Highs and Lows of a Host during 2017

Thanks for your input lordhunt (and indeed to everyone else, it is always so interesting to see the different approaches) however I am still at a loss as to what happened, I think Air would either remove your listing if it felt you had somehow broken their T&Cs otherwise maybe you are just low on the search criteria, if you are keen to continue hosting, if I were you I would find out exactly what is going on and then consider your options.

Brilliant now exactly how does one go about finding out what Airbnb does not promote my listing? If I knew I would do something about itā€¦ . . except lower the charges to less then what it costs me to wash the sheets. Airbnb is very cheeky that way.

Hmm , why donā€™t you search as a potential guest and see your ranking and take it from there?

There are certain things a host has to do to remain high in the search rankings. If you donā€™t do any of those things you will just sink lower and lower. One thing I noticed this summer was that my ranking went down when I blocked a bunch of days off and it took about 6 weeks to get back up to the same booking level I had before I took time off. The busier you are, the busier youā€™ll be. The slower you are the fewer bookings youā€™ll have. Airbnb rewards active hosts with happy guests.

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Reflecting? Weā€™ve had wonderful guests this (last) year. Except for the one girl who booked one night with us, walked in with her 4 unexpected friends, and complained that her ā€œsuiteā€ didnā€™t have a full kitchen - which is fully explained in my listing. They left, found another place and then wanted a refund. I told them they didnā€™t cancel within the allotted time. I guess my biggest frustration is when guests donā€™t fully read what they are getting. On the other hand, weā€™ve had wonderful experiences too. We had the family from India who politely asked to use my kitchen (in my quarters) and proceeded to make a huge Indian dinner and we all had a wonderful time. The vet who clipped my dogs toenails! The wedding party family was a hoot! Then we had guests from our own town who were having their floors refinished and stayed with us for 4 nights! For me, the proā€™s far outweigh the conā€™s and I had no idea it would be so much fun to host people from all over the world.

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Hi. My high was a family fleeing the Florida hurricane. I was a brand new host with crappy pictures. Turned out the guy was a professional photographer and in our many conversations he offered to take photos - and was sincerely interested in helping me. He and wife also hosts and they gave me tons of advice. They didnā€™t know what they were going home to - if their house would even be there and they were just here waiting day to day and very grateful to be here and safe.
My low was like so many of you - people nice to your face - love everything then give a bad review.

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What a good idea for a discussion thread. Thank you, R! In 2017, I had 182 bookings, approximately 350 guests, with 98% of my ratings at 5-stars. The lowest low: finding out that my landlord wants his house back this summer, so I will have to move out of the amazing Airbnb I created and close it down in August. Second lowest: The nightmare guest who refused to leave the apartment, screamed like a hyena when I told her she needed to be out in 15 mins (3 hours after checkout time, and after multiple reminders, offers of assistance, etc), and flatly refused to leave ā€œuntil it works for me.ā€ I had to get Airbnb to oust her. The highest high: my best friend moved into one of my guest rooms as a long term housemate. The next highest high: My Chinese guests, Angel and her adorable 9-year-old daughter, Summer. They live an urban lifestyle in China, and Summer had never been to a farm or a natural forest area, so I took them on an outing to the Little Farm (an observation and petting farm for kids in a regional forest) and Lake Anza (in the same forest) and had one of the best days of my year. Summer also wanted to help me in my garden, so we did that one day, and it was great fun. They still communicate with me on We Chat, and it makes my day when Summer sends me recorded messages saying ā€œI miss you.ā€ It was a nice hosting year for me. I donā€™t let the vanishingly small number of icky guests outweigh the awesomeness of the majority of guests, and the occasional ones who become fast friends. Theyā€™re why I love Airbnb hosting. Happy New Year, fellow hosts!

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Iā€™ve always loved your posts and hope you find a new Airbnb to host in the future! :heart_eyes:

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Oh no, It looks like my window of opportunity to stay at your Airbnb is closing upā€¦ How lucky to have found a landlord to let you do airbnb the way you did. Are you going stay in the bay area?

What tactic did they use? It seems odd that Airbnb could do what you could not. Did they send the goon squad from HQ? LOL.

As I posted above one of my Chinese guests was also my high.

I second this as well.

Good luck with your search for a new airbnb house.

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@konacoconutz Thank you! Itā€™s not easy to find a rental where the landlord will allow Airbnb hosting, so it may not be in the cards. But I do plan to try. Itā€™s a lifestyle Iā€™m pretty attached to now.

@KKC Haha! The Airbnb Goon Squad! LOL. They just called the guest and told her that she had to leave, and she did. Iā€™m not sure what magic they used, and at that point, I didnā€™t care. In California, itā€™s pretty scary when someone refuses to leave, since the law is on the side of squatters. But I donā€™t mind admitting that I was prepared to enter with my key and start putting her luggage out on the sidewalk if she hadnā€™t left soon after the Airbnb call. Iā€™ve done that before the one other time someone (a guy who was drunk, high, and belligerent) refused to leave. My friends and I toted his things in boxes and bags to a nearby coffeeshop as he chased us down the street protesting. Thank you for the well-wishes.

I expect that they offered her free accomodation elsewhere, inflicting her on another host and rewarding the undesirable behavior.

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Knock on wood, weā€™ve had wonderful guests. The vet who trimmed my dogā€™s toenails. The Indian family who cooked a whole meal for all of us in the kitchen. The only ā€˜problemā€™ we had was a group of young women who came in, then left saying they thought they would have the whole house. My listing is ā€œPrivate Entry Suite with kitchenetteā€. Do I have to explain what a suite is? I got the whole night stay and didnā€™t give them a refund. This business is bound to have itā€™s highs and lows. I do think, from reading other host posts, that Airbnb should be more forgiving about removing a bad review. I also think we should be able to rate our guests. Itā€™s only fair.

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