Can’t remember the last time anyone came came close to “complaining”, but in a public facing industry the possibility is always there.
If you don’t want to have to deal with an unhappy guest then @KKC is correct.
JF
Me too (but for more years, more than I’d like to remember) but I suspect that the reason that we ‘old hands’ have few problems is because of the way we handle and manage guests - plus the hospitality that we supply.
I think that John was definitely being tongue in cheek but there’s a lot of truth in there. People with no hospitality experience might have a hard time. Of course, we all had no experience at one time though. 
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Yes & no…
Guests don’t read. Hosts don’t read. We on this thread don’t read.
I admit-I tend to skim
Yes, it is wise to set expectations but there’s a fine line between enough information & too much. It seems I regularly am tweaking my listing. The Goldilocks spot for information moves.
Formatting is important. White space & caps & bold all help.
I think an info dump then whittle it down to needs/important info. Omit nice to know or segregate that info to the end.
Have fun!!!
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True. And if @nexertt is referring to giving as much information on the listing, that’s not going to work.
The reason is that the teenage guests who are coming from Denmark (post-COVID) are going to want completely different information to the family of five who are bringing the kids and the grandparents.
The people coming for the art fair need different information than the ones who are coming for the boat show. (Just two of the annual attractions here).
As long as the listing and the photographs are honest and not deceptive it’s then up to the host or co-host to put any relevant literature in the rental, explain to guests how to get to the event, let them know the transport options, have full details of the hours, how much a taxi is to take them to the event etc.
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I’ve been told I over communicate. But my summer is solid 5s.
Anyway, I’ve started calling guests a day or two before their stay, usually get voice mail, leave welcome message & ask if they have any questions & remind now they’ve got my phone number handy if they need it. A surprising number have called with a wide variety of questions. I could never put all in the description.
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Nobody does. However, making sure that potential complaints are addressed, either by fixing issues (dirty cupboards, or ratty bedlinens) or ‘mind reading’ (editing awkward entry information for clarity) will go a long way to prevent guests (we don’t call them renters) from finding fault.
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I wonder if, like me, you get questions that are easily answered by reading the listing?
The most common ones are how far is it to wherever, can I walk to the beach, does the rental have a hairdryer, do you provide beach towels, etc. etc. etc. All that info is in the listing or the photographs, of course.
It reassures the guest that they’ve made a wise choice if they get the info they’re looking for. Sometimes it might be a special request “our trip is to celebrate our anniversary - could you put a bottle of champagne in the rental and let me have the receipt so I can repay you?” I’ve had that quite a lot - or variations on the theme.
One of the strangest was the man who wanted to know the height of the bathtub.
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Well I’ve not had that one but I had a question, “my husband is 6’6”, how high is the shower nozzle?”
Yes many times questions are in description or pics like, “what type of coffee pot?”, “…iron & ironing board available.”, “…can we cook in the kitchen?”
It’s all good. It’s what’s important to them and it eases their apprehension about staying at a new place
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I’ve already seen a lot of good advice here for you. In regard to photos perhaps you could trade professional photography for a stay. There is one factor of which you really need to be aware. Many people simply don’t read beyond a line or too. This results in people being unaware of detailed directions, amenities, house rules etc. Have your most important information first and repeat it in your listing, confirmation greeting and event a message just prior to check in. I had someone just the other night mistakenly parking in my neighbor’s driveway. He had decided to just read the check in detail. Of course these would have told him how to navigate the shared drive, where and how to park, etc.
That was sort of the reason, I think. You have to stand in our tub to shower so because this was an older gentleman, he would have probably had a problem lifting his leg high enough to get in.
I didn’t really relish the idea of going into the rental and telling the current guests that I needed to measure the height of the tub but remembered that my own tub is exactly the same so was able to tell him straight away.
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Hi! I love Vermont – and I bet a lot less humid than here on the SC coast! We’ve been at this since May and actually don’t have"house rules/check out instructions", so I’m responding to that part of your listing / new hosting experience. We went to a college football game this past weekend and my boyfriend’s friend booked the accommodations. I was pretty put off by the instructions - must run dishwasher, take out trash, run cycle of linens before departure. 95% of our guests have done that, but it would be fine if they didn’t. Being a host myself I would have obviously done what they asked, but something about looking at it as a demand in writing as I used 1 of 4 Keurig pods for 5 people over a 2 night stay just rubbed me the wrong way. Curious of this communities’ opinion on the matter - golden rule and deal with the bad apple or pretty much turn off the responsible as being demanding?
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Welcome to the forum, Jane.
I’ve been doing this for hundreds of years (well, it feels like it 
) and I have only two rules and no checkout instructions. Yet 99.9% of my guests are lovely.
My 2 rules are no smoking and no parties but I’m pretty sure that when I first started using Airbnb I put those in just because I could, if you see what I mean.
I believe in making sure that my guests have a good time. That’s in my interest too of course, as it creates repeat business and referrals so it’s good for everyone.
We’ve had guests ask us what to do for checkout so we send a quick reminder the evening before of check-out time and just ask for all windows to be closed, start the dishwasher/do dishes and to lock the door behind them. I would never ask guests to do linens (!) or take out trash unless there were dirty diapers from our family-friendly unit.
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This summer has been horribly hot & Humid in Myrtle Beach.
Checkout housekeeping services were hard to get this summer. Every place was fully booked. Due to Covid restrictions the usual summer work/exchange students from other countries were not allowed in except for lifeguards (they were considered as medical staff).
So high demand; low availability—most of the the rental agencies require beds stripped, dirty linen bagged, dishes washed none left in dishwasher, refrigerator emptied & cleaned, kitchen counters wiped, floors vacuumed, & trash bagged and out at checkout.
Basically the crews do bathroom cleaning and other cleaning as needed.
What your host required isn’t out of reason these days.
I had so many requests for checkout instructions that I finally posted some on the door. Other than the obvious lock up & lights out, I repeated the thermostat setting instructions that are posted on the wall by the thermostat, repeated where to leave towels and not to strip beds instructions that are in the welcome book, and the rest are optional – wash the dishes if you have time, if not leave them in the sink, and extra points for taking out the trash and recyclables.
It actually seemed to make some of my guests nervous when there were no instructions.
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I send them a note before checkout saying that they don’t really need to do anything special except double check that they have all their belongings and make sure trash and recyclables are in the bins. I haven’t had any real problems.
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I can see that. They may be nervous about getting a bad review because they thought they were supposed to just know what to do before check-out but had no idea what is standard or expected.
And for seasoned Airbnbers, they know that not all hosts have the same check-out list. If the host doesn’t make it clear, they wouldn’t know if you were one of those hosts who wants guests to strip the bed, or just leave it, or throw dirty towels in the bathtub, or start a wash, or whatever.
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So sorry for the delay with responding! I didn’t realize so many people had responded to my post. I received the tongue and cheek reply. Responded to that kindly, instead of saying it didn’t seem helpful :). Then the moderator sent a message. But after that, I thought posts had stopped. So much helpful info from everyone!
I’ve rented out quite a few airbnb’s. I have general senes of what I’ve appreciated and what I haven’t- I do always leave nice reviews. There has only been one experience where I was really surprised at the state of the place compared to what people where reviewing with. Everything was just dirty- But, outside was what were were there for. So, I never wrote I review. I figured everyone else seemed to have not seen something that I was seeing :).
As far as hosting, the little extras really seem to set the stage. We normally don’t eat the cookies, etc, etc. But, it’s always a really nice touch to add the unexpected. One time we even were given a bottle of wine. I imagine most people are like me, they want to have a nice time, but don’t want to bother with the person renting the place. So, as smooth of a rental as can be had, the better.
Thanks so much for all the advice! Really helpful,
Arin
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