Guest rang me this morning at 3am!

21

As @jaquo said on another thread, ’ “anyone who is in business - and if you’re an Airbnb host then you have a business - has to arrange their life to suit their business and their clients. Hosts should have contingency plans and someone to carry them out. Very few of us here would be happy if we had an appointment/booking/important meeting/etc. and the professional we were expecting didn’t show because ‘everyone has a life’.”

If you are being called often in the middle of the night then chances are you are doing something wrong as a host. If not then the occasional call is just, as we say, part of the cost of doing business.

22

I would also like to know why the alarm went off. That would seem to me to be an important detail that’s missing from this thread.

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23

There is a HUGE difference between having to put clothes on and go knocking (won’t happen often!) or just clicking on whatsapp at 3 am to mindlessly bother the person you consider to be your personal concierge for renting a room for 40 dollars a night.

I think the whole concept of the Airbnb platform encourages instant gratification and de-humanization of the host. Click and get. Don’t think just call.

It’s up to us to be excellent hosts but also set some limits and try to restore some common consideration and decency to these human, interpersonal relationships.

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24

People do not read the instructions, no point in putting anything in capitals.
I have resorted to pictograms images and clipart for my check in instructions, I save a one-sheeter with pictures and text bubbles, its a pdf file that can be sent by email or whatsapp, that does seem to work a bit better.
People will not read sentences or paragraphs, up to you to get the message across some other way;
I’ve found nobody opens their email anymore expecially from unkown expeditors, sending info thru messaging apps like WhatsApp works better.
Best is voice contact thru WhatsApp or telephone or facetime.

As for bothering the host, OK well it was the fire alarm I can see how that might be an emergency.

I had one difficult guest who called me at 9 pm on Sunday night because she found the internet slow. In my country, calling and bothering people on Sunday is really not done if it can be avoided and Sunday night at 9pm?.. For a working but slow internet?..

It really depends on the people many wouldn’t want the hassle of calling but a few expect concierge service and are not afraid of insisting on it.

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25

I had a guest ring at 4am asking me to take over a toilet roll.

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26

Hotel expectations. Re toilet rolls, I leave excess after another host telling me about demanding guests expecting a delivery on a Sunday night from 80 kilometres away.

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I live here but leave a fresh one on the dispenser and another under the sink in the cabinet. I’ve never had the extra disappear in 500+ guests. I can tell you however that if one becomes in dire need of TP and the host has been tight fisted with it a lot of misery could ensue including the use of inappropriate materials instead. That’s not to say that people never abuse it anywhere but some of the stories I read on this forum about tight hosts is disheartening.

It really seems to do that somewhere. It hasn’t happened to me. I wish I knew my secret so I could share it.

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For a 50 cent toilet roll compared to $100 an hour for a plumber and thinking what inappropriate things that do get flushed…

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3 people had used 4 rolls in less than 12 hours. So hardly me being cheap.

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My comment was general and not directed at you. Two bathrooms - 5 rolls in each and extra in the laundry.

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I don’t think you were tagged or addressed but you seem a bit sensitive about it. Let’s unpack this as the kids say…

Assuming the best about the guests, that’s just not that crazy. What if they all ate somewhere together and were ill? I’ve used a roll in a day in those circumstances.

Now, let’s not assume the best. They use TP to remove makeup, in place of facial tissues/Kleenex, as napkins, to wipe steam from the bathroom mirror after a shower. They are all germophobes and take a length of it to wipe everything they touch. They were all doing their monthly bleed and wrap the feminine products in a shite-ton of paper before putting it in the bin. Then on top of all that, they stuck part of a roll in their shopper to have so they aren’t caught out as they tour the city. So what? Let’s say the paper is one pound per roll at the local Tesco. You supply each person 2 rolls per day to account for a number of possibilities. You spend 12 pounds on TP for their 2 day stay but you make 114 pounds after fees. Is that really unmanagable? Keep in mind the next guest may barely touch a roll in their 2 day stay.

(All narrative inspired by my recent reading of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Apologies to any offended Glaswegians reading this)

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32

I had a guest DESTROY a smoke and CO alarm. Went off once while cooking and they thought it might wake the baby. No more babies!

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Sorry,I do not agree. A smoke alarm going off is SERIOUS. Why would you even think about dinging them in a review for calling you at 3am. I do not get your point at all. Regards, CurtPeterson

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34

Ha ha. Next to the bit pointing out where the fire extinguisher is I say “and PLEASE USE IT if needed”. The only time I use caps.

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35

This happened to me by one of my very first guests at my own home. In the laundry cupboard there was an old smoke alarm stored. It started beeping because the battery was going flat and the guest called the fire brigade!!! They found the alarm and removed the battery.

I was in Spain taking all these calls, petrified I was going to be charged a fortune for an unnecessary call out from the fire brigade. It was a bad start to dealing with guests.

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36

After I had guests message me after midnight and then complain in a review that I didn’t answer I now have this in my itinerary:

Contact:

I respect my guests’ privacy so will not contact you unless it’s important. Please message me here (this is the best way to contact me) if there is anyway I can help.

Airbnb TOCs’ requires all our communication takes place via this message platform.
Please be aware that I can’t offer after hours assistance, if there is an emergency please call 000.

I have a dual sim mobile/cell with my personal number and the business number. I no longer answer the business number if I don’t recognise the number. My message says: if you are phoning as a guest please contact me through the Airbnb messaging platform.

A guest never phones with good news and I find it hard to sound pleasant and helpful over the phone when they are saying stupid things e.g. that they can’t get in because the gate is blocking the driveway…we don’t have a gate. Therefore I prefer that everything is via the platform where I can type professional responses without an “edge” in my voice and Airbnb can read all the correspondence if necessary.

My phone goes to silent between 11pm and 7am every night unless you are someone on my “calls allowed” list, i.e. immediate family. However, the local council has now stipulated that we must respond to an issue at a STR within 2 hours of a call, 24 hours a day. Therefore, I have added our immediate neighbours and Airbnb’s number to the calls allowed selection.

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37

Yes to the pictograms and clip art! makes a huge difference.
Yes absolutely yes, to the business phone.

For the record every single time the smoke alarm has gone off its someone trying to smoke indoors!! Even if you hang out the window some smoke will invariably drift back in smh. I have raised teenagers I know!

It goes with the territory that you may have to deal with daft requests at ridiculous hours and that some guests will never grasp the difference between a hotel and an Airbnb. EVER!

38

TP - just Bulk Buy from Groupon, eBay or Amazon. Way way cheaper, delivered to your door in a quantity that you don’t have to think about these items for absolute months. I buy packs of 140 rolls from eBay and get the Nectar points as well. Storage can be a problem, but I find space in all sorts of nooks and crannies. I only wish they wouldn’t use so much plastic when shipping.

For ladies time buy a small pack of mini bags specific for the purpose - a bit hard to find (Tesco & Sainsbury) - but costs about a £1 for a pack of 50 bags. Leave instructions “Ladies please use the hygiene bags provided and bin, please do not put items down the pan as it can cause an inconvenient blockage and please do not wrap in TP”. My lady guests who need them have used them.

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My smoke alarm went off once (there’s a warning on my bathroom door that if you open the door immediately after taking a shower, you can set off the alarm). I immediately went up the stairs to make sure that was all it was. The guests actually complained in their review that I came up so quickly to see what the problem was. Go figure.

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40

I had no idea you could buy bulk TP on Groupon! I will definitely be looking at my online options. My stash that I bought when I started in May 2016 has finally been exhausted. It was definitely nice not having to worry about having enough at all my houses!