Always!
Just always. People don’t read anything.
Moreover to read details or messages or so on, they don’t read the property name!
One is my properties is an apartment with all rooms are sold separately.
Every room is about 8-9 sq.m only. The property’s title is Private Bedrooms with Shared Bathroom.
At least once a month guest on check in were amazed to discover that bathrooms were shared between all rooms and not private in-room.
So what more to say about the details ?
Does this have a different meaning there than in the US?
Edit: never mind. I just saw that it does.
I have been dinged by last minute requests not answering questions. I dismissed it. Bad idea. As in, “very” !
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There is no such thing as idiot proof - they will always make a better idiot.
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I’m intrigued to know what it means in the US??? Please!
It means very very plain.
If a girl is homely…
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Is it possible for you to send a ‘booking confirmation’ message with the questions instead? Or, rather, with the ‘acknowledgements’? I do something like this because I had a few key items that were often overlooked (even though spelled out in my listing) so if it’s an inquiry I have them acknowledge those things upfront, or if its an IB I respond pretty quickly ending with “if any of the above will put a damper on your plans, we totally understand and invite you to take advantage of AirBNB’s 48-hour penalty-free cancellation so you can get your money back”. Then it’s kind of hard for them not to acknowledge, and if they don’t respond I would think ABB customer service would cancel them for you. I got that lovely idea from all the fine people here and it’s been really helpful!
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I’ve an unusual place too - and I send a letter on the platform thread confirming and welcoming them. I remind them that this is an unusual place, 12 miles from the main road, thus from services. There is more, and then I close with asking if anything about the house rules, amenities, etc need explaining. I’ve had a number of people fall in love with the photos and then, for example, show up at night, with the intention of driving into town to have dinner. I’ve explained in the things they should have read that the nearby tiny town shuts down early, which seems unbelievable to folks living in 24 hour cities. They also tend to believe their digital navigation when I’ve emphasized that our directions are far better, and will not take them down roads that go nowhere and are without any cell service. Etc, etc, etc.
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I have one coming in now. It’s for one night. He is tenured, and has great reviews. I have self check in. Not likely to be a bother!
No one is answering your question @kathyvermont! I don’t know if this as maddening to you as it is to me.
Answer: YES! I have guest ignore questions. But not that often.
Context:
- I have Instant Booking (with criteria)
- I use a channel manager (Smartbnb) because it is really excellent with automating communications.
Solution:
- Make sure communications clear and concise.
- Break up communications into several messages over several days, whenever possible.
- If you are clear, concise and they still miss details. Ask them again.
Long Term Solution: I pull my hair out over this as well. Because on one-hand, you are “annoying,” if you ask the guest the same question several times. But on the other hand every time a guest is not focused there are problems with their stay. It is a constant issue and headache for me. You can’t make people read or focus. But YES I DO HAVE THIS PROBLEM! lol
I think a magic spell cast over all guests that book me would solve it. Otherwise I guess you just got to roll with the punches. Does anyone have any tricks they find very effective?
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I would beg to differ…
I would be more upset if the only responses here were “no” or “yes”. That really wouldn’t be very helpful, would it? That’s why many here (myself included) offered suggestions of how to fix the issue because many of us know at this point that guests don’t read.
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Actually, quite a lot of us are jumping in. But @kathyvermont decided to stop responding to her own thread a week ago.
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I must be missing a valuable Airbnb tool. I assume nobody is talking about using the regular “message” function we use for simple q&a with guests?
If so, how would I look up the process you are discussing to see if I should/could be using it?
Hi Rubychix,
If you go to Booking Settings > Guest Requirements > Pre-booking Message, you will see it. But per my original post it isn’t working so well for me, so don’t expect too very much!
Thanks for this Lauren, super helpful. I don’t use a channel messenger… I will research. And thank you for the commiseration!!!
My best sense right now is that the most skillful response in many cases is, as you point out, just roll with the punches. Things just about always seem to work out, even though they often don’t read.
I also need to make my communications wayyyy shorter. Thanks for the reminder on that one.
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Yes, I think that is the biggest challenge I have - the rural/urban cultural differences and expectations. I have lived both, so that helps. But tending a woodstove is really different than flipping a switch, and those kinds of differences can be make or break if people don’t expect them!
This is brilliant - thank you Melissa!
Thanks Gentle Hart, I think the message I am getting from you and others is that it works best to just follow up on the booking or request to book with a manual message. I’m trying that and it is the best fix for sure.
It’s true! I have set my requirements for IB (Verified profile etc.), and people are able to request to book WITHOUT those requirements all of the time. Which means I have to decline them if they aren’t able to meet the requirements. And then it’s on me 
I appreciate your input. It’s ok with me if my concerns cause some members not to want to help me next time. There’s a person on the other side here as well 
Yes, it probably falls in the “glamping” category… i.e. “glamorous camping” of a sort. I don’t so much need to know that the temperature is falling in any formal way - our house is on the same property. And pipes won’t freeze because I turn the water off between guests! AND - yes, you are right that being able to see smoke coming from the chimney is a good visual cue for us when guests ARE in the yurt - if it is super cold and they leave for a long day skiing or similar, I either turn the water off while they are gone, or I keep the fire going.
That’s a valid point… but IB doubled our business when I switched over. It’s not that there are tons of problems, it’s more than I wish the auto message were more effective. We’ve only gotten 5 star reviews because at the end of the day no one ever arrives without getting super clear on what they’ve signed up for. It is just that I was hoping the auto message would be answered as that first screening step so that I could use the manual message for the next layer of info.
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We tried IB and had some problematic guests. When we dropped the IB we got fewer bookings, but better quality ones and no issues at all, made the same amount of money with less hassle, fewer misunderstandings. Worth considering?
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Follow-up messages are very helpful. Even still, we often still have to communicate more than once.
Guests will answer one question and ignore others, even when we use bullets or a number list.
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Does the Yurt have electricity? If so, does it have a subpanel or did you pull a few long home runs?
Yes, it’s got electricity and it’s own electrical panel. You might be thinking about how to regulate heat better… I realize I didn’t respond to your baseboard idea earlier. We have a frost free hydrant out there that drains the water to below the frost line. That’s what we shut down when the guests leave. We don’t want to pay to heat the space without anyone there, electrical is $$ here, and we’re also committed to using wood for sustainability reasons.