Guests complain because I don't serve breakfast - Not a true Airbnb they say

@Helsi My conclusion was more tongue-in-cheek than anything, but I appreciate your insight!

Surely prices shouldn’t rely on whether or not breakfast is offered. That would be preposterous! Location, time of year, photos, reviews, and price per sleep are all MUCH bigger factors for whether a guest ultimately decides to book a place. This thread happens to be about breakfast and how many hosts actually provide it. I was simply adding some data-driven insights from our Data Engine. :smile:

I’ve been hosting for 2 summers now. I provide a bottle of water for each guest, my max guests is 2. My 1st paragraph tells them I don’t provide any food, but because I share my home I allow them to use the kitchen, but I’m rethinking the cooking issue for many reasons. If I like the guests I’ll make enough coffee for all of us and offer yogurt and homemade muffins. I don’t remember any guests complaining, I’ve had guests from around the world but not England. I have visited there several times and I can see how it might be an issue with some, but this last summer my most challenging guests were American women over 60. They seemed to expect A LOT! It may just have to become part of your response to people wanting to book
I have to reiterate check in & out times and my request for an hour notice before arrival and I’m frequently ignored even with the updated messages the day before their arrival. I start to wonder if they’re still coming when it’s after 11pm. It’s the life of a host. Overall my experience has been great. Good Luck and it’s mostly a learning experience with every guest.

You could also explain what the Air stands for, as in Air Mattress.

That’s something to consider.

Don’t remember if I shared this before, but anyway, I wrote a blog post - in German language about the way I handle the “breakfast” issue with my guests. The bottom line is, if I am not around to prepare it, they are given vouchers to get breakfast at a nearby café. Some guests really seem to enjoy this offer.

Well, I’m cooking for my fam at the same time anyway. And it’s so easy - I say ‘30 minutes’ but I’m doing other things while things are cooking - waking up my kids, getting dressed, etc etc. I have a set rotating menu so the planning is already done, and the items are just picked up at the same time as our other shopping.

And as I say - I enjoy it! This morning I got to chat with our guests about a few different things, and got to enjoy seeing their beautiful baby.

And about 100% of my guests asked reply that the breakfast was a huge factor in them choosing my place. With the competition getting worse, and with the system already set up - why not?

A party of 5 will pay up to $150 a night - hopefully more this summer - so if I can snag the booking for that small cost, and enjoy it all at the same time - why not?

Airbnb’s reviews are the only way to make people understand what they are getting. If those English guests say, “the breakfast was skimpy,” so what? It’s just a subjective opinion. You’ll still get bookings. Some guests won’t even want breakfast. Review your listing and make sure you are not giving off a false idea that it is a professional bed and breakfast. It’s an unregulated home share and people can either like what they get or shove it.

It sounds great–just expensive! :smiley:

you are right - and I continue to wonder if there’s a better way - just kinda in this groove and it’s working so far. I wonder if I would get booked if I stopped the breakfast, but I’d lose that personal touch I enjoy, and since the breakfast looms large in my reviews that would be tricky. One nice young man from Malaysia put a bunch of photos of my breakfast on his FB page 'Best breakfast in America". So, you know…I got my rep. ; ) I’ve never actually been good at anything before - not really - I’m not being falsly humble or deprecating - I just haven’t ‘shone’ anywhere in this world - so it’s fun for me to see that I do something that people so enjoy and appreciate. Except one gal, who complained because there were no baseboards in the bedroom and that mini-quiche is really a continental, not hot, breakfast item.

But we don’t care about those types, right? :wink: Though they loom large in our minds like sore thumbs.

Sounds lovely. And I like the idea of a fixed time slot.

It wouldn’t work for me as the vast majority of my guests are still fast asleep by the time I leave for work :slight_smile:

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Clearly you should keep doing it and only stop when you don’t want to do it any more :slight_smile: As for the complainers, I’m guessing that you have had very few of them. Same here and yes, they do loom large. But only for a while because they are the exceptions. I had some rather weird and insulting private feedback a while back but luckily all my family and a couple of friends had occasion to meet these guests and agreed wholeheartedly, without any prompting, that they were extremely unpleasant people. So that makes me super nice!! Same for you. BTW, you can add being a shining forum member to breakfast-maker :wink:

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Use that awesome breakfast photo in your listing but also list the price of it to have people pay you to cook it for them. That’s a really great bonus to any guest.

I know your listing well and I think that the breakfast is something that really sets you apart :slight_smile:

Just for reference though I recently stayed at a place that consisted of ten apartments, one of which was occupied by the host. I loved his breakfast idea.

Because our local authority doesn’t allow cooking he set out a rack of pastries, bagels etc (still in the manufacturers’ wrappers)and on an attractive table put fresh fruit, large thermoses of coffee and tea, and various cereals. In the small fridge alongside the table there was milk along with fruit juice. This buffet was available from (I think) 8am to 10 am and guests could either collect their breakfast and take it into their apartments or eat at one of the outside tables.

This was a great bonus at a place that was under $100 per night.

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mmmm there are some pretty big rocks out there. I changed my basic description to tell new home share guests to contact me BEFORE booking, have clear house rules, no longer offer any kitchen use and certainly dont cook for anyone and the most common questions??? 1. Can I cook some dinner 2. Do you offer breakfast 3. Can I check into your home at 11pm (check in is 3-5pm NO later) …all…the…time…sigh

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Rocks? Am I missing something?

How is that working out for you? I want to add or and a small iron board (those you put on the top of a table or on the bed) but I am afraid if guests see the iron they will just iron over the bed without the board or forget the iron on and burn the linens (fire hazard) . Have you had any problems like that?

Why not a real ironing board?

It is a real one, haha, just smaller size. Do you mean a real one is the full size that comes to our waist height when I use? If that is the one you are talking about I think it takes much space and our layout is not favorable to use such.

A note: I advertise in my listing that we can provide iron and iron board if the guest requests, but after almost 170sets of guests, no one has ever requested. I want to add so that it is inside their room, and if they ever need, they don’t need to ask me for it. After thinking about it thought, don’t know if they will ever use since no ever ever did.

Do your guests use it?

@Vera They are a bit big. I screwed two hooks into to the inside of a closet door, and and the board hangs flat and out of the way. I think that the tabletop versions that you describe are quite dangerous. As you mention, irons are hot. They will set it up on top of something that doesn’t take kindly to heat and perhaps do some damage, or even worse, start a fire. I have been surprised by how many guests have used the iron. Far more than I ever would have imagined.

Do you have a common linen closet that you could set up as the “ironing” retrieval center so that it is available to all your guests rooms?

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Thank you, @anon67190644. The hooks inside the closet would be a good option. I have a linen closet and that would be even better that they could retrieve it from there. My concern is that they would discover where all extra towels and linens are an use it like crazy. :smile:

Are your guests tourists or more business type?

@Vera Mostly “tourists” with some family visits mixed in.