Educating first-time guests

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a good week.

We know how much time and effort you all put into welcoming your guests and making them feel at home.This is why, when you have guests booking on Airbnb for the first time, we want to set the right expectations for you and your home.

If your expectations are misaligned, this can lead to less than ideal trips and reviews, which is discouraging for everyone involved and something that has been mentioned here in the Community Center before. So to help these travelers understand the unique, local experience they can have when they stay in your home, I wanted to let you know that we’re reaching out to educate first-time guests before they arrive at your doorstep!

To find out more information about this take a look at this blog article.

Do you have any handy tips on how you manage expectations for your first-time Airbnb guests?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Zephyr0]

This all sounds great. I would like for you to add a couple of things. Some of my worst reviews have come from first time users. They seem to think that they are comparing us to 5star hotels, which we hare clearly not. So I started adding a few little touches like chocolates on the pillow and a small plate of fruit with a couple of homemade scones (mix from Trader Joe's super easy and cheap and yummy). I make sure to tell them this is just for the first morning. We have a guest house with a full kitchen.

Thank you for addressing this issue.

Zephyr

[Eric-And-Gail0]

I want to know who is coming with the guest.  

It bothers me A LOT that a person will make a reservation and I have no idea who the guest is.

I would like to see both adults registered and vetted with AirBnB.

So I have been asking, "Who is coming with you?"  

I want to know the answer before accepting the reservation.

[Malcolm13]

I think educating first time guests is very important. As a host I have had to learn as I go, fine tuning House Rules and having some information placed on the bedside table with WIFI info and other relevant information and expectations.

I find more guests are just not reading the site information.  Some (not too many) have arrived after 11:30pm keeping us waiting when it clearly states in our information that latest check in is 10:00pm.  Othe guests have turned up with more people that was indicated with one guest who booked for two (our room only fits two comfortably) arriving with four people one of whom they met at the airport!

I have to say, on the whole, the hosting experience has been very fulfilling with the majority of guests being very pleasant and respecting of the space.  

Malcolm

[Jo793]

What did you do about the extra unexpected guests? 

[Skylar0]

The blog article states that each new guest recieves an email, but the one shown is clearly directed towards hosts. It starts with: "You've prepared your space, accepted a booking, and your guest is on their way..." Is this a mistake? 

[Patty-And-Beckett0]

An item missing from this announcement is an improvement to guiding guests about what to read. There was a time when the guest confirmation email included everything about information the host provided - their address, phone, rules, directions, and maybe wifi info. At one point you changed the conf email to the point that it only had a Directions link for the address, and maybe the host name and phone number. You are slowly adding to the conf email, yet giving the guest a link/Icon which says "Itinerary" does little to convery to the guest that there is importnt Host information to read. Using the word "Itinerary" suggests that clicking that link will only show the booking confirmation details.

As a result, our guests for the past year have asked us for our wifi info. At first I thought the info had been deleted since no one saw it in the emails. Once I verified that wasn't the case, we began manually sending a Hello message (at least we now have "saved messages" so we no longer have to type the Hello from sratch), instructing people to click the Itinerary link to ready our House Rules and wifi info, and yet most guests STILL don't know the wifi info.  NOW we manually send the Hello with our house rules and wifi info, defeating any supposed benefit there shoud have been if the guest clicked the Itinerary link.

ALSO due to where we live a number of guests don't have data service when they arrive. Since the information is not in their email (most guests are using an app for their email so they can read messages off line) and they can't click the link, we still have to tell them the wifi info.

We would really like to see a simple and easy on the eye guest confirmation email which provides the guest with ALL the information needed for their stay, without a need to click a link. Perhaps all the simple data would be listed first, in an easy to read yet compact layout where checkin, check out, host address and phone, the wifi info, and maybe a few more simple fields. Then below this, sections link directions to address, rules, methods/instructions for entering the house/room, etc.

Failing that, PLEASE segregate the Itinerary link from Host Info, and making it far clearer for the guest to understand they need to click and view the Host Info link to view wifi info and everything else 🙂

[Helga0]

@Patty-And-Beckett0, I had not noticed that. I have a lot of info in the booking confirmation and if I click on it on a computer, it's still created as a whole page containing all the info. @Lizzie Can you please verify that? 

@Patty-And-Beckett0, did you leave the info where it was, or did you put it in a new Itinerary case?

[Patty-And-Beckett0]

@Helga0 @Lizzie Helga, what DO you mean "did you put it in a new Itinerary case"?

I think there are two issues.

1) Airbnb still continues to show hosts different emails and pages of information than what is shown to guests, even though they took an odd step forward in how they claim they show listing info to hosts in a similar manner it is shown to guests - not very well I say. We host a lot (different and numerous listings), are guests less often now (finding Airbnb less attractive as guests, compared to other options) so it's not easy to review what we see when we are the guests. If I remember correctly, our last guest itinerary did not have information I expected to see, however I have no way of knowing if this is a host deficiency or Airbnb's deficiency.  All I know is far to many guests for our private room listing ask for information which is supposed to be in their itinerary.

2) Airbnb continually talks about how they have listened and are implementing something new and better. What I see are changes which are different, and often not better. Airbnb has even made changes which took away beneficial aspects to the information provided. Case in point, 2 to 5 years ago the guest confirmation email included all the host information (directions, rules, etc) in the same order the host saw it in the listing. Then it was removed. As I said, now there is an Itinerary icon in the email and as a guest I would only click that if I planed to print it for a receipt. I would not expect it to have host information. And apparently most of our guests come to the same conclusion. 

This is simple stuff. The guest confirmation should be laid out in a category grouped manner, allowing the guest to proceed through the email in the same manner in which they would want to verify their booking info, see where the place is and who the host is, then how to get there, and important things to note like rules, access codes, and WiFi. To make it easier, include a hyper link summary at the beginning of the email, to jump to detail sections of the email ... or if Airbnb doesn't want the info in the email, then to jump to the Airbnb website for the booked listing info.

[Carole39]

I like to know a little about my guests before I even will book them.  So I will ask them pointed questions, like where are you coming from, are you flying or driving, bringing pets and what brings you to (My town name). Its amazing the long detailed emails I get back from them, so that when they arrive we feel like old friends, haha. No one has ever been offended. Its also for me to know if they are young couples wanting to party or if they have young children which I do not allow. 

Carole

[Claudia565]

Hi everyone, in my opinion I think that all the guests making a reservation should accept and read all the house rules and directions.

I had not that many guests, about 12 families or group or friends. I had furnitures scratched, people inviting other people even if my house said not permitted, small pieces of art on top of a wall in my kitchen removed and founded in the garden because the rentals were from a different religion and most of them were guests with good reviews. 

[Lindsay56]

I think it's great to provide more information to first-time guests so that everyone is on the same page with expectations. However, the problem I seem to be having (and not just with first-time Airbnb'ers) is that they actually don't read any of the emails or information that they receive, whether from me or from Airbnb. 

For example, the House Manual which contains all logistical information (amenities, transit, parking, etc.) has been meticulously updated to include all information a guest could possibly need. It's very well-organized and laid out, and I ask the guests to make sure they review both House Rules and the Manual prior to check in. I did this as I'm in the midst of a 6-week road trip across the country, so I'm often in areas without cell reception and can't immediately answer questions if guests message/email/call me. Despite this, almost every single guest, first-timers and old-timers alike, message me about basic information I've included in the Manual and asked them twice to read for any answer they could imagine. 

It's beyond frustrating, especially when after 20-something straight 5-star communication (and other) reviews, I'm now receiving 3 and 4 stars, simply because the guests want to be spoon fed the information. 

I'm at a loss for what to do. While it's not the end of the world, it's frustrating and reflects poorly on me, and I take pride in my hosting. What else can I do besides ask them yet again to refer to what I've already written and already asked them to read over and over again?

[Lorraine31]

The ultimate solution is that we have a programmed robot to answer all questions!!!

Airbnb should look to the future and design a robot fit for purpose!!!

The future is robotic!!

[Viviana62]

lol that's funny Lorraine . What I would love to know is if guests are punished the way we are for receiving low ratings and not following rules. We have stars to represent who we are. Guests don't have stars. We are temporarily stopped from hosting o one guest feels we did not met their expectations. What happens to guests when they don't respect the rules, the home and the hosts. 

[Clara116]

@Lindsay56 Hello, sorry you are frustrated - what I have done to help folks with House Manual and Rules - when they enter the cottage on the Sofa is a Folder with all the info - seems folks are reading it - also, I greet and tour them in the cottage and tell them most of the important stuff. 

One thing I decided to do is write them in house manual that I wish for them to have a 5 star stay and that I wish their stay to be so good they will want to leave a 5* Review! I also write: 4*stars = failure to all host !!!!

Another thing I do is tell them in person that I will also be reviewing them for their future stays in Airbnb's and I know they wish to

also have 5*stars. I want it clear that they review us and we review them.

so far, it has been wonderful: I started in June 2017 - been crazy busy and got Super Host July 14 and all reviews have been 5* -

I think we do have to work to educate folks and try our best not to take stuff personally. It is work..............but, it is work I really enjoy. Happy Hosting to you all, Clara

[Lynne60]

I am not sure if this has already been mentioned, but one issue I have is when guests have late flights and expect you to store their luggage extending way past their check out time, like you would a hotel. Even though everything else with their stay would have been perfect, the moment I tell them they are unable to store their luggage at the place since I have the next guests checking in, they become very annoyed and it leaves them with a final disappintment in their experience. Common sense would say that this would be an unrealistic expectation, since an apt is not a hotel, but you would be surpirsied how often this happens.  Would be great to mention this when a guest is booking so they can either book an additional night or make arrangements on their own to store luggage without involving the host if they are unable to accommodate.

Thanks

Lynne