I have visited and lived in America many times. And been saved by kind Americans from my own stupidity when I was I was much younger. I also get the unthinking Americans abroad thing. The purpose of travel should be to shock you. What else?
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I have been hosting my holiday cottage on the west coast of Ireland for years (long before Airbnb!) and have been incredibley fortunate as have had wonderful guests including Americans with some returning year after year. I think there must be something about locations (to a degree) and who they attract as I have had people who value my rural lake shore setting and they are incredibly appreciative and nice to deal with. My last two lots of guests were American and the nicest people you could care to meet.
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There is something about it, definitely. From what I can read in this forum and other host forum I’m following, people in city tourism have the hardest time accommodating their guests’ demands, as guests expect city to have “everything” they are used to, no matter what are the particularities of the places they visit.
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I love Yorkshire Gold , it is a really great Strong Tea . So if you are used to American tea , you might not like this , or need to water it down . To me , its like the esspresso of Teas .
You can get it a M&S in the UK , its not that expensive I’m told . or Aldi’s ?
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You are right on that part . But it doesn’t mean that they or (you & I) get to ignore
what the Original Airbnb Experience is all about . All that most of these Older American travelers hear (not read) is a cheaper option ! So they hop on board , don’t bother creating a profile of themselves , make demands for options that are not available , Etc ! They don’t care about anything other then the price and how they can
milk every penny of it even if you are a Budget Stay Listing . Now , in their defense , they see many Resort style rental properties and are unable to distinguish the many
Options and so it becomes just one big hunt for Price and not on Experience , Quality , Location Etc . A total lack of familiarity with the platform .
So , even with Economic Status issues ,(Budget) its still the issue of , Airbnb is not Hotels.com, Travelocity , Etc .
I can’t tell you the amount of time I have spent with new users of a certain age that are not familiar with how to use Tech . Be it a Smart Phone, ipad …Whatever form it is .
So thats the first hurdle .
So to save time , I call Airbnb and ask them to please walk this Guest through the entire process .
Problem Solved ? Not really .
They have a Profile at least with some minimum info and a face pic ( generally of them 15 years ago)
So , we still have the issue of the Guest user not being able to understand the Listings be offered , Entire Home. Hosted Stay Etc . So they see many prices and go for the Cheapest without understanding what they are getting .
The Deluge !!!
You are now flooded with millions of questions that are already answered by your listing that you have spent hours crafting and refining .
So , once again , having Airbnb reach out to this guest once again to see if they can offer to walk the guest through some of the listings that are appropriate for them .
I generally will refer the Guest to either , please if possible , read the entirety of my listing (viewed on a laptop for best results) to ensure that it is a great match for their needs .
This should work , but in many cases I just get the same questions over and over again and they don’t relate to my property at all due to the fact that the New User Guest is looking at multiple listings and can’t remember which one is which .
None of this is a real reflection of Budget status , but of Tech Savvy .
Hopefully now it should be smooth sailing . Even if I do tell the guest that my listing may not be a good match for their needs and it has nothing to do with price (unless this guest is asking for any type of Discount . The race to hit the Decline button begins)
I do let them know that there are many listings in my neighborhood that are available and a better match for their needs ( San Francisco Has Hills Everywhere)
End of Story ? LOL
by default , I have now become the Trip planner for this person . UGH !!!
I just let them know that they will be fine if they just take the time to read each listing carefully , its ok to contact a Host to ask questions that are not answered in the Listing , but don’t ask questions that are , as a Host will see that you have not taken the time to read it , and the same with your personal profile . It really helps to have just a few sentences of who you are .
I have noticed that this Age group will either Plan out ahead months in advance and have described what they are looking for . Or have just not done any planning at all and they just throw it onto your lap for you to solve for them . Unfortunately this has been the majority, which is surprising since many Boomers have adult children that can help them . The Adult children may even plan it out for the Parents , but then the Parents just treat it like a Hotel stay . Then there are problems from start to finish . Too many to list here !
So , sorry for the long reply , as its not an easy subject to resolve
But I don’t think its Economic at all , But Tech Familiarity .
No even a Nationality, as I get it them from around the globe but do give special consideration for Language and Cultural differences .
I do have to say , I have had many great Boomers stay with me and its an 80/20 rule for me , but I have already done a very select screening in terms of really discussing the guests needs and expectations for their stay . For ones that may not be a great match due to location needs (hills) I am more then happy to give a great referral and make sure that as a Super Host , a Guests first time experience with Airbnb should be a Positive one . But that can only happen if the Guest is open to telling you what they desire and needs are . So I tell all of my Guests
I can only be a Great Host as you (The Guest) Allow me to be !
Only in the rarest times have I ever suggested a Guest might Consider a Hotel stay . I think only once or twice in the 7/8 years I have been doing Airbnb and both times those guest wrote back to me after their trips to thank me that the Hotel served as the Best option for that particular stay and that they have gone on and have booked Airbnb for other trips and it was a fantastic experience for them
( only because they had booked with me ) . Multiple Grand Kids have a special charm for Hotels and jumping all over and being little terrors , that would break every House rule and get the Guest booted from any other stay .
I won’t even begin to refute your points, but I simply have not had any of these experiences with travelers of any age.
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Then you are indeed one of the most luckiest Hosts Indeed !
I should of noted that it has just been a minor experience for my location ,However when you do over 200 guests per year or a Calendar of stays close to 300 , you just might get a few non tech savvy guests of any age . Wisdom is from Experience and not Age .
I find your ageism as unpleasant as all the other -isms out there.
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As a 57-year-old American, Baby Boomer and computer professional by trade, I can’t decide if I should laugh or get offended at your silly posts.
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Sainsbury has the best prices on teas that I’ve found!
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This has never ended well for me. If I get guests that even hint of needing their hands held I decline so fast it makes their head spin. Young or old, it doesn’t matter. One of my worst was a 20 something with a short man’s syndrome. I thought I was helping by holding his hand but noooooooooooo, it all backfired in a terrible review with a laundry list of everything he found wrong with me, my place and the booking platform in general. And this was after I went out of my way to get him discounts on activities through my travel guidebook writing contacts. Yeh thanks very much. Next time stay home.
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I’m sorry , I am not trying to be ageist at all . I am simply sharing my experience . The fact that a certain age group has Tech challenges and has been well studied should not be so upsetting to you . Do you find being Tech Savvy / Literate a challenge ?
Did you have a bad Airbnb experience you thought was age related ?
Not to mention that the Boomer Group themselves are the largest growing segment on Airbnb . Airbnb has even acknowledged there are challenges for this group .
I hope you never have a guest that has multiple health issues , has lied about their age and possibly some cognitive issues as well .
Just wait till you get some of these guests . You may be well educated and trained yourself ,
but have you actually had a group of Boomers that are not, stay with you ?
My housemate is 68 years old and a self confessed tech hater . He and his friends
depend on the younger people in their lives to do anything tech for them !!
But my Housemates parents at age 90 & 95 know their way around an Ipad
So go figure .
Its all about location ! Stupid Americans couldn’t find Ireland on a map !
So you have a location bias . Smart Americans can and so seek out special places and know they aren’t going to Disneyland .
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What study exactly? I know of many user interface studies, but none about age. If you can cite one, I would most grateful.
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You are definitely succeeding at being ageist. @anon67190644 is unusually tech savvy for any age group. I’ve met people from all age groups with different levels of comfort with technology.
It’s so true! The more experienced travelers are the best guests, because they tend to be flexible, adventurous and respectful of other cultures. A handful of Americans travel a lot (like me…hehe), but most of us don’t want too far from home. It is probably a major factor why we tend not to be the best guests. Most of my guests are European and Australian, and they have consistently been amazing guests, so lucky me. 
Ha ha! So true. Listen to Kona. She is wise. I have also declined people who started asking tons of questions that Google could easily have answered. That screams high maintenance, so I generally just let them know I don’t think I am a good fit for their needs, decline, wait and a better guest will book instead and turn out to be an absolute cakewalk.
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Sorry, you have missed the point . I suggest you reread the post .
I was not in anyway dismissing what was said , only sharing my experience , now if someone disagrees thats fine, but it in no way makes me ageist . The Baby Boomer group I have encountered as a Host have demonstrated a lot of Non tech savvyness
SO , whats the reasons for this ? I really can’t tell you . Is it Location or Price ? Could be . Of course there are differing levels of Tech Comfort , I never said there wasn’t
So if I’m ageist , you are basically ignorant of what I wrote .
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@designconsortium2003. Do you have a study to cite? This is my business and if there is such a study, I would really like to read it.
The Woz (a fairly tech-savvy boomer) and I (not a Boomer) used to discuss this extensively. He really felt that if the tech gets in the way of a user being able to accomplish their goals, it was the software’s fault, not the user. Now, I haven’t spoken with him in quite a few years, but it was such a core to his belief system, I can’t imagine that this has changed.
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