nothing about a person, if they are a person of integrity or how they will be as a guest. Is it nice if they have a profile narrative? Sure. Do I really care? Not that much.

When I signed up to host I was part of an IB "test." I was not permitted to NOT have IB. Oh did I fret about this. I complained. I fretted some more. In the end, when I was given permission to turn IB off after 6 months, I realized that it was working for me. People just booked, when it was convenient for them! People arrived, they stayed, we chatted and laughed, and then the next group arrived. Simple really.

What I do care about is that guests communicate with me before they arrive. I want to know two things: when will you arrive and how. The how is so I know if one of my cars should move to the street so I can offer them the driveway. The time is obvious- I like to plan my day and turnover so that I am not sitting around.

I have yet to cancel for any reason. My guests have ranged from "meh, can you leave now" to "you have improved my life with your kindness or viewpoints." I have just never felt "uncomfortable" with any guest. I would feel free to cancel if someone with really low star numbers booked, but that hasn't happened.

As my quartet coach used to say, "it is their football." Either you can live with the ground rules or you can't, in which case walk away. [Easier for him, with his international reputation!]

[Robin4]

@Susan151 

See, we do have a lot in common!

Cheers.....Rob

[Elizabeth164]

Dear All, Now as a 7 year host, I've become more relaxed myself, if I am still diligent if I'm not sure.

As for racism: One of the things I learned early on is that the more you make friends, real friends, with folks of a different nationaiity or color, the less you see the difference. More friends is better. It's always better.

One cannot get away from the "fact" of seeing difference, so the task is to take the "sense of difference" to task.

Best, and love, from Portland, Maine

[Rebecca160]

@Robin4  I am sorry to have to tell you that I disagree with you on this issue. It is all very fine to say you do not need to see a profile description and picture when you are renting a separate casita, but it is far different when you are a petite, single woman renting a room in her home. Please do not assume that all hosts are i. The

same position as yourself. ( and you know that I love you for being you!). I need to know how a potential guest describes him, her or themselves and look at their picture that that chose to represent who they are, before I make a decision to welcome them into my home. 

[Robin4]

@Rebecca160 

Hey Possum, understand totally and in your position I would be the same. You are right, my way of hosting is nothing like yours as far as personal contact and risks are concerned, and I am not saying Airbnb are to be congratulated on this move....it is just another way to chip away at a hosts information base.

My reason for starting this thread was not simply about this guest secrecy issue but, the community centre needs a balance of contributions or it will sooner or later collapse. None of us want to be continually confronted with doom and gloom. We need to know when things go wrong but, on odd occasions we need to know when things go right as well. It puts a bit of balance back into the forum.

I wanted to start a nice thread to say to the community.....'Hey, I am lovin this' so that we are not all focusing on that doom and gloom.

I would stand up and defend your right to as much knowledge about a guest as you require Bec, but as you say, my situation is different and I wanted to throw an olive branch into the community and say how I was personally finding things!

I am trying to lift peoples spirits!

Cheers......Rob

[Lawrene0]

Agreed, @Robin4 . Various viewpoints are good. No one is wrong - we all know our situation best. I am lucky to have two listings, so I know that different feelings go with each.

With the one, I have to be viligant only about whether guests know how to camp and won't miss electricity, plumbing, and wifi. So they can book, and stay, with a photo of a pit bull, local address, no reviews, and answer only "ok" to my nagging. My present guest is a case in point.

With the other listing, they are right here in the house, and so I understand that hosts want to know why they need a bed in town, or, in my case, why they need a bed in the middle of nowhere. I want to know as much about them as they know about me, as @Jessica-and-Henry0 are saying.

And if I were alone or in a party city, Mr. Pit Bull of Few Words would be of greater concern yet. 

Thanks for sparking the discussion, Rob!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

I've said it before....... my problem is NOT about guests not having a photo. What I am deeply unhappy and frustrated about is how UNBALANCED everything is between host and guest. 

Guests have access to a very detailed description of my home, they can see my photo,  they can go to my profile to read about me and get a sense of the type of person (and host) I am. They have the information to make an informed decision about with whom/where they want to stay. 

I have NOTHING to guide my decision whether I want or would like to have this person sleeping in the bedroom down the hall from me. This person will have a key to my home, will be storing food in my fridge, cooking in my kitchen, coming and going from my home as they please. Guests have tons of information to decide for themselves but hosts are expected to just blindly accept anyone who wants to come? 

This is all I get. UNFAIR!!!!!!!!!! 

[Alon1]

@Robin4 

Please note my update on Gerry & Rashid's Farewell to Airbnb thread:

(Copy below)

----------

For all those who expressed their 'sad farewells' to Gerry & Rashid,

please note

'After a break from hosting we are back!'

Or in the words of Michael Corleone:

"Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in" 

[Robin4]

@Alon1 

Hahahaa....Alon you are a bloody card...I would like to shake your hand one day.

If Gerry & Rashid are back, that makes me very happy! I owe much of my success to Gerry and Rashid back in 2016. They along with a few other hosts helped me enormously....possibly more than they will ever know.

This will be my good news story for today!

Cheers......Rob 

[Alon1]

@Robin4 

For me it rather intimates of the problem faced by live-in Hosts marketing individual rooms.

Contrary to entire-flat websites, there aren't many, if any serious alternatives to Airbnb.

I was registered with Wimdu and wasn't even aware they went bust at the turn of the year until Susan (from Dublin) informed me.

Now I'm not sure if anything else is out there?

I'm confused by Booking.Com. If it's only for entire flat & hotels? (I've only done superficial research.) 

Though truth to tell I'd prefer just to keep going with Airbnb, but would greatly appreciate if they abide by the EU Ruling to separate and identify private from professionals. Susan again has repeatedly highlighted Airbnb failure to obey the EU directive by end 2018.