Very discouraged about 'quality' of airbnb guests

[Mary1135]

I don't know, is it me?  Is it too much to think guests might understand that a host is opening her home to them, and therefore it's a special situation, a unique setting, a glimpse of a local's life?  I am not a Hampton Inn, and I don't have generic Ikea furniture.  When I plan trips, my husband and I actively seek out interesting, unusual places to stay.  Do people not understand what airbnb is supposed to be?

Last season I had a guest who tried to squeeze me for the cleaning fee -- but she was rude and she left the place a mess.  It's a lousy $25!

This week a guest who has no idea how the 'rate float' works hounded me to rebate the overage for the week they want to stay, which he says is a total of $100.  I finally told him that he should just cancel if that rate won't work for him.  Which he did.  Now he's sending me messages demanding I return his 'service fee'.  I politely explained that the host has no control over that -- that he will need to contact Airbnb.  Good grief!  He wouldn't do that if I were travelocity, or an airline, or a hotel chain, right?  I'm just one host with one apartment that I hope people will enjoy.

I had a group of ladies on 'girls' trip who broke an antique goblet (in my part of the house) and left me 5 bucks, I had people try to sneak in their dogs (multiple), I had people snooping around my workspace (my art studio), although it is clearly marked Private.  I've had people complain and whine that the apartment doesn't have this or that -- when all of the amenities are listed, and there are ample photos showing the space.  

I would say that my experiences with Airbnb guests are running 60::40, 60% seem to be good people, 40% not so much.  If the balance tips anymore, I will delist after this season and just rent the space year-round.

That rant over, how do you all deal with these situations?  I took off Instant Booking (although airbnb nags me about that) and I've listed on other sites.  I send messages and hope to engage guests in dialog.

I don't know.  I am pretty discouraged.

Thanks for any insights or commiseration.

Mary

[Kevin940]

@Mary0.   My husband and I have had this very conversation this evening. Quality is better than quantity.  We will never be dictated to by ABB on price or who we have stay in our home.  We are happy to have few guests, but quality guests, we enjoy educated people.  I would love to find a portal for advertising our home to quality people only.  

[Deborah614]

@Kevin940     I agree, and I applaud you keeping sovereignty over your own home and personal space.   I don't allow ABB to dictate.   I ignore their "suggestions" to lower my price and get more bookings.   I don't want to lower my price to get more bookings.   That's just bad business!    I come from the business world, in key account management and your smallest customers have the squeakiest wheels.   i.e. they take up a disproportionate amount of your time and effort and cause the most stress.   

If you're having problems with guests who behave like cave men and women, or gypsy travellers, put your prices up, and you'll get guests who are usually more gracious and genteel.  

[Mark-and-Chris0]

Debs - I fully agree with your stand to hold your line on the price.  I have actually raised my prices and have fewer nights booked but more income.  We also strongly emphasize that this is our "home" to my wife and our college aged children; people treat our home with more respect.

[Nancy804]

Upon reading the situation that airbnb Host's are going thru when dealing with potential Guest's, let Me respond, for it might help!!  As far as Your dealing's with airbnb, that is Your situation to address.

When dealing with potential Guest's...Here is My Story.   I am approaching My 1st Anniversary with airbnb and Joining this Business HAS SAVED MY LITTLE GUEST HOUSE!!!!!  ~~BUT... OPENED in 2004 and the building is Perfect, I was AT A LOSS to find the WAY'S to advertise it.  EVERYTHING I TRIED WAS A NEGATIVE!!!!  In Spring of 2018, when A GUEST!!!!..told Me about airbnb......I  THEN WORKED AT SIGNING UP right after that phone call!!!    **O.K....That being said, Here is what I want to convey to You All.  NOT being a Huge Hotel Chain..No Clerk at the front Desk with No POWER, WE ARE considered easy prey by "tricky" potential guests.  Like You All, I still have the opportunity to bring in guests outside of "bnb".   Fall 2018, I CANCELLED a BIG hunter booking ($1,000.00) because of His STUPID DEMANDS!!!!  Told Him to "GO SOMEWHERE ELSE, I do not need You that bad!!!".   Lost that money?.....YES.  Regret??...HELL NO!!!!  **Bookings WILL TRY:  Human Nature, won't change!!!!  Your Response.....You have Control of YOU!!!!

[Mark-and-Chris0]

@Mary0 - so sorry to read of your negative experiences and that so many are in agreement.  We've been hosting for a few years now and although we have had a couple of issues, we have had guests that treat our home and our family with respect,  are interesting and considerate, engage us to learn more about our area.  I believe that it has something to do with our written description - which includes that this is first and foremost "our home" and not an inn or hotel.  That we live here with our children and that we are in a family neighborhood with good neighbors who look out for each other.   If our description sounds like the way your parents would describe their home to your friends who are coming to visit with you - that is the intention.  We get mostly retired couples visiting older parents or their children who live in our area and every summer we are full because their are many summer internship opportunities for college students in our area.  I beleive that because we are likely the same ages as most of their parents - that we are viewed as surrogate parents.    

I'll just leave this here and would welcome any questions or comments.  I have not read your property description so perhaps I'm way off base here but our experience has been quite different and if I can help you with yours, I'd be happy to try.

Best of luck,

Mark

[Fiona243]

As a home owner who lets out rooms in my family home I empathise with you Mary. I also agree with your 60:40 split on godd:bad guests, although I'd break that down further as follows:

Around 60% are nice guests who have read the listing, know what they are getting for the price, leave the place in an acceptable condition, and leave nice 5 star reviews.

Around 20% make it clear that they did not read the listing or house rules, they ask about amenities that are explicitly not in the listing, ask to use facilities such as our kitchen or washing machine which are not included, and then give us a 4 star review because (e.g.) no fridge in the bedroom even though none was promised. 

About 15% have been people I never want to host again. They have left the bathrooms filthy, spilled red wine on the furniture, blocked the bathroom sink with noodles, and generally caused a lot of additional effort to clean up after them. Strangely, these people often give us 5 star reviews. I do not return the compliment.

The remainder have been truly awful to the extent that I have contacted Airbnb to have them removed from my house and to get guest to pay me additional money. What astonishes me is that these guests are still on airbnb. Hosts have to maintain a certain level of review stars or they are de-listed, but there seems to be no equivalent for guests. No matter how bad the hosts' reviews, guests are free to continue to book via the platform.

[Costa2]

10 years ago statistic was 95:5 and I thought it was too bad. 5 years ago it was 80:20. We are going BAD TOO FAST.

[Bryan223]

I would suggest raising the price to keep low quality people out and advertise as such.   We have had several people try to "bring their friend over".  This is not a brothel.  We have had a firm policy of "no strangers in the house" and luckyily we have had a few people leave without a refund.  You would think at the price we're charging, they wouldn't try to milk us for even more.  I think most of these types it's their first time using the service.

[John1080]

@Mary1135, to echo what several others have said, it's important to keep your prices on the higher end to keep out the riff-raff and encourage a higher quality of guests. 

However, of equal importance is communication. I've also found that the quality of the guest's communication before and during the booking process is a great determiner of what kind of guest they'll be. Make sure the guests are responding to your messages in a way that you find appropriate with tone and response. For a regular non-IB request, if I get a response to my long questions with a few words, then I deny that guest, as I have seen from experience, that those people are generally also the ones who leave the place dirty and violate the policies. 

Make sure your expectations and rules are stringent and don't be afraid that that might turn off some people browsing your listing, as that leaves more open space on your calendar for people who are interested in following the rules. 

[John2374]

When I started less than a year ago, I had set up Instant Book and set pricing at the going rate in my area. I have never really had any problems but I realized eventually I would have issues like everyone else is having. I've had people stay multiple nights and want to become permanent roommates, local people going from ABB to ABB because they have no place to live, etc.  Just a ton of BS to deal with. So here's what I've done and it's worked perfectly FOR ME.

I turned off Instant Book. All guests must message me first.  I have set up check out time at 8 am with check in time at my convenience not the guests. So usually I'll tell them after 9 PM.

My rooms are set up for ONE guest only.  NO COUPLES. I only allow guests to stay ONE night only.  NO MULTIPLE nights.

I offer ONLY a bed and a bathroom and internet NOTHING ELSE.

So now the type of guests I get are guests that are either driving though or flying in or flying out the next morning or UBER/LYFT drivers and just need a place to sleep for the night.

These type of guests come in at 9 PM and leave at 8 PM and are tired and just want to shower and sleep. 

This in turn allows me to lower my rates below the going rate and get more guests, have guests who want to just sleep and zero trouble, less wear and tear in my house.

COME IN AT 9 PM, SLEEP, GTFO AT 8 AM. I'M HAPPIER. 🙂

But you peeps are right, the quality of people coming through are getting worse. So like I said, everyone has to message me first.  Some will want to bring a guest, extend check out time or ask some other dumb question. So usually I'll deny them and in order to not deal with their BS ever again, BLOCK THEM, then they can no longer message you or book with you. 🙂

[John1080]

John, (unable to tag you), yes many of us here do not use IB, myself included. I like more control over who can book my space and vet my guests thoroughly before confirming their request with pre-set messages explicitly detailing the policies and rules. 

I expect through answers with details and a tone which I find acceptable. Because of this, I have not had any major issues with my 40 some guests. 

Many issues related to hosting can indeed be headed off with proper vetting beforehand. 

[Alba50]

I'm having the same experience. I'm considering to use another app to rent my apartment. The last two families wasn't happy with the furniture. They said is old.  The furniture are not old, the apartment is in front of the beach and the guests live leave sand all over the place including sofas and beds. They have always something to complain.

[David3610]

My guess is that as a service like Airbnb gets bigger, The newer users it attracts are just using it because of the utility of it. Airbnb has become more mainstream and Its cheaper generally than a hotel. So instead of getting conscientious guests that realize they are in someone else's house, you start ending up with the same  careless or entitled guests that hotels have to deal with. It's the price of success unfortunately

[John2374]

Yep, that is why I have mine set up they way it is now.  All my guests are respectable guests because they just want to sleep not to come and haggle, complain, whine, just sleep. It is PERFECT

[Cynthia469]

*sigh* we just joined Air BNB and our first guest checked out 2 days ago. I should have seen the red flags. Joined Air BNB the day she booked our place. Hometown same as my hometown. Turns out... She was homeless and made a reservation for 1, but we found out very soon (as we live directly next door) there were 11 people staying there. An entire house with a pool for $88/night stocked with gourmet coffee, creamer, tea bags, Starbucks syrups... wow what a deal. As the week progressed and it became obvious to all parties there were many people there, she got very comfortable sending her children over to my yard to play with my children unsupervised. I confronted her about this and she said "oh my children dont need supervision they are old enough (5 children, the oldest 10 years old)... she chain smoked on the back porch, that is all I saw of her. Blinds drawn the whole week, very secretive. On checkout day she sent one of her precious kids over to ask if they could stay longer for free. Sorry, no. Then she sent little old grandma over to ask for more time before checkout. "Please, we're desperate." I gave them 2.5 extra hours. When I finally got inside the place the smell was horrendous. No surprise, I was cleaned out of every mint, sugar packet, tea bag, Strbucks syrups, hand soap dispenser, laundry detergent,  etc that they could get their hands on. Currently  reconsidering my instant booking settings and not allowing first time Air BNB guests to stay with us.