Light sensitive guests - How dark is 'dark'?

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Just had a young couple check-out who mentioned that the bedroom is ‘way too bright’ :neutral_face:

We have blackout curtains on both windows which do let a little light pass on either side. The curtains cover a larger area than the window opening in the wall - so it’s some indirect light bouncing back from the curtain against the wall into the room.

For my understanding the room is ‘dark’ at noon, mid-day and we didn’t have any remarks or complaints from other guests (except one, which I will elaborate further down this post).

The guests today voluntarily shared with me (I didn’t ask!!!) that at their home they have rolling shutters on the exterior side of their windows and blackout curtains inside. They are able to sleep normal under those conditions. They explicitly mentioned that the rolling shutters are not enough for them to darken the room.

Needless to say that they slept bad for the last two days. Despite my persistent mentioning to reach out to us if anything is not to their liking when I do the walkthrough with the guests at check-in, they never contacted us :neutral_face:.

Interestingly, they did bring one (!) sleep mask so one of them was left suffering on either night.

Additionally, they had to unplug one of the nightstand lamps as the LED back-light of the lamp control was ‘too much’ for them.

I felt bad that they had to go through this and I wish they would have reached out to me so we could find a sleep mask for them to remedy this situation - but it was not meant to be.

The other instance we had light sensitive guests, they did reach out to us pre-check-in to inquire about the darkening options for the room. So I explained what we have (which can also be seen perfectly well in the photos of our studio :sweat_smile: ) but I did make them aware that the curtains will NOT block 100% of the light and that they should consider bringing a sleep mask to make sure that they get a good night’s rest. Funnily (or not), the husband came out of the studio at 3am in order to disable our walkway lighting which is motion triggered (also by cats) as apparently it bothered him through the blackout curtains and the mask :woozy_face:

So, I wonder to what lengths are you going to make sure that light sensitive guests are also comfortable (as in a 100% black room - during the day)?

We feel that we have done our due diligence and show what the studio offers and don’t consider it necessary to mention that despite our blackout curtains some guests might not be comfortable with that.

I was thinking of adding a paragraph to our booking confirmation auto-message mentioning that we recommend guests with light sensitivity to bring a sleep mask along or guests with other preferences/sensitivities to not hesitate to reach out to us so we can ensure a pleasurable stay.

Not as an excuse but we’re priced at a competitive rate in our area for around $60 a night in a quiet area of our city. Maybe we have done enough what most hosts would do and these kind of guests are just the flukes as we cannot make 100% completely happy.

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Not going out of our way to make thing ‘inky’ black. If potential guests are THAT light sensitive, I figure that that is their problem if they don’t bring it up before or during booking. We have normal sheers and curtains on the windows and glass French doors.

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One would think that if you are that light sensitive that you would always have a sleep mask with you. I’m sensitive to noise and always carry earplugs.
I think what they were expecting from you is a little over the top.

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I signed up on this forum to learn about the ropes of being a ‘good’ host and already implemented recommendations from this forum to make our guests more comfortable.

I appreciate your point of view and was hoping to hear from someone else that there IS a limit on how far we hosts would go to make the guests comfortable.

It’s exactly my understanding that a guest would take precautions when traveling.

Interestingly, I asked the couple how their experience is usually when they stay in Airbnbs during their travels. I seriously wanted to hear their feedback in case I’m the only one slacking off catering to the light sensitive clientele and they admitted that they never experience the bedrooms to be as dark as they would like them to be. :man_shrugging:

I mean, I did ask them for feedback and that’s what I got. Just trying to find a healthy compromise…

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I hosted in an area that attracted people that were chemically sensitive and I stated that I used no fragrances. They would usually ask questions before they booked. I tried to be as helpful as possible but sometimes it was just not possible. I had a refrigerator, not in the bedroom, that someone had a hard time sleeping with.
It is difficult to be all things to all people. You may never get a light sensitive guest again, but I feel it’s up to the guest to ask questions before booking and take a little responsibility for issues that might be unusual.

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You see this is the thing where I ask myself if we should keep some earplugs and sleep masks in stock, so guests could have them at cost if necessary? Maybe a guest forgot to pack their mask or lost one of their earplugs - just to be covered for such unlucky situations?

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Our rooms all have a white noise generator and earplug mini packs. We decided against offering sleep masks because we wanted to provide ‘throwaway’ styled ones but could not find good quality - if anyone knows a good version, please link us.

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It is unreasonable for guests to expect room to be completely dark during the daylight hours. People with sensitivities to light, noise, certain scents, etc need to check with hosts before booking.

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When we first started, we got a lot of the “crunchy granola” types - folks who brought their own soaps, towels, even silverware, so they could have an environment that worked for them. They had no problem with bringing or buying locally what they needed - for example, specific sweeteners like turbonado sugar, or a favorite pillow. We loved these guests; they seemed to self sufficient and made us feel comfortable that they were staying (at that time) in the guest room across the hall.

Over the years we have added loads of amenities and specialty items to our 3 private rooms- most recently hair dryer ‘diffusers’ for curly hair - and so we usually get great reviews based on the abundance of choices the guests have. We are saddened by the ‘tik tok’ entitlement and ‘LPT recommendations’ that make hosting a race to the bottom for pricing and a competition for star reviews. However, we do constantly search for enhancements that will make our (many times multi repeat) business guests happy and content. When a guest asks for something easily sourced, we get it,

We do NOT, however, allow guests with reading comprehension issues or Karen complexes to dictate how our business is run. That is why airbnb allows for cancellations for superhosted IBs; you cannot ‘win’ with guests what see ‘finding faults’ as one of a guest’s duties.

It was a terrible and backwards thing to put on kids in the 80s, but the phrase works really well for us hosts in the 2020s:

JUST

SAY

NO

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I sent you a link for eye masks. If anyone else wants it just let me know.

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Is it not allowed to post the name and model here? It doesn’t have to be a link, just to help everyone else out.

And, in case that’s not allowed either, please send me the info directly. Thank you!

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@Hosterer I don’t think “room darkening curtains” or however Airbnb states that amenity, necessarily means they would make the room pitch black.

And as others have said, guests who have special needs in a rental should check with the host before booking and look after themselves by bringing earplugs, eyemasks, or whatever they require.

I also am sensitive to light when sleeping- I will wake up as soon as any light is turned on or comes in the windows. I have a squishy pillow I use and travel with that I can drape over my eyes and ears. (I like that better than an eye mask).

BTW, I read something about that light sensitivity- it isn’t necessarily that people are just being fusspots, it’s that some people’s eyelids are thinner than others, so what seems like a dark room to you may seem much lighter to me.

I do provide earplugs (not eyemasks) for guests, but when I’ve pointed them out to guests, many say, “Oh, I always travel with my own”.

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I used to sail with a woman who is very light sensitive. When we’d be in shared hotel rooms for “away” regattas, one of her friends would bring duct tape to seal up the hotel room door and tape down the curtains at the sides - even going so far as to tape the eye hole cover!. The woman also had a sleep mask and got pick of the darkest bed in the room.

I would suggest changing the curtain rods, ONLY if you’re so inclined. The ones where the curtain can wrap around the sides of the window really help. My next door neighbor has a motion activated light on the side of his house and it points towards my bedroom window. When it goes off, the light around the edges of a traditional curtain rod (straight across, no bend at the sides) would wake me. I changed curtain rods and now the room is even darker.

I sleep well with ambient light, it was the sudden glare of a light that would wake me.

It seems to me you’ve done a lot for your guests. I wouldn’t sweat it if I were you. If one is traveling and has sensitivities, one should take personal responsibility to pack for one’s needs.

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Are they vampires? LOL I would think that black out curtains would be enough. I wouldn’t worry about their complaint. It’s probably one out of 100 and it’s impossible to please everyone.

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Haha, in fact they were a sportive couple in their twenties, staying for some water sports and the weather was fantastic for that. They did have plenty of time to pursue their sport and I (naively) assumed that they would be exhausted and just sleep like a rock. Our place is already very tranquil and so we thought they can rest comfortably. What an erroneous assessment :joy:

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I appreciate your sympathy. I thought I’d ask here whether I just am a little thin skinned but we did do everything we could to provide a quiet and pleasant accommodation.

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Yeah, I was wondering if this would be a thing that guests actually can expect a pitch black room during daytime? Thank God it isn’t.

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In what has become to be a trend among new parents these days, my youngest daughter followed parenting advice from books rather than from her mom or other experienced parents.

When my granddaughter was born 4 years ago, my daughter was into books about “sleep training”. They apparently advised putting babies to sleep in a completely dark room.

So when they came to visit me when the baby was 4 months old, in spite of the fact that the bedroom they slept in has curtains which block out the majority of light, my son-in-law got up on a ladder to tape pieces of cardboard over the 3 small dome windows that some light comes in.

It seemed so ridiculous to me to train their child not to be able to sleep unless the room was pitch dark, when babies aren’t born not being able to fall asleep if there is any light in the room. I can’t imagine why any new parent would want to make their lives more challenging than they already are.

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Like others, I think that anyone who is light-sensitive (or anything-sensitive for that matter) should take responsibility for themselves and act like real grown-up people rather than children.

Many of us have some special requirements when travelling and it’s up to us to find places that suit us. We don’t expect those places to change just to suit our own peculiarities.

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Muddy I always have enjoy reading your comments… I have learned so much from you!
As a Super Host for 7 years in a very urban environment I too struggled with light in the bedrooms until
I realized that manufactures lie about " room darkening ". You have to buy curtains that have an addl black lining if you want it to
Be truly light darkening. And sometimes I have to add an extra panel so that light does not leak on the sides or in the middle.

The drapes are thick almost like velvet not as pretty hanging but definitely cut the light and yes they cost more too. Now I’m ordering ear plugs for my guests! Thanks to all for your hosting insights

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