What we've learned during our first 3 months of hosting

[Jody79]

We've definitely had a learning curve in the three months we've now been hosting.  This is what we've learned so far.

--We've learned to ignore the suggested rate that Airbnb continuously tries to push.  We've found this gets you the least desirable guests that just flat out ignore your house rules. (Airbnb's suggested rate for our place has been as low as $36/night)

--We've learned that guests will try to get around your 'no parties or events' rule by having a 'gathering' instead.  We've added a rule stating that 'gatherings' are also not allowed.  We've also increased our minimum night stay from 1 to 2 nights.  In our first month we had 4 one night stays.  Three of these were 'gatherings' (ie parties).

--We've learned to be very skeptical of local guests, the only bad experiences we've had so far have been from locals looking for a place to party.

--People will blatantly disregard your house rules.  Even when you send them your house rules as part of your welcome message, you will get some guests that will just outright ignore them.  We are still trying to figure out how best to prevent this.

--We've learned that the hosting community is well worth spending some time in, even if you don't post much.  There is a wealth of information and ideas from other hosts.

--We've learned that if you want to block some days so your place is available for when family or friends visit think in nights not days.  We recently had a booking with the checkout date on a day that my father is coming into town.  I had that day blocked.  After calling Airbnb to ask how this occurred, I learned that they go by nights, not days.  So, lesson learned, make sure you block the day before your family/friends arrive if you don't want someone checking out the same day.

--We've learned to call Airbnb if we have questions or concerns.  Although we've only called them twice so far, both times they have been helpful.

As we've only been in this for three months now, I'm sure the learning curve is not yet over.  We are making adjustments with each lesson we learn.  We are trying to make our Airbnb a great experience for our guests, and at the same time attract guests that will respect our place and house rules.

[Ricardo85]

@Jody79 

Very helpful post!

Ricardo

[Barry-and-Lera0]

@Jody79: I agree with the things you listed especially with "Smart Listing". Its not very smart in my opinion. We have found the biggest hurdle with hosting is having people READ EVERYTHING. I'm surprised as to how much hand holding you need to do with grown adults. People will literally only look at the pictures of your place and read the top 3 or 4 reviews. After writing this I'm "making a picture" with some frequently asked questions / answers so people see it while scrolling through our pictures. 

--- Airbnb Twitter help is also extremely quick and helpful (in our experience). ---

I checked out your listing. Nice basement apartment. Looks like it has higher ceilings than most I've been in. A couple things I noticed on your page. (Feel free to ignore me).

- The blurry pictures of the exterior of the house. I would re-take those photos.  

- Your front entrance to the apartment looks kind of "scary". Maybe dress it up a little bit? Some art on the wall next to the door or maybe a fake plant.

Best of luck with your future guests. Everyone is new learning experience.

[Jody79]

Thank you for the tips Barry & Lera!  One of our summer projects this year is going to be painting the entrance area a brighter color.  I like the idea of adding some art or plants, I hadn't thought of that.  We'll also be taking some more outdoor pictures this spring/summer as well.  It's kinda brown and dreary here in Chicago right now.

[Tony134]

Short of Airbnb supporting hosts when guests break house rules, you never will be able to stop that.

[Mark1128]

Sounds like you are on your way to mastering the art of hosting.  I love that you are in a state of "learning" and sounds like you're pivoting when you need to.

I've been hosting for 10 years now and about 20,000 guests.  My biggest take away has been to not rely on electronic comunications like email, in-app, and texts, and have a real converstion with my guests before, during and after their stay.

Creating a connection with them, particularly before they arrive, has saved me a ton of problems!  And, the few that I have are easier to resolve because of the communication and connection i have with my guests.

I still use on the tools available; text, email, in-app, but there is nothing that can replace that one on one phone conversation!

[Jody79]

Thank you Mark!  We have been making a point of meeting our guests shortly after they arrive.  Virtually all of our prior communications have been through the Airbnb portal though.  How do you make the initial non-electronic connection?  Do you give them a call or ask them to call you?

[Mark1128]

@Jody79 I just give them a call after they book, and find out a bit about them and see what I can do to help with their upcoming trip.  My 50 properties are located in two ski resort areas of Colorado, so my guests always need some tips.  If i have to leave a voicemail, then I just say: Hey ____, It's Mark calling from Colorado about your reservation in my 3 bedroom cabin.  Please give me a call as soon as you're available.  90%+ call back within a few hours.  

The next call with them is a day or two prior to their arrival, so that gives me two actual phone conversations prior to arrival in addition to the arrival emails sequence that I send.

Then, just a quick text checking in with them after the first night.

[Daniel1598]

@Jody79 @Mark1128 Wow 10 years! I completely agree with connecting with the guest before their stay. I've greeted all of my guests in-person even after we've messaged back and forth substantially before their arrival. Then during the stay I reach out via text. At checkout I try to see them off in-person, but if not possible at least call/text to see if I can make their checkout any smoother. I have never had a truly negative hosting experience and I believe that communication, particularly in-person, has had a big impact.

Daniel

[Sheron5]

I totally agree with you.  Once I have a telephone number, I always call guests and am amazed at how surprised most are that I called them!  I am fortunate in that I live on the farm where my rentals are and guests know this.  I take a basket of freshly baked from-scratch homemade muffins the evening of their arrival, so I get to meet them in person.  90% of guests also want a personal tour of the farm in a Polaris, so by the time they leave they are a new friend.

[Ben551]

@Jody79  What a great post. Thanks for sharing., I agree with all your points. You’ve been hosting a month longer than me and, man oh man, I wonder how long the list of leanings is now... you’ve inspired me to have a think about it. Even so, I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of this game...

[Jody79]

Wow Ben, your place looks incredible! We're hoping to make it to New Zealand one of these days, and when we do I'm totally going to be looking up your place to stay!

[Huma0]

Wow @Jody79  you have learnt a lot. I think it took me way more than three months to learn all of that but, you are right, this community is super helpful for advice and I don't think I would have got through hosting too successfully if I wasn't frequently dipping into the forums to learns stuff.

I agree with every point you make but, even after about 450 guests, getting guests to read stuff and follow house rules is still a challenge. Personal interaction cetainly helps and I give all my guests a detailed house tour, but then I live at the property so this is not always possible for remote hosts.

Even then, many do ignore house rules, so I know it is not simply them not having seen/read them. They have been told this stuff personally. Unfortunately, some people think it simply does not matter if they are breaking those rules because they never consider that they are the only ones doing that, i.e. something is not a problem if 1 person in 100 does it, but it can become a really big problem if 50 in 100 do it! 

I am still trying to figure that one out...

[Rebecca181]

@Jody79 I've learned that most guests do not read my house rules. Or most anything else on my listing. They read they intro', see the photos, read the reviews, and they book (I've had many guests confess this when I asked). Therefore, I ended up making a one page 'cheat sheet' with the most important 'how to use' and 'house rules reminders' on it and placed this on top of the Welcome Binder where the *real* (detailed) house rules are. After I did this, I had no more issues with guests accidentally putting the hot tub into 'sleep' mode or clogging up the plumbing (we are on a septic system). I also confirmed in writing on Airbnb messaging that they had actually read, and were agreeing to, my house rules. Best of luck hosting!

[Donna316]

@Rebecca181I totally agree with most guests not reading house rules.  I find it very frustrating.  Especially when one person tried to feed my dogs right in front of me, when the rules state do not feed the dogs anything at all.  They were trying to give them grapes!  Grapes can be toxic to dogs and luckily my dog spat it out and I then made comment about it!  As a grown adult I expect people to read and abide by the rules as I do, but have learnt most wont or don't.  I even have a bright pink folder on the table for them to read and I think most of the time it just gets moved without opening it.  Small minority do read it.