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Well, this is exactly the problem for Airbnb hosts- people like you who consider taking a couple of minutes to read house rules as “so much effort”.
And I seriously doubt there are many, if any, hosts out there who get upset with a guest for asking an innocent question.
It’s when the “innocence” comes about because the guest couldn’t be bothered to read the listing info the host spent quite a bit of time composing, that hosts get irritated.
oh my gee, I am getting SO many bookings with this type of messaging lately. Red flag! It’s taking up so much of my time to find polite but firm wording for these entitled guests.
am having a very high number of guests asking for early check/late checkout. and even when I say “no, sorry” they still turn up early! Last week had one member of a group turn up at 10:15am saying she had been told they had 10am early check-in and before I could put on my polite face I just laughed at her. She sat and waited in the car while we did the fastest turnover ever. Neither of us have written a review yet.
I would say that the few times I’ve been on the guest side of things I do find it a bit overwhelming to look for a place. It’s a lot of info to compare prices, cleaning fees, amenities, house rules. It’s no wonder to me that guests don’t read or retain all of that info when they’re searching for a place.
@Vanmep @muddy If done correctly it’s a lot of work to find the right Airbnb. Then when you book it’s often quite a bit of work checking in. Every Airbnb is different, you have to park in a certain place, arrive at a certain time, message the host or meet the host, do this, do that. And if you are on a road trip trying to stay at several Airbnb’s along the way and you have needy hosts, god help you.
It’s no wonder that many people, even hosts, have no interest in staying in Airbnbs. Every host should try being a guest.
I can see it being more time-consuming than one would want if they are travelling on business, or just doing an overnight to attend an event, for sure.
But if someone is going on vacation, at least for me, staying somewhere different from a generic hotel room would seem part of making the trip unique and if it takes a couple hours to peruse listings and find one you like, and an extra 15-20 minutes to read where to park, meet the host, and inform oneself of the procedures and quirks, that’s all part of it.
Seems like everyone wants things to just be fast and effortless these days. Like ordering everything from Amazon instead of shopping locally when possible. But doing so just bolsters the corporate players and kills small business.
Although I still haven’t been an Airbnb guest yet, one of the things I like about hosting forums is that after participating in them for years, I know exactly whose Airbnb I would want to stay at in a lot of places around the world. In other words, I wouldn’t have to peruse and sort through listings if I travelled to those areas.
Aren’t o’nite road trip bookings a major chunk of your bookings?
I know you aren’t a needy host, though 
Yes and so my instructions for check are clear and sent to them in the message thread where they are most likely to see it. Their door code is the last four of their phone number so they don’t have one more thing to remember or look up. My rules are minimal and common like check out time, quiet hours and no unregistered guests.
Maybe I’m too picky but in my experience it takes more time than that in most cases. It’s worth it to me because I’d rather put my money into the pocket of a host like me, not a hotel conglomerate, I like something unique, it’s usually cheaper than a hotel, and I can sometimes find homes with dogs.
I’d like it to be a requirement. At the very least, discussions about policy would be more balanced.
I recall there are threads about this - that AirBnB is giving at least some bookings the “right” to select their check in time, even if it does not match the host’s allowable times.
I concluded long ago that every guest should be required be a host for at least a dozen guests before being allowed to be a guest. Too bad it’s a lousy marketing technique.
This! Yes, every host should try being a guest at other AirBnBs, and try different types, both shared homes and entire homes to themselves. Then they should try also being a guest for several nights at their own AirBnB!
Staying other places gives you an idea of what hosts are getting wrong, and what they are getting right, and gives you an idea of what to do, and not do, at your own. It gives you an idea of what is typical in many places, and what isn’t; what is good practice and what to never do; and gives you a real education in how to please guests.
I just checked. I’ve stayed in 47 AirBnBs on my own account, and about 10 or so on my husband’s account when he did the booking. Some I have stayed at more than once—particularly in England where we have favorite hosts we have become friends with!
Some AirBnBs I would never set foot in again, by choice—either they were dirty (I left that one and got refunded immediately—I was in the place less than 15 minutes), or the bed was uncomfortable (the main reason I wouldn’t return to most of the ones I wouldn’t go back to) or the furniture was uncomfortable. Only maybe 1/4 of the ones Ive been to would I choose to go back for another stay.
That really is your bottom line for what constitutes a good AirBnB. Would you go back? If you would not, then it’s a good bet either (1) the host is doing something wrong (not providing comfortable beds, or furniture, or getting their pricing wrong, or not doing their cleaning well enough, etc), or (2) the site of the AirBnB has some real drawbacks due to its location or environment.
Every host should be required to work the Airbnb CS line for a week. After fielding a week of ridiculous calls from hosts who can’t find their *** with two hands and a flashlight…
I do understand that as a host forum I shouldn’t expect policy discussions here to be balanced to I just skip many of them. Having had so few problem myself I’m not really in a position to be that helpful anyway.
Good job. Would you rate booking and staying in Airbnbs easy or difficult?
Much easier now that I’ve got the hang of it. It is a learning process! I’ve learned to screen for the amenities I absolutely have to have—like air conditioning in warm places.
I pour over the pictures with a fine tooth comb. I’m always searching to see what the bathroom looks like…what kind of shower is it, handheld or fixed? Does the picture show the toilet lid closed? (Never take a picture of the bathroom with the toilet lid or, god forbid, the seat up). Many times the pictures only show the shower curtain closed, so you have no idea what the shower set up is.
Do the chairs and couch look comfortable, and can I get in and out of them? If they are low, or especially if they have no arms, then I won’t be booking! Is there at least one nightstand of a reasonable size? That’s another “must have” because I have a CPAP machine.
After I investigate the pictures, then I read the reviews—-ALL the reviews. Unless the hosts have hundreds…then I might only look at the most recent 100 or so. I look to see if there are mentions of the beds being uncomfortable, dirt, lack of basic things (if you only leave one towel and one pillow per guest, I’m probably not staying there!)
I do check the house rules. Most hosts have very few and most of them won’t pertain to me because it’s just me, or my husband and me, and neither or us smoke, party, make much noise, etc. I pay attention to check in and out times, parking instructions, directions, and so on.
If you want a good experience, you must pay attention to the listings, choose wisely, and read everything before you book.
I know you’ve been a guest at various AirBnBs, @KKC, how hard do you think it is?
Personally I don’t think it’s that much harder than booking a hotel or motel. Yes, things are more standardized in the hotel/motel industry, for sure, but if you want to ensure you have a good place to stay, you do the same thing….Google the location, decide on a price point, look at the options, narrow it down, check out the pictures, read the reviews, etc. I’m especially careful now that bedbugs are an issue! I always read the reviews to look for any mention of bedbugs.
The main difference is that nearly every AirBnB and host is very different (except for the hotels and condotels cropping up all over AirBnB). So a little more careful reading is required, for sure.
I think it’s a lot more work. Yes, hotels are soulless but I know what to expect and because it’s a hotel room, there’s not much to look at in terms of amenities and pictures.
Given that you’ve stayed at 3x the number of Airbnbs I have, and have more requirements than I do, I’m just “extra.” For most people, booking an Airbnb isn’t much more, it just is for me.
I think booking an airbnb is harder than booking a hotel because it is just so much more of a risk. If you get to a hotel and the accommodations are not up to your standards there are options. You can ask for a different room. You can pay for an upgrade. You can tell them it just isn’t up to par and in the majority of cases they will just not charge you if you don’t stay.
And then there’s the house rules. A common one is NO visitors. If you want to have people over hotels don’t worry about visitors, and even offer lobbies or restaurants or places to visit if the room is not big enough. I tend to travel to visit my adult children. I’ve booked for an extra person if I think there is a chance one of my daughters will stay over, but I’ve gotten asked by a host about having a son-in-law carry my luggage up the stairs to the apartment, as they thought I was trying to sneak him in.
Right now I’m staying in a hotel near my daughter to babysit grandchildren. The front desk people saw one of the grandchildren when I was dropped off and mentioned I could have them over to swim. Not only could they visit, they could use the amenities!
There are other weird house rules, that mean you have to comb through every listing to make sure there isn’t something like “no shucking oysters on the property” for a listing in the outer banks of the Carolinas. Or “swimming pool is only heated by request.”
Then there are the listings where the hosts are skirting local rules. Two out of the last 4 Airbnb’s I booked had welcome messages that included phrasing that told us not to tell people in the building we were using an Airbnb. I still can’t figure out how to determine if a particular Airbnb is legal and not an illegal sublet when reading the booking descriptions, and tend to stress a bit when I run across these type of instructions. I don’t have to sneak in and out of a hotel.
And of course the huge advantage of hotels is I can book them a year in advance, and then cancel with no penalty if something comes up. I often book a hotel thinking when I have the time I’ll scour the Airbnb app and just cancel the hotel if I find something better. Turns out I seldom find the time to look, and end up happy in the hotel. The strict cancellation policies do lose folks to hotels.
I think Airbnb might still work best outside the US. I know when I traveled to Europe it worked out fine, but not as well as the VRBO family of listings, or specialized vacation rental sites.
Somewhere hidden in this above quote must be the reason why Tiny Tiki retro Hideaway has had no return guests…
hmm, that makes a lot of sense because some guests just write “we will arrive around midday, can’t wait!” and i wonder what prompted them to think midday is check-in time ANYWHERE ON PLANET EARTH!!!
I have no idea, I doubt it is the lack of care or view!
I get return guests, I think it’s because I invite them back. I tell my good guests (99%) to keep my contact information and book direct to save some cash.
My place is not near as special as tiny tiki
RR
Sometimes uniqueness is not a reason to return to an airbnb, no matter how charming/quaint/amazing/special.
Guests might want a new experience each time they come to the area, or OTOH (as in my case) want the exact same thing every time - for example, my airbnb caters to repeat business folks.
Lastly, of course, specific dates of availability from both guest and host make it less likely as well…
As someone who has stayed there, I guarantee there’s nothing wrong with the bed, cleanliness, amenities, etc. Maybe there are no return guests because it’s too special.
It’s not along the way of a well traveled path, it’s not adjacent to a location one might visit repeatedly like LAX, Disneyland or sports or concert venue.