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

[Jeet0]

Hello @Dev4,

Yup, very true, people like to bargain and fail to realize that Airbnb's are already reasonably priced, thus in such scenarios I try to explain what my place offers which other places don't at the same cost and also give them an idea of what an equivalent hotel would cost them, after which people are mostly understanding.

Reg. 2, 3, yes, they are very courteous and kind at heart, however most aren't accustomed to greeting generally because of the sheer amount of people we have in our country. I had noticed in Dublin, parts of Cali that even passerbys smile at you and say "Good day", but that's not something that happens in India. I'm sure the ones you've met in CA are used to greet one another since it's probably a soical norm in CA, and am happy you've had a positive experience.

I've had guests who haven't even bothered to inform me when they'd be checking in, whether they've checked in, whether they've liked the place or not, whether everything is fine, but that's just becasue they are mostly first timers in a BNB and are still learning. So I try to be patient there and I send them a message or give them a call from my end to check if everything is alright and if they've checked in.

[Blagoje0]

Great tips @Jeet0! I wrote few tips for hosting too.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/New-Hosts/Tips-for-great-guests-review-It-really-works/m-p/306064/hi...

[Lynne2]

Thank you very much for the post, Jeet.  Two years ago my husband and I had the opportunity to travel to India.  I can honestly say that Indians have a gift for hospitality that I have seldom encountered.  I do not think that you were "stereotyping" at all - I have certainly learned a lot from your post.  Another thing I have learned...perhaps before I book for my next trip I should take a look at the hosts on the forum and try and book accordingly!

[Jeet0]

@Blagoje0 - Hey, thanks for sharing those tips and thanks for taking out the time to write the article, I'm buying a small backboard slate today 😄

@Lynne2 - You are welcome. Glad you liked it 🙂

And yes, looking up on the forum is a good idea. I usually visit the cities section of the Community Center: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Cities/ct-p/cities

and ask for local tips and suggestions. It has always helped especially during last moment visits.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Hi @Jeet0 thank you for this post, I have never hosted Indian guests but I've heard that toilets and showers are different in India and some first time travellers don't know how to use our western bathrooms so they break toilet bowl. I've seen signs posted on internet and wondering if we should put one in the bathroom?

I hope you will not find my question rude.

[Jeet0]

Hi @Branka-and-Silvia0,

It'd be safe to assume that most Indian Airbnb users are confortable the WC these days as they are quite common in Indian cities now and most homes and hotels have them. So I wouldn't recommend to use the photo instruction. Use of a jet spray however, is more common than toilet papers as its more hygenic. Although I won't expect a host to go to the lenghts of getting new plumming done just for single guest, unless you are expecting Indian guests very often.

Showers work the same way as around the world 🙂
Most of us use buckets and mugs to conserve water however showers are common and folks are aware how to use them. If you have a fancy system with digital controls or some latest technologies you might want to give a quick demo during the house tour if you feel it's necessary.

Hope that helps 🙂

Jeet 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Thank you @Jeet0 , it is good to know 🙂

we don't have any fancy showers but we have a bath tub. I hope that's not unusual or uncommon in India 

I would probably also need instructions for hi tech fancy showers :))

[Jeet0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0, you are welcome 🙂

Bathtubs are uncommon, but again, not something that'd need special instructions 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

I hope so 🙂

Thank you @Jeet0

[Saskia-and-Tarpan0]

I completely agree with everything you said. As you mentioned there is so much more that you cant write, otherwise people will get offended.
One more point 6th you can add is inquiries by unmarried local couples. It is complex to handle such inquiries, as different states have different circumstances. Also in small cities it is little risky to host such couples due to many complex reasons.

[Anita61]

Thank you very mutch for sharing this information. Not everyone is the same. But it gives a beautiful image how to deal with guests from India. I already have some guests from India. Only positive experiances. Onley with one guest I had some "toilet use" experiance. Since than I give very detailed "European toilet" use instructions 🙂 

[Jeet0]

Hi @Anita61, it's awesome that you've had all positive experiences 🙂

And yes, certainly not all guests are the same!

@Saskia-and-Tarpan0 - Thanks for adding to the points, I can entirely relate to your issue, however I doubt that's much of a problem in cities and other international tourist places. I do know certainly that some coutries like Jordan etc. do have strict laws against unmarried couples staying together, and Airbnb is often used by such couples in violation of the country laws.

[Damien38]

Timely advice, as I am expecting my first Indian guests this week.  I have made a point to communicate with them regularly and ask if they have any specific needs so we can try to accommodate them.    

They have the whole house to themselves so hopefully they have a great stay.

[Jeet0]

@Damien38

Hi, that's a very nice thing to do. I firmly believe that communication is the key. And as hosts we must always over-communicate.

I hope you have a gret experience with these guests.

[Katy4]

great conversation - I have travelled around India twice (on an Enfield) in and out of various types of accommodation, and there is a bit of difference, but from one trip to another we found that the standard of accommodation there is getting much closer to 'Western' standards, and therefore anyone travelling with AirBnB is likely to have experienced these.

point 7 could be - the check-in / check-out.  From our experiences (and from some visitors from Pakistan) - the room is often taken on a 24 hour basis, so if someone arrives late, they can leave late.  Which is different from 'check out at eleven' (AM).  We did have to clarify this to the guests that stayed.