The universe wants me to stop hosting...like yesterday

[Laura2592]

The berry honeymooners left. Some extra clean up but nothing major. 

Today we have an early check in. Different couple. Power has already been "out" (nope. They just couldn't find the light switch despite instructions in the check in email) and they too have questions about starting a fire. Like immediately- the minute they arrive. Can't figure out the flue. So at the tail end of burn season we have 2 guests in a row who were flummoxed by the fireplace. All winter we have had zero questions. We have info in the house guide and a video we send guests. Didn't see that. Just started messaging. 

We provide a fire log with every stay until March 31. If I were staying on the platform I would say "No fires after March 15." Period. Tomorrow will be 70. Today is a bit chilly. We had the same issue last year-- very late in the season guests who were obsessed with the fireplace and had no idea how to operate it. One person freaked out that she had booked in late April and we didn't provide firewood. It was 70-80 during her stay. She made a fire with the AC on. 

If I ever host again I will Not. Have. Any. Fireplace. And if there is one in the house, I will fill it with plants or gummy bears or something to make it inoperable. 

7 more stays.....

[Lorna170]

@Laura2592   My next fireplace will be the "Amish" electric log with the fake streamers.  It will cost the earth in electricity, but at least I will no longer live in fear of my propert(ies) burning to the ground.

Your guests are incredibly special ... I hope they never go futher south to NC.

[Laura2592]

@Lorna170 lol if I ever host again I will not be providing:

a fireplace

an oven

a fire pit

more than one bed

a soaking tub

Tiny house sounds about right!

[Charles224]

@Laura2592 , sounds like the place we operate now. We used to have 2 ensuites and a kitchen.

No oven (yay) and a nice shower, with just one bed.

We get great guests and let them bring pets.. Old school Airbnb; focusing on people who just want somewhere safe and clean to stay. 

Cheers, Charles

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Lorna170I hope they never go to Croatia 😛

@Laura2592a prison cell with an inox toilet bowl, bars on the windows and a mattress on the concrete floor sounds just about right, they can't damage almost anything 🙂

Hosting is tough so you have to be rough 😉

[Laura2592]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  new ABB theme/experience...Tourist Jail.

Experience what its like to be incarcerated! Spend your vacation in a cell featuring a single mattress, no sheets and an open concept toilet! Meals will not be served and guests will be free to come and go, unlike an actual jail experience. Your host will be dressed as a warden and frequently inspect your surroundings to ensure house rules are followed. This lends authenticity to your stay! Try it now!

[Lawrene0]

I vote for gummy bears, @Laura2592 . 

Same notes in my case, with my woodstove: that winter guests are great with it, but spring/summer guests, who don't need it and shouldn't be using it, have trouble. My take on it is that the sorts of people who book here in the dead of winter already know how to do things like light fires. The spring/summer guests would never book in winter, but see the woodstove and want to try it just because it is there. 

[Laura2592]

@Lawrene0  I think you are on to something. 

We have a woodstove that heats our kitchen all winter. It really doesn't get used much past Feburary/very early March unless we have something we need to burn. People who are not familiar with fires really don't understand that there is a burn season. Around this part of the world, it ends in March. We extend to the end of the month out of courtesy but really should not. 

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  I admit that in our family's lake house in MA we use the fire pit in all seasons, including the dead of summer.  However, it rarely gets 'hot' at night there other than once in a while in August.  I love all the things you're getting rid of..soaking tub, fireplace, firepit, but I don't think if I had an Airbnb that I would allow those things either, even with cameras, it is dangerous.

Please to explain how it is possible not to find a light switch in a house?  That's pretty standard across the globe, isn't it?

[Laura2592]

@Mark116 if its your house, you can do whatever you want. If you rent it and you must have a fire, fine as long as there are no burn restrictions. We have always tried to be very generous with providing a duraflame during burn season. After that, guests are on their own. It does get quite sticky here in the summer and I can't imagine wanting a fire. But typically the county bans burning at that point anyway. 

The light switch is in the closet. Its quirky. That is why we call attention to where it is. But some folks don't read well....

[Gillian166]

Ha we must have a similar set up. The bedroom light switch is behind a wardrobe (too long to explain why) so I put it in my “how you doing” message I send a few hours after check in, cos no one reads….. 

[Huma0]

---

@Mark116 wrote:

Please to explain how it is possible not to find a light switch in a house?  That's pretty standard across the globe, isn't it?

---

One would think so...Okay, so @Laura2592 was talking about a switch inside a wardrobe, but I have had a few guests who really struggled to operate light switches and mine are in all the obvious places, e.g. the switch for the entrance hall lights is on the wall to the right immediately as you walk through the door. I mean, it is literally by the front door. There is another switch for those lights at the bottom of the staircase, as well as a switch for the staircase. All the other light switches in the house are in the obvious places. Still...

I had one guest complain in her review that it was scary to come home to an unlit house at night. She conceded though that she could have asked me where the light switches were. Besides the fact that it's obvious where they were, she HAD actually asked me and I HAD shown her. Some people are just unable to absorb basic information even if it's about something they think is important.

I had a nightmare couple stay with me and, among their many issues was turning lights on. They got home one evening just as the sun had set. I was in the kitchen and hadn't been upstairs yet so the lights for the stairway were off. When the guests came in, the woman stood at the bottom of the stairs right next to the light switch and literally started screaming hysterically, "It's dark! It's dark! It's DARK!!!!" I went over, flicked the light switch and pointed to it, saying, "The light switch is right there." She just grunted at me and stomped upstairs. Bear in mind that they had been here several days by now. It's not that they couldn't figure it out themselves, they just didn't want to. They saw it as my job to run around after them like some sort of downtrodden, exploited maid.

The same couple, when they arrived, asked where the light switch was for the landing outside of their room. I showed them. It was right there on the wall. "Why isn't it in the bedroom?" the lady asked. Well, because it's the switch for the landing, which everyone uses. They said that it should be in THEIR room so they could turn it on before leaving the room. As that was not possible, they said the landing lights need to be left on all night. Thank god they are not staying now, as energy prices are going through the roof. To be honest though, if that type of guest booked with me now, I would have no hesitation in cutting short their stay and telling them to go elsewhere.

[Michelle1164]

@Huma0 We have a smart lock on our door. When guest put in their code and unlock the door the living room lights automatically come on. Also have a light on a motion detector in the hallway so they are not walking down a dark hall. We have got many comments from our guests on how helpful this is when they arrive after dark. 

[Huma0]

@Michelle1164 

I've thought about motion sensors for lights in the hallway but I have three cats so I worry that they would be constantly turning the lights on during the night! The ones I have seen plug into sockets (I prefer something that doesn't mean rewiring the house), so they are at a low enough level for the cats to activate them. I am sure though there must be alternatives that can be placed higher, maybe battery operated?

I don't have a smart lock because, when I asked the locksmith about installing one, he told me that most home insurance companies here won't cover you if you have either a smart lock or key lockbox. You have to have a British Standard Lock. This was a few years ago, so perhaps that has changed now that smart locks are more common.

[Michelle1164]

@Huma0  Well my husband is a bit of a technology geek. Our motion sensors also operate through smart technology. It is all wireless so no need to rewire the house. Lamps are plugged into smart plugs and when the front door opens it triggers smart plugs to turn on lamps in the living room. Then the smart motion sensor in the hall in mounted up high for the very reason you mention (cats). It's all run by wifi. It's all pretty slick actually, but way over my head. 

Very interesting about the smart lock info in regard to home owners ins. Here in the US some insurance companies give discounts if you tell them you have smart lock technology. Maybe it's time you look into it again since it's been a few years since you inquired about it.