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

[Susan151]

---

@Sarah977 wrote:

@Jane956  

I would pare down the number of photos, though. 86 photos for 1 listing is a lot. 

---

I gave up at actually seeing a bed around photo 21. But I saw many still lifes with crockery. Remember what you are selling [and it isn't well lit crockery.]

[Sandra126]

@Jane956, I looked at all the pics despite the length. Yes, too many. Stunning house, I would love to stay. But you can safely leave things for guests to discover in the way of detail. Halve the pics, maybe even down to 30 if you can bear it. That is what I have. Does the job, and hopefully leads to comments like ''was better than the photos'', ''the photos do not do it justice'' etc. Imagine you are putting together a magazine article, some serious culling would happen. Package it like that. Make the guests gasp and squeal with pleasure when they get to discover the beauty that is Lollipop.

[Jane956]

Aww - thanks Sandra! I have just cut it down to 33 I need to add a couple tomorrow - of the kitchen and bathroom and then maybe I will cut a couple more! It's really hard - my friend took such lovely photos of it & it's a very photogenic house! But - I totally hear you and know you are right! What do you do about coffee...?

[Sandra126]

and you can always have an Instagram account where you post all and more. Savvy guests may look it up.

[Jane956]

Ah yes - I have an Instagram account - I am only just learning how to use it so not a lot there yet but that's a really good point!

[Sandra126]

@Jane956, For coffee I have two choices: A french press in stainless steel, it is double skin so it is thermally insulated. Don't get glass, it will break frequently. Also an Italian riser whatever they are called, also in steel. Handle in steel too, the ones with plastic handles get snapped off when turned by the handle. Loose pre-ground coffee. Not every guest drinks coffee as I am surrounded by coffee shops. I do have a lot of various teas. No loose leaf (sadly) as it would go down the sink.

[Sarah977]

@Jane956  Your friend may be a great interior designer, but she doesn't understand what should and shouldn't go into an Airbnb photo gallery. Staging a home for an Airbnb listing is quite different than staging it for a real estate ad or a magazine shoot. It should just be clean, well-lit, fairly minamalist (I'm not talking those industrial-looking, modern, grey black and white places,  just not full of "stuff", no matter how attractive that stuff is). A vase of flowers, a book on the table, a tea tray laid out is the sort of thing that makes guests picture themselves relaxing and enjoying the space. Dried flower arrangements, bunches of antique glass bottles, are dust and cobweb collectors. You don't want to be spending hours just dusting the knickknacks before you even have time for the major cleaning. And if every surface is covered with decorative items, the guests will wonder where they're supposed to put their things.

What's quite important is that the information and photos are accurate. So staging a place for the photos, and then removing all that stuff isn't good. The place should look as much like the photos as possible.