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Our current guest is a Chinese family that doesn’t understand English well.
We’ve been communicating frequently through the Airbnb app, using the translation feature effectively.
In one of my first messages I posted a google doc of our house rules, which specifies alternate-side street cleaning, and how they should move their car to avoid getting a ticket. The city also has posted signs (in English) noting which side is cleaned and when.
It didn’t occur to me to explicitly tell my guest about street cleaning and parking rules.
She got a (guessing $45) ticket this morning and asked me about it.
I explicitly posted the rules and that I shared the original google doc with her.
I’m sure you street has signs that say when cleaning days/hours are. While it’s in English (and I’m assuming she can’t read it), it’s not your responsibility. She’s the driver of her own car.
In fact, she wasn’t able to turn on the stove without me showing her. One of the markers on the dial reads “LITE” which sets the pilot light. She tried to run the gas and use lighters to light the stove.
I was thinking to myself, “Do stoves not work like this where she’s from in China?!”
It doesn’t help when the word (“lite”) isn’t spelled correctly. I’m not so sure I would understand it. I have gas ranges and it’s not on them or on any other stove top I’ve seen.
No. Of course they don’t. Many parts of the world do not have electric ignitions. It is actually not that common. And as @SandyToes says, it isn’t even spelled correctly.
And to address your original comments, as a host, I stress repeatedly and emphatically that people with cars need to read the street cleaning signs, and remind them when that day is approaching. Again, it isn’t something that many people have to remember and deal with.
Just to emphasis the differences in oven elements in NZ I’d say it’s about 95% are electric. I was brought up, and my parents still have, one that looks like this:
If they have the wherewithal to rent a car and drive then they are responsible for understanding the rules of the road and of parking. Even English speakers get tickets for not moving their cars so I wouldn’t worry about it.
We have a nice chef’s kitchen in our Airbnb in Northern California and the pilot light has gone out at least once. We don’t have a pilot knob although that sounds nice . I’m not sure our guests, almost exclusively American, would even know how to re-light the pilot or recognize this problem when it happens. It is our job to identify the problem and resolve it.
As for the parking, we’ve had an incident where the neighbor actually TOWED one of our guests cars. But on our House Rules we have very explicit writing, “do not block the road - neighbors will tow.” We only recommend additional parking where it is free to park anytime, any day. But if it is the case that they need to move for street cleaning, I do think it is worth the few minutes of your time to include that bit of information on your House Rules.
Short answer: No. Longer answer: when people travel overseas to cultures they are not familiar with, except perhaps through movies or tv, then it is up to them to do the groundwork to make sure they know the local customs and rules. Isn’t that half the fun of travelling? And now they have a story to tell their friends about when they return. The international bank in Australia I worked at used to put up diagrams on the back of the toilet doors to say that they could not be used as squat toilets. I thought this a bit unnecessary and patronising as while there were a lot of Indians working there they were all well educated professionals and more than familiar with the local customs. Until the day I walked into a cubicle and saw what happened when someone didn’t read the sign
In short rules (like AirBnB rules) are not for the 99% with a bit of common sense and civility but the very few who don’t seem to think much about anything and assume everybody does the same thing as they would back home.
I think what we are talking about here in terms of the cooker is not about cultural differences but about how appliances work.
I have clear instructions about how my boiler, cooker, dishwasher etc works - this is nothing to do with culture - it’s as much for my UK guests as anyone else, because all appliances work differently and helping guests use them makes for a better experience for them and less chance of damage for me.
I do not have a parking issue but something similar, I am not a ski location but have them nearby and more than ever the State have been issuing Code 15 rules on the roads around which means you need 4WD AWD, chains etc.
I see people all the time without these and those who live in State, well they should know, those who fly in and rent presumably the cheapest option which are not compliant, regular 2WD and often the OEM tires which are OK but not suited for snow and ice.
I have mentioned it to a few but it was not well received so now I do not bother, they are adults and really up to the rental company not me.
Appliances aren’t likely to work the same within the same country (it depends on the model), let alone in different countries. As already said this isn’t a cultural issue. It’s a host hasn’t explained how their appliances work issue.
. I’m not sure our guests, almost exclusively American, would even know how to re-light the pilot or recognize this problem when it happens. It is our job to identify the problem and resolve it.