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One day I came home from work to find that the city had installed a streetlight right across from my house that shone directly in my guest room window. I always had curtains in that room which were not blackout curtians, but as I had a guest arriving in 2 days, I had to run to the fabric store (a half hour drive each way), buy some blackout fabric and quickly hem it to size.
I use clip rings for curtains, as it’s so easy to just unclip them when they need a wash. So I didn’t bother attaching the blackout to the curtains, I just clipped it on under the curtain fabric.
If the curtain rods aren’t too far out from the window, and the fabric is wide enough to drape in folds, I’ve found that little to no light comes in the sides. I also see a lot of curtain rods hung incorrectly. Rods are supposed to extend at least several inches past thewindow frame and the supports mounted at the ends, just next to the finials. I often see rod supports mounted at the edge of the frame instead. Light will get in for sure if that’s the case.
This is sooooo true. I personally like it very dark in a bedroom and we travel with tape to put over all the damn lights in hotel rooms and elsewhere. I’ve stayed in Airbnbs that claim they have “room darkening” or “blackout” curtains and they block light but they are not blackout. I’m not sure why that term is misunderstood…Blackout, means no light. I hang curtains at the top of the wall for two reasons, to stop light leakage and to make the windows/doors look taller.
If they removed the tape and it didn’t leave any residue, you’d never know.
And you’d give a 1* review for a guest putting tape on something if it didn’t cause any damage? Yeah, you’re probably one of the only hosts who would do that.
Well, “Room darkening” doesn’t mean no light enters at all. I have thick curtains in my own bedroom, which aren’t blackout fabric, but when closed, the room is certainly dark enough to sleep, and I am light sensitive.
The only way to tell if a fabric is going to truly be “blackout” is to hold it up to strong light and see if any comes through.
I would pass on any rental that has light or sheer curtains in the bedroom. I’ve even seen listings where there aren’t any window coverings in the bedroom at all because there’s a nice view and the place is out in the countryside with no close neighbors. As if the host never considered that not everyone wants to wake up at dawn or walk around naked or have sex with uncovered windows.
I prefer my rooms dark too but I’m not as sensitive as these guest and I do agree with the other hosts that if you have that level of extreme need for dark (I keep thinking Vampire LOL) then it is upon them to reach out to you but also for them to provide their own sleeping masks, etc.
But having said that, in the bedroom, I provide room darkening roller shades and then on top of that I have BlackOut room darkening curtains over that. Even with these two, there is still some light that comes out of the top a little. On the window that also has the outside spotlit, in addition to the shade and curtains, I purchase a paper black out shade that I put under the roller shade.
You really can’t please everyone. I try to make my listing very clear in words and In photos.
I really am getting tired of guests complaining after they have checked out so that I can’t help them. I now leave a note that says to let. I do think some guests don’t like to confront the host with issues (even thought we prefer it) or don’t want the host in their space once they check in.
The letter I know leave on the kitchen table (fancier than this but this is the main text)
Shortly after you check in we will be sending you a mesage to make sure everthing is as you expected. PLEASE REPLY!
If you check in and find that you did not get an anemity that was expected and/or if somehting is not working correctly or if you feel the suite has not met your cleaning expecations, please let us know so that we can make it right. Airbnb wants guests to reach out to hosts first so that we can earn our 5 stars.
If we don’t know about an issue, we can’t make it right for you.
Yeah, another important point you brought up here.
While we try to describe our listing as accurately as possible - both in photos and text (shame that we cannot upload videos…) there is no way we can address every possible disturbance a guest may have due to sensitivities. Where to draw the line and prevent potential guests from being bored to death, reading through all the sensitivities information???
One example, we had a guest who complained that the smoke detector is blinking. It blinks every 30 seconds so it’s not like a computer game, seizure inducing light show - it exists to indicate proper function and should never be covered. Smoke detectors are legally required in several countries but some guests may use this as a reason to leave less than 5 stars because of having it installed in the bedroom.
Those detectors are not an amenity and are required by law (in some countries) - so it’s unfair to judge an accommodation based on that fact. Furthermore, all other amenities and aspects (cleanliness, location, responsiveness of the hosts etc.) move into the background when a review is based on a sensitivity trigger.
I personally like that extra attention you give to the guests but I could imagine that there is also a limit on how much most guests want to be ‘bothered’ once they’ve checked-in. We may have to do this as well as for the moment our in-person welcome and walk-through doesn’t seem to reach all guests when we ask them to get in touch with us if they have questions or concerns. I do repeat this multiple times during the walk-through plus make them understand that we work from home and usually there is always someone on-site to respond immediately. Still, we have guests who wait one or two days before we ‘accidentally’ find out something is off (couldn’t find the extra pillows etc.) just because we said good morning when we cross our ways and I inquire if everything is in order.
If there are other effective ways to help guests feel not pressured but motivated to contact us in case they need anything, I’m all ears.
I stopped doing the meet and greet and walk through because it seems that most guests prefer to self-checkin and be left alone. I feel that a quick message about 10 minutes after they check in (along with the welcome letter) is just the right amount of contact.
Since I live below, I usually try to say hello at some point in their visit if I happened to be around and hear them leaving. Just to put a friendly face behind the suite.
Sometimes we have guests who don’t seem to understand how to use a bus or where to find the extra pillows (even though I tell them where they are!) so it’s a huge help for our guests to answer any questions they may have right when they arrive.
I have a manual with tabs for things like buses, etc. I even have pull-out flyers and recommended apps to use for public transportation, etc.
For the pillows, I used to label my closets with what was inside them but I actually got complaints that they felt I was too anal. Go figure. I do mentioned in the welcome message that there are extra pillows, towels, cleaning supplies, blankets in the closets. My place only has 3 closets so it should be easy to find (but I’m sure someone will eventually complain).
I do hope you are just being snarky there. The tape is blue painters tape and you’d never even know it had been used. With all the electronics and stuff, there are more blue and white lights shining than ever. We also travel with clothespins in case curtains don’t really meet in the middle.
To be fair, hosts do the same thing. I.e. decide not to call a guest out on something they are doing during their stay that is annoying or against rules, but then mention it in the review and ratings.
I’d like to say that when a guest does something against the rules but gives us a feeling that they are confrontational etc. we sometimes do not say anything to the guest, so that they do not ‘retaliate’ with a nasty review. We then call out their discrepancy in a review.
Since the majority of our stays are under 3 nights (and max 5) we have found that correcting a guest when they will be leaving the next morning only creates tension. Of course, we temper this based on egregious the rule break is - shoes in the house, for example, no biggie, but extra guest coming in, immediate action.
Personally, I would not call out a guest in a review for something I decided not to mention during their stay. If hosts want guests to give them a chance to correct an issue, I feel we should give them the same chance.
(Cleanliness,of course, can’t be assessed until hosts see how the guests left the place, unless it’s a homeshare and the guests didn’t clean up after themselves in shared spaces during the stay)
But as Rolf explained, many hosts decide not to mention some annoyances or violations during a stay, to avoid conflict with the guest or a retaliatory review. It depends on how egregious the guest’s behavior is.
OK I understand. Since you brought it up, I thought there were certain specific broken house rules that you would be referring to.
As far as I can imagine I’d not contact the guest if they’d speak very loudly inside the accommodation where we can hear it inside the house - especially if it’s outside quiet hours. I’d consider that as an annoyance anyway. With breaking the house rules I’d be tighter like what Rolf said if additional guests show up or something like that.
Well, one of my guests had a homeshare host leave a review saying she “overused” the kitchen. Full kitchen use was offered in the listing, with no rules about what hours it was available or only preparing light meals.
My guest thought it was really unfair of the host to slam her in the review (and I agree), when she could easily have just asked the guest to limit her cooking times to certain hours if she was getting in the way of the host preparing her own meals. My guest said she would certainly have respected such a request.
My point was that it isn’t just guests who complain in a review when they didn’t bother to mention anything during the stay, hosts do it too.
I think it’s just human nature for many people to avoid in-person complaints, but not be shy about complaining when it they are doing the review.
