I did. It all worked out in the end but the start was unexpected.
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I really liked the suggestion of using “glamping” in your write-up…I once rented a yurt and had to go into the main house to use the bathroom. It was odd, but okay, I knew it and wanted to stay in the yurt more than I was uncomfortable with the bathroom situation.
Having said that, now that I’m older, I do want a bathroom close by. I think you could do that easily: to the right of the screen door at the entrance is a blank wall. You could cut a doorway and build a small room that juts forward. Put a compost toilet in there – no plumbing needed. And I’d go old school and have a dresser with a bowl on it and a pitcher of water nearby for washing. I think it could be very charming and go along with the locale…you have a charming place!
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In the actual first description if they read shared kitchen and bathroom 10 m from the door whatever it is… The surprising thing is you do give a tour of the facilities at which time they would be very clear about where the bathroom in the kitchen are and if that time before turning over the keys it would be kind to be prepared to give a refund if your guests aren’t happy with what they purchased once they take those keys they have a greed to the setup… You can also have a letter sent two days before arrival as an automatic message were you explain this is just a reminder to let you know both your kitchen and bathroom are ex number of meters from your room and in our house where you come and go… Being up front reminding them before arrival and gaining agreement again during the check-in that this is what they want is the fair way to do that not always fair to us of course but definitely fair to the guest which is all that really matters.
Best to include this in the initial booking response so the host isn’t faced with a cancellation just two days before arrival
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I’d offer that your perception of her being “uncomfortable” perhaps had nothing to do with your place. Maybe she wasn’t feeling well or had other issues going on, worried about her daughter, etc - you did say she stayed behind for “personal reasons”.
I have a personal history of anxiety and often catastrophize or make a worst-case scenario in my head using the bare minimum information in front of me. Its nearly always incomplete, there are factors I’m not aware of, and I make assumptions towards the negative and assume things will go horribly.
I’m not suggesting you have an anxiety disorder, just that it’s common for people tend to think/anticipate the worst based on incomplete or inaccurate information. I’ve had to work pretty hard on discerning what I can control and letting the rest go. In this situation, that would entail acting kindly (normally) to the guest and seeing to their comfort but not freaking out about what they’re going to leave in the review until/if they leave one.
TL;DR: don’t stress about it until you see an actual negative review, then give yourself time to deal with it rationally rather than spending emotional bandwidth stewing about what might happen. (I see you did in fact get a rave review, glad to hear this was NOT a worst-case scenario).
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Or as my old Gran used to say, “No sense worrying until there’s something to worry about.”
Many times others’ demeanor doesn’t have a thing to do with you, although it’s human nature to assume it’s caused by or directed at you, as ns states.