You just made me spit out my coffee @JamJerrupSunset 
I remember those days well when I used to back pack around Europe,
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I’ve already explained this, and it’s amazing that you are all so lucky that you never have to cancel or shift a guest. Great for you, and I hope you enjoy your superhost status! Maybe you have a low volume of guests?
Blockquote Are you just shifting them from one apartment to another, or are you canceling to give priority to guests who want to stay longer?
- I sometimes have guests who will message me, after reserving, asking me if there are enough accommodations for more people, or for their pets, after their reservation clearly states something else. It doesn’t happen too often, but happens more often than I would like. I do not cancel them outright, but give them an opportunity to move to another unit which is either 1) more suitable for their guests, 2) a unit which allows pets. At times I will cancel them if they become belligerent or refuse to pay the extra person fee.
My main issue with AirBnB is that I have the ability to cancel 3x with no repercussions, but this happens more than 3x for me in a year. Then I need to wait on hold every time for 45 minutes (lately) to resolve the issue.
Blockquote I am only me, and by no means a reference, but I would NEVER EVER stay in a place where I don’t get to meet anyone. In most places I wouldn’t even be interested in a separate unit, regardless if someone checks me in. That is just simply not my way of traveling.
There is no way to meet all of my guests. I would be running around town like a fool shaking hands, and wasting time. My guests’ main comments to us are that 1. they thought our place was beautiful, 2. that they thought our customer service was excellent and very responsive, 3. that they thought the price was a great value 4. That out listings were very accurate down to which cabinets things are in, and 5. that they loved our manual (which has all they will ever need to know, or what I want them to know, about me and my family).
My business involves me waking up at the crack of dawn, and dealing with half a dozen messages/requests per day. Most are just things like a refill on propane, or “what is the wifi log in info” (even though I have it posted everywhere including online). Then I organize my cleaners. It’s not like they can just show up to work and just do their thing. They need detailed instructions EVERY single day. My wife manages them at the units, I send out instructions like: so and so is checking out late today, and this guest will be leaving some luggage… THEN I get to move onto my main business around 1 PMish. On days with deep cleanings, someone needs to be there. I’ve got to deal with maintenance, deep cleans, cleaners, guest requests and alterations, welcome messages, and more on a daily basis. That’s great that your hosts can meet you and hang out with you. That is a completely different experience than what I offer my guests.
Right when they book, it says that we are available if the guests need anything at all, but will not be at the unit. No one ever has a problem with that.
Never once out of all the years have we been doing this have we had someone complain about not meeting us, ever. Our door has a key code. People book instantly, while still driving or just after their plane has landed, get here, walk right in, and make themselves at home. I travel through AirBnB as well, and would not really want to meet the host. I’m sure they are wonderful people. But I am usually on the road for work, WITH my family, and just want to settle right in and pass out. That’s my experience as a traveler.
Do I meet guests and talk to them if I encounter them? I live close by to my units, and of course I do. I meet a handful of guests, and we talk, but never more than me at their front door. I value their privacy as much as they value mine. I have met some great people, who have then come back to stay with us in the future.
I have guests which I meet that then become clients. Those people want to meet me, and I want to meet them, but for completely different reasons. We develop a relationship, over the short duration of their stay, and decide by check-out, is this someone I want to do business with? That’s about the most in-depth I get with my guests. We sit down, drink coffee, have an occasional meal, and talk shop. But like I said, those guests are both rare, and totally different types of guests.
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Blockquote This is after all what Airbnb started out as, a personalised people meeting people business, global family. Not anonymous multi property listing hosting as it has partly become now. May as well just book a hotel. I love meeting my guests, it’s part of the reason I do Airbnb. And I’ve made many friends. Without that it’d all be rather bland.
You sound like you are describing couchsurfing to me. My guests are in town for their own reasons and just don’t care about who I am or what my family is like 90% of the time. We have an in-depth (as in-depth as I feel comfortable) description of us in our house manual. Furthermore, you can modify your search to find hosts like that, so I don’t know why you are complaining about what ABB has turned into.
Apparently I offer a valuable service to my guests, and they greatly appreciate it. If they booked a hotel or even motel in my town, they would be paying double-triple the price and they know it. For a unit at $200/night, which houses 10 people, they would need to shell out $180/room for 3, or even 4 rooms at a hotel in my town, so most travelers recognize a fantastic deal when they see one. And then someone would still be sleeping on the floor. You would be just kidding yourself if you thought a hotel is a good deal, or even comparable to what we offer. On top of that, I allow pets in most of my units, I have nice and safe backyards, private front decks, antique furniture, VERY comfortable beds, laundry in the units, and full kitchen/baths, which for the most part are handicapped accessible. Tell me what hotel or motel can compare?
Regardless of what ABB “was”, they would be bankrupt if they only focused on hosts who interact with guests. They can wisely see that they need to expand their market as well, and so ABB is what it is now. Like I said, you can still search for hosts who would hang out with you, and there is always couchsurfing, which is even free. I have done couchsurfing, and it fits what you are describing exactly, and doesn’t cost anything.
Blockquote Does your PM company by any chance run those accommodation touts that wait for you on the dockside of the Greek islands when the ferry comes in? Always interesting to see the difference between the place they are holding a photo of up and the place you actually get.
No.
Why don’t you just employ a manager or support person to look after the day to day stuff then you wouldn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn.
With all the properties you are managing I can’t believe you wouldn’t see this as a good investment in your business.
They could make sure they kept up to date with how Airbnb works so they wouldn’t make incorrect, costly assumptions like you can only cancel three times as a host without penalty. And they would know if a guest doesn’t meet your house rules or wants to bring an extra person without paying you can ask Airbnb to get them to cancel the booking.
Mike must be special… he didn’t run into the 20 character minimum. 
I don’t think we can expect a PM to meet all the guests. He runs a completely different operation than most of us!!
Thanks for your perspective, Mike. I find it very very interesting.
As far as the cancellations though, I worry for you…
If you have too many of them, Air might delist you. Or do you have a special business deal with them? If it’s the wrong kind of guest, can’t you get them to cancel for you? I am assuming you are on IB?
I have also waited that long on hold with them before my superho status was granted.
I don’t know what the answer is.
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No-one was assuming a large scale property manager would meet their guests @konacoconutz.
There is room in the market for all sorts of approaches.
It was actually @MikeBozeman who disparaged hosts that said they liked the personalised approach of meeting a host when they travelled with Airbnb.
And no unfortunately for Mike he’s not special in terms of 20 characters - the block quote is included in the word count 
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I’m going to book with Mike when I come to Yellowstone. If he would let me book direct that is.
Just the thought of paying any fees to these platforms is abhorrent to me. They did nothing at all to introduce me to Mike!
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So I’ve actually had this conversation with ABB. There is the 3x/year cancellation policy without repercussions. At that point, you need to call it in, and they go through the whole message chain, and do it on a “case by case” basis. I don’t just cancel guests willy-nilly, and ABB recognizes that.
But I do seem to be hit with the repercussions of not getting SH status. So then I call about that, and they need to go through my history again, and see that the guest which I cancelled did not read the reservation, and even then, sometimes they won’t get rid of the ‘marks’ on our stats. It all equals to a huge headache for me and a lot of wasted time.
But yea, I do fear what you are saying, and list all over the place, and I have found another way around this, for other PM’s who may be interested. I make sure my client understands I will be listing their property either under their name (if I am not confident that their listing will be the best fit for my business), with their profile picture and bio, or act as a co-host for them. That way they get the hit, not my business. It is a case-by-case basis for us, as it’s not just ABB reviews which affect us but Google reviews and other review platforms. I treat all my properties, and some of my extended family’s under my own profile, but others, I list and then manage under my client’s profile.
ABB are not fools though. I make them tens of thousands of dollars, and if they cancelled my listings, then good luck keeping up with other listing platforms! My wife and I have this conversation on a daily basis and fight over who is going to be on hold with ABB next. Many times it has nothing to do with cancellations or shifting guests to other units which fit them better. Sometimes it doesn’t even have to do with a reservation, but account issues, or some update which has a glitch. Huge waste of time for our business.
We do direct bookings through Square! I give out discounts to people all the time who I meet outside of ABB/VRBO, so definitely look us up! I also do Google hangouts, and Facetime tours of my units for guests to help build that trust of sending someone across the country/world a large check to reserve a place at a distant time into the future. Normally we do this during a turnover so it can be messy, but they get the gist of the place during that time anyway.
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I’m going to be a real tourist now and ask what you think the best time to visit is.
It depends, if you like skiing, then most likely between Dec-March for the best conditions. If you don’t like other tourists and want to see the outdoors, April-May, or late Sept.-early Nov., and of course summer time is booming between Memorial and Labor Day. We have the same hiking and wildlife as Yellowstone, as an FYI, but Yellowstone is insane during the summer. Traffic can stretch for about 2 miles due to bison jams, and the sheer volume of vehicles and lack of infrastructure. I should have 6 new listings in 2019, right outside Yellowstone, without the tourists, but with easy access to the parks, and hiking where I can almost guarantee no crowds.
Summer is my favorite. I love hiking, climbing, and general mountain adventures, so that is tough to do in the winter. Summer starts around late-June here with heavy snow still in the mountains. I would suggest July and August as ideal times!
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Regardless of who you stay with, things to see here minus Yellowstone include, the Beartooth Highway, Paradise Valley, fly fishing on the Madison, Yellowstone, Gallatin, and Jefferson Rivers, one of 7 mountain ranges around our small town, and about 22 million acres of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
We also get a lot of big game hunters, people visiting the University, and more and more investors moving into the town.
Some things locals enjoy include visiting ghost towns all over the place, hot springing, and tubing during the low water times of year (late July until it gets cold). I sincerely hope you, and anyone visiting here enjoys their trip! This is a magical place.
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What I most remember about living in Montana was how hot the summers were. I used to teach at UM-Bozeman in the summers and almost passed out from the heat at night in the dorms. In fact, we didn’t venture outside at home [Great Falls] to do the gardening between about 11-3pm.
Blockquote It was actually @MikeBozeman who disparaged hosts that said they liked the personalised approach of meeting a host when they travelled with Airbnb.
I did not disparage anyone. I apologize using the word “pushover”, but if you’re getting stuck on that word, then maybe you have another issue with me. “Pushover” is how I feel ABB wants me to act, when I get guests who do not read my instructions and reservation requirements, and basically want something for free. I do not provide any free stays for any guests, and if there is an indication that they are not being accurate with their reservation we will confront them about that.
So in summary good for you on being SH, I just cannot do that, and I feel like ABB has a flaw in their system in which hosts that have 97% 5 stars, still can’t maintain a SH status.
Apologies for hurting your feelings once again, but you do not need to falsely point out that I am disparaging anyone because that is not true. That is your own interpretation of my comment.
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LOL! The mental picture of this is great!
This is why I know you are a great host!
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We try to spend all our free time in the mountains during the summer, where it is 75 during the day and 40 at night. Our continental climate drives away a lot of full time residents (and keeps my REI biz pretty busy)! This winter has been brutal. I had to do a lot of snow plowing myself as there just wasn’t enough people to hire. 150% of snow pack in the Gallatin range, made a lot of epic memories for our guests.
Summer is also characterized by wildfire as another FYI. we get all of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and California’s smoke, including our own. But this is the case all over the western half of N. America so we are not alone there.
We are in the tropics so love to travel to the snow. This year we did the Finnish Lapland and Tallinn, Estonia. We love snow!
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@MikeBozeman. Thank you for explaining the climate of a place I lived for quite a few years.
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