That’s exactly it. Being upfront about the shortcomings of your place is so important. I do this and generally guests are relieved it’s not quite as bad as they thought it would be. The old cliche ‘underpromise and overdeliver’ really does work most of the time.
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Thank you very much.
I have to be honest; this is a cluttered, untidy home. I hear you clearly stating that this is not guest space but if your guests need to walk through these rooms, and they do get to use your kitchen, they can’t help but see your untidiness. I let three rooms in our home, I have a lot of stuff from travels abroad and my kitchen is not available to guests. However, they have to walk through it to reach bedrooms and dining room. I keep it immaculate out of respect both for them and my family.
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I agree. @JerseyDevil you might be completely right about the whole thing, but I assume you also want to solve the “problem”, right? Being an Airbnb host brings some extra responsibilities regarding the upkeep of the house and its surrounding. My guests generally do not use my garden and have nothing to do there, but still, it is visible from my apartments and therefore I’m trying to mown the lawn regularly and I invest extra time to cultivate nice plants and flowers and pay extra attention to not leaving things lying around the yard, even if it is not that important to me personally and I don’t really feel like it sometimes. 
I think your “clutter” is comparable to that. I actually know a host who decided to paint the walls of her entire floor (he’s renting in a skyscraper) in the building as it was covered with writings and dirt and generally looked unappealing. It might sound like it is exaggerated, but if it prevents guests from dinging you on stars, why not invest a bit more effort in the general appearance of the listing.
You are brave to post your clutter! Yes, it’s visually cluttered and disorganized. I could not live with so many things around. However, it would not bother me as a guest. At your price point for your location it’s a great deal and feels like a real home.
Not everyone can channel Martha Stewart!
When I was remodeling I severely limited the number of days the room was available. For example I just had a guest over the Labor Day holiday because I knew the workers would be taking Friday to Monday off. Now the room is blocked off until the 14th. When I had guests and remodeling on the same days I put it in the listing description and mentioned it again when they booked.
Based on your pictures I have to agree that your home is cluttered and it’s a lot more than some mail on end tables. You are stating from the outset that you have no intention of changing that. So you have two mutually exclusive things: your desire for all 5 star reviews and your desire to not modify your lifestyle to accommodate hosting an airbnb. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. As long as you continue to get bookings, don’t worry about the occasional stars missing from your reviews.
As others have made clear, first impressions matter. On my listing, I actually dust the metal screen door and make sure the entry door is dust free, I wipe off fingerprints, I touch up paint any gouges. I have 98% five star reviews and I work for them. I don’t just continue doing what I want to do and expect guests to conform to my notions.
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It would be nice if renting rooms in owner occupied homes could be what each individual host would like to to be, but unfortunately I think that is not the case.
I agree with others who suggest that editing your description and photo order may help some but isn’t going to make guests feel the way you want them to. I also agree with those who suggest you just ignore those guests who are not happy with the state of your house, as you’re a Superhost, and don’t seem inclined to do what needs to be done to elimate the issue.
I hear you that you’d like to keep living your own life while at the same time generating income from Air guests, but the expectations of guests make it not that simple. I hosted a Labor Day party yesterday for friends and family and had 35 people here. The party lasted until 10:00PM and today my backyard and kitchen are a total wreck. I made sure that no guests would be checking in today, because, while their space would be pristine, the rest of my house won’t be. They wouldn’t really care about my explanation of the party, they would only care that they were led through a cluttered kitchen and when looking out the windows of their room, they’d see a bunch of party clutter instead of the quiet and peaceful back yard advertised in my listing.
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Updating the listing to describe the condition of rooms guests will pass through to get to their space (even if they aren’t available to guests) is a good practice. If they only see pics of your very clean guest room, they may not realize that they have to walk through a “lived in” room to get there. Maybe you could try including some pics of the other rooms with very detailed captions that say THIS ROOM NOT FOR GUEST USE - BUT YOU WILL WALK THROUGH A ROOM IN THIS CONDITION TO GET TO YOUR PRIVATE ROOM (or something).
I have had similar problems. After 2 years hosting I finally figured out that guests don’t always read the whole listing, they look at the pictures. New pics might be one way to avoid the problem. You also might try messaging with them prior to accepting the reservation, explaining the situation in detail before any money changes hands.
“You realize you have to walk through my living room to get to your space and that my personal belongings are in this room and it’s not as clutter-free as your private room, right? And you’re OK with this? It’s no problem if you aren’t, I just want my guests to be really happy and I don’t want you to think I’m advertising something I’m not.”
This is the approach I take and I’ve had a lot of success managing guest expectations. YMMV
I’m pretty sure I get judged on the way my carport looks. They aren’t using it, but walking through it. I keep the recycle bins tidy, the shed door closed and the floor swept when I have guests.
When I first started my Air in 2009, that space was a mess as my ex had just moved out and left piles and piles of crap. You could get away with it in the beginning of Air. But definitely not now. Guests expect waaaaaaaaay too much now.
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Hi Ellen,
I live and work on premise so I try to keep all common areas tidy.
I’ve had guests comment on my bathroom. (I hire a professional cleaner but occasionally I will do it)
There’s nothing gross about it at all, however I do have open shelves:
- one for guests
- one for free toiletries in case they forgot
- one shelf is dedicated to my things
- Supplies on the rest of the shelves
I really dislike that I get docked cleanliness points for clutter.
Normally people have a door that tucks all that stuff away but I’m in SF with old Edwardian features. I change out the shower liner weekly and due to the fact I don’t have central air; there is a window fan that pushes out air to prevent mold.
I take pride in my place being spotless. (Well my room is a mess lol) I just think it is unfair to classify this as UNCLEAN. Speaking of bathrooms, does anyone have ideas of how to indicate if the bathroom is occupied?
Darn good question! As it happens, I don’t have a shared bath so not a pressing issue. But, until I opened my AirBNB I had no idea that so many culture leave the bathroom door closed, while the other “half” leave it open. So, you can’t ask guests to leave the door open if it is available since they might consider this to be unclean.
I would love to have a way for guests to tell me when they are in or out of the house. [similar problem] I haven’t come up with much on that one.
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Well it is a house rule to shut the bathroom door when not in use. I have a small dog that likes to drop a turd every once in awhile in the bathroom, when she’s mad at me.
Something like OCCUPIED in airplane bathrooms. lol
Post a picture of your door handle… maybe there is something out there.
We installed one of the sliding locks that you find in public bathrooms. When it’s unlocked it says vacant on a green background. When it’s locked it says occupied on a red background. Here’s a link to some. We occasionally have guests who don’t lock the door when they are using the bathroom. If we think someone might be in the bathroom we knock.
I suspect that the reason many people keep the bathroom door closed is that in places with small houses the bathroom door might be next to the kitchen. I tell guests that it’s fine to leave our bathroom door open as it’s as far as it can be from the kitchen.
I agree that it’s unfair to classify clutter as unclean, but there doesn’t seem to be anything one can do about it. Personally, I don’t think stains are dirty, but many people do. Even though I use stained linens for myself, I wouldn’t give them to guests because many people perceive them as dirty. For many people a cluttered environment is stressful. I am one of those people. I think the recommendations on this board that the original poster give potential guests the information that although their bedroom and bathroom are clutter free; they will need to walk through cluttered rooms when they are entering and leaving are sound.
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I think you mean:
that although their bedroom and bathroom are de-cluttered or even better, clutter free.
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@jerseydevil, based on your photos shared above I would say your home is not ready to host guests.
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My house rule is the bathroom door is always open unless someone is in there. Apparently this is unusual, because most guests have trouble learning it.
I’m in Florida, it’s very humid, the bathroom is small and has no window. It MUST have air circulation! And, I don’t stand outside the door at 3 a.m. wondering if someone is in there.
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It’s a fine line, for sure. I host two rooms in my loft, mine being the third. I haven’t had any complaints about the place being lived in, but there is a certain amount of additional maintenance that I try to stay on top of, little things that I would probably be blind to if I were always here by myself, because they just tend to become part of the room. I try to keep anything for my sole personal use out of the common areas, but certainly some things slip through the cracks. I do a thorough sweep of the common area every day when I have guests, a deeper clean when I have a day or two when no one is here, and almost always find a little thing that I could clean up that I might not have noticed, but could have bothered a guest.
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