@Robert_Dudley - Robert, you made me laugh!, very funny guy! I used to work in an office where everybody would interrupt me, even if my door was closed. So I bought the largest headphones I could buy and pretended I was on conference calls all day long. Even now, when I walk my dog and there is a particularly annoying lady I don’t want to interact with, I wear headphones so that I can pretend I’m on a call. Long ago, when I lived in NYC and had to take the subway from NYU to my home in the burbs, I kept the crazies away by pretending I was crazy by talking to myself…
You could change the word friendly to polite and respectful.
You could word the thing about no guests of guests in a way that makes it about two things:
Insurance wouldn’t cover them (even if this is a fib.)
Welfare of the animals. Explain that too many unknown people milling around make them nervous. (Not sure if you need to fib here. Don’t know anything about goats!)
That way you don’t sound standoffish.
I think the “interaction with guests” section is the place to explain that it is a working farm and you have many chores to complete, but that you are happy to give assistance or tourit info when you are not wielding a chainsaw. Perhaps you could insert some humor here.
The trouble is, do you know anyone who doesn’t think they are “polite and respectful” or friendly? Even my Danish Girls from Hell wouldn’t have thought “Well, we’re rude and disrespectful - better not go there …”
If you really don’t want much interaction with guests, I wouldn’t ask for ones that are “very friendly” as that sounds as though you’re happy to chat.
I do think that guests like interaction with hosts, so maybe you could make a particular time for this? We have the last evening that guests are here as “wine and tapas” … I don’t know what your equivalent would be, something like “Thursday morning is watch the goats being milked time” or that you’re available daily from 9-9.30am for tourist advice?
And I don’t know how you would feel about this, but I do sometimes invite guests to the Soap Mines when I’m making small batches. I get everything measured out beforehand and they have to stand behind a row of chairs (two adult guests only ) but it’s been very popular and leads to quite a lot of sales. I do think that people are interested in a llfestyle like yours especially if they live in an urban environment, and it seems a bit of a shame if their only interaction with you is by impersonal text message.
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Thicker skin.
About 20% of guests never read anything online, or even on the wall.
It’s not a honey and roses, sometimes it’s lemons and weeds
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If they broke your house rules once, a gentle reminder that there are no guests allowed should be offered. Remind them through the AirBnB communication venue so it is noted. If they break the rules twice, cancel the remainder of their stay without refund. You shouldn’t have to wait it out before you can breathe a sigh of relief. And PLEASE leave an honest review, impartially stating what they did so other hosts will know. Honest, unbiased reviews are what help keep AirBnB a safe place.
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I agree that people don’t often read your rules, so if there’s something really important, like not smoking or using text or email to connect, you should call that out separately at check-in. It will make your life much better. I wouldn’t get upset as some people like AirBnB because they don’t want an impersonal hotel. You can’t really blame them for that.
agree…guests typically means overnight guests.
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I have also had my worst month on AirBnB since we launched in August of last year. Always had booking requests daily and now nothing for weeks. Tried rejigging my page, changing my profile picture, uploading new photos, we have over 30 amazing reviews and now nothing. Is anyone else experiencing a slow down? We may have to bail at this rate and be normal landlords for November.
Well I will say that Sept was AWFUL. We only had 2 short bookings, but October is back to normal and we are all booked up for every weekend, but still empty during most week days. We lowered prices for week nights and kept it high on weekends to make up the difference but I am hoping it keeps up like this into holiday season.
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Unless it’s covered in your insurance.
Using Airbnb is not covered by most insurance companies, and they will drop you if they find out you are doing it, so lawsuits are a huge risk.
This is why it’s important for hosts to have legitimate STR insurance.
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The best thing is to ask your insurance company, not hide the fact that you’re renting via Airbnb. When I worked in finance, I had clients who had claims denied because of circumstances that had they known they would have cancelled coverage. I was surprised that my insurance company, Safeco, said that it was fine that I’m renting via Airbnb. This is the same company that threatened to cancel my policy because one of my dogs is a pit bull mix.
Try this company - it was not as expensive as I feared. However, I know your situation is different since you have a farm as well. I have enjoyed my experience with these people.
Cami Dennis
ISU –TRC Insurance
(425) 366-8244 direct phone & fax
(877) 637-1858 x103 toll free
Hi @MissTowa,
Still nothing much going on here. But I got two last minute bookings in October, both from French people. The second is here now. Otherwise my October calendar would have looked really empty. I’d really prefer not to operate in just-in-time mode, but there it is.
I suspect this has as much to do with placement in search as anything, as I have said elsewhere. People can’t book what they can’t see. Check to see what your placement is. @jaquo has also suggested advertising on social media, and listing on other sites is definitely worth doing. I haven’t really done either of these yet, but plan to.
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Great news to hear you got some bookings come in! I called a number I found somewhere on this forum and got to speak to a real human and she told me it is seasonal and nothing to do with my profile. I should have asked her where I rank in terms of placement.
Social Media: This is my day job so I have a geo-targeted ad to run on Facebook and Instagram that has had well over 124,106 impressions in a week and it has increased the number of clicks on my listing; it has not lead to any new bookings sadly.
Instagram ad: https://www.instagram.com/p/BLW5FTAD9c6/
Hi @MissTowa,
Sorry to hear that the social media this isn’t making any magic happen. Maybe give it some time? How expensive are these ads?
I see the top host in Toronto has two reportedly cute cats. And indifferent photos. Maybe cats are the secret? Though, as everyone knows, cute cats make everything better.
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The total budget is only $30 so I’m spending about $5 a day to get a lot of people SEEING the listing on both Facebook and Instagram. I am going to do it again next week to see if time is the key ingredient.
Cats huh? We welcome dogs and that was a huge hit in the first year. books photo shoot with puppies
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I think the idea would be to have ones own pets. I admit to some bias, since I consider myself a cat person, though I’ve never had the pleasure of close acquaintance with one. I did have a cute little toy poodle for some years when growing up. But I’m now allergic to both cats and dogs, so pets are now only a theoretical possibility.
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