Alaska is a bucket list destination, so guests rarely return. I had a few repeaters from nearby communities who liked my location when they had business here, but only in the winter.
Got an IB from someone with one review, everything 4 stars from about 4 years ago.
His name is in Chinese and the only info was “looking forward to staying at your home”.
I wrote back asking for his name in English and to ask why he’s coming to my town.
I don’t feel very comfortable with this one.
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We take credit card payment when they’re here. Since these are people we know—and consider friends—we haven’t had any issue with cancellations. If anyone gets too casual about payment, I’m the one who forgets to collect it. Guests have had to remind me!
Did get some more information, his English name and that he’s been here before. Apparently has a child in an east coast boarding school from China.
New one on me. Here’s hoping it works out.
We have had two Chinese guests (separately) who each had a child at a nearby private academy. Both spoke very little English but were great guests. One of them has been here twice.
We used Google Translate to talk with each other. It was easy to use.
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About that one 4 star review- I would take it with a grain of salt, as you don’t know if it’s from an overly fussy host or one from a country where people, even hosts, tend not to leave 5 stars unless someone is exceptionally great. It’s not like he has 10 reviews and a 4 star average.
What does the written review say?
One thing I’ve read is that many Chinese are smokers, so if you have a non-smoking property, that might be a good thing to reiterate. Also they are used to bathrooms which are “wet rooms”- all concrete and tile with a drain in the floor. So many Chinese (and those from some other Asian countries) are not familiar with the concept of the shower curtain being inside the shower stall or tub, and tend to flood the bathroom.
But if he has been to your area before, he may be aware of those differences and what to do.
Review “… was friendly and communicated frequently”
Thanks for the heads up on smoking and the bathroom, no drain in my floor, definitely not a wet room.
I just assumed people adapted when traveling as in long ago travel in Mexico and a few other places with hole in the floor, squatting to use.
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I’ve never had any Chinese guests, but there was a long thread years ago on the Airbnb Community forum, and a new post on the topic comes up once in awhile, where a host was at their wit’s end because their Chinese guests were totally flooding the floor of the bathroom and not using the shower curtain. A host who lived in the US but was Chinese explained it- they have no idea that there is a wooden subfloor under the bathroom floor in other parts of the world, which will get ruined, and may leak through the floor to the room below, regardless of whether the floor is tiled or not.
It’s like another post I read where the host thought his guests were total disgusting pigs because they were filling the bathroom wastebasket with poop-covered toilet paper. It had to be explained to him that there are many countries in the world where toilet paper can’t be flushed, it will plug up the funky plumbing- it’s always put in the basket. The guests weren’t being gross- they thought they were doing the right thing and it’s what they were accustomed to.
While here in Mexico, more modern buildings and homes are now built to handle flushing tp, back in the day it was like that everywhere in Mexico, and still is in many older homes and businesses.
A great idea. I will get business cards printed to leave in our BnB. We have had a few people return and call to book. In Australia I’m not at all concerned about shooting people on arrival. We have strict gun laws so it’s not an issue. We do own guns as we are also primary producers.
I have my direct contact info in two places in my suite – on the placemats and on postcards.
Very few guests have contacted me for direct bookings based on those; I think most folks don’t even notice them.
My returning directs come from random personal interaction with guests coming or going in which we exchange information.
Do you have a reference link for this story?
Sounds like a lawsuit for airbnb.
It was posted on the Airbnb Community forum, in the Host Circle (which you have to sign in to read- that section is only visible to hosts) section by Kelly. If you look there, it’s probably on one of the first three pages.
@muddy
I just read the whole tale about the CS giving out address and phone number to the unbooked person that proceeded to break into their rental.
Air has made no apology and hasn’t said what they’re willing to reimburse for. The handling of this would probably make me quit Air. Absolutely no excuse for what they did.
We are getting both types. We live on an island so it’s a tourist destination like yours. But we are finding that a lot of parents are coming to visit their children and Gr-children who live here so we get both. We have established repeat bookings with the parents, who are in our age group, as they request it when they leave. They know they are coming back and we want great guests (who doesn’t?). So win-win.
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I’ve never proactively tried to get people to rebook but have been thinking about doing a ‘special offer’ drop on them recently.
If you don’t mind me asking…for ever 100 people you contact…what sort of bookings do you get?
Well, I don’t have nearly that volume of bookings- I host a private room in my home, my bookings are quite seasonal, with mid-May through mid-Oct. being dead (tourist town, really hot and humid in the summer) and my average booking length about 10 days, often 2 weeks. So I’m lucky to get 15 bookings a year. In 4 years of hosting, I’ve had about 50 guests. So I’m not the one to be able to answer a statistical question like that.
And I don’t contact guests to do special offers- as a home-share host, I just tell them they can contact me directly if they or their friends or family would like to book in the future.
I’ve never had a repeat booking, although all my guests have left 5*s and lovely written reviews. As an almost exclusively tourist destination, people tend to check it off their bucket list and choose a new destination for their next vacation.
I also think many tourists like to try out different listings even if they tend to vacation in the same area every year.One guest I had, had booked 4 different places in my little town for her 2 week vacation. She figured if she didn’t like one, she wouldn’t be stuck there the whole time. (She told me afterwards that if she ever came back, she would book with me for the whole time- the other ones weren’t so great that she’d book them again)
It’s more the guests who travel on business, to visit family or friends, or book long stays, that like to stick with a listing they liked and can rely on to be fine, and rebook, rather than take a chance on an unknown. They don’t have to waste time checking the amenities list, the house rules, the house manual, the check-out instructions, exchange info with the host, or have to figure out how to work the TV or anything else- it’s a known entity and they can get on with their plans.
I have never taken a deposit in my, over 30 years of doing B&B.
Had a couple of ‘no shows’ but I reckoned that I would not have wanted them in my home anyway!
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SO, with OwnerRez you could have a site for direct bookings and set your own cancellation penalties, I am reading from above. That way, the bookings don’t become too casual.
Just an idea.
this applies to most Asian guests (who are from Asia, not locals). We hosted a large group from Vietnam and the (asian australian local) daughter sent me a private message with the review suggesting I set up a “smoking area” as her dear old dad didn’t like going up to the top of the road (outside our farm gate) to smoke, as per my rules. This was in the height of summer and full fire ban everywhere, smh. I have lived in Asia, they smoke absolutely everywhere.
I also had another cute chinese couple (they were both chefs, living down in the city) who came away for a romantic weekend and they were wandering around the grounds and approached me while I was in the garden weeding. They gestured towards the main house where we live and said “can we go in” and I said “um, it’s my house, you want to look around inside my house?”. they giggled (they were super cute) and said “oh! so sorry”. I think they thought it was like an English country estate where the houses are open for viewing? my house isn’t as grand as that, but that’s the only thing I can think they meant.
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