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I stayed in a listing with two cats and my solution was to leave the door cracked open…Sadly they wouldn’t enter the room but they also didn’t howl or meow.
What percentage of guests would you say do that/don’t read the listing?
Regarding white noise machines I don’t have one in the guest room but in summer there is a window AC that could be turned on and often is. In my room I no longer have one because I have air purifiers instead. So I could move it over to the air room.
@Joan Thank you, I agree. And @Helsi’s suggestion to lock the cat up isn’t realistic either. My listing says in multiple places that I have a cat, she has a cat so must know they meow, and I am not going to change my life around or punish my cat by locking her up just so some demanding guest can have a hotel-like experience. I have been up all night trying to listen for the cat meowing and putting her in my room on the two occasions when she did, so now I have sacrificed my sleep for this guest’s happiness.
@RiverRock Thanks, I know not all guests will like a cat. Half my reviews comment on how great the cat is, and my last one even states that the cat goes out of its way to make you feel welcome! I guess you win some, you lose some, but people need to start reading the listing more.
There is no need to be cranky with me @GardenFairy. Lots of people who have cats don’t let them have free reign of their home at night time to wander around. Nowhere did I say you should ‘lock your cat up’.
What I said was:-
It is not ‘punishing your cat’ to have them stay in one room at night. Many people do it.
My advice was actually echoed by @Chloe who hosts in her home with cats who says:_
Please don’t ask for advice and then jump down people’s throat when they offer advice you don’t like.
In my first year of hosting, I would guess that about 3-4 sets of guests arrived and said they didn’t realise we had cats, out of about 30 bookings. The icing on the cake was the four young scientists who knew about the cats before their arrival ,but expressed surprise that we lived here too.
The issue went away by putting the cats up as my second photo, with mentions of them throughout my two listings in our home, then a HR “Please do not book to stay with us if you are not a Cat Fancier”. Both slept in our room where we have a cat flap, or out in the garden, apart from the odd occasion when George was taken to bed by a guest…
The new kittens feature prominently in our listing in the same way, and I have continued to ask people directly, after they book, to confirm that they are happy to stay in our house with them. I do assure them that they are not allowed in guest bedrooms and are kept out of the guest dining room as far as possible, but do have the run of the rest of the house.
100% of recent guests, since the kittens arrived, have expressed excitement to meet them, even one with an allergy! She simply took antihistamines. They’ve now been on Instagram a few times and I believe there’s a YouTube vid out there somewhere.
The downside is that I’ve had to close for a few weeks as they have a tummy bug.
@KKC, since you asked, I had to do the math, and it’s about 2.5%, so not very high. It’s just memorable for me when it happens. So far, I have been able to keep the reservation every time. I sweetly explain that the cats are never allowed in the guest room and that we “do what we can” to minimize their impact on guests.
This is not entirely true, as some guests let them into their rooms even when asked to please keep them out. So far though, even those who claim to have severe allergies have not had a problem staying in our house.
Cats are funny though. They just HATE closed doors, LOL!
Provide earplugs ! That’s what I do when my guests complaint about noise (street noise, animal noise, whatever noise)
You closed the Airbnb due to cat illness?
Yes, we provide white noise machines too and individually wrapped ear plugs. Our house and neighborhood are particularly quite so they don’t really get used but I think “noise” is ‘in the ear of the beholder’ and perceived control (access to the white noise machine and ear plugs) is probably the most effective solution so provide them for just-in-case.
I’m afraid I agree with @Helsi here and I love cats and enjoy staying places with cats. It seems you recognize that the problem occurs in the early morning when the cat wants people to be up, but vacationers often aren’t up yet. So why can’t you just keep the cat away from that hall in the early morning?
It sounds to me like you were already irritated with this guest before the cat issue occurred. It also sounds like she is asking you nicely if there is something you can do to help. You’ve been given some good suggestions on how to do this - what I’m hearing in your continued protests is that it’s more important for you to be right/in control than it is for you to do something to help this guest.
Sounds a little passive-aggressive to me, tbh.
It is incumbent on us as hosts to anticipate our guests’ needs. One thing we as hosts know to be true is that people don’t read thoroughly.
They are excited, or stressed, or distracted, or overwhelmed when they make their reservations. We have all been there. They miss details. It is our job to help them see important details they might miss if it is our mission to provide excellent service.
If you want to ensure a 5-star experience, you do everything you can to provide that including warning away guests for whom you know for a fact you cannot provide a good experience.
Knowing that people don’t read, and that you provide an accommodation that can literally send a segment of the population to the hospital at worst and make them very sick at best, it is incumbent on you to create your listing to honestly represent the guest experience.
Knowing for a fact that an environmental hazard exists for a segment of thee population, this should be very prominent in both pictures and words like any other enviro hazard such as steep stairs, ungated pool, etc. should be prominently pictured.
I read a lot of comments in this forum that people should read better, people shold not think a certain way, people should not expect certain things and how can I make them be different?
You cannot make guests be different. Only you can be different. If you don’t want to be, then expect to keep getting the same outcomes.
I have a Bengal!! They are talkers and I warn my guests that when they come in the door, she will throw herself at their feet, demanding pets before they can go to their room. So far everyone has been delighted to pay tribute…
Bella was twice abandoned and abused before I got her. Now she’s relentlessly spoilt…
My Bengal would do the same thing, so I keep her in the master suite until the guests are up. That way she’s out of their way and not trying to open the door because, according to her rules, once she’s up everyone is up.
I’ve had two people (out of 100s but still) complain about the compressor on the refrigerator waking them up at night. One guy suggested I move it to another part of the room but I’d have to do some major work to do that. Eventually a change will come with that refrigerator but there’s always a chance of noise. The noisiest places I ever sleep are hotels. The most recent one had plumbing that made a noise in the wall all night and a door between rooms that noise passed through like it wasnt’ there.
And I’ve yet to have success at the “Do Not Disturb” sign from keeping the maids from screaming “HOUSEKEEEEEEPING” at all the doors without those tags on them before entering rooms up and down the halls.
I am not a light sleeper or fussy about noise usually but I have been in some super annoying hotel rooms too. There’s a place in Boston that has a guest room directly over the raucous bar - I was lucky enough to get that room 
Surely the area above the bar should be for storage or something. It just seemed so stupid.
I have a noise warning that must be acknowledged mentioning children at play, dogs barking, young professionals having weekend get togethers (ahem, I don’t specify that they’re keggers), and urban sounds such as sirens and garbage trucks.
One of my dogs like to bark at nothing some evenings (doggy dementia? imaginary squirrels?). Apparently he went on after I went to bed one night. While I couldn’t hear it, the guest messaged a complaint, and I gave a generous partial refund with a message about understanding how annoying it is to not get a good’s night sleep, especially while traveling, and thanking the guest for letting me know. Got a great review including “host addresses inquiries promptly.” Bought a noise machine and now I sequester the dog at night. So the guest actually helped me out.
The situation is not quite the same, this wasn’t a “demanding” guest like yours, and I think sometimes it is hard to sort out “reasonable” vs. “unreasonable” complaints if the guest has PITA tendencies.
Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there. 
Oh stahhhhp! A cat meowing in the morning wants one thing: a good cuddle. Better than tea in bed.
This is a shared home, and said cat has graciously accepted her as a guest. I would pay good money to see that review.
It is if your cat is an outdoor cat. Luckily my cat is quite quiet but there’s no way I could keep him enclosed, he would go nuts. And he won’t use a litter tray anymore. Plus the thought of having one in my bedroom… 