Guest Expectations

I had 4 older sisters, so had no clue on the domestic front, they pampered me. Then hit a ‘wall of reality’ (US military @1968).

@chicagohost has it well covered!

I recommend being selective in your review based on the feedback here. List “petty” greviances (like the host hadn’t contacted you a week before) and you come off as nit-picky and future guests will just think you are unreasonable and don’t have a legitimate complaint.

I also eagerly await the price and city. I stayed on a room in an apartment in trendy Williamsburg that I had some complaints about: crumbs on the counter, dust on the tchotchkes, hosts didn’t reply to PMs prior to arrival, no sweeping between guests, inaccurate description of bed options. However, I decided not to leave a review because I was only paying $60 a night for NYC and my friend I was traveling with was a very high maintenance guest. I knew we were annoying guests and that we were getting a bargain.

I hope this isn’t another case of a new poster not returning to follow up and clarify.

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I always supply way more than my guests could ever use during their stay. TP and paper towel are cheap. It is such a drag, as a guest, to run out of toilet paper! I know, because it happened to us. At $1.00/roll at most, totally worth it as a “convenience” for guests. I actually think of it as a necessity that guests should take for granted.

Paper towel – when I started hosting, I put out two kitchen towels with more in a cabinet. Lots of paper towel used. Now, I put out six kitchen towels and much less use of paper towels!

Once, I had guests from another state whose son was living in an apartment in Boulder. ALL of my paper products were gone (and some cleaning supplies). I mentioned this in my review :slight_smile: but it has only happened once in almost two years.

Totally worth it to have three rotations of linens (towels and sheets) for this very reason.

But I think this is very American – rolls of paper towels and paper products at Walmart prices and in Costco quantities that are brought home in a SUV. I just don’t think everyone else consumes and lives this way.

I have extra sets but with 2 beds in the apt, if I have short back to back bookings, it’s still tight. There’s also only so much I can store (I don’t have 4 huge linen closets like my mom in the burbs). As it is, I’m often dismayed by the heaps of towels, sheets, duvet covers that are building up in my place. I’m not buying anymore!

True, I often have huge black construction garbage bags full of laundry in my kitchen (where my washer and dryer are). Since I am off-site, when everything is washed, I put the bags back in my SUV. My “real” house is quite petite.

Apologies for the delay in response, I went to bed after posting. Im based in the UK, from the states originally. The city was Amsterdam and cost was roughly €155 a night or over €1000 for the week, the location wasnt overly central but had close access to public transport and some tourist destinations we within a 10 min walk.

Thank you all for your feedback, I truly appreciate it. As this is my first experience with airbnb, I want to leave fair and honest feedback, not a biased response that says ‘Im really awkward and expected everything to be gold plated’ as this wasnt my expectation at all. I suppose Im just not sure if my own expectations were too high (ie having to make our beds, no toilet paper or hand soap, and not making an attempt to fix the faucet) or if this is normal for hosts? Thats why its nice to have a hosts perspective.

Thank you again for all your interaction/responses.

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cemme,

Good morning! Your recent post really helps. At that price point [which is in the middle of the Amsterdam pricing structures] you should have had sheets, at least some soap, and the plumbing should have worked properly. The waiting to be let in is unfortunate, and now that we know that you had a phone that worked in Europe, it seems too bad that your host didn’t suggest that you call them when you were at XXX point, so that they could have met you more precisely.

15 years ago, we spent 6 weeks in France at three locations. I was surprised that I was expected to provide my own sheets and towels at two of the locations! At one place, they took meter readings of the electric panel and you paid for the amount of electricity you used. Our final destination took “pity” on us, and lent us some sheets and towels since we were coming from the States and couldn’t drive from home.

This past year a similar trip through France, Spain and Istanbul was totally different. Supplies were hit or miss, but there were sheets, towels and the rooms were clean, beds made.

Now that you are focusing on the things that were truly wrong, I think you are ready to write your review!

This is not how I would run a rental unit, but popular destination cities are being flooded with marginally managed apartments for rent, and reading listings carefully, analyzing them against our expectations is getting to be more and more important.

Oh… and include the stair count. That should be in the listing as well!

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Amsterdam? And at that price? Very, very sloppy host.

@anon67190644 - forgive me if I’m repeating what other hosts have said, this has gotten a lot of attention!

I’ll give you my thoughts, for what they are worth, on each question you asked:

  1. Air hosts aren’t full time hospitality employees, so they aren’t necessarily available at the time you check in. However, a host should always ensure a space is ready and accessible to guests by their listed check-in time. If that means paying some kid to bicycle over and give you the keys, so be it.

  2. There should have been more than one roll of toilet paper for the length of your stay, if “essentials” are listed under Amenities in the listing.

  3. Your beds should have been sleep-ready at the time of check-in.

  4. Unless we live in our listed spaces, hosts don’t always know if something isn’t working, like a faucet, unless a guest or cleaning staff tell us. However, you emailed the host about it (thank you!) and it should have been tended to as soon as possible.

  5. That is a ridiculous number of stairs. It should absolutely be in the listing as not everyone is engaged in Rocky-esque training programs. And what if you’d had an injury or other mobility issues? Shame on that host.

  6. Whether you paid a cleaning fee or not, you are not responsible for linens in any way other than to try to avoid damaging them. Some might disagree with this, but that’s how we operate.

  7. Not all hosts chose to provide manuals, electronically or otherwise. However, most of us have nuances to our spaces that it is only fair to let the guest know, in order to maximize their enjoyment of their time with us.

  8. I have an earlier post about Airbnb needing to be very direct with new guests so that they do not have the expectations they would have of a hotel. This is a great example of why. However, none of the expectations you had of your host, that you listed, seem unreasonable to me.

It sounds like time for the host to receive a poor review, in my opinion. Air’s guest feedback process will give you the opportunity to decide which of your concerns/complaints are either public, seen only by the host, or seen only by Airbnb.

I hope that helps, and I hope your next experience is far better than this one. :slight_smile:

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Maybe the host should add a qualifier to their listing: 'Apartment Strictly for Athletic Types"

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Before leaving your review, I would first find out what the “norm” is in Amsterdam.

In the states there are certain regions where bed linens are not provided, and guests are expected to bring their own. In those same regions, some hosts provide complimentary linens but they are only placed on the beds for guests to make up themselves. In essence, it is considered a bonus to have the linens already waiting.

As far as wifi password and other instructions…just be positive that none of this info was anywhere on their online house manual, nor in the house. I send my house information right after booking, and guests don’t read, and still ask questions. I also keep hard copies at the house. Some hosts have received negative reviews from guests saying they didn’t know the wifi password, etc. yet it was there in big letters on a piece of paper on their bedroom nightstand, and it was provided in the house manual. So just be sure that host didn’t provide you any info at all. And if he didn’t - that is NOT normal.

As far as toilet paper and no hand soap - this can be very normal, as many apartments are self - catering. I provide tons of toilet paper and extras, but many in my area only provide a starter roll of toilet paper and dish towels, etc. You are on your own to purchase the rest.

I think the host should have notified you 30 minutes before you arrival if he was running late with his errands.

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Yet another fabulous reply @cabinhost. I didn’t think of that when I posted my own reply to this thread.

Although I am Canadian, I am not in Canada, and I just realized every standard I’ve set has been determined by my own culture, etc., and not that of the country I’m in, where standards are far lower. No wonder some of our best reviews have come from guests within their own country!!!

I love this Forum.

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I’ve been hosting for 18 months and, wow, I think the way they treated you is way below par!! Making you wait? Unacceptable! Beds not made? Unacceptable! One of the biggest debates on this forum was whether to iron the sheets or not! Also, we are all about lint rolling sheets, etc. For sure, 72 stairs should be on the listing. No handsoap or sufficient tp? Crazy. Sorry you had a bad experience. Most Airbnb hosts are really into hosting and taking care of their guests.

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Grrr … these are the kind of hosts that make people say “Oh, I wouldn’t use Airbnb, I hear their standards aren’t good”. Thre’s no question about it, although some of the things you mention may not have been in themselves too bad, taken all together this was extremely poor service and this type of thing unfortunately does reflect on the rest of us.

I was thinking at first …“Oh well, none of us are perfect and I might possibly run late if traffic was bad at guests’ check-in time, and yes, the laundry might arrive late” but then I realised that it was the way these annoyances were handled that were unacceptable. If I, or most of the hosts on here had by any chance slipped up in this way, I know we would have been apologising profusely and making sure the rest of your stay was annoyance-free. And the responce to the wonky tap should NOT have been “Do you want me to fix it?” but “I (or my maintenance person) will be round to fix it in 30 minutes”!
72 stairs?!! I’ve been agonising whether to mention the 20 stairs from the garden to our loft! Oh, and I also most definitely don’t accept the “Oh well, it’s Europe” excuse - bad service is bad service wherever it is.

No you’re not being picky, though you’ve clearly taken on the British vice of not wanting to criticise this host - we really don’t like complaining! Just channel your inner Yank and tell them what’s what! If you read some threads here you’ll find that the Airbnb review system is seen as very flawed, hence what seem like inexplicable 5-star reviews for your accomodation. You may even in the long run be doing the host a favour by getting him/her to pull their socks up … there are many lovely Airbnb listings in Amsterdam (I’ve stayed in two) and poor service will eventually catch up with this host. If you are honest about your experience other gusts may follow suit and they may find they are not getting quite so many five-star reviews …

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Hola @Malagachica
If anything happens out of the norm, you bet one should fix/address it immediately, if anything it should be a matter of pride.

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As soon as i read “water collecting in a shower” i thought , it was probably Amsterdam. We had the same story, and when asked if its normal, were reassured not to worry about it and its normal.

For Amsterdam, 155E is not much. Amsterdam is very expensive; especially or 2 bedroom appartment.
Its expensive for us but not for Amsterdam. Based on that i would not expect anything luxury at all.

WIth that said, you should not be waiting for a host. There should be clear instructions, or they needed to wait for you. This is universal.
Toilet paper for one week should be supplied enough. I do not leave anymore 12 rolls pack for 2 people for a week, because as my experience shows me they will use it all, but 2 per person per week is reasonable.

I also always leave toiletries. I get kind of pissed at hosts who dont have soap, shampoo in a shower. What do they expect me to do, look for a store right away in unfimiliar country?? Unfortunately even 4* hotels do that too. Once i got so mad at one hotel where i paid quite a bit of money, as i was traveling for awhile and wanted something a bit more luxurious only to discover no toiletries but some cheap liquid soap in a container in a shower. When i arrived i desperately hoped to wash my hair. So i called front desk and i sounded so angry that a guy went to the store and bought me shampoo and conditioner, hehe.

Broken things should be fixed, but its someone’s home, may be thats how they live, so they just dont give it another thought.

72 stairs should be brought to attention. Write review about it. But 72 stairs for Amsterdam is such a norm, that i am not sure that not mentioning exactly how many was malicious. I think the host did not mention exactly how many because he did not think it would be an issue with amount , he just mentioned the fact that you will need to walk up without elevator.

I have an advice to never think of Airbnb as hotel. Our homes whether we rent them separately or just a private room should never be looked at as hotels. We are not professional hoteliers, and some simply dont have means to run a professional hotel out of their homes. Because remember the price, usually its much cheaper than hotel.

Thats why when i am in a third world country or countries where ii know i can get much more for my $ than here in US, i always stay in hotels. I have my budget, and if i am within this budget, i stay in highest possible rated hotel in a city. But some countries are so expensive that for me the only option to go there is AIrbnb.

I stayed in many , many Airbnbs since the day this company exists, and i will be honest to say, that most of my stays were in quite shabby houses, where nothing was pretty, or fixed, Decent, yes, but nothing special at all. One of my nicest stays was appartment in Rome across Vatican, where we got one bath towel and one hand towel for 2 adults, and no soap at all. Once i stayed in former army barracks with a wonderful host. A dog woke me up every single morning at 5 am. I was so cold at night, that i slept in my jacket, i am not joking. Thats all i could afford in that country, and then after that i went to Bari, Italy where i thought i was renting a room, because description was not clear but it appeared to be a whole mansion with 6 beds, right in a centre.

With AIrbnb is like this: You never know. You cant have any expectations because its someone’s home, and its basically up to the host how to run their household or even a separate apartment. This is how they think is acceptable. 3 things though i think should be universal: cleanliness (at least decent), accuracy in description, and arrange/ meet guests in a timely manner.

There is much more predictability with hotels, than with Air, thats for sure.

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:+1::clap::clap:

Very common in New England of US and Adirondacks of US to not even supply linens…it’s bring your own! Historically called 'housekeeping" cottage/camp/house. The concept is that the destination is a mere few hours drive away from the bustle and hustle of many cities (NY, Boston), and costs are kept to a minimum by not providing bed linens.

This all started with the infrastructure of highways built between the 1950’s and late 1960’s, which allowed the easy commute from busy cities to the rural areas. Interesting to note that some of these newer highways (2-5 lanes) were built to allow sufficient space for passage of bombs and other military materials to military bases that (used to) exist in New England.

In some cases, whole towns were moved or eminent domain was enacted and rural towns were just eliminated to make easier access to some other rural place further up the road so to speak. There are plenty of long forgotten highways here in the Adirondacks, I travel them frequently and see the remnants of roadside motels that are now just being taken over by nature, but if you look carefully, you find the bones of swingsets, rocking horses, and seesaws.

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Omg I am a lowly studio Not in the city centre but close to the keys and everglades I go above and beyond with cleaning and giving guests all they could ever imagine they forget. Sandy this host was just not up to participate in hope he got a 4 star at least.