Top 5 Tips - Hosting Indian Guests

[Jeet0]

Hello fellow hosts!

Hope you are doing well 🙂

I'm writing this post to help you welcome and host Indian Guests in the best possible way.

A little bit about myself - I'm a host from India and have hosted more than 100 Indian familes in the last 2 years. I have been a little around the world and stayed at Airbnbs and thus I can understand the differences between hosting styles, guest expectations etc. across different cultures. Below I'd like to mention 5 points to remember while dealing with booking requests and reservations by Indian hosts.

I'd like to mention here that I'm not trying to sterotype Indians and only sharing my personal experience with most Indian guests. I hope you find it useful [Hit the thumbs-up button if you do, and I shall post more tips]. Also note that India is a country of extremely diverse cultures, thus you might not have similar experiences with all guests.

So here we go:

1.  HAVE PATIENCE - Airbnb is still a fairly new concept in India and is growing faster than ever before. Most guests are first time users of the Airbnb platform and aren't very familiar with the concept of Home-sharing. You might encounter some obvious questions like "What's the total price?", "Can you provide your contact number?", "Would we have the entire place to ourselves?" etc. although these answers are present on your listing, please try to be patient in ansering these questions. Remember that these are people who haven't used online payments as much as you and are sceptical about it as it's their first time. Airbnb is yet to establish a strong user trust in India as conventional hotels still dominate the market however people are quickly realizing the benefits of staying at an Airbnb and are willing to try out. So be a little patient, helpful and supportive in your approach.
   
   
2. NEGOTIATION IS COMMON - Negotiating before renting any service or purchasing any commodity is a common practice in India. It's a necessary skill that most posses and use quite frequestly so in case someone tried to negotiate with you by asking to give a Special Discount Offer or offer Free Meals or Airport Transport, don't be surprised or upset. It is not considered as bad practice and guests might sometimes appear to be a little more pushy/demanding. If you aren't okay with this, try explaining the same politely if you are successful, the guests would be convinced that you aren't overpricing and would readily book. Give them context about the normal rate in your surrounding, add details about some of the extra facilites that you provide and why your costing is appropriate.
   
   
3. GREETINGS AREN'T COMMON - In a country of 1.33 Billion individuals, it isn't possible to smile and wish "Good moring", "Good day" to every person you see on the street, Or pull the door at stores for other customers. So in case your guests don't greet you everyday in the morning or when you see them, please do not confuse this as rude behaviour. We are just not used to pleasantries, however you could initiate this and I'm sure your guests would reciprocate with a lovely smile and greet you back.
   
   
4. CLEARLY ESTABLISH THAT THIS IS YOUR HOME AND NOT A HOTEL - As mentioned in point 1, most guests are quite new to the concept of Airbnb and so it is important that you firmly yet politely establish prior to booking that your are opening the doors to your home which is your personal space to a complete stranger and it is absolutely necessary necesssary that guests follow the house rules and treat your home with respect and care. Use the word "Home" insead of "Property", "Listing" during your communication to emphasize the same. Once guests understand this well, they'll be more thoughtful about how that treat your home.
   
   
5. KITCHEN HABITS - In case you are allowing your guests to use your Kitchen, make sure that when you are giving them a house tour, you explain in detail what they can use and what they should not. Use sticky notes to mark cabinets which have stuff that's for guests to consume/use. Note that Indian/Asian food uses plenty of spices and flavours, so if your guests are cooking, it's quite possible that you might be exposed to strong aromas/smells which you haven't experienced before. If you aren't going to be okay with this, talk about it in adavance and arrive at an agreement. Another important point to note is that most Indians who can afford to travel oversee also can afford to have maids at their homes and thus might not be used to washing the dishes after use or might have never used a dishwasher. Ensure that you have this conversation in advance and explain that guests are expected to clean the dishes and the kitchen after use. I'm certain they'd be happy to do so.

There's much more to learn but I shall stop here. Indians are mostly very humble and caring folks and are known for their hospitality  and if you communicate well, you might end up making friends for life. Always over-communicate so that there's minimal scope for confusion later. If you have ever hosted Indian guests, feel free to share your experiences below 🙂

Thanks,

Jeet

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Jeet0 

Thank you so much for writing this. I have guests from India regularly, and have been fortunate to welcome so many guests from India, all the years I have been hosting. They are The Best! The most wonderful, kind, considerate, friendly people. I grew up in a widely multicultural place. I always loved that diversity as a child and young adult. I still do, and it is such a joy to welcome everyone from everywhere to my shared home. Thank you again, and I'm definitely looking forward to more of your writings! 

[Aiping4]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 @Jan209 @Sean433 @Josie51 

I have hosted many Indian guests and would like to share with you my experiences and impressions--

1) I would say *most* are quite good, very respectful and quiet, but the percentage of not-so-okay ones among them (treating your home like a hotel) is definitely worth noticing. I was told it depends on where they are from in India.

2) They normally don't drink coffee, and if they do, it should be Indian instant coffee.

3) They drink Indian masala chai, which I have at home for them for free.

4) They call all instant noodles "Maggi." Many eat "Maggi" pretty much everyday. I do tell them that it's not healthy. But there are also some who order takeout from Under Eats everyday.

5) One thing is pretty confusing to me: Quite a few of them thought that my food and drinks in the refrigerator and fruits on the kitchen counter top were for them. I don't know what makes them think so, and why most of them don't?

6) They consume much less toilet paper, and I have bidets installed in each bathroom and they all appreciate it. If you don't have a bidet, you should get one! You will find it hard to get back to using toilet paper only!

7) They love talking about Hindi movies, P.K, Three Idiots, Pad Man, Secret Superstar, Pink, Aamir, Khan, etc. etc. and the Telugu movie, R.R.R. Since I am relatively more familiar with Indian culture than most fellow guests, it always makes me a popular host to Indians.  

[M263]

This is really helpful, thank you. It’s easy to forget that different cultures have different expectations, and easy to get annoyed when they don’t meet ours, but we should question our assumptions before getting annoyed. I just came back from a holiday in India. When I arrived my Indian friends said to relax and drop western expectations about noise, smells, time management and personal space, and just go with the flow and enjoy the vibrant energy and beautiful chaos (their words) of their country, because westerners can be a bit precious, rigid and over sensitive! It made me laugh so much because it’s true! I’m glad they said it up front and it really made me think. I did indeed embrace the chaos and I had a really excellent holiday. 

[Huma0]

@Jeet0 

To add to your list, something to consider if one is a homeshare host with pets, is that in India (and Pakistan, where I am from), domestic pets such as cats and dogs are less common than in many Western cultures. Of course, this won't apply to all Indians, but many may associate these pets with uncleanliness or danger, or both, as they are more used to street dogs/cats than we are here in the UK.

I once hosted a lovely young Indian couple but, almost as soon as they arrived, it became clear that the wife was completely terrified of cats and turns out later that the husband was also scared of them as he said he had been scratched by a stray as a child, but not to the extent his wife was. I asked him why on earth he booked a listing with three cats, and also the listing with a cat that they had just came from in Scotland, knowing his wife was so petrified of them. He said that he liked the photos and she would get used to it. I was not convinced.

However, this actually turned out to be the case. Firstly, my cats are really chilled and pretty sociable, being used to lots of people coming and going, and not at all aggressive. The real reason for the change though was when I explained something simple to them about feline communication and body language.

They told me that the cat in the Scottish airbnb had ran into their room, jumped on the bed and started meowing at them. They had both frozen in fear, being certain it was going to attack them. I told them the cat was simply looking for some cuddles and affection and what a scared/aggressive/defensive cat looks and sounds like as opposed to one that is simply being friendly. They thought about it and agreed it made total sense. After that, they were absolutely fine around the cats and, by the time they left, were even petting them.