Why don't New Guests Understand what Private Room Means?

[Victoria550]

I’ve had 4 potential guests in a row that have been either confused that my husband and I live at the “Private Rooms” listing or obviously didn’t read the listing discription at all.  We’ve had about 50 previous guests without this issue so it is just confusing to me why all of a sudden this is a frequest issue. Two of them have been already confirmed bookings and they don’t realize it until the day before their arrival! With a moderate cancelation, they can’t recieve much refund back at all so they BEG for a full refund, which we have painfully given back by calling Airbnb ourselves because they say they are not comfortable staying at a house with people they don’t know. (eye roll). It seems to be those newer to Airbnb (having 2 or less reviews). Has anyone else had this problem recently too??

Tonight I changed our title and description to make sure they know it’s 3 private bedrooms and bathroom. We’ll see if that works. I’m so tired of this, haha! 

[Leo192 · Accepted solution]

@Victoria550  - I know how frustrasting it is when people aren't reading your listings properly.  One suggestion is maybe include the information on your slideshow.  Like the sample below.

[Lois52]

Hi Leo,

As a fairly new host this is a great suggestion.  Will definitely use this for my listing to make it more clear.

Thanks a bunch!

[Sarah977]

@Leo192  That is an excellent chart! Great idea. People look at the photo gallery and that makes it clear, even if they were too lazy to read through the listing description.

[Robin4]

@Victoria550 

Victoria, yours is a listing that slips through the cracks. What you are offering is three bedrooms and a bathroom in a shared space. It is not an apartment, it is not an entire dwelling....it is not even a 'Guest suite' as Paul has suggested....... it is 3 bedrooms in you personal home which is to be shared with you.

Unfortunately Airbnb do not offer a listing description to accommodate what you offer, so I can see where your problem is.....guests see the 3 bedrooms/6 guests and do not realise what they are booking.

If they bothered to read correctly the full listing description as I did they would realise what the score is.

Victoria, I wish I could dream up some solution for you here but Airbnb do not offer anything that fits what you offer.

The best I can suggest is open your lead listing photo in 'Paint' and with the texting tool write across the photo in bold print..."Please note, this listing is for 3 bedrooms in a shared home"!

I wish you luck, I sympathise with your situation, you are not doing anything wrong, Airbnb just don't provide you with the options to fully desribe what you offer.....Good luck.

Cheers.....Rob

[Cindi0]

I have a similar situation. I have 2 bedrooms plus a pull-out in the Common room, so can accommodate 5 comfortably, but I only do that within the same party.  However, I am still upstairs! Still, the listing says "private room". I had a booking request over the Easter weekend. I responded letting the guest know that my daughter may be visiting, and she would be in the room across the hall. The guest was not impressed, and was asking about how much of the "suite" they would have to share. I replied that he has a private room, not a suite. At the same time, I generally leave my guests to full access of the main floor out of courtesy. Prompted me to do a floor plan. 

[Cendra0]

I had this problem for the first time.  My description are clearly written private room, why should someone thought that they was getting an apartment?

[Sarah977]

@Cendra0  Because they, like many guests, don't bother to read the listing description, they just look at the pretty photos, the price, and book (sigh).

[Betty124]

Same here! 

I kept getting questions like, Is it one room?  Two rooms?  A suite?

So I added in a diagram also...  It's  #4 of my photos included in my listing

23148827

www.airbnb.com/rooms/23148827

That has helped with the confusion.

[Pete69]

You have to word your listing for the lowest common denominator of guests who don't read, skim read, etc. In my summary I say "Please read this entire listing description before booking".

In my description I try to spell out every minor detail that might be a problem for them or for me. For example I say "No kitchen, no laundry, no breakfast, no bottled water." I also remind them that there's no smoking inside, no pets, no parties / events, etc.

[Alina127]

I’m experiencing this frustration too.  I get inquiries from guests who don’t seem to understand what “Private Room in House” means.  If they do, they they are extremely picky and want a private entrance in a house, expecting entire basement apartment!  Well sorry, I don’t have one, and if I did, I’d charge way more.  A lot of shared home hosts in my area offer private entrance in the basement of their home but they don’t even offer important amenities such as use of washer, dryer or kitchen!

I decided to switch to “Shared Room in House”—I’ve seen one or two shared home listings using this approach, and see how it goes for a few days.  The bummer is that I can’t tick off private bath or a second bedroom and more beds or be in the “work collection”.  On my listing I emphasize it’s a homestay and they are booking to stay with a local host family, they get 2 private rooms plus a private bath. 

[Sarita26]

 I just had guests stay at my house last night who thought they were getting a whole four bedroom three bath house for $49 a night.  When they arrived, and saw my dog, they said “oh are you taking the dog with you when you leave, and I said no I live here with my son. Did you think you were getting the whole house?” SMH!

 Obviously, people do not read “private room and private bath” in the description!

[Kathleen125]

I have a small cabin with no plumbing.  I have described my main house that is shared with small cabin and use of bathroom at all hours.    Private room is the cabin.  Not listed in the description that Airbnb supplies for host to mark.  Guest assumed the cabin was included a bathroom.    ???I described that the cabin was in my backyard and the main house offers bathroom to share with the owner .