Discount for construction work (plastering)

Hi @Zandra,

After thinking about this a little more - a belated followup.

Did you ever follow up with any of the people who gave you 4 stars to see why they did? I’m now telling people at checkout that anything other than 5 stars is bad. Some of them seem surprised by this (perhaps they think it’s inappropriate, I don’t know), but mostly they don’t say much. And of the last 9 guests that have passed through here, only one has given me 4 stars, and they were an overnight stay, which were more trouble than they were worth, as overnight stays tend to be. And that guest left the following review:

Faheem helped us a lot during our one night we stayed at his place. The location is great and easy for getting around. Quick wifi which is a treat in India! Overall, a pleasant experience.

This was entirely public - there were no private comments. And I spent a couple of hours hanging around with these people from 10 am to noon, waiting for their taxi to arrive. It was very late. And I had to be there because they didn’t have an Indian phone, so they used mine to call for the taxi. And meeting with them the day before was also a hassle. Apparently that wasn’t worth five stars.

Anyway, I think that if the work doesn’t get done in 6 days, I can pause it and continue when I have another gap. For the room wall plastering, the scaffolding will have to remain during the pause, though. Still, trickier than one would like.

I don’t follow up with guests. I did once when I got all 5 stars but an overall of four stars. No reply - I haven’t bothered asking since.

I haven’t had a 4 star review since the building work stopped. It’s conjecture of course and I could never say for certain it was 100% the building work. It’s not like reviews are a science…

I would only accept guests who confirm they are okay with any noise happening at 10 a.m. (or earlierst start time) until whatever time it stops. And tell guests you are looking to book the “construction” dates with guests who will be out and about during those hours, so they won’t even know the difference.

I wouldn’t even go the route of offering a discount in the beginning. That way if something unexpected happens like contractor shows up at 9 a.m. and starts making noise without permission (just an example)…you now have room to offer a discount.

If it were a whole house rental with a family who might be staying home and playing games in the yard, cooking out, etc. (like my guests do) - then I can see offering a discount upfront. But if your guests are likely to be out during those hours then I would just let them know you are only renting to people who have no intentions of being there during the day.

I would pass on someone if they said they would be there during the day but the noise won’t bother them. Don’t believe it.

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HI @Zandra,

I don’t follow up with 4 star reviews either. I did when I got the first one, but never heard back. And people certainly have the opportunity to say what they think - I give them a suggestion form, and of course they can post stuff on Airbnb as well in the private comments section.

Indeed. But if it’s a coincidence, it’s a hell of one. And if it was the construction work, it’s odd nobody said anything. Maybe it was a subconscious thing, like they didn’t know why they were giving 4 stars, but felt unaccounably compelled to. Like people thought there was “something they didn’t like” about Hillary (that was apparently a thing). Just to be topical. :slight_smile:

How long ago was this construction work? Just curious.

I once had my usually-absent contractor show up unexpectedly at 8:00 a.m and start doing some god-awfully-loud drilling (in the guest area) while my guests were still asleep. They didn’t seem to have noticed it and gave me 5 stars and I decided I didn’t hear so much of their late-night noises.

Different strokes for different folks!!!

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As long as you are up front about safety issues and noise and make people understand they are essentially signing a “I don’t care where I stay or my safety or noise issues” you can list anything you want. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to stay there, but people get desperate and some people don’t care about noise since they always wear headphones or are slightly deaf. Also, you are listening to all that stuff as much as the guests are. Some people would understand, some wouldn’t.

It was this year. I spent the first year hosting as a superhost then from around April to July had the work going on in the complex. Wasn’t noisy but was very visible due scafolding etc. There was nothing to complain about except that the scaffolding was ugly.

In that time my overall rating dropped to 60 something percent. It’s now back up to 74 I think but it would really take forever to get it back to where it was. My location rating is 48% - Airbnb like to tell me that hosts in my area typically get 70% >.<

As already noted, it affected their perception of the place, especially as around the entrance to pool area was scaffolded.

If Airbnb wasn’t a side gig I’d have been more upset, it was a good learning experience. I know now I just wouldn’t host again in that situation. I do still get booked now I have a 4.5 star listing but I wouldn’t say I’m the first choice.

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Hi @cabinhost,

I’m hoping to get the work done during the existing “gaps”, though as of right now it’s hard to be certain when the work will be done. Though I’m still thinking of 22nd to 27th December for doing the room itself, at least.

And as everyone knows, contractors aren’t exactly reliable. It’s a bit tricky to know whether or not to make new bookings for dates during which there might be construction, but if I get inquiries, I suppose one option is to say something like you suggested, i.e.

looking to book the “construction” dates with guests who will be out and about during those hours,

Have you ever dealt with construction while hosting, and if so, how did you handle it? Actually, a good chunk (most?) of my guests are out most of the day, because they’re busy doing the tourist thing.

You should take Cabin’s advice as it is the best given here. Otherwise you will face backlash. If they can nit pick about something small, just imagine what they’d do with plastering and scaffolding.

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Never had to deal with loud hammering, etc. A neighbor a couple houses down from the rental had a cell tower put up. But I didn’t have any knowledge of when the work would take place. You could hear cranes outside, etc. some days. I didn’t say a word and never heard a comment from my guests. It wasn’t within in my control, and I don’t believe you could even hear the noise if you were inside with closed windows anyway. Plus, guests have outdoor speakers and can listen to music on the deck if they need to drown something out.

One Spring, rock work on the pond needed to be done. It was kind of hard to plan in between guest bookings and weather being warm enough. One guest asked for a discount (for no reason) and I said I would agree to the discount as long as he agreed my partner and his friend could do the rock work during the day. He agreed and we arranged it so it didn’t start before they were awake, and then everything was wrapped up within an hour of guests returning home.

Hi @cabinhost,

I have the impression that your rental is relatively isolated/separated, and in its own grounds. Which probably means that neighbor noise (including possible construction work) is less of an issue for you. Though, of course, that does leave construction work you are doing yourself.

Correct. It is secluded. There are neighbors but you can’t visually see them. You can hear voices depending how the wind is blowing. But no loud noise like the next door neighbor is mowing their lawn near your bedrooom window.

That’s one reason why I sometimes I have to deal with prickly guests…because it is secluded. Even though lawn work won’t take place until after 11 a.m. - some of them feel like you are in their “private” space, whereas they would never think anything of it if they were in a neighborhood with 15 feet between houses.

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