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I sometimes get guests who barely speak English and clearly have no idea what to expect when they arrive. I have also noticed that they see my listing translated into another language that I can’t even read. I am thinking the guests I get are coming from some sort of foreshortened advertising site that only shows bedroom page photo and price and location and nothing else so guests don’t know what they are booking. And I figure Airbnb doesn’t care because the more people book the more fees they collect. And if guests and hosts have to cancel that’s just more fees for Airbnb.
In my experience, fluency in English has nothing to to with the guests reading the listing. We currently have two guests from England who are uncomfortable with dogs. I am clear to the point of overkill in pointing out that we have two large dogs. They are also surprised and frustrated by the distances between tourist attractions in Los Angeles, CA. This is something that we point out in our listing with this verbiage, “We highly recommend that you rent a car and/or use Uber to get around. Los Angeles is spread out and public transportation is inefficient.” They just left the house without closing the front door. One of our house rules is, “Don’t let the dogs out the front door or the side gates.”
I suspect that this isn’t the case. I might be wrong but I think that this refers to the Google ads that Airbnb is using. (This means that their ads are returned in the search engine results at the top of the page). Google ads cost money and this is why booking taken from them could have a higher fee than normal.
I really doubt that there is ‘some sort of foreshortened advertising site’.
Oh Ellen… sorry. That sounds like they pretty much did everything you don’t want.
LA is a big sprawl without a far reaching public metro. I mean there are the buses but we all know you gotta have wheels to do LA. I guess it’s difficult for people used to living in dense European cities to get the concept. I have had guests want to try to book without a car and it’s just a no go.
I suppose you should review them honestly. Guests didn’t read our description rules and therefore they were not a good fit for our place.
If they do leave a bad review, it probably calls for some kind of response. Let us know if you want or need help writing it.
Check your PMs. I’m going to send you one in just a few.
Thanks for feeling my pain. It’s going to be a long nine days. I hate it when people feel the need to tell me how disappointed they are with Los Angeles. I live here so clearly I like it here. I would never go to someone’s home town and tell them everything I didn’t like about it. Here’s a partial list of where they want to go: In-N-Out Burger, Chick Fil A, Dunkin’ Doughnuts, Carl’s Jr. Ugh.
Does anyone know how many people are using the AirBNB platform solely on a phone? Have you looked at your listing on a phone? It is really easy to book on this tiny screen, but it is much harder to see the whole house description or house rules. I think a fair number of people simply never “see” this important stuff.
I think that it is possible that certain listings are more likely to be booked via phone as well. Places where you are getting last minute bookings, folks passing through, and people who don’t feel that they “need” to see details.
But that is in direct odds with Ellen’s current guests. Who books a place for 10 days and doesn’t understand EXACTLY what they are buying? I have been known to spend three or four days picking just the right place for a four-day stay. So, my conjectures might have nothing to do with reality!
As you lived in Los Angeles this will amuse you. One of the guests has been here about 24 hours and has told me three times that he’s Christian. He also told me that he likes Trump because Trump is anti-abortion. Yes, everyone I told him that Trump doesn’t care about abortion; he just wanted the religious right’s vote. This guest wants to check out the night clubs on the Sunset Strip tonight. The evil twin who lives inside me enjoyed telling him that anti-gay attitudes won’t fly in West Hollywood (which we call Boys’ Town).
That is shear disrespectful.
In my 1.5 years of hosting a full house that we live in part time too, is that generally people just read the first couple of lines rules, or only read after they have booked.
I have nothing of great value but have a big damage deposit of $1500. to avoid trashing.
I email my guests to communicate what they are after. I do not accept youngsters under 27 as they all want to party. If I feel unsure, I email the house rules and get them to confirm they understand them.
Having said this I’ve been lucky to have had really lovely families or friends stay.
What I thought most disturbing was that they left the front door open. I know you have that dog rule about the front door but really, who does that anyway in a home situation…to leave the front door open…in ANY situation?! Totally rude.
So what can or will you say to them to make sure it doesn’t happen again? (I’m just trying to come up with what I would say.)
I have had wonderful guests under 27 years old. I’ve had two 24 year olds who were working on their Ph.d. theses, one in history of religion and one in computational biology. We just had two guests who are 20 years old who are studying abroad at Cornell. We had an 18 year old and 17 year old brother and sister who live in Idaho, but needed to do something at the Austrian consulate. They brought me jam that their mother made from raspberries that she grew. These are not exceptions. We have had almost all positive experiences with young guests.
I don’t think there’s anything I can say. The guest is having trouble understanding how to use the deadbolt lock. He keeps locking it when he wants to open it and vice versa and not understanding what the problem is. He then needs my help pulling the key out of the lock. It slides right out.
With respect, I have to disagree. Some of my best guests have been teenagers. They are very respectful of the house rules, leave the place in great shape and always (unlike older guests) are more concerned about recycling and turning off the AC.
To say that under 27 year-olds want to party seems like way too much of a generalisation. When I was 26 I was the mother of a five year-old and partying was the last thing on my mind.
I read these kinds of statements a lot when I first joined this forum and was very concerned when I had my first young people booking. And they were great. As were all the ones that followed. Now I live in the house. Partiers are not going to stay with someone their mother’s age in order to party. I have been relieved that I have not had a problem with any of my younger guests. Unlike @jaquo, I have not had any bookings from teenagers without their parents.
Good point. I always make sure that guests know that I am onsite. This means that with younger guests they know in advance that I am going to act like their mother - or in the case of really young guests, their grandmother!
I’d guess that the majority of my guests are using only their phone. I know I am now using my phone more than this laptop to manage my 2 listings.
You are dead right, though, about people not seeing all the details because they just don’t take the time. I’ve tried to shorten my descriptions as much as possible so the entire paragraph(s) will show, but even after doing that there’s still a lot that gets cut off.
Yeah I totally get why you’d be frustrated. Uber isn’t even expensive in LA so I don’t even get their reticence. Hope they make it to Santa Monica food market and don’t just do a junk food tour.
