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I hosted for the first time, however it seems like my guests didn’t read all informations on my listing to make sure my place and what I provide is what he needs.
I clearly said I do not provide access to kitchen by unselecting Kitchen in my list of amenities, I also said I do not provide hangers. I also read on Airbnb that you do not need to give my keys to my guest for my apartment as long as I’m always there to let him back in.
As soon as he arrived he asked for hangers and asked for kitchen access and said if I have no keys for him then that is an issue.
Hangers I would provide anyway. It’s best it int into words : no kitchen access. I know lots of hosts don’t let guests to even enter kitchen. Despite my sad experience with guests who found it absolutely nesseesary to cook on their vacation I still allow very light use of kitchen . And i offer hot drinks free. But If you don’t allow kitchen specify not only by not checking it in amenities.
Not that everyone will read it anyway but at least it’s there. You will find many many guests don’t read rules. Stand your ground a though. At this point it was his problem not yours
So much of hosting is setting expectations and then (as gracefully as you can manage) enforcing those boundaries with guests who will push them.
I’ve found that by including a couple “mismatches” in the welcome e-mail I can avoid issues during their stay. It says something like “If you haven’t already done so, please read the listing and house rules to ensure my space is a good fit for your stay. Some common mismatches are that the suite doesn’t have a full kitchen (just mini-fridge and supplies for coffee/tea), has shower but no bath, and WiFi but no TV. Izzy the cat and I live downstairs.”
Once you’ve made a decision on something, stick to your guns or you’ll end up feeling taken advantage of and experience host burnout much sooner. It really is a thing!
How long is the stay? We don’t provide kitchen access but most of our stays are 3 days or less. On occasion a guest will use the refrigerator to store something or the microwave. We definitely don’t allow cooking.
The stay was only 3 nights, I provided Evian bottles water within the room my listing said “no kitchen” but I ended up given access to the kitchen from 7am till 9pm and offered coffee and tea every day, due to his comment that he expected kitchen access.
In my description I say my kitchen is not listed on Airbnb, but there are plenty of cafes etc. nearby. Self service continental breakfast is included until 10am, and I have a guest fridge in my utility room which has milk for cereals and drinks and butter and jam for toast. There’s a shelf each for the (two separate) guests to store their snacks and drinks. They can arrange with me for LIGHT use of the kitchen in the evening between 6 and 10pm e.g. microwave, sandwiches, salad - no cooking. This seems to retain my sanity but cater to basic needs guests may have to not eat out every day. (I also have a no food in the bedroom rule).
I would definitely provide hangers, put some nice hooks up on the wall or behind the door - I’ve had a few wedding guests and interviews so is essential. If you don’t give a key how do they get in after an evening out?
I know it’s hard to tell a guest no, but in this case you should have. Three days and he had to cook? Really? What an entitled guest. What was the purpose of his visit?
I’m hoping he’s not going to ding you in his review.
Yep many guests are entitled and expect to cook in a stranger’s kitchen full on, like it’s some kind of a student house or cheap self catering option. For me no way Jose! That’s why I tightened everything up in my description. You don’t want to get into arguments about your space! Plus you need to think about issues such as insurance, landlord safety certificates on appliances, it’s not simple like some entitled guests imagine.
i often have longer term guests, and the rent is Wal-mart.
i allow access to the kitchen, but no use of the stove top or oven. My insurer won’t permit it.
There’s a 24 hr eatery 400 m away with $5 meals, and mini fridge/microwave in the rooms. Drinks are free, Brita water, etc. and yeah, i have been known to cook/have some pretty good frozen meals 'as a gesture of goodwill". Some of them work 24 hr. shifts, and the odd time they use them, they’re more than grateful.
[quote= clearly said I do not provide access to kitchen by unselecting Kitchen in my list of amenities
[/quote]
Sorry – that’s not enough to “clearly” say no. Not selecting is passive. Hosts need to be more pro-active. In the first couple lines of you description it should say “NO Kitchen Access”.
It seems tacky to not provide hangers if there is a closet – it’s not as if hangers cost $100 each!
It seems very unworkable to not give your guests their own keys to come and go as they please. Are you going to stay up until 2 AM to let them in when they go out for an evening??? That’s as bad as your mother waiting up for you to come home from a date when you were sixteen!! Worse still if you apply a “guests must be in by XX PM” curfew. I certainly would not stay there under those conditions, and you are liable to get very negative reviews if you try to enforce that sort of thing.
We don’t give keys for security reasons and that works just fine. The only people that have ever complained about this, were exactly the kind of people that are the reason why we don’t give keys. Exceptionally, when we feel there’s no risk involved and the guests or we are inconvenienced, we do hand over keys. That happens less than 5% of the time.
@Tonka_Morris A closet without hangers is useless and we shouldn’t expect people to travel around with hangers. I hope you at least have a good amount of shelves.
I do agree I should have written in the description “NO Kitchen Access" so that is what I have learnt.
Thank you for your feedback Ken. Of course I had house keys for my guest but my point was that i read on Airbnb that I do not need to give my keys if I am available always to buzz the door. I also have given my guest more hangers then he needed when he asked for it, however again my point was that I unselected hangers in my listing so I thought he didn’t Spend time reviewing my listing to make sure i provide what he needs.
Welcome to AirBnB hosting. If you take the time to go and check out previous posts you will see this is the case. Unless your guest problem is about a deranged guest of the type we haven’t heard about dozens of times eg. “my guest complained about lack of toilet paper and I provided two rolls”. Sorry zzzzzzzz what were you saying?
I had a request today which I accepted. Right after he says he was renting a boat and if he caught a fish could he cook it in our kitchen! His message after I accepted:
I also wanted to ask you, since we plan to rent a boat on Saturday - in the very unlikely event that we catch a fish, could we prepare it in your kitchen? We would leave everything sparkling clean, of course. If that anything less than 100% convenient for you (which I do expect, since the kitchen is not included in the listing), we’ll find a BBQ grill somewhere
I replied, sorry the kitchen is not available and directed him to a nearby park at the beach with bbq facilities!
I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask but I prefer that they ask before they book!
I think most people expect hangers, keys and access to the kitchen. Perhaps you should increase your nightly rate and include these items. That would be a win-win situation for you and your future guests.
zzzzzzzz what were you saying?