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I too have had this problem. In my original listing I put 25 minutes walk to the beach and ten minutes walk to restaurants and shops.
Then I had a guest who said briskly “Nonsense. I’ve just walked to the beach and it took only 15 minutes.”
Then another guest said, “The beach is nearly an hour away by foot, not 25 minutes”.
And yet another who wrote in the review “You need a car if you’re staying here as nothing is nearby” contradicting a review that said, “everywhere is close by and walkable.”
I realised I was judging the time of my own walking pace.
So I changed it to fractions of a mile / kilometre. Km because although Americans don’t always realise it, most of the world uses the metric system rather than imperial.
BDC automatically lists nearby attractions using miles/kilometers - the way distances are measured.
Listing anything in minutes or hours is relative to the mean of transport and as @jaquo wrote, it can cause all kinds of reactions from guests, many of which I can do without. Some apparently consider it a challenge to beat the times given, others see it as a way to rate an accommodation down, claiming the description is not accurate.
If guests are walking, and aren’t used to walking, I don’t think distances are necessarily more helpful than walking times, as guests may have no concept of how long it will take them to walk 2 km.
No reason why hosts can’t mention both distance and average walking time.
Also it will take longer to walk the same distance if there are hills to trudge up than if it’s a flat walk.
What I say in my listing is that it is approximately a 20 minute walk to town and the beach, and is mostly flat. (Younger, athletic-type guests have told me it only takes them 15 minutes, others that it took them 25- also I have done the walk myself in 20 minutes, and I’m not a super brisk walker).
If people have mobility issues, and can’t figure out that it would take them longer, or that they shouldn’t book here, there’s not much I can do about that.
As an example of how some people can’t judge walking times from distances, I once had a guest ask in a message before check-in day how long a walk it would be to another town that takes 20-25 minutes to drive to. It would take at least half a day to walk there and back. She easily could have seen on a map the distance, but obviously either didn’t bother to look at a map, or had no idea how distance relates to walking time.
While a couple of my guests over the years have found the 20 minute walk arduous, the majority have said they really enjoy it, noticing new things along the way each time. I also get many guests who like to hike and explore and walk for a couple hours to check out other beaches, etc. in the area.
All i can now say is that I didn’t realise what a serious topic this has turned out to be and it’s also quite hilarious!!
Im driving my guests EVERYWHERE from now on!!
Just joking- its very interesting to read what you all are saying and generally concurring with each other.
As a European native, I have seen many size and length comparisons used by US media that range from bananas to washing machines. I was under the impression that a Dodge RAM truck was kind of basic US history education and that every US citizen would know it.
Forgive me for this stereotypical assumption. I was just trying to be funny. Won’t happen again.
No it’s fine and I was teasing you somewhat as this topic has its funny side from my point of view. Not knowing the idiosyncrasies of another society is interesting and as an Aussie I share many of your terminologies, if not vehicle names.
Being politically correct can be tiresome at times when the intention is positive.
In the UK often buses are used to indicate size. “A hole the size of three London buses” Or football pitches “As long as two football pitches”. Or Wales “An area the size of Wales.”
I vaguely can imagine the size of a double decker bus. Imagining the length of a football pitch is pretty tricky and I have absolutely no idea about the size of Wales.
