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It’s Sunday night (here in Chicago, at least), and I feel like venting. Who’s with me?
I just received my third email asking me something that is answered in the first three sentences of my listing. I really have to bite my tongue (fingers) to not say “can you read??!?!?”
And these are people who have already booked. Really? You booked without knowing if there is parking? If there is wifi? If it’s a whole house?
Maybe it’s just me–when I travel I use Airbnb when I can. And I always, ALWAYS, read every word of the listing because I know you have to make sure anything you MUST HAVE is there before you book.
I feel like Airbnb doesn’t do a good job of telling people that. The amount of people who just presume I can rustle up extra beds, or sheets, or cribs is just staggering.
My price now for each room 2 people is around $40 in the beginning when I just started a woman asked how far we are from the subway station - we have it listed it is 3 minutes walk-, then she said her husband is lazy to walk and which floor are we at- listed it is on the first floor no elevator-, then she bargained due to the ‘far distance’ from the metro haahaha, she bargained about 30% of the price, I gave in and agreed (was trying to buy some reviews and didn’t know this forum existed), after she got the special offer (it was for 4 nights stay) she said that we should put a TV in the room, then I said I could think about it, than she said she wants to eat on the bed which is against my house rules. All of this and her stayed was pre-approved. She then said that due to the far distance from the station and the high climb of stairs (amazing!) She would need us to drive them to the station and supermarket if they wanted to go out, and I should provide a mini refrigerator in the room. I was almost telling her to go eat grass. And then someone else booked the dates hahahahahha.
This back abd fkrth of cknvo went on for over 1 week and she didbt book. When she saw ‘closed’ in her pre-approved stay she vented to me saying that I should rent to her. I said I couldn’t and this is Airbnb system I couldn’t do anything, she said I should then give her my personal bedroom and go out of the apartment because she had already bought transportation tickets from the southern part of the country to my city and that this is ‘unacceptable’ and that I am the scum of the business. Wow, with these nice words she still expected me to leave my house for her to live in. She still added that the sole purpose of their trip was to stay home eating and watching movie. Oh man…give me patience.
I don’t think is nor should be AirBnB’s responsibility to be responsible for the stupidity of the human race. It is the people’s responsibility to know what they are booking, and if they are not held responsible (because the blame goes to someone else) how else will they evolve?
I agree, the question remains: how could people be that stupid?
A young Afghan war veteran (medical discharge, male, EU) stayed for a week with his male friend. I normally dont accept requests from less than 30 year olds but I accepted thinking this guy must be disciplined and probably makes his bed military style. Upon meeting him, he didn’t speak much (maybe because quite a few times I couldn’t understand what he was saying and conversation went cold?). I didn’t want to bother him too long since he just went through war… I gave him my extra smartphone that has data plan so he could navigate the city easily and have a good time.
A week goes by without any call from him and they left quietly. I drove over to inspect the unit. The room he stayed in had nice flowers next to bed. Wow, that’s a first… Naturally I thought both male guests were actually a gay couple. I thought geez it is 2016 and we are in Canada… dont need to hide~
I found my smartphone on kitchen table. There were tons of missed calls and messages… scroll scroll… read… read… W.T.H. !@!@!@ this guy downloaded TINDER (still logged in at the time) and managed to hook up with bunch of local ladies. I could see that at least two TINDER DATES took place in my Airbnb.
Honestly I wasn’t upset at all. He left the unit in relatively clean condition so that makes up everything. I had a good laugh reading his TINDER messages and seemed like his war stories sold quite well. I deleted the app and reminded me not to rent to under 30s yo again… never.
V[quote=“Vera, post:2, topic:5660, full:true”]
My price now for each room 2 people is around $40 in the beginning when I just started a woman asked how far we are from the subway station - we have it listed it is 3 minutes walk-, then she said her husband is lazy to walk and which floor are we at- listed it is on the first floor no elevator-, then she bargained due to the ‘far distance’ from the metro haahaha, she bargained about 30% of the price, I gave in and agreed (was trying to buy some reviews and didn’t know this forum existed), after she got the special offer (it was for 4 nights stay) she said that we should put a TV in the room, then I said I could think about it, than she said she wants to eat on the bed which is against my house rules. All of this and her stayed was pre-approved. She then said that due to the far distance from the station and the high climb of stairs (amazing!) She would need us to drive them to the station and supermarket if they wanted to go out, and I should provide a mini refrigerator in the room. I was almost telling her to go eat grass. And then someone else booked the dates hahahahahha.
This back abd fkrth of cknvo went on for over 1 week and she didbt book. When she saw ‘closed’ in her pre-approved stay she vented to me saying that I should rent to her. I said I couldn’t and this is Airbnb system I couldn’t do anything, she said I should then give her my personal bedroom and go out of the apartment because she had already bought transportation tickets from the southern part of the country to my city and that this is ‘unacceptable’ and that I am the scum of the business. Wow, with these nice words she still expected me to leave my house for her to live in. She still added that the sole purpose of their trip was to stay home eating and watching movie. Oh man…give me patience.
[/quote]
I would ask if you are making this up, but I know you aren’t, sigh. You ought to join our bad guests lounge and add this person’s profile. I certainly don’t want her knockin on my door.
I wish I was makibg this up too. Sigh.
How do I join the bad guests lounge? I already have more than a handful of guests I don’t want even near my home ever and I definitely want to know other similar guest to keep them away from me.
The reason Air does not care if guests read is because Air is not in this business for long term customer loyalty. They are in it for the quick service fee. Since the service fee is only refundable under the extenuating circumstances, Air gets to keep it if guest has to cancel because they didn’t read max occupancy - guest has to cancel because they didn’t think to ask if their kids count. Guest has to cancel because they didn’t realize the host actually lives in the place. Guest has to cancel because they didn’t read there are dogs in the house, and guest is terrified of dogs - blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
All of these listing sites push and push instant booking because consumers are impulsive and they don’t READ. The site says too bad, too sad…you should have read - not our fault.
If Air gave a shit about making sure both host and guest have a great experience, they would encourage guests to read every detail, re-check the amenities provided, and reiterate that they are bound to the cancellation policy BEFORE submitting the reservation.
I have the same thing happen all the time. People are looking at multiple bookings, going back snd forth trying to find the best price, location, etc., and in the process they don’t look at the details. It’s typical, but still irritating.
Even if Airbnb makes them tick a box saying they’ve read the rules and details doesn’t mean they actually have, much like we do when asked at the end of a huge description of some TOS.
But I do love it when a guest does follow the rules, and I don’t have many. Presently I have a kid staying who eats bags of cookies in bed and doesn’t wash his dishes. I hate to do it but think I’ll put those rules back in the list.
As I’ve said before, the vast majority of my bookings come via instant book, but so much of my time on the site has been spent answering “booking enquiries” from people who never end up booking. I’ve started to wonder whether these messages are even worth replying to. I know another host who will respond to such enquiries with a message saying “.” - this way AirBnB won’t penalize her for not responding, but you don’t have to waste time dealing with pointless enquiries.
@Vera - I have to say that the cheaper your rooms the more the crazies come out. I know a number of people here who offer a shared experience for $40 a night and I think that is CRAZY too low. People value what they have to pay for.
We set up our listing on the theory that people don’t read text, but they look at pictures. We’ve had plenty of guests who didn’t look at the pictures. Some are surprised that we have dogs; we have several pictures of our dogs. One couple was surprised that we have two twin beds instead of one larger bed; we have pictures of the beds. I think that a lot of guests search for the price they want to pay and the available dates and assume everything will be to their liking. This will work if the guests are easy going, but if they are particular they need to ask questions. Unfortunately, everyone seems to see themselves as easy going no matter how particular they are.
Even less than 40$. Thats i why i started doing longer term instead 1-2 nights minimum because this is what i would end up doing: changing beds non stop for 35-40$ a night . Market is filled with hosts, hotels this year even cheaper than last
You ought to join our bad guests lounge and add this person’s profile. I certainly don’t want her knockin on my door.