I agree with this whole post but especially with this part! New hosts often feel an unreasonable quilt for charging people, and tend to provide a lot of extra stuff in order to “redeem”. I would advise you on stop doing this, most guests do not appreciate it, at least if it is provided to them from the outset. I first make my own assessment of the guest’s behavior and based on this decide which guests will be grateful for extra service and which will actually slam you on that very extra thing in the review.
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Thanks everyone! Some really great feedback for me. I so appreciate it. I will continue on as I have and will not worry too much about it. You are right in that she saw all the fees and such and still booked it.
I am definitely lower than the two hotels in the area. There are a couple of motels that are $80-100 but they are not on the ocean and are definitely more motel-like with no food of any kind. I tend to check and see how I compare with other home rentals versus hotels, since there are more vacation rentals than hotels in my area.
I will definitely pay attention to the trend and see if any other guests dock the value. I only started offering more “goodies” during the off season to help with increasing the number of bookings. I also got the idea from another host we stayed with and how it made us feel to have good amenities. I like to surprise the guests as most of the time they are not expecting anything (even though I do say I provide breakfast).
I think I’m on the right path. I do enjoy treating my guests as being special as that is my personality and I probably won’t change that. In the high season, I may lessen the goodies just because it will be too crazy to provide all the time as I’m usually booked every night.
Thanks again everyone! Love the Airhosts Forum!!
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Maybe you’d consider changing your main photo with the 2nd one? First thing I thought was “damn, a storm is coming”. 2nd photos looks so much more inviting.
It’s hard for new hosts to understand but this is SO TRUE!
I stopped providing extras for guests a long time ago. Unless it’s New Year and then they get a bit of chocolate. I still allow people to leave luggage outside check-in/out hours but I’m much stricter about times now and people seem to appreciate it more.
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I really like the first picture for this time of year. Storm watching is one of the best things in the Pacific Northwest during fall/winter. Most people do not expect to see much sunshine and blue skies there right now, and if they do, they will most likely be disappointed.
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Got it. I guess that makes sense for the area.
I just got cracked on value because the guest couldn’t find anywhere else during New Years week and booked my place. Yes it was high but there is nowhere else. So discouraging.
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Your place looks great! We decided after the first year that we were not going to get hung up on the value rating. After all, we are very clear about what we offer (in text and photos) and it’s for the guest to decide at the time of booking whether what we offer is worth the rate. Now, if you are having trouble getting bookings during your high season, that’s another matter that you can address through pricing.
This is a tangent, but one thing that jumped out at me is your lengthy responses to two or more reviews. Unless there’s a negative and blatant falsehood in the guest’s review, I would not reply. As others have said in many other threads, replying just calls attention to these reviews. For instance, one guest had mentioned the lack of kitchen. Your photos show there is no kitchen so I don’t feel you need to elaborate in a reply. Those replies are for future guests and future guests can [hopefully] see/read there is no kitchen!
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I think you only need to pay attention to the fact if you are booked or not. Never mind them giving you low stars in value. I just gave you an example and I had plenty more. Once I didn’t realize it was memorial day weekend as I was away and someone booked room for 50$ when cheapest dirtiest roaches infested motel was 100$. And they still gave me 2* on value. And my house is upscale in one of the best residential areas. Yes i do offer “just a room” without pool or gym …but 50$??.
It does seem like you provide a lot of goodies. I stayed in 100s Airbnb a over the years and not once I was offered wine. Once in Italy there were half rotten fruits 
. Once in SF there was candy bar. None of them offers breakfast or even coffee. The nicest stay I had in Ireland where my host cooked dinner for me when I arrived but I couldn’t eat it as I am vegeterian and went to local restaurant. And then he offered me coffee, tea and toast and butter in a morning. But this is the most I was offered ever.
But if it makes you happy why not just don’t expect higher ratings because of that.
You are here to make money … not to please everyone which is impossible anyway.
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And it should be high! It’s the most expensive holiday of the year . No money? Stay home!
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This is my new motto!!
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Every month or so I look at the average, individual reviews never.
We offer some coffee and chocolate. For our guests. I would suggest the same for you. Just add a few dollars to your daily price to pay for it. The little things can go a long way.
Whatever - I get this as well. I am a super host with great reviews and a number of my guests have commented on value. There are many cheaper options, but my property has the best view in my city. I also prefer a lower occupancy rate at a higher nightly rate than more bookings at a low price.
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I just received my first 4 star for value, this guest rated 5 stars for everything else. He is the only guest I have had that didn’t take advantage of ANY amenity…didn’t use the pool, spa, firepit, coffee maker, didn’t eat or drink the numerous food/beverage items provided. In fact, he only slept in the room one out of three nights…I think he got lucky during the NYE celebrations, lol.
We had the same but from a booking. com guest. They gave 7.5 stars for value. They booked 1 week before their arrival and called me and asked plenty of questions. I also noticed afterwards that my pricing didn’t save so they actually underpaid by $120 for Christmas Day!!!
But no need to stress about it yet, the average is still good… for now (fingers crossed it stays good)
I guess for me I am thinking more long term. We stayed at an Airbnb in St. Louis and having the little extras made us feel very special and welcome. I want to create that for my guests so they continue to come back. Since this is my first year, I am not sure I will get repeat guests or not, but that is my hope. I want to build a clientele long term.
In the high season, I will probably not offer as many freebies since it will be too hard to restock all the time. But if I know it’s a special occasion, I will still do something for them. One guest gave me a big hug as soon as she saw her birthday balloon! 
Maybe some of you are right about giving a lot of goodies, maybe it doesn’t do anything for me, but if it makes a guest feel special, I will still continue. Again, I want them to have a good experience, not just a place to stay.
Oh, and I believe I have only offered responses to my first two guests, both of which had given me low overall ratings. Then the last one was for someone who was surprised it wasn’t as private as they thought. I do want to address those things so people know my side. I probably didn’t need to respond to the privacy thing because she still have me 5 stars overall, but just felt it was the right thing to do.
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We have been doing this since 2009/2010 and regardless of what extras we do for guests, people always complain about the price. However, they want to be in the city center, walking distance to monuments, blocks from the metro,etc. They just don’t want to pay for it.
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Some guests you don’t want to return😀.
I don’t think most Airbnb Hosts have a so called “clientele”.
My returned guest’s always wanted lower price that last year.
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I cant say I am any kind of expert on airbnb. My background is in advertising and marketing. When I started with airbnb my listing was priced at $200 per day and I was right in the mid-range for listings in my area. Bookings went well but I wanted to increase those bookings and I have. I looked at all of the listings that seemed to be booked out more than mine. One thing I noticed right away is the higher priced listings simply had more to offer. In addition to this those listings, all had 5 stars for value??? Hmm but they were the highest? Doesn’t make sense right? My listing is now one of the highest in the area and is now booked solid. I decided to add items to my listings that were not cheap( paddle boat, 2 kayaks, 4 bicycles, 2 paddle boards, giant Jenga, custom cornhole game, fishing rods and more). I think I have about $3K invested in those items. Just this month alone I will bring in an additional $1100 (20 days x additional $55 per day). Im not kidding my listings is one of the highest. So far every one that has come to my house loves it. I have gotten 5 stars for value from every renter. Maybe consider doing a few things that may make you a few bucks and give the impression of value.