Simple suggestions from a regular Airbnb guest

[AnneMarie253]

Hello Awesome Airbnb Hosts!

My husband and I have stayed at many airbnb locations in the US, France, Spain, Greece, Mexico (not all make it on my list bc for some odd reason, some hosts don't ask for a review and therefore don't fill one out for us either). We have stayed a few days and as long as 2 months. 

I have a suggestion to offer - maybe not possible for all hosts but as I am here now in one lovely place in Greece, it quickly becomes evident to us that the hosts have never stayed here. They have not slept here to see how the beds and sheets are, if it's too light in the mornings, if the noise from the street is more than they imagined; they have not grocery shopped and tried to put things away (we had one place with literally no pantry or cupboard for groceries anywhere), they have not cooked or baked, showered or tried to find a place to hang wet towels after a shower...especially for more than one person!

I have found myself looking for many simple items like food storage containers - if there is a full kitchen, people are often renting the place bc of a kitchen and when making meals it is useful to have somewhere to put food that needs to be stored (leftovers, cut fruit or veggies, etc).  Right now I have no scissors to open any packages and knives are all dull. There is no plastic wrap, foil or food storage containers so everything is in the fridge in a bowl with a plate on top. There are no cooking utensils that won't either melt or scratch pans. We do try to take good care of everything in the place and equipment. 

So, it's just an idea, I believe that if people stay at their own rental for long enough to have to sleep, shop and cook and shower, they'll realize some basic items are missing. 

I understand it is not the hosts place to provide foil, plastic wrap, tissues (almost never have tissues), etc - but these are just some little things that go a long way for a great stay.

We had our best location ever in Cadiz, Spain in regards to finding all we needed and this was because the hosts also live there for extended times during off season - it was obvious and amazing. It was our 3rd airbnb in Spain in 2 weeks and hands down the best anywhere for those reasons. 

Anyway, just FWIW 🙂 

Not criticisms, just feedback. 

[Dora486]

I agree with all your points.   If I ever have a few days not booked, I’ll stay over and just check everything 100% for my future guests.  The no hooks thing is a big pain and lots of places just don’t have enough or any.   I also take on board any guest feedback and if reasonable will implement suggestions if I can.  

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@AnneMarie253When we start hosting 6 y. ago I bought a pack of plastic containers in Ikea for my guests. I thought they will need it.

6 y. later, they are still like new, seems like they have never been used, but I have a few missing. Guests obviously took them with them.

( 6 guests unit, average stay 2-4 nights, rarely more than 7)

[Gwen386]

Thank you so much @AnneMarie253 for providing this well thought-out post. The one thing I don’t have in my kitchen are containers for leftovers. After thinking about this, I will include ziplock bags or disposable containers—that way, if something is left in the fridge after guest departs, I can dispose of it without having to worry about cleaning it. 

[Anonymous]

@AnneMarie253  I think it's great advice for all STR hosts, to spend some nights in their rental properties and experience them from the guests' perspective. What I used to enjoy about Airbnb in earlier years was that most listings were actually homes where hosts lived at least part of the time. But increasingly, these are being outnumbered by remotely hosted investment units that are primarily maintained by the cleaners. For those thoughtfully stocked homes with really engaged hosts, I tend to have better luck on other platforms. 

You can see a few different hosts' perspectives on kitchen amenities in this recent thread. While some portion of hosts take a lot of pride in offering a fully-stocked chef's kitchen, most hosts secretly prefer guests who don't do much cooking in the home. It tends to mean longer cleanings, more grime buildup. more potential for odors and damage, and heavier usage of utilities. So it's not necessarily an accident when those kitchens aren't brilliantly stocked (though I'll never understand providing utensils that are incompatible with the pans). As for the Tupperware, guests run off with it so often that it's not even worth providing. 

[Ted307 · Accepted solution]

What a nice post @AnneMarie253 

We are hosts who live on the property and host our guest house. You have very good points! I wish our bedroom had a closet and more room to hang towels and clothes than the hooks we added, it is an old building and never had those things. I think the residents of 100 years ago did not own as many clothes as a modern traveler!

One reason I have decided to not offer Teflon pans is the harm it does to the environment, but I have had a guest suggest that we offer those. I have cast iron pans and stainless steel pots and pans. I do offer the plastic trash and sandwich bags we are all addicted to! (Also old time glass refrigerator dishes with lids that people do not use). I do use the kitchen when we do not have guests, I like the big old sink better than the one in our house, so I do use it when I am juicing or cooking a big batch of something. I don't rent for longer than 2 weeks, I think people would not be happy in our little Bunkhouse long term!

Chris

[Mary996]

Such a lovely thread @Ted307 I agree. Thanks for your thoughtfulness @AnneMarie253

[M199]

@AnneMarie253 

We provide everything and most guests have commented how well stocked the cottage is.  Beyond a fully stocked kitchen with pots, pans, baking sheets, condiments, spices, oils, spices  coffee, tea, breakfast Oatmeal  we usually also have a gift basket relative to the guests.  For example, our guests today, a family of 4, 2 Adults, 2 children, we left homemade Cheese Biscuits and fixings for Smores  (melt marshmallows over a campfire and squish it between graham crackers and a piece of chocolate).

Within the first 30 seconds into the cottage, the kids were who called "dibs" for the top bunk bed. Also, I had to grin, because the 13ish daughter was impressed  "Wow, our last Airbnb didn't have a toaster"

For our previous guests, family of 4 from France, we gave them the Smores recipe and ingredients, Maple Syrup candies, and a bottle of local wine.  Normally, I provide some kind of homemade baked good, but in this case, I was afraid to compete with reputed French pastries.

It's all about customer service and knowing your guest.  Ultimately, communication between guest and host is the key to a successful stay.

[Helen427]

@AnneMarie253

Where in Greece are you?

You may find that people in Greece tend to wake up with the natural daylight, as they do in places like New Caledonia where daylight can start as early as 4.30am!

Your post reminds me of when I stayed in Old Rhodes Town on the island of Rhodos and was woken up daily by the happy Rooster crowing first thing in the morning.

It gets very hot in Greece.

There's also issues surrounding water supply and sanitation in some parts so things may be a little different to what you are used to.

Some places still provide a Bucket next to the Toilet to dispose of used Toilet Paper because of the old plumbing and blockages that can and do occur.

You may like to be mindful to look and see if there's Roller Doors to close over shops or you may lose your bearings going about if you only recall shop windows and names  and those shops are closed 🙂

Greece is well known for it's amazing history.

Enjoy your stay and maybe stop and think why things are a little different to what you may have expected

@Nick  @MilosGreece0 @Golden-Villas-Greece0 

 @M199 @Ted307 @Gwen386 

[Debra300]

@AnneMarie253,

Great topic.  We regularly stay in our rental spaces, because although they are connected to our primary dwelling, it's like going on a little holiday.  We frequently travel and stay in STRs, vacation rentals, private homes, hotels, etc., and furnished our spaces based upon those experiences.  The design and furnishing of our studios were heavily influenced by our stays in traditional Europe apartments.  We stock everything that we think are necessary for a comfortable short stay away from home, including non-melting silicone kitchen utensils.

We do provide food storage containers, and some of them have disappeared, but that's expected.  I just wish guests would stop putting them in the microwave.  We provide a glass baking dish and lid so people can warm up food without the dangers of petroleum leeching into their food or deforming the container, but it seems that bad habits are hard to break.  We also recommend to guests that they may want to bring their own staples like nut milk, cereal, cookies/biscuits, crackers, nuts and snacks, because, even if available, they usually cost at least 2-3 times more on island than where they're coming from.

The stocking of things like foil, cling wrap, or tissues can be dependent upon the rental rate, and availability and cost of these items in the rental's local area.  It would be a nice gesture, but guests shouldn't be disappointed when they don't find them in the rental they've booked that's in an area where most household items have to be imported and cost significantly more than at home. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@AnneMarie253  whatever host provides can lead to a lower rating instead of a higher one if it isn't perfect.

We used to provide spices, cereals, 2 types of coffee, and a bunch of other kitchen and bathroom freebies including tissues and feminine products. But all of these have to be bought, stored somewhere, checked between guests, jars refilled, and wiped and it takes a lot of time when you have same-day turnovers every day or two.  And if the jar isn't carefully wiped and some greasy fingerprints are left on it then the guest will complain and give a low rating for cleanliness.

Then, Covid came to town and we removed a lot of these extras and some decorations and now we need 1 hour less for cleaning. So it is not just these few bucks we save on cereals, we are saving something more important - our time and storage space.

Interesting, but no one ever mentioned all these freebees and extras before... and nobody seems to miss them now.

[AnneMarie253]

Wow! I had no idea there were so many replies. Airbnb just notified me a few minutes ago of one reply and I was surprised to see several more! 
I am in Crete now at a lovely place with an owner who really cares and headed to our second Airbnb tmw. 
So many interesting points from everyone. 
It makes me so sad to know that things provided disappear. I guess I shouldn’t be shocked but it’s disheartening. I get very upset if I do anything like break a glass (and if I do it’s always when cleaning it!) but I always tell the hosts and sometimes even replace it. 
We don’t ever put plastic in the microwave but I know many do. 
We try hard to treat each place as well or better than our own home. 
I can see that providing more items means cleaning more and that hosts secretly prefer guests who don’t cook much. If I were a host I suppose I might feel this way as well. We do cook, less in a hot climate, but eating out three meals a day is simply too expensive and not usually very healthy. We eat mostly a plant based diet so that can be hard to do eating out in some places. 

M199 where are you? I want to rent from you!! Lol. We’ve had a few places leave thoughtful items and I have always included that in my reviews. 

And of course, I can see that it would be expensive to provide everything. It is helpful to imagine arriving on a flight in the evening with no time to get to a grocery store for some basics.  
And it’s also a shame that Covid made everything so much more complicated.  
I also much prefer staying in places where hosts are involved. In Spain two of our places were units owned by some large group and we communicated with three different people for each rental. Neither of these rentals wrote a review for us and never requested a review from us! They cannot possibly keep track of how everything was left with all their units and managers. It’s unfortunate it’s turned into something similar to hotel groups. 
I’ve  looked at other platforms but I like that Airbnb has so many useful filters others do not have (like number of beds, not just bedrooms although I do wish there was a filter for “beds that aren’t sofabeds) and offers discounts for week long or month long stays.

They’ve recently added even more filters and while there is one even for a piano there still isn’t one for bicycles! This is unfortunate bc for us it’s a huge selling point!! We have rented several units that had bikes and it makes a stay SO much more fun and interesting  for us. (And I do empathize with the cost and maintenance!!) We would take a less interesting and more expensive rental  if it came with bikes (assuming there’s somewhere to bike. Lol) 

We take care in trying to leave the place as clean as we found it but I can imagine many do not. 
I do also understand there are cultural differences. (Though I’d go nuts if a rooster woke me up at 5 am every day!! lol) 

We are fairly well traveled, but always learning. We are currently based  in France for a year and traveling. I’m American enough to miss my garbage disposal and clothes dryer-loving country but French enough to love quality over quantity. 

Thanks for the dialogue!

[Debra300]

@AnneMarie253,

You did bring up a good point about having some supplies stocked when you arrive after a long trip or late flight.  On other platforms where we handle the financial transaction, we usually ask our guests if they would like for us to pick up some items or a local meal for them so it's in their rental upon arrival.  Some say yes, and others say no.  I have chuckled at the guests who tell me, "No, we'll be fine, because we'll eat on the plane.", and upon arrival they ask where they can get something to eat (this was really a problem during most of the winter when the island had a curfew, and businesses closed at 6 p.m.).  Obviously, they didn't know that on most flights passengers only get nuts, cookies, granola bars, Cheez-its,  and beverages unless they are in first class.  Even those airline meal offerings aren't full of sustenance.  It's a bit of a hassle to deal with timely payment through the Resolution Center so we can't always offer this service to Airbnb guests.

We have a lot of roosters roaming freely in the neighborhood, but if you decide to visit us in St. Lucia, we offer fat tire e-bike rentals.  They are so much fun, and extremely helpful with giving that boost when riding around on the island's hilly terrain.

We enjoy the e-bikes so much that we also have them at our Atlanta home, and take them on our holidays.  On this Sarasota, Florida trail the e-bike went as fast as 28 mph/45 kmh.

[Ted307]

@Debra300 I love your fat tire e-bikes! I have an electric bicycle, but only the one I ride. We have discussed offering them, and there is a company here in Prescott that rents them out by the hour. We were afraid of the possible liability of people riding bikes we provided and having an accident. How has your experience been with including them?

@AnneMarie253, you sound like a lot of my renters, they have mostly been great about leaving the kitchen and utensils clean! I would love to be able to provide mountain bikes or those cool e-bikes, but like you said maintaining them is something to consider. As is the possible liability. Arizona pick-up drivers can be pretty rude to bicyclists!

Thanks for the recommendation on my previous post! We collect vintage things for our 100+ year old bunkhouse, but people must think that the refrigerator dishes are only decorative, I have never seen them washed and put in the dish drainer with the dishes. No one has ever taken anything! I use them & they are very good in the microwave or the oven to re-heat leftovers. (I believe many modern "convenience" products are not improvements over what they replaced)! I do give guests an egg carton so they can take home some extra eggs that they may not have finished during their stay with us.

Chris

[Debra300]

@Ted307,

We recently sent the ebikes to St. Lucia, and only have had a couple of guests use the e-bikes while we gave them a tour.  We didn't charge them, because we wanted to see how long it would take to train someone to control them.  So, no one has had a solo rental yet, but we will provide locks and trackers are installed, and have guests sign the standard waivers required to rent scooters or Segways on the island.  We will rent only to guests that have travel insurance or a credit card with rental coverage.  St. Lucia isn't very litigious, and there aren't any billboards or ads for injury lawyers (we're not offering e-bike rental at our Atlanta space).  Also, the court system is notoriously slow, and takes an about seven to ten years for case to be heard in court.