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

[Judith408]

Thanks for your reply Sandra, guess I am just feeling a bit sensitive at the moment!

Tried so hard to do the right thing - sad part is we had a wonderful time & enjoyed

the unit immensely. Kind regards, Judy

[Robin4]

@Judith408 

You don't have to justify yourself, I have had a lifetime analysing words and statements and I can tell from yours, our door would always be open to you!

Yes the guest profile photo is important to some hosts and Judy I can understand why.

I host in a structure that is remote on our house block, there is a bit of garden and a few locked doors between me and my guests which gives me a good level of security. Some hosts have a guest through a thin wall in the next room. My personal safety is not important for me, it is for a single female host who shares her home. I don't need to see a photo of my guests and I don't really want to know anything about them. If they are prepared to pay up front to come and stay with me, great, I will have them.

But let me tell you where it gets complicated Judith. My wife and I both have asexual names, mine is Robin and hers is Adrienne. When we started going out it used to give strangers a devil of a time trying to work out who was who! For a year here on the community forum one of the major contributors,  Andrea Wagner from Amsterdam, was sure I was Robin the woman!!

If I book a property I could be booking as Robin the female or Robin the male......how is the host to know? Hosts do need this information Judy, to best assess the suitability of the guest inquiry.

See Airbnb have no interest in whether the guest and host are a good fit, just that this is another reservation they don't want to see escape with a resultant loss of those ever important service fees!

Judy, there are issues here and as I said before I will defend any host who feels their level of comfort in hosting is being eroded by Airbnb's photo secrecy, but, I go the other way. I want other users to see that I host as a couple. I want them to see what I look like, I am no George Clooney but between us, Ade and I present a trusting image simply by our photo. I think a good recognisable photo is a major assett not just to other users, but to ourselves!

All the best Judy.

Cheers.....Rob

[Judith408]

Thanks for that Robin! I can totally get what you are telling me, so I will get one of our

daughters to have a look at my profile and get her to show me how best to edit.  We are a retired couple & have lived in the same home for 35 years.  I would certainly want anyone who hosted us to feel confident that we are decent, respectable people.

My first reaction was to retreat from 'all this drama' but on reflection, I will not take it personally and will endeavour to remain positive.  Reaching out to Airbnb Complaints & Help

felt very clinical, but I can see there are good people everywhere endeavouring to do the right thing.

All the very best, and thanks once again Regards Judy

[Christine1]

Hi @Mark in Jersey.

So sorry to hear that so much of the pleasure appears lost. I hope that a positive change will come your way in this.

Best Regards, Christine.

[Susan17]

@Robin4 

Perhaps if Airbnb chose a policy, and for once, actually stuck to it for longer than 5 minutes - rather than incessant flip-flopping and doing constant U-turns as and when suits their whims (for whims, read bottom line) - hosts would feel a lot less fractious, confused and discombobulated about everything. 

The excerpts below are from an Airbnb blog post, eulogising on the "groundbreaking" initiatives the company had embarked on to design and build products that would best foster trust, openness and a sense of security between hosts and guests. It was written just 3 short years ago, and the importance of profile pics in the trust process was featured highly. They're sure  singing a very different tune these days. 

"Designing for trust is a well understood topic across the hospitality industry, but Airbnb's effort to democratize  hospitality mean we have to rely on trust in an even more dramatic way. Not long ago our friends and families thought we were crazy for believing that someone would let a complete stranger stay in their home. That feeling stemmed from the fact that most of us were raised to fear strangers.

“Stranger danger” is a natural human defense mechanism; overcoming it requires a leap of faith for both guests and hosts. But that’s a leap we can actively support by understanding what trust is, how it works, and how to build products that support it.

We began with the assumption that people are fundamentally good and, with the right tools in place, we could help overcome the stranger-danger bias. To do so, we needed to remove anonymity, giving guests and hosts an identity in our community. We built profile pages where they could upload pictures of themselves, write a description about who they are, link social media accounts, and highlight feedback from past trips. Over time we’ve emphasized these identity pages more and more. Profile pictures, for example, are now mandatory — because they are heavily relied upon. In nearly 50% of trips, guests visit a host’s profile at least once, and 68% of the visits occur in the planning phase that comes before booking. When people are new to Airbnb these profiles are especially useful: compared to experienced guests, first time guests are 20% more likely to visit a host’s profile before booking"

https://medium.com/airbnb-engineering/building-for-trust-503e9872bbbb

[#7]

The excerpts below are from an Airbnb blog post, eulogising on the "groundbreaking" initiatives the company had embarked on to design and build products that would best foster trust, openness and a sense of security between hosts and guests. It was written just 3 short years ago, and the importance of profile pics in the trust process was featured highly. They're sure  singing a very different tune these days. 

"Designing for trust is a well understood topic across the hospitality industry, but Airbnb's effort to democratize  hospitality mean we have to rely on trust in an even more dramatic way. Not long ago our friends and families thought we were crazy for believing that someone would let a complete stranger stay in their home. That feeling stemmed from the fact that most of us were raised to fear strangers.

“Stranger danger” is a natural human defense mechanism; overcoming it requires a leap of faith for both guests and hosts. But that’s a leap we can actively support by understanding what trust is, how it works, and how to build products that support it.

We began with the assumption that people are fundamentally good and, with the right tools in place, we could help overcome the stranger-danger bias. To do so, we needed to remove anonymity, giving guests and hosts an identity in our community. We built profile pages where they could upload pictures of themselves, write a description about who they are, link social media accounts, and highlight feedback from past trips. Over time we’ve emphasized these identity pages more and more. Profile pictures, for example, are now mandatory — because they are heavily relied upon. In nearly 50% of trips, guests visit a host’s profile at least once, and 68% of the visits occur in the planning phase that comes before booking. When people are new to Airbnb these profiles are especially useful: compared to experienced guests, first time guests are 20% more likely to visit a host’s profile before booking"

https://medium.com/airbnb-engineering/building-for-trust-503e9872bbbb

[Susan17]

For the record, I don't pay the slightest bit of attention to profile pics myself, but I do fully understand their value and importance to lots of hosts, in a variety of different circumstances and situations. 

And I believe that if a company is going to do a complete U-turn on any of its policies, it has a duty of care and a responsibility to its users, to tell them the whole truth about the real reasons for their blatant back-tracking, rather than insulting their intelligence by spinning them happy-clappy fairytales.

[Jane956]

Hi all

I am interested in your conversation about accepting guests as I am a total newcomer to Airbnb -my listing went up yesterday. Today I had a request from someone who didn't say anything in her message about herself or what she is looking for - just that my house looks beautiful. I looked at her profile but - as you are all saying - I can't see a photo and there are no reviews of her as a guest. I replied with a friendly message just to say thanks for requesting to book and asking her a bit about her trip to this part of the world and she hasn't replied...help! Is it OK to ask why someone is travelling? Is it normal that I can't see anything at all about her & her history as a guest? Should I just accept or hang in for someone who can book instantly because they meet my criteria...any advice gratefully received! Thanks in advance - Jane

[Sarah977]

@Jane956  Yes, it's fine to ask the guest the purpose of the trip. If there are no reviews and no profile info, she may have just joined, and some guest don't write anything about themselves on their profile. You say you messaged her today, but she hasn't answered. We can't expect that guests will answer immediately- there can be time zone differences that mean the guest would be sleeping, the guest could be at work, in transit, some guests haven't even turned on notifications to receive by text or email, so they don't even know they have a message waiting, all kinds of reasons. Give it a bit more time, but if it's getting close to the 24 hour mark to either approve or decline, you'll have to decide which you want to do. 

If the guest is from a country where you can text or phone on your phone plan, you could always try sending a short text, saying you've sent them an Airbnb message and to please read it and reply- I've done that before.

I've accepted quite a few new users, and all have turned out to be fine guests, but I did have some messaging interaction with them prior to approving, or they gave me enough info in their initial Request for me to feel comfortable with accepting them.

[Jane956]

Sarah - that's really helpful and thank you for taking the time to send me your words of wisdom so quickly - I think I am just a bit nervous which will hopefully subside soon! We have renovated our family home for Airbnb and so it feels like a big step. Your words have reassured me - thank you.

[Sarah977]

@Jane956  Happy to help, I've learned so much from these forums myself.

Hopefully the guest responds soon and you have a nice first booking. One thing besides asking the purpose of the trip- make sure you ask the guest to confirm that the # of guests entered on the reservation is the number of guests who will be arriving. And it's good when responding to a request to try to make sure the guest has actually read through your listing description and is aware of any any points you think a guest might miss or that are important for them to know. For instance, I only host 1 guest at a time in a private bedroom, so I always make sure they're clear on that- that they don't think they can arrive with others. Also my place is a 20 minute walk to town (clearly stated in my listing, but many guests don't read thoroughly), so I confirm that the guest is aware of that. These kind of message interactions can be a paper trail in case a guest arrives claiming they didn't realize that it was a shared home, or didn't accept pets, or whatever.

[Jane956]

Great advice - thank you - it's all a bit daunting at first but I'll get there. It's good to

know there's a great community of folks out there who know the ropes! Thanks again

[Robin4]

@Jane956 

Hello Jane and welcome, not just to the community centre but to Airbnb hosting as a new host. I hope your career hosting will be as great as it has been for many of us.

I have just had a look at your listing and you do have a wonderful property absolutely bristling with charm and character which your guests are truly going to love.

Firstly a couple of observations about your property and description!

1/......You are in a rural environment with Salisbury/Bornemouth being your nearest population centres and these are a good distance away (50Kms) so location makes you a safe property to list. Your property is going to be the focus of someones visit....not the nesseccary evil that goes with it. People are going to stay because they want to experience your property and what you offer. This will remove most of the 'problem' element as far as guest inquiries are concerned. The guests that come to you will be of good quality!

2/.... The property is (to my way of thinking)  way too cluttered! There are too many things in there a guest can break....many vases with dry arrangements in vulnerable positions....the chess set on the lounge table. You have to understand Jane, this is your 'turf'...you are familiar with it and where everything is. To a guest, everything is strange  and all those lovely 'throws' and ornaments are susceptable to accidents. Try not to put things in traffic areas where they can be knocked over.

3/.....You have way to many listing photos...Remember guests get bored very quickly and as lovely as your property is, I got bored wading through those 90 odd photos. You don't need to show many shots of beds through doorways and jugs on seats.....but you do need to show shots of things the guest wants to know about. You do not show any shots of the Kitchen, the bathroom shower or bath, the Laundry! You say they are in your amenities but guests have no idea what they look like. Cut that photo list in half! They are all great clear photos but most of them are not required and yet the guest is not seeing things they would like to know about.

4/.... With your pricing you are charging the same nightly rate regardless of whether there is 2 guests involved or 6! This is going to put some potential guests that you want off, and attract more of the guests you don't! You won't see too many couples, but you will see lots of family groups. You should set a base price for two guests and then in extra charges charge an additional guest fee of, say, 12 pounds for each guest after that first two. This way your charging will bare some relationship to the servicing you are going have to do after each stay! 

Now, if I can just make a few observations about guests!

1/.......Most guest are lovely people who are travelling....I have had over 300 of them through my property and Jane, there is only two I would not want to see again! 

Don't automatically think that every guest is going to pose you a problem. Almost all the 2 .5 million Airbnb stays that take place around the world on each night run smoothly and turn out to be a rewarding experience.

2/...... As guests, everyone has to start out from somewhere.....we were all cleanskins once with no history, either as a host or a guest. Some of the nicest guests I have had here were newcomers to the platform and I was so happy I could give them a great review to get their Airbnb career off to a good start. Sometimes they will be a bit slow to respond but as @Sarah977  says there could be a number of reasons for that.....don't panic!

3/......Watch the wording of booking requests when they come to you Jane. I say that there are two types of guests...Passive/complimentary, and Aggressive/demanding!

If they don't have lots of questions ....."Love your property and can't wait to stay"....great, they like what they see and will be a good guest.

"Coming to your place for a wedding in the area, what cooking can I do, is there offstreet  parking, do you have WiFi, can I have a gluten free breakfast" 

They have started off asking questions that would no doubt have been answered had they read your listing  description. They ask questions because with each question they strengthen their ground and weaken yours.....hagglers never make good guests Jane!

4/.......Just one last thing Jane, here is the Airbnb number for England, keep it aside where you ready access to it.... +44 203 318 1111  

Once again remember it is always best to be prepared. If you have that number handy you will probably never need it,  so let it sit there as your back-up.

All the best Jane, I do love your part of the world and your property, I hope it goes well for you, and if you need any further help, we the community are here.....ok!

Cheers.....Rob

[Jane956]

Wow! Thank you so much Rob - great feedback and advice. Yes - I totally agree with you re the photos - I was desperate to get the listing up as Easter is approaching and couldn't decide with some of the pics so I put them all up but you are so right - way too many. I am still in the house so the kitchen & bathroom are the last to get sorted hence lack of photos but I will get those up in next couple of days. Re the ornaments etc - my friend is an interior designer & put them out for the shots but the precious things will go away before people come in - without changing the look of the property.

One more question - do you recommend having a proper coffee machine? I know some people are v particular about their coffee!

Thanks again

[Robin4]

@Jane956 

Jane, no matter what type of coffee you supply it won't suit somebody. I have all types here from Espresso machine to percolator,  plunger, and to instant. I find about 90% of guests are quite happy with instant provided it is a good recognised brand like Moccona.

Only once did a guest ask me for my espresso machine, and then ended up asking me for instructions and help on actually using it.

Best I think to leave it hidden in the cupboard somewhere unless it's a 'pod' machine....and most purists do not like those anyway.

Cheers......Rob

[Sarah977]

@Jane956  BTW, your place is absolutely beautiful and your listing description is extremely well-written. Perfectly informative, personalized, and makes it clear that you live on the property, which will discourage partier types. 

I would pare down the number of photos, though. 86 photos for 1 listing is a lot. As an avid gardener myself, I appreciate the photos of your gorgeous gardens, but you don't need that many. Guests don't need to see a photo of a sunflower- everyone knows what a sunflower looks like. Same for all the photos of knickknacks on the furniture- yes, they're nice arrangements and lots of cool antique stuff, but it's just a bit of overkill, at least to my eye. A couple photos of each bedroom, the living room, bathrooms and the kitchen, taken from different angles, a few of the property and the gardens and surrounding view is plenty.