What is your strategy for avoiding liability? Do they sign a waiver or did you get insurance?
Your potential future guests don’t know when individual past guests have given you a low rating. The potential guests see only your overall rating in each category. I cannot relate to the importance of voicing your side publicly as it only makes the negative or neutral reviews stand out. More than one of these responses and you can appear defensive or overly sensitive.
Regarding repeat guests, we have had a couple inquire about staying again but we’ve been booked. Or the ones who paid our low off season rate would never pay our high season rate. If you have one unit, chances are good you will never or will only rarely have repeat guests. I assume you are interested in running your bnb in a business-like fashion in addition to making guests feel special, so I’d recommend taking a look at the return on investment for your amenities and time spent.
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That’s different. You offer not “goodies” which are Booz and munchies. You offer substantial amenities which cost a lot of money to rent.
Many hosts rent out just a room . It’s a place to sleep, get up and go. Rooms are priced much cheaper than hotel and based on that guest’s book it. I am close to airport, I am booked mostly based on that fact. My rooms are priced low, otherwise I wouldn’t be booked. I tried, but it doesn’t matter tht I have 150 5* reviews and superhost and my my house is beautifull and super clean. All of this doesn’t matter if the price is high.
I simply can’t afford to provide what OP provides.
You are comparing apple to oranges. Your listing and just a room in someone’s house
Also, don’t guest’s damage your expensive equipment?
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I would say the same strategy you have. No more liability than any other person has who has to deal with stairs or snow. Probably less to worry about. I would hope everyone that rents a insurance for renters.
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Why would you think you know my strategy? Do I know you? I don’t have stairs and rarely snow. I have a room attached to my home, not an entire home in a vacation destination. So we aren’t comparable. I have few assets they can take under the laws of my state and no dependents whose lives will be ruined if I take a substantial financial hit in a lawsuit. My house is paid for so if my homeowners gets cancelled I’m not in trouble with my mortgage company. I’ve made a considered decision to go without additional “renter’s insurance” (as you call it) at this time.
You do have far more liability than I. I don’t care, it doesn’t affect me at all. I’m not saying you shouldn’t offer those items. I was just wondering what you decided to do after careful consideration of the risks.
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You are obviously an internet troller looking for an argument. Go get a life.
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Name calling is not allowed on this forum. You are insulting a mod and long time forum member. Members who name call can be removed without warning.
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I was trying to help this person as to why they are getting low stars. My objective was to help. This other person was obviously trying to start a fight. With no purpose or end result.
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My purpose is to help as well. Advising people to supply items that increase liability without acknowledging the issues associated with supplying them is bad advice. Some people have guests sign contracts with waivers. Some people have umbrella liability policies. This is a well known issue with vacation rentals that have pools, hot tubs, bicycles, kayaks, etc. Why you’ve decided this pisses you off is a complete mystery to me.
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You are incorrect. This is a long time moderator. She was NOT trying to start a fight.
Please familiarize yourself with our forum guidelines and post appropriately.
don’t worry - Ive been doing Airbnb as long as you guys - some of these rate reduction tools are pain in the backside - like you back when I first started it was simple you set a rate and people paid -and were happy to have a safe clean nice place to stay that was the same rate as a hostel or a quarter of the price of a hotel room - now its a free for all - hang in there - keep your prices as they are - people who book at cheaper places are just cheap - don’t have them or want to need them
There is nothing wrong in staying in low priced accommodations , there is a buyer for all kinds . What’s wrong is to demand not what you paid for and then give lower ratings because of it.
Cheap people are not those who can’t or don’t want to spend a lot . Everyone has their priorities in life. Cheap are those who chew you down for price or want to pay little but have demands for higher end accommodation .
I ve been in jewelry business many years and we never called people who have not much wealth or who didn’t want to spend a lot on jewelry “cheap”. But those who would come in and start their endless negotiation and then still not happy with final
Product.
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I just looked at your listing. That is a bargain. I too worry about the fees pricing out the people I enjoy the most. Our city hotel tax is $14.00 and Airbnb fees are outrageous. I do not charge a cleaning fee, but I clean myself. I deduct all the supplies from my taxes. I do not like staying at places that charge cleaning fees. To me that is s cost of doing business. I do not raise and lower prices and I pay no attention to what Airbnb tells me. I charge what is fair for me and fair for them. Airbnb does not have a clue about my town. I might come up and stay with you soon. I’m not kidding!! Regards, Crystal CASEY, Palo Alto
I would love to have you Crystal! 
And I agree with you. I’ve only tried the smart pricing during this low season but would not go as low as they said. I do charge a cleaning fee just to compensate my time as it pulls me away from our main business of owning our own company. But I did lower that for the off season. In the summer, I was booked all the time and had a $50 cleaning fee! But, I think I will keep it at $30 all the time now.
Again, I loved everyone’s insight and input. It has helped me think through some things and hopefully improve as time goes on.
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I agree with you about the cleaning fees but not on this. I try to look at what hotels do for most things. After all, they are the experts in this field, have decades of experience and have done the research, etc… IMHO, if you have busier times you should charge more. It’s basic supply and demand. Where we are, there are certain times I can charge 3x or 4x as much as a slow period and be guaranteed to sell out. Why would I not raise my rates? I see some others in my area who do not raise their rates either. You are just losing out and leaving money on the table if you don’t. Hotels adjust their rates all the time depending on the demand.
I am same, I play around with prices on daily basis . I am booked on some days for 55$ a day but on some 90-100$. If I didn’t follow hotels I would rent out Saturday night for 3 times cheaper than cheapest hotels and this is way too low.
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I second @cabinhost 's answer. Although I have a kitchenette, your listing reminds me a lot of mine, as do your reviews. Both of us do all these little extras, leaving out goodies and decorations for people’s birthdays and things like that. I have found sometimes that with certain guests it doesn’t matter what I do or how much I offer, including Spa robes, Spa towels, the hot tub, a sunroom, a firepit, wood, charcoal, etc - almost every kind of amenity you could imagine, more than some 5-star hotels have, and yet certain guests will find one or two things to nitpick about, and then give four stars on value. It’s hard not to take it personally when you put so much heart and soul into the space you’re offering, believe me I understand this. But as long as you are getting booked regularly, I would not go any lower than you have gone, unless you need to in the offseason. Your place is beautiful and the view is lovely and you are offering some kitchenette type appliances so people can eat in if they want within a limited manner. I found out something recently: I started to raise my prices because I expanded the space, and then I raised them some more, and I am booked more than I used to be, even though it is the off-season. So I really do ignore airbnb’s recommendations as to my pricing, and I go on what seems to work in the particular Market that I am in, and what the weather is like and what time of the year it is, as I am in a Beach vacation rental market. So keep your chin up and onward and upward - You’re doing a great job!
Yes, this is sad but true Healing. I found this early on… as I think all new hosts experiment with wanting to provide cool things guests will appreciate and notate in reviews. I used to leave chocolate covered Mac nuts boxes ($3-4 each) for every guest… I never once got thanked or acknowledged. I would also leave expensive Kona coffee (that didn’t last] and beautiful island grown papayas… again. No acknowledgment… but there was always a crack or nit pick about something else they didn’t like or the location. I began to realize that even I left a treasure chest of gold bars I would still get crap reviews about how the location was too far away from wherever…
I also recalled the times I have stayed in Maui at the Grand Wailea, or the Mauna Lani…other five star places that didn’t even leave so much as a fruit basket. I recently stayed at the Waimea Plantation Cottages in Kauai. Look up their prices. All we got was a tray of welcome notes and brochures and two mini packs of Kauai cookies 
. That’s when I asked myself why on earth I was giving guests more than I got at a five star resorts??? When my room, for most of the year, is priced under 99 per night.
Also, each thing you give away takes a wee bit off your bottom line and adds to your workload to stock. It’s enough that I have to refill propane for their BBQ and gas cooktop…
And time is money peeps.
A note about leaving alcohol… it’s in the terms of the host liability protection (not host guarantee) that claims will be denied if you provided guests with alcohol and they got intoxicated and fell or something.
Everyone is different but my mantra is, Just give a clean, nice space and do your best at helping them with sightseeing tips in the area. Be firm with boundaries. Don’t even give them a chance to walk all over you. Be Friendly but businesslike.
I also must add that I stress about Air guests the most because I have been backhanded by seemingly nice people more times than I can count. I have less to lose on other platforms.
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Thanks @healingwithhorses! I really like everything you said. And @konacoconutz I actually do have people acknowledge my special touches in their reviews so I don’t think it is going unnoticed.
I also wanted to comment on what several said about having return guests. As I thought about it more, it may not be that we get return guests, but we do hope they tell their friends and family! And even if they don’t, I want to offer the hospitality that I would like to receive. Yes, it is nice if it is noticed, but if not, that’s OK too. I just don’t want to be docked on value in the process. But that may go with the territory, whether I offered goodies or not.
And to be honest, besides my first guest, people have really been awesome. I haven’t had to deal with any difficult guests at all. Now I have only been doing this for 7 months, so the odds are against me that someone will be difficult. But really, it has been a great experience and I have really liked my guests! I’m just praying that it continues in this vein!!
I believe we’ve established that this is no longer the case.
And to add my .02…I don’t see that it matters. How can we repeatedly say the host protection is worthless and then advise against doing anything that nullifies it? I think for certain listings the pros outweigh the cons. My rental in Costa Rica provide a bottle of wine and a 6 pack of beer and it was much appreciated until we could get to the store.