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Yes, I’ve read posts from hosts of high-priced listings whose well-off guests nit-picked and had numerous complaints, left a huge mess behind them, treated the staff very badly, and were obviously super entitled.
Whether people are respectful of others has nothing to do with their economic status.
I do have “low rates comparatively” as my place is what I consider a simple place without all the “bells and whistles” (though large). It is intentionally priced to be affordable to larger groups that could not otherwise travel and gather all in one location at a place near the beach. We are on site, as the property is in our basement. I could charge quite a bit more as we are in a resort area and there is high demand during “the season”. We provide quite a few basic amenities, the kinds of things I would want if I had a passle of kids and family to please. It is in no way fancy, but family oriented and comfortable.
I never said anything about “people with less money” as mentioned by KKC. All I stated was the facts as I have observed them: I lowered my rates and certain things happened which I related to the “quality of guest”. “Quality” simply means “the standard of something as measured against other things” it doesn’t imply economic anything. I lowered my rates and things happened, I raised my rates and they stopped. That’s all I said.
You may not have intended it as such, but the above quote does in fact equate quality of guests to the price of a listing.
Your personal observation that you got poorly behaving guests when you lowered your price and upped your guest count in order to fill your holiday calendar, is of course your valid experience, but what I have tried to get across is that was probably because you were underpricing for what you offer, which can lead to getting guests who are simply looking for a bargain, rather than basing their search on what is a reasonable price for a certain type of listing in a certain location.
For instance, shared hostel rooms in my town, where guests share bathrooms, the cleanliness of which may be questionable, and where they may have to put up with other guests being loud, or otherwise objectionable, go for $20-$25. If I were to try to price lower in order to get bookings, I would be underpricing and could very possibly get poor quality guests who don’t look at value for what is offered, but just the price.
Instead I get guests who read my listing, think “For $10 more I can get a private room with a private bath, only sharing the kitchen with the host, at a place with great reviews”. They are looking at all the factors, not just the price, and having reasonable value expectations. So even though my nightly rate is a good deal for what I offer, it isn’t the cheapest place they could book.
Understood. However, I wasn’t equating “quality of guest” with economic status of guest. Nor am I equating “poorly behaving guests” with economic status as some of these conversation seem to imply. I didn’t plan to lower the price, but when I saw the glut of STRs in the area at the lower rates (accompanied by the holiday incentive offered by Airbnb to lower the rate for a holiday “package deal” of boosting options which when I finally figured them out found them to be pretty worthless) I did the deed. When I raise the rates in a few weeks I will find out if I pay the price or if I get the bookings that I need.
Reading these complaints I notice they all have one thing in common- the host does not live in or around the listing. Airbnb was a miraculous idea when it was just “use your spare room for spare change”, then people got really fancy with tree houses, etc- then all the half hearted folks who simply bought up properties all over the place to “airbnb it even though I may not even live in the same state” got into the game.
I try to figure out how they do it- such as, do they have a house cleaner just waiting in the wings 24/7 to come clean the place before the next guest arrives in the afternoon? What if they can’t make it? My husband and I do ALL the cleaning as soon as people leave.
Are you forcing guests to strip beds, take out the garbage, etc? Who wants to do that? Not me- and the last place we stayed like that and followed their many clean up Instructions to the letter we got a little private note saying “were you on a hurry? The place was a mess”- what BS! How do you know? You live in another state, and no we did not.
Also how is it a “bed and breakfast”? At our place we provide gluten and gluten free bread, dairy milk, almond milk, butter, jam, peanut butter, cream cheese for the bagels we provide, coffee, tea and hot chocolate!
Everyone is ASTONISHED that there is even a crumb of food in our place. WE EVEN TAKE CARE OF DOING THEIR DISHES!
I am there 99.9% of the time at check in so I can point everything out- heat, cool, fridge, filtered water, drawers in the bathroom that have personal incidentals if you forgot your toothbrush, etc.
I guess we simply do not want a bad reputation- if you’re not going to be serious about hosting, then I suggest they get out of the game!
Margi
Airbnb is just a catchy business name. It doesn’t mean that breakfast is offered, just as it doesn’t mean guests just get an air mattress to sleep on.
I have a private room listing and guests share my kitchen. While I provide tea and coffee, I have never provided breakfast, nor have any of my guests expected it. Most of my guests actually get up earlier than I do, and are up and out before I get up, having breakfast at one of the hundreds of eateries in my touristy beach town. I offer accommodation, I’m not running a B&B.
And many hosts who used to provide breakfast food have stopped doing so, as so much food didn’t get eaten and went to waste.
Like many aspects of hosting, much depends on your location, listing type, and demographic of guests you get. If you attract a lot of older couples, who may expect a traditional B&B type experience, or live in a remote location with no stores or restaurants around, then breakfast might be a good thing to offer. My guests are not interested in that.
I am certainly not going to be happy about washing guest’s dirty dishes, and have never had to do so. After preparing and eating their meals, my guests always clean up after themselves.
The great thing about Airbnb is that there are so many different listings to choose from, with different things on offer. Hosts not offering breakfast, or not washing the guests’ dishes, or anything else you may believe is important, aside from providing a clean, comfortable accommodation and all the amenities listed in one’s ad, does not equate to “not being serious about hosting”.
(BTW, I get solid 5 star reviews)
However, I do agree with you that there are far too many “investor hosts” who don’t seem to care about anything except making a profit.
@Margi1 Are you forcing guests to strip beds, take out the garbage, etc?
I love what you wrote, Margi. I provide similar breakfast foods and it’s a big hit with guests.
Our insurance underwriter was worried about “breakfast” so I no longer bake muffins. Almost everything is sealed up and new–I provide sugar and coffee that has been available previously, but I also have single serving packaging of sugar/coffee for those who might be concerned. I expense the food, we eat the leftovers, and I provide new for the next guests.
To me, if check in time is, say, 3pm…then the property should be up to a reasonable temperature at that time.
Otherwise, it isn’t fit for purpose.
At my first Airbnb in AZ, I had an option for guests. For an extra fee, I baked scones/muffins, sliced fruit and coffee and tea. I loved doing it occasionally, but would not have wanted to do it 5 days a week.
That rental had a full kitchen, but some people didn’t mind the extra expense for a provided breakfast.
My place now, the rules said no cooking for guests. Doubt if making a baked item is cooking, but for some reason I didn’t add that complication to my present place.
Well, @Margi1 you didn’t read my “complaint” and you’re making a lot of assumptions. We are listed as owner-occupied so we are right there. We ask guests to take out their trash and lock the door at checkout. Actually, I’m going to stop having them take out the trash because they do it so badly. I greet every guest at check-in. We have all 5 stars, so far. So, wrongo.
One of my House Rules is an ETA, just for that reason. Then I can leave a porch light on if they are arriving at night and turn up the heat. We now have a google hub which they can adjust to their preferred temp. Our “Smart system” allows 3 adjustments “Away”, “Home” and “Sleep” mode. I’m not fully heating a unit when no one is there, but can’t imagine walking into 45 degrees but how that was determined Is unusual. I just walked into one of my units and it was 60 degrees which bumped up. My power bill for two houses was $600 last month so I’m careful… but if guests don’t pay attention to my House Rules they might be inconvenienced. Even Hotel rooms can be chilly when first entering them.
That is a great shame and easily avoidable. We had a similar thing with my elderly Mum in Australia but this time it was heat. We had gone up steep stairs and I couldn’t work out how to turn on the air conditioner. My Airbnb cottage has a remote air con wifi connection so I can turn it on before guests arrive.
Comfort is everything!! Cheers
Our best guests were an Austrian couple on a budget who stayed with us when we first opened, and before we remodeled, at $36/night. They’ve since become good friends, and I’ve seen photos of their palatial home in the Alps - they weren’t slumming, they just prefer to spend their money on other things.
Our worst guests were city folk who came during high season after the remodel and paid 5X that; they claimed to be Ticos (Costa Rican) and yet they freaked out over totally normal stuff (5 bugs, we’re in the jungle that’s nothing), ran out in the middle of the night, and demanded their money back.
As a guest, I’ve traveled the entire world on Airbnb and always had a good experience.
Some people just like to complain. 