We have about one black guest stay with us every couple of years. Literally. No more than that. I have no idea why.
So, last month we got a booking for this month from a black man hailing from Africa. So, he’s not African American… just African. And we get even fewer bookings from Africa. I could only think of two from the past. One was a black African and the other one was a white family from South Africa.
This guest’s first message was a little confusing. He said, “Hi Jon it’s Philippe (name changed) i will be back to yours on february.”
Hmm, I thought… whatever, I guess we’ll see him in February! When he said, “I will be back to yours on february” he had booked twice - once for two days this week and again for a few more days next week. So when I read that I wondered for half a second what he meant but figured he meant ‘he will be back’ again a week later. Anyway, I got distracted by something more pressing and moved on without giving it another thought. It just seemed like some kind of broken English talk that I’d never figure out.
The funny thing was, when I looked at his picture, I remember thinking - he’s gonna be a great guest. I could tell - even though he wasn’t smiling in his photo - you could tell he had that warm big-smile African personality.
A few hours before he arrived, I even told my wife - we’re really going to enjoy our next guest… I have a good feeling.
So, he showed up yesterday and I welcomed him in and just like I had predicted, he had the biggest warmest smile - even though he didn’t have one in his Airbnb profile photo!
Whenever a new guest arrives, my wife and I always have a 15-second argument right after they buzz us about who is going to welcome them. Sometimes we both do it, but usually just one of us does. Whoever is most burnt out on welcoming guests stays hidden back in our living area while the other goes out for what we call ‘show time’.
This time, I immediately volunteered to do it because I was looking forward to meeting him.
After I welcomed him in I started showing him how the lock works on the front door. And he gave me a look like, ‘Umm hmmm… you think I’m stupid.’ I was a little confused and didn’t understand why he seemed somewhat impatient with me showing him how to get in and out of the door! Most guests like to see that when they first arrive.
After I finished showing him how the locks work, I started telling him, as we do with all guests, how to get to Manhattan from our place. He had the most bored look on his face I’ve ever seen. So much so that I said, “You are going to Manhattan, right?” And he said, “Yep, but I’ve been here before so I know how to get there.” I said, “Okay, no problem”. And I stopped telling him.
Then he said, “So where’s your wife?” Which was a little weird. Even though we’re both pictured in our profile, no one ever asks to see the other one when they arrive! But, I said, oh, she’s back in our room and then I called for her to come out. She comes bouncing out and the minute she saw him she said, “I feel like I’ve seen you before!” I thought she meant because she had seen his profile photo a few weeks earlier when he first booked.
Then he said, “YES! You have!” I just looked at both of them and thought, what in the world is going on here? Then he said, “I stayed with you guys back in May!”
OMG! I thought. You’re kidding! Suddenly I started to remember! Now it made sense why he was so bored with my welcome routine. And then I realized it made sense why I had had such a strong impression that he would have a big warm smile - I had a very faint subconscious memory of him.
He then reminded me of how I had taken him to the airport (JFK - the farthest of the three New York airports from our place) on the day he left. I NEVER take anyone to the airport - and especially not to JFK. I would only do that for a very special guest. When he said that, I finally remembered everything. I remembered everything about our conversations, about his personality - but I just didn’t remember his look.
Anyway, I was so embarrassed by that. And I’m a little upset with Airbnb for not indicating in any way to us that he had stayed with us before - although he made the reservation under the same profile he had used previously.
But on his first message to us with this booking - there was no indication he had ever talked to us before. I had always thought that if a guest re-booked, we would see all the past messages between us and them when their new booking came in. But no. This was like a whole new message thread.
I’m even more embarrassed because you’d think out of our one black guest of the year - I’d at least remember what he looked like! But no… not even a clue.
Oh and the one black guest I had been able to think of who we had previously hosted form Africa - before he arrived - was HIM!
It’s really hard though. We host something like 400-500 people a year. They literally begin slipping out of memory a few minutes after they leave. The minute they’re gone we’re thinking about the next guest who is usually arriving a few hours later.
I wish Air would do something better to identify and make us aware of repeat guests - rather than starting an entirely new message thread with absolutely no clue the guest has ever stayed with you before.
