Complaints/suggestions for improvement for our rentals

What kind of evidence? A field mouse is a lovely little creature.
It shouldn’t impact on the home because it’s …duh… a FIELD mouse. I give you the Scottish bard…

Bloody hell, reading that well-known poem again - nothing’s changed. We still savage the land with no regard and we still don’t learn from our mistakes.

Let the mousie live!!

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He is not on the guest list and cannot remain in the home. I reckon what happened is the neighbor torched his burn pile that had been building for a couple of years, burning it out of its mousie village. It ran across the field, up the oak tree, down the chimney and into the corner of my living room behind the entertainment center. Tree trimming is next.

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Oh crap! I don’t have oven mitts! :woman_facepalming:t2:

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I purchased bedside alarm clocks that have two grounded outlets and three USB charging ports in the top and put those on the nightstand. $40 each.

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@KKC. It does. I have that same setting and use it often for refreshing and getting wrinkles out.

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I have those in every room now. This is an older house and there are not as many outlets.

We leave about a dozen bath towels (occupancy max 6) and I provide Turbie Twists to avoid use of a 2nd bath towel to wrap hair.

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That’s a great idea. I’m one of, apparently, the few hosts that meets their guests in person. I own a tri-plex, I live in the unit next door & have a tenant that’s rented for almost 10 years in the other unit. I often get reviews saying how nice it was to be met by the owner, given a tour, explain Wi-Fi password (sometimes I ask guests that are really concerned about the Wi-Fi connection to sign in while I’m there so we can be sure they can connect & are reassured.) I also supply a great number of brochures from our local Chamber of Commerce & ask if they’d like restaurant suggestions. I even have maps for Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, Teton National Park & other nearby areas mounted on my living room walls & will often go over suggestions of routes if the guest is interested. Sometimes I can tell guests just want me to hand them the key & leave, which I do after making sure they know how to reach me in case they have questions. I would never feel comfortable doing guest self check-in. I have once or twice in emergencies but I like to know who is staying in my property.

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I bought large plastic tubs with covers to store linens in between guests (sometimes that can be several months, it’s been slow here) and use Trader Joe’s organic lavender dryer sachets in the bins. They don’t have an overpowering smell (I am allergic to many fragrances, so most of my products are odorless) but they keep everything smelling fresh. A quick tumble dry with a damp washcloth also perks the sheets up, smell-wise.

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I also use tubs, and a bar of glycerine soap to keep them fresh.

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I’ve been on the fence about changing out all of the towel bars in one bathroom so I can add a matching combination shelf/towel bar to free up space on the vanity counter top. It’s not terrible, but I know how space can be with groups of 6 or 8 guests. This gives me the justification I need. I’ll add some extra robe/towel hooks while I’m at it.

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Objection m’lud! I think that most hosts do, don’t they? Hosts here at the forum, anyway.

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Time for another survey!
Happy Fourth, US hosts.

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I take exception to being called m’lud, I would think my name, Amy would indicate I should be addresses as m’lady.
I didn’t mean to offend you if you are one that also greets your guests in person. Of course, if you are sharing your home with guests (as I did when I first started) I think it probably goes without saying that those hosts greet their guests in person 99% of the time. But from the posts I’ve read on this forum many hosts who have a listing they don’t live in have self check-in. Granted I haven’t seen any scientific data & there are a great many hosts that aren’t on this forum, so I don’t think either of us can be absolutely sure about this. As often happens these days when you Post on a public forum you’re sure to offend at least one person. I was just reading on another topic how a host had blocked off a day but was contacted directly by AIRBNB late in the evening because they had guests who showed up to their reservations 2 hours after check in began & did self check-in & the place was filthy, dirty wet towels, dirty unmade beds, etc. AIRBNB sent them to a 2nd self check-in & it was as bad or worse than the first. That’s when AIRBNB called a Superhost they knew they could rely on & hopefully make these 1st time AIRBNB clients happy & keep them from permanently leaving AIRBNB. They agreed, unblocked their calendar & redeemed AIRBNB by going the extra mile. I think that when we greet guests in person it gives us a chance to make sure everything is in good shape & if we don’t clean the place ourselves it gives those hosts an opportunity to make sure their cleaning service is doing a good job.

This is a joke, right?

Yes. That was me :slight_smile:

That’s what I thought, so with that experience I would have thought you would be aware of how many self check-ins there are & know how horribly wrong they can go… I’m not saying a preponderance of them do, just that it is far more likely. As a moderator perhaps you can do as dpfromva suggested & do a survey.

Not an option for me, but I try to make up for it in the house manual to let them know the important stuff in the house, and rules, where I use a lot of humor and emphasize that they are for safety and respect of the neighbors’ property, which is what I would do if I could be there.

I also ask them when booking, where you can write custom questions they are supposed to answer in the booking message, to let me know if they are first time visitors and if they need local guide info. So far, everyone who has stayed are long-time repeat visitors but if they don’t answer the question I make a point to ask in the message back, and offer recommendations and more specific instructions/directions if needed.

I also try to customize the message for their stay, e.g. the current guests, I told hem where I would go up on the hill to watch fireworks displays on the horizon all around in different towns, and where a parade and another holiday event are taking place during their stay.

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But you have family that lives nearby your listing so I’m sure they’re available if your guests need help in case of an emergency… hot water tank put, leaks, etc., instead of a management company that maybe only has an answering machine for calls after business hours.

Yes, my family is my staff and we even have a backup family member trained in, with checklists at the ready for each room/space in case of illness or absence, and a handyman on call. He will charge us a premium service fee for responding in the middle of the night and he is owed that, but he will respond if needed. So far not needed in an emergency but we have him on all the routine maintenance and little repairs so he knows the house and its systems well. Big peace of mind having him on board.

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