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Talking about reading listings and house rules, I’m finding that guests are getting better at this. Recently, I’ve had guests who have said ‘we chose your place because we love the house rules of no partying and the quiet hours’.
Our current guests said that they had chosen to stay with us because our listing says (nicely) that we do not accept children. (Therefore a lack of kid noises).
I’ve had recent guests who have appreciated the fact that we do not allow pets because of their allergies.
I’m getting more and more bookings from people who say that they chose us because of the location, the reviews or the view from the rental.
Is this a new trend? Are guests suddenly starting to actually read?
I’ve had over 400 guests and I find any age related stereotypes to be unsupported by my experience. I’ve had guests of all ages who were varying degrees of quiet, tidy, clean, knowledgeable about recycling and in the habit of saving energy and water.
The whole idea of shared economy. Because money is involved they think they must be getting something extra from staying at someone’s house rather than a hotel. It’s a never-ending stream of demands and attention seeking. I do make exceptions for other hosts though - they seem to be more capable of handling life in general. This topic was addressed not so long ago on the forum:
I must be reading this incorrectly. Surely you’re not saying that people over 50 don’t ‘get’ the sharing economy? People of my mother’s generation knew more about it than we do today.
The topic you quoted is typical - ‘after one year of hosting…’
After only one year of hosting, no-one can identify a trend. That’s certainly not long enough to identify a global trend as in a mere year, hosting and guests can be affected by many factors.
Regarding age differences, take a look at surveys. They invariably group people by age. (10% of people under 25 do such-and-such, whereas 26% of people over 60 etc…) and this isn’t stereotyping, it’s categorising. But just as a survey of 1000 people isn’t indicative of the population, one year of hosting isn’t enough to identify a meaningful trend.
When you turn 50 I hope you remember your comments! (If you’re fortunate you’ll get there too.) Hopefully people won’t treat you the way you treat 50+ people now. Then again, it’s what you’ll deserve, idn’t it?
Yeah, I get some older people (MUCH older than 50) who ask a lot of questions, but they aren’t usually questions that are already answered in my listing. At least they take the time to read what is posted. And I usually don’t mind answering those because they are at least interesting instead of the bleeding obvious.
I agree with @jaquo they nearly always leave the house nicely, zero complaints from neighbors and I have much more peace of mind during their stay.
In short… send your 50+ guests my way. I’ll take them!
I absolutely agree. Hosts (i.e. you and me) are certainly more capable of handling life in general. We are simply more intelligent, more polite and generally much better behaved than “ordinary people”
I had one 74 year old woman this year traveling with her son. They went to 23 “pubs” creating their own beer crawl, plus the three beer “factory” tours. She sprinted up our steep hill and then bounded up the three flights of stairs to their rooms. Previous trips had been to Kentucky, for a bourbon exploration. You get the idea. She comes from the UK twice a year to visit her son, and the two of them head out in his custom built GM to find alcohol. They were great fun!
And they are not alone. I get lots of older guests and with only one exception, they have “gotten” it just fine.
I’m curious too. I just had a 20 something here that didn’t “get it”…like how to clean a stovetop after frying eggs, or how to hang a used towel on a towel rack rather than stuffing in back into the cabinet on top of clean towels…I could go on…
