Really? I thought it was a requirement. No wonder guests are asking so many questions 
3 Likes
Questions sometimes are simply to reassure the gust that they are seeing the ‘big picture’.
In my other life, I manage reservations for people going to group events. I often get questions from potential attendees, weeks before the event, asking “how many people will be there?”. Biting my cheek and taking a breath, I reply that we will know that answer when everyone has been booked in; after all, we cannot predict the future. Dumb question, and there is no answer that will make an attendee satisfied, but the real question they are asking is how the event will feel for them. Reading between the lines is the answer here.
All the details about your airbnb tend to get mushed up with expectations and with information from the other places that have found before settling on yours. And as we all know, most guests simply book by photo and then project what they want from their stay.
1 Like
Wait, was that my husband? He loves his baths.
We once booked in Edinburgh, and about a month before we were to arrive the host messaged that they had pulled out the tub and replaced it with a shower. We were disappointed, but as I told the host, hey, a new shower, that sounds nice.
It was not a new shower. I’m not sure where the tub picture came from, but it wasn’t that apartment, at least in the last 10 years.
Other than that, that stay was one of our best Airbnb stays.
1 Like
@HostAirbnbVRBO It appears that my use of the words, “I could weep” seemed overly dramatic. At the time, I could have wept, I tell ya. Yes, going out of my way for this guest and ignoring my gut did backfire. It wasn’t just a lot of questions, it wasn’t just a book of matches. It was a lot of stuff over a long period of time, but I did not and I am not going to go into details because I am “over it”. I went from 5 stars to 4.9 and it was worth it because now I can stop waiting for it to happen. I struggle with things that are just not fair, but there is a lot of that described on this forum. This whole experience was so disheartening. I learned a lot of valuable lessons which is the most important thing, to me. If I can hang on to that thought, that I learned from it, it doesn’t sting quite as badly.
7 Likes
OK. I give up. If it doesn’t mean what it says, “I could weep” What does it mean??
I agree, but that runs counter to how many people these days like their information packaged. “I don’t want to explain that I like your post so I just hit “thumbs up” or” heart" and move on." Or “I don’t really wanna read a lot, just tell me, on a scale of 1 to 5, is this place any good?”
I feel if we left the reviews at just paragraphs we’d eventually have to deal with the lazy reviewers skimping on praise “Great stay! Nice View!” and being too blunt or overblown with warnings, “Worst place ever. Dirty floors!” leading to un-useful reviews.
Without hesitation, I’d reply: Hmm. I’ve never measured it. About knee-height I guess. I’m 5’ 10"
1 Like
If you type LOL, are you, really? 
2 Likes
I had a guest recently who kept messaging and I politely answered the first couple while pointing out all the information was available on the Airbnb listing. After the third time I figured he was going to be a PITA when a guest, in a very busy time I have no trouble getting bookings. Never having used Airbnb’s no penalty cancel option for guests I decided to use it on him to see how it worked. It worked fine. Then he messaged me to say he had been cancelled and didn’t know why and the information he requested was not available on the listing, which it totally was. He finished up saying I was very rude, should accept his booking, and apologise. I didnt reply and blocked him. Then a week later I got a booking request for a week later from a woman with the same slightly unusual surname. I thought it might be him getting his girlfriend to book. I expected a bad revenge review but they were fine. If it was him his girlfriend had obviously told him to stop being a PITA with all the questions or they woudn’t get a place.
4 Likes
OK. Thank you.
But when I type LOL, I’m at least smiling.
I guess I interpreted “I could weep” too literally.
But remember that this is the same post that included:
Really I was laughing at this and was wondering whether @momovich was purposely exaggerating for a humorous effect, a self-deprecating humor, but with disappointment at the real core.
I used to joke in my posts without using the emojis thinking it obvious and funnier without the emojis. But someone suggested that I really put in the emojis to make clear that I was jesting, even if a bit. I thought maybe the same here, at the time.
I accept that a lot of questions from guests is part of the job. Most of our guests have never been to our country (St Lucia) before and don’t know much about it. And we have what looks like a nice house in the US, except there are significant differences (for instance, our house isn’t sealed up - no glass over the windows).
Although I get frustrated over the number of questions I get, we charge a high enough price that I will not reply with “Read the listing, dumb butt”. I may add “the listing and our website (website name) have lots of useful information to help you” after answering the question, but I don’t simply tell them the answer is in the listing.
Like everything else in this business, it all averages out - some ask a million questions, others read the listing and the website and only have a few. The ones that really bother me ask a million questions then book our neighbor.
6 Likes
@HostAirbnbVRBO When I read the original post that sort of described the experience I had with my guest, I got choked up and tears sprang to my eyes. I think they were tears of frustration. It still makes me very, very sad to think about it, even though I am “over” the anger and all the expenditure of effort to try and change the outcome. So I could weep means what it says. Just an expression of empathy, I guess. In my head I’m hearing someone say, “Why get so worked up?” I worked so hard to make it special for the holidays. I don’t want to become jaded. It was disappointing to have things twisted around and to be misrepresented so badly. That’s all.
@momovich I really do understand. I think you meant “I could weep” as in “I REALLY could start crying.” I get it. You put SO MUCH into it and then – well, I think you didn’t spell out all that happened, maybe because writing it out would be a painful reliving of it.
That kind of Host angst happens too when guests don’t even bother to write a review. We recently had posts from a Host who will not host again a guest who does not write a review.
Other hosts have written about the unfairness of getting a 4* star review. Or a review that complained that they had a kitchenette when that’s what the listing plainly said, maybe even repeated that in a confirmation letter.
That’s key. Somehow you want to attain a kind of consciousness where the oblivious, entitled or even somewhat dishonest guest rolls off your back like water on a duck but yet you still put your heart into doing the best for your guests. Not so much so that you’re a better Host but because that’s how you want to live your life.
To me I’ve found it helpful to think of the guests as children.
Some guests – depending on the ‘guest age’ of life you’re catching them – are entitled or just don’t know better. [We get all the time: “I haven’t stayed at an Airbnb before. I didn’t know this is what you get with Airbnb.” [Yikes]. I explain briefly that “Well, every Host is different. This is how we translate hospitality.”
Some you catch at a mischievous phase in their guest life, where they try to game you, sneak in an extra guest, even sneak out – steal – something from the property, try to cover themselves with a retaliatory review or some ‘hack’ they’ve read about.
Some you catch when they’re just so self-absorbed that they don’t notice what’s around them. Like Wendy’s grand-daughter Moira saying to her husband Peter Pan in Hook, “You’re missing it.” Some might have good reason to miss your hospitality: they’re here for a funeral, a sick child, there are relationship challenges.
Some of the children are all grown up, notice what’s around them, sense and feel your hospitality and appreciate it. Appreciate you.
So that’s how I look at it, to help me both shake off any disappointment and still do my best to please the next guests. It’s not perfect. I still get disappointed, like you are and will, but that disappointment quickly goes away and I’m back to it, without feeling like a chump or dwelling on any disrespect.
Hosts here often say that reviews are for future Hosts, so that they’ll know the kinds of behaviors to expect from guests. That’s true.
But I think reviews are also for the guests, to let them know what we noticed, and to do so nicely in both the public and private feedback, playing our part in acknowledging our guests and helping some of them grow up.
2 Likes
This is only semi relevant here as this guest was just obnoxious. However, hosts should be aware that Airbnb is now prompting guests to ask questions, even if the answer is in the listing. I just made a reservation for a private room in a home. It doesn’t have a separate entrance. I’ll be sharing space with the host at the very least when I enter the home. They also have a dog so I’m going to want to share his space, lol.
After making the reservation there’s a message that encourages me to ask questions and when I click on “suggested questions” I get these:
Lauren describes the neighborhood very well. She clearly states that there are common areas of the home. So sometimes if a host feels like they are getting questions that are answered in the listing, maybe it would be best practice to just answer the question as suggested by @PitonView.
It really doesn’t matter what the price point is of the listing, be patient with guests. Maybe it’s not them, it’s Airbnb.
3 Likes
Just glad you didn’t get:
“Hi Lauren, can I please have a 40% discount?”
or
“Hi Lauren, is it okay if we bring three extra people?”
But I guess I don’t really mind questions anyway. At the very least, it gives me a sense of what is important to them or what they may be interested in. Though every once in a while there is someone obnoxious, which is different.
5 Likes
Should probably say “owner occupied basement apartment”, 0r ‘owner lives on site’…
As a big bath person, I can understand wanting to soak in a tub. Lucky, I also have a hot tub at mt listing…
^this! yes, you’ve nailed it.
They aren’t asking for the exact height of the bathtub (to use the previous example), they want to know about how easy it is for them to get in and out of the tub (how can we know that either??), or maybe they are going to grow pot in your tub and want to hook up lights. who knows.
I try to answer with the thought in mind of what their expectations are, but also to answer the question, so saying “it’s an easy height to hook your legs over” isn’t an ok response to the tub question. My hubby loves to answer my questions with what he thinks is the answer to my expectations, and it drives me bonkers. So I’m very aware that some people, like me who are detail-oriented also want the absolute exact answer.
tricky thing, this hospo malarky. I’ve just had a BME so I’m pretty happy with the pay rate though.
2 Likes
Excellent advice and well written
1 Like