Leaf blowers

[Laura2592]

So we had a guest complain that the neighbors were using a leaf blower and it disturbed them for about a half hour. Beyond rolling my eyes I am wondering if anyone else has had this issue? I am not sure exactly which neighbor this might be TBH but I really don't feel like its my place to tell them to stop maintaining their lawns while we have delicate guests. Should I put this in my listing as "potential for noise"? This is the first such complaint we have had on this. 

[Z-2]

@Laura2592 What a guest! Never lived in a house having neighbors? It’s very normal activity to use leaf blower to clean the yard. The  worst guests all come this year. We had some worst guests this year. Don’t know why.

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592  This one seems to be of a piece with the other guests (of yourself and other rural cottage hosts) who complain about the proximity of neighbors and roads, threatening to derail their unrealistic ideal of "getting away from it all"  (an ideal that admittedly might be somewhat over-promised by the fact that your listing literally includes that phrase).

It doesn't make sense to call out the leaf blower as a specific "potential for noise" issue,  but that disclosure category is a great place to mention the distance to the nearest neighbors' yards and the nearest through-road. It won't necessarily prevent complaints from the hyper-sensitive, but at least it will help prepare your guests to expect an ambience more like an affluent suburb than a virgin forest.

[Laura2592]

@Anonymous it *is* a great place to get away from it all, and is not nearly a suburban experience. I recently uploaded a satellite image and circled the neighbors. We are on a large skinny lot, so its far from a road but the neighbors are closer on the side as a result. Its very difficult to get people to visualize. Our region is just very dense and the idea of being "remote" just doesn't happen until you get into the mountains of West Virginia. 

One of the somewhat nearby hosts who has a 2 person cabin on the property of a wedding venue was just lamenting that people were complaining it was on the property of the wedding venue which is fully disclosed. Events and weddings happen there and guests can see the comings and going. I think its just a matter of people not reading. But as for the leaf blower, this is a new one. There are also cows you can hear mooing, occasional target practice, tractors, combines, owls hooting, etc. We did have a guest complain about the rooster next door but he has sadly passed on. 

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592   Obviously, an ironclad majority of your past reviews have found everything to be totally awesome, so I think it goes without saying that you're in no urgent need to change anything about your listing if you don't want to. But you asked, so...

I personally prefer empirical metrics over marketing lingo. "Away from it all" means something very different to everyone, depending on whatever the "it" is that they'd like to get away from. Your listing's description is beautifully written and thorough - I especially like the inventory of local wildlife that guests might be lucky enough to encounter. But I can see how it might lead a small portion of your guests to expect enough seclusion that they won't encounter your Hot Neighbor or have the sounds of the moocows interrupted by the blow job he's performing on the autumn foliage. Saying there's a working farm or actively maintained garden xx meters away (or I guess feet away, for the American guests) would at least tick off that one box of setting accurate expectations. The top 10% most neurotic of your guests can use that hard data to decide whether it's the type of location they were dreaming of.

As you rightly acknowledge, that's no protection against people simply not reading. But you have to decide for yourself whether your strategy is to have the most broadly appealing marketing, or to set the most accurate expectations. The former maximizes occupancy, the latter minimizes complaints. But you already knew that.

[John2406]

@Laura2592  Please excuse my being a bit flippant, but I am tempted to ask whether it was the rooster or G that "has sadly passed on"

[Laura2592]

@John2406  lol! No, I am not committing homicide...yet 🙂 It was in fact the poor rooster. I think a snake got him. 

[Ryan2352]

I'd just take it as a one-off and ignore.  Nothing you can do about it.  If you put that down for a potential noise issue, do you put down planes flying overhead?  How about that a fire truck, ambulance or police car may go by Code 3?  Where does it stop?

[Brian2036]

@Laura2592 

Our place is about as “away from it all” as you can get in the USA. 

So we get complaints about too many trees, too quiet, too dark at night, possibility of wild animals, no neighbors and irrational fear in general.

Obviously there are certain people who should just stay at home where everything is perfect. 

[Hal3292]

I have a similar situation but decided AGAINST flagging a "potential for noise." I think that would be a red flag for a lot of guests. The guy across the street owns an ancient Harley -- the kind that has to be revved up for five minutes or so before it will run smoothly. We've asked him to roll it down the hill before he starts revving, and he kindly complies.  The next-door neighbor has a German shepherd with a bark like a cannon shot. After some disagreeable run-ins with this neighbor, we finally found some common ground (possibly involving exchange of a bottle of whiskey) and he now ties the dog in the front yard for about 20 minutes at a time only, then brings it in. I leave a page of instruction for guests with the wifi code, etc., and at the bottom I mention the German shepherd and explain that the noise typically lasts only minutes and that they can contact us if it goes on too long. Meanwhile, the backyard neighbor has a slightly less loud, large dog that she leaves out for HOURS, and we can't get code enforcement in our town to do anything about it. So I live in fear that a guest will be disturbed -- but in our year of experience, not a single guest has mentioned noise. Through pictures in my listing, I try to make it clear that we live in a NEIGHBORHOOD.

[Anonymous]

@Hal3292  "Potential for Noise:  Other people live nearby, and all that entails."

[Sarah977]

@Hal3292  There are devices you can get that emit what dogs find to be an unpleasant sound that goes off when they start to bark, but is inaudible to humans. You might want to research that. I don't know how far their range extends, but it might work for the dog that barks neurotically.

[Hal3292]

Definitely will research that -- thank you!

[Michelle53]

One Saturday night last summer (2020) someone took a corner too fast, and literally ended up sideways in the street, right outside my house  i.e. the car balancing on two wheels, driver-side door flat to the road. 

We had all the neighbors out, the police, the ambulance and the fire truck, and it took some time to extricate the  driver (very shaken up but not injured, fortunately). It took several hours more to have the car towed. 

I had guests that weekend. I said I hoped the events of that night had not disturbed them. They said no, they lived next door to a fire station. 

I do not have "potential for noise" checked.    Generally speaking, things here are pretty quiet for a big city. 

Leaf-blowing is not allowed before 8am.

[Kelly149]

@Laura2592 what if instead of taking that feedback as an idea to change your listing, how about you take it as an idea to alter their review "this guest thought it necessary to complain about a neighbor using lawn equipment, accept visits from them if you feel that type of vigilance is a good fit for your space"