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This is a serious question. I have been doing airbnb for 5 years. I shut down last March and reopened in September. The questions below never came up in the over 1000 guests I hosted previously. Are you folks finding it to be the same?
a) Twice guests could not get in with the door password because it says it’s the last 4 digits of the phone number on record. (and then provide I provide the 4 digit the code). They are using their new phone number not the one on record.
(I have now taken out reference to their phone number on record and just giving them the code)
b) i. Shower usages - One guest couldn’t figure out how a bathtub lever works. She thought the bathtub was stopped up . Up for stopping and down for drainage.
ii. Another guest complained about water pressure from the shower (of course they didn’t ask while staying) and didn’t notice that the shower head has adjustments.
(I now have instructions on how to use the shower and will add the shower head info).
No, but I get a different sort of guest than most hosts. Also I’m still only open a fraction of the time compared to pre-Covid.
This isn’t just a matter of the door code. I’d want a current number. So when they book maybe you should confirm that the number on record is their number and don’t give them a door code until you get it.
Other people have reported that guests seem worse. The consensus seems to be that there are many new to STR guests and we have to help train them.
Also I know that the pandemic has drained part of my reservoir of patience. People in general annoy me to no end. I’ve definitely not gotten my groove back in terms of dealing with Airbnb at the same time I do dog boarding and trying to have a life.
Maybe word it differently? Say “the last 4 digits of the phone number currently shown in your Airbnb profile” or something. Giving them the code directly works best for them, but its more difficult for you to automate.
Have your cleaning crew check it and set the adjustment on a normal setting, but if it happens again, replace the shower head with a more basic model.
I use the last 4 digits of the number on the Air platform and double check in my day before message. “Your door code will be xxxx, which shows as your profile phone number. Is this number correct?” Then we’re off and now I have to explain how to open, close, and lock a door from each side.
Me showing them how to use the keypad entry door: “The deadbolt does not engage/disengage automatically. Turn this lever/knob clockwise/counterclockwise like any lock after entering your code or coming in to the home. When you leave, input your code and turn the knob to lock the door behind you.”
Yesterday: Door was unlocked for many hours as I was out with clients and he was at a local bar. >ahem< I know this because I took my client to the same bar for Happy Hour after meetings.
Him: “Oh, I thought I only had to enter the code and it locked behind me.”
Me: smh “Yeah, it’s like a regular lock - you need to make sure it’s engaged when you come or go.”
This was a first.
This. I used to have a solid routine that ran like clockwork and more patience with the stupid people questions. I think the pandemic has everyone’s brains scrambled, guests and hosts.
I don’t think guests have gotten stupider, but they may be more distracted. On top of the the usual added mental load intrinsic to traveling and being in a strange place, one now has to parse the safety of being masked/unmasked and in various types of crowds in a locale, and requirements of being masked/unmasked.
Just got back from a trip involving multiple trains and show venues, and heard mutterings from fellow travelers, “Where’s my mask?” in addition to the usual “Where’s my phone/my ticket/my bag?”
As we are creatures wired to run by habit, I have also been completely bamboozled by an unfamiliar appliance or amenity. “How on earth does this coffee maker work?” So I always cut guests some slack. E.g., no worries, the bulbs on the sconces at the head of the bed aren’t burned out, they need to be switched on at the (labelled) wall outlet.
I have a back to front laminated sheet on how to work the ventless washer/dryer in my Airbnb, given its myriad and mysterious symbol-labelled shiny buttons.
I know you don’t want to reveal the scummy shower hotel here but any other comments about the Big Apple these days? I’ll be there the first weekend in Nov. Any recommendations or warnings?
If the M Social at Times Square insists on using matte black tiles in their shower enclosures, the soap and water spots that would normally be hard to see need to be wiped!
Hotels are hurting because, as one of my cabbies pointed out, the international tourist trade is still cut off by travel restrictions into the US, supposedly to be lifted in November. So you can get a deal on a room.
The atmosphere on Broadway is electric with the reopening of live shows. At one, my usher was jumping up and down and hollering 'Welcome back to Broadway!" And at all, the audience reaction was on the level of football fans rather than theatre-goers, standing and cheers mid-scene and sheer bedlam at the finale.
Maybe because NYC was so hard hit at the beginning of the pandemic, I noticed a high level of mask-wearing just walking down the street – by delivery persons and contractors, not just tourists.
In theatres in both NY and Philly, I had to ask nearby patrons to pull their masks over their noses. This was accomplished without resistance with the help of my best “stern Mom” look. The NY theatres were rigorous in looking at vaccine proof and ID, matching names. One of the guards even congratulated me on getting my Pfizer booster. Philly, not so much scrutiny.
Masks were allowed to be pulled down for active eating and drinking in NY, similar to planes and Amtrak. I know they need the revenue.
Logic says that something like this, where an assumption is made (and realistically, whatever unlocks a door should also lock it, like a key would) means that as a good host you may need to change your actions. Whenever you need to add a sign or a detailed message for something to work that is counterintuitive, consider changing it.
I can’t wait! I have a ticket for a new play, Clyde. Last time there I saw the one of the previews for Slave Play and it blew me away. I know lightning rarely strikes twice but that good experience had me specifically looking for a similar set up.
Sat night is the concert I’m expressly going to NY for but I have some time slots still open, matinees Sat/Sun and Friday night. I was sort of indifferent to seeing too many shows but your enthusiasm is contagious. It partly depends on the weather. I don’t like to be indoors on Sat/Sun afternoon if the weather is nice.
Why? Why assume I’m in the wrong with my hosting actions when people can’t figure out a door??
They arrive. I make them use the lock and code while explaining it to them with the door shut and then open. I start at the front door entering the house and say “Enter your XXXX code. See the green light? Now turn the deadbolt and press the lever here (pointing). Yes, that’s right. OK, now that we’re through the door and you close it behind you, see that lever? That locks the door and unlocks it. Now lock it behind you. OK? Need further instructions? Now, let’s leave the house. Close the door, enter your code, green light, turn knob to lock. Hear that click? It’s locked.”
I mean seriously, the only thing I don’t do for a guest is wipe their bums. It’s a door, not rocket science.
He’s the first to be this challenged in IDK how many years I’ve been doing this (4?).
I use my phone for text alerts all the time. I can’t imagine how I’d get through daily life without sharing my phone number and I’m puzzled by your comment.
I give out my phone number all the time - especially as a host - but when I meet someone IRL, it is always my contact info I give them… sorry for the murky post!
We don’t need to make a change every time we come across an incompetent guest. That’s how people get those crazy long house rule lists.
Our keypads lock the door after 30 seconds but I also tell guests how to lock them immediately (by turning the lock from inside or placing your palm on the glass from the outside) because numerous guests were uncomfortable with the door waiting 30 seconds to lock. We would see them down there waiting, just standing there impatiently for their door to lock, which is sad on a vacation so we tell them both things. And, so far, not a single guest has been confused about it. But if one does get confused, I will know that it is them and I will not change my instructions.
I haven’t noticed this, rarely get questions when people are here. I tell guests a day or two before that the code for the key is the last 4 of their phone number and I repeat the numbers. They use the key, no problem.
I have two stellar superhosts staying with me for 5 days.
There was an incident the other night at 1:30 a.m. with loud music and lots of yelling. My guests heard it, I didn’t because of house layout. These are the same people with constant loose dog issues and I’ve heard the yelling during the day. I’m so sick of them and am thinking of moving on.
I’ve talked to the assistant town manager, the police and texted their landlady. Only recourse, so I’m told, is to keep calling police for these incidences and maybe after a lot of calls they will contact the do nothing landlady to suggest, perhaps evicting them. Right, I’ll wait.
The guests were really understanding even though they were awake for a long time. I made a rhubarb pie and we had some on the porch, it was not a bribe.
Guests do not have to prove ‘competence’ in memorizing details and unique things if a simple fix on the host end makes it a non issue…
All I am saying is that rather than a new ‘house rule’ or a ‘detailed instruction set’ maybe just find a better way? Locks have improved a lot in the last 2-3 years… mine allow relocking to be set by me, so I make it lock in 5 seconds, for example.
My mantra - if you find you have to work hard at changing people’s actions, then it is on YOU to make what they do more intuitive. For example, a while back I told of my automatic door closer, and my hope that folks would ‘just let ic close by itself’ because the oil valves in closer tend to wear faster if folks push them to close. I put up a cute sign with wording that was recommended here, but people still instinctively push the door closed carefully behind them. I am resigned to someday replacing the door closer. However, I don’t have to tell people to ‘make sure the door is closed’ because it is automatic, so one less ‘instruction’ for a traveler who simply wants to go to sleep.
