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Since many things are brought up here that have been debunked, and many things have been discussed to death that actually have answers, I propose this thread - myths that are airbnb host issues and thoughts.
That it is really easy money, because all you have to do is swish the bathroom and change the sheets!
That Airbnb has your back!
That the incoming guest will read the listing, the house manual, adhere to your policies and will never ever try to bring more people than they booked and paid for!
I’ll play along except I don’t understand the premise. Are you looking for things that Airbnb hosts think are true and aren’t? There are crinkly mattress covers, are there hosts who think there aren’t any?
Guests will always arrive at the time they tell you they will, and will never have a problem finding your place. And when they get there, will never have problems with the combination lock.
Hosting the General Public in your home is easy… families and couples always get along …prescription drugs and alcohol make guests behave normally… everyone adheres to the Golden Rule…everything and anything that happens in your city to a guest is your fault, as is rain or a mosquito in the Caribbean. We spend hundreds of dollars on labor to prepare a home professionally for arrival and guests should get a 100 percent refund if they flake out at any point during their stay or no show under the threat of a bad review. Working for free is a great business model… After years of hosting I could do this forever…
You don’t have to pay any income taxes on your rental earnings unless you make enough that Airbnb sends you a 1099-K
Posting your rant or sob story on this forum is certain to garner sympathy from other hosts.
You’ve got a vacation house or condo:
you constantly work to maintain,
you can’t enjoy because when you spend all your time painting, repairing, or replacing something,
the rentals barely cover the expenses,
you spend hours communicating with guests so
YOU MUST BE RICH!!!
owning a vacation property is easy!!!
you are raking in the money!!!
Self-check in is appreciated by guests and will save you time!!!
Guests realize you have a full-time job and life in addition to hosting so you need a reasonable amount of time to respond to requests.
( context: my 3rd guest in a row failed to read the email with self check-in codes, failed to read Airbnb itinerary, failed to read Airbnb platform message and now at gate wanting me to tell them what to do!!!).
ALL comments on the ABNB host forum are welcome & appreciated, and no one ever dares to veer off topic.
the truth stings a little!!!
Whatever you post on airhostsforum, you will get total validation of your actions and opinions. You are entitled to complain if you don’t.
That guests telling you that they speak good English means that they will understand a single thing you say when they arrive
Is this a joke? I don’t understand this sentence.
I think @Cozy2018 meant the myth is that guests that say they speak English can actually understand English.
Of course, there’s a bit of irony in that a host posted this in English and other English-speaking hosts couldn’t understand it. 
It’s true Annet - people, in general, do not read much of what is presented to them - even when it’s information they know they need.
I’ve been a user experience designer for a long time and I can tell you that you can mitigate some of that, but not all of it, through tone and word choice, sentence structure and paragraph organization. And here’s where I lose everyone because “I don’t have time for all that! And I shouldn’t have to work that hard!” Right?
I get it, and all I have to offer is that we’ve been hosting 2 places with self check in for about 2 years and we’ve only had 2 or 3 guests (out of a few hundred) miss the check-in codes and information.
We did have trouble with the parking info until I spoke to a guest and finally figured out what the problem was.
The house rules, and other instructions are hit or miss but we basically follow the only rule about rules that we think matters: We try very hard not to make rules we can’t enforce.
Even more ironic is the fact that I am a writer and failed to put together a coherent sentence. I was trying to say that just because the guest claims to be an English-speaker does not make it so. When I know that I will have trouble communicating, I try to reiterate the rules that are important to me before the guest arrives so that they have a chance to translate. But I often get guests who have claimed English-fluency only to stare at me blankly for the entire stay.
Yes very embarrassing. It made sense in my head 