Guest to host...how has your opinion changed?

[Laura2592]

It dawned on me in another thread that guests really don't "get" it until they become hosts themselves. I know I sure didn't. I was a guest before I was an ABB host and I cringe now thinking about how clueless I was. I was never rude or demanding, but I just had no idea about what hosts go through to create a pleasant environment for guests. 

If you went from guest to host, what has surprised you? How has your opinion changed? Is there anything you did as a guest that you now realize was a no no? What have your biggest takeaways been from the other side of the equation?

[M199]

@Laura2592 

Great discussion topic!  Thanks for sharing.  I would love to add, but, in all honesty, I have never booked an Airbnb.  However, I do try and put myself in my guests shoes.   I also in my advance scheduled message, let newbie guests know that they are Welcome to ask for advice, so that they understand Airbnb.  So far, all the newbies have asked lots of questions and been perfect guests. 🤞it lasts.

[Laura2592]

@M199 definitely book a stay! I think it really gives you perspective. Plus you see what kinds of questions guests answer about YOUR place, which are totally different than we answer/change often and sometimes very...odd LOL. 

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592   The first time I used Airbnb as a guest, I'd already worked in various hospitality fields for years, but Airbnb itself was a pretty obscure website that was still being touted as "Couchsurfing Meets Craigslist."  The rental was a homestay, the sleeping arrangement was the dude's living room sofa, and we had an absolute blast. The host was simply one of the coolest people we could have met on a visit to a city we'd never been to before, and without even being asked he created an itinerary full of hikes, house parties, and late-night drives that you'd usually only get from a close friend. 

I tried to bite his style a bit when I became a homestay host, but I quickly realized that this is only worthwhile in those special occasions when you actually click with the guests (depending on how thoroughly I've vetted, that's been everywhere from 30% to 90% for us). As Airbnb became more and more of a mainstream product, fewer guests were actively seeking the social aspect of a homestay, and listings started looking less and less distinguishable from real estate ads. Listings like the first one I booked all but vanished from the site's inventory, replaced by drab units remotely hosted by would-be landlords with dollar signs in their eyes over a poorly thought-out investment property. 

Not long ago, Airbnb was doing a lot of research into what made guests decide to become hosts, but one nuance they might have missed in their inquiry is how radically their product has changed since the early adopters came in. At the moment, when I'm searching listings as a guest, Airbnb listings tend to be the most incoherent, poorly written, thoughtlessly planned, self-contradictory, badly photographed, and overpriced ones in the market, and the kind of hosts offering the deeply personalized hospitality I experienced in my first stay are either gone or impossible to find with the current search filters. So the thing that inspired me to become a host a million years ago is obsolete - I definitely wouldn't consider it now.

[Brian2036]

@Laura2592 @Anonymous 

I’ve never booked through Airbnb but I have done several times through other platforms.

Mostly because they were cheaper.

Actually, always because they were cheaper.

 I found most to be excellent; far, far better than any hotel, and we have stayed in some of the best.

Most of the STRs we rented were at least $250 per night and well worth it for two couples.

One was $400 per night and it was in terrible condition (infested with vampire bats, among other things) and we all got sick from the mold.

I believe we left all of them in better shape than we found them, even La Casa de los Murciélagos.  I would be truly embarrassed if I thought we had abused anyone’s hospitality.

Anyway, our main reason for getting into the rental business is that my wife needs a job in order to maintain her immigration status, and she really doesn’t want to work at McDonalds.

So she’s president of Las Casitas Dora, she collects a salary, and she pays all the taxes they demand.

Besides that we own four houses, don’t want to sell any of them, and can only live in one at a time.

We’re not the average guests or hosts, but then no one has ever accused me of being normal.

[Kelly149]

@Laura2592 when I first heard of abb it sounded weird and like the dumbest business name ever, but then I bought a house that included an extra guesthouse out back. I had furnished it for the contractor to live in while he worked on the main house bc long stay or any kind of hotel can be $$$ here. So after the main house was done, I had this leftover space and created a listing. We were quickly booked... I cheaply rented to a family with a puppy during one of those most expensive festival weekends of the year, after that we had the "I'm training new people about my "product" " guests and several bachelor/bachelorette groups, good guests and meh guests, we refined vetting and rules over the years, changed decor to more reflect what guests we wanted, changed pricing to reflect what guests we wanted, etc. If I knew then, what I know now, I probably would have been terrified to begin hosting. We were superhosts first (thanks @Anonymous for that awesome trailer) and have spent our SH bonus every year. So, that makes 4 abb stays so far. I didn't like a single one. Hosts were pushy, fussy, lackadaisical, overly familiar... Spaces were run down, not clean, and had furniture that screamed "I was leftover at the thrift store". And all of those listings were run by another SH, had great ratings and were the best options available for where I was going. I for sure wouldn't have booked any of them without the coupon. It's quicker and easier to just go ahead and book the Marriott rather than go down the rabbit hole of trying to find a gem in the manure pile. 

I think ABB is one of those products where ignorance is bliss. Seeing behind the curtain should induce a good bit of anxiety in any host or guest.

[Laura2592]

@Kelly149 I have been pretty pleased with my European hosts, but at the time I was booking them, I had no idea what ABB even was about. I didn't review several as a result and they deserved good reviews. 

I have never done a home stay. My hosts to a person have never been present. I find it more common that they don't communicate at all...to the point where I am sometimes confused about check out or some other important thing. The "ghost host" as I like to call it. 

[Miriam436]

This is interesting! I have stayed in a number of "private rooms" while in another city for work (on my own dime). They certainly ranged widely, but most of them were very clean, pleasant rooms with friendly but non-intrusive hosts. And I've done whole-place listings with friends and family. The same - some bummers, but mostly very clean and with amenities I appreciated.

I learn something from each one, whether it's what to do or what not to do. For instance, one place I was supposed to stay was struck by lighting the night before and had no power. The host asked my permission to rent another place in the city for me to stay in, rather than cancelling on me or having me in an unsuitable place. It wouldn't have occurred to me to do that in the same situation, but it will now!