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It is not racist to say any culture is different from another culture.
What is racist is to attribute a race rather than individuals with particular attributes; they are lazy, they are tight with money, they are entitled, they are dirty etc.
For example your experience of your guests is completely different than my experience of guests of Chinese origin. My eight sets of Chinese guests were anything but entitled. They never in anyway treated me like a servant or housekeeper.
They were polite, respectful of myself and my home, friendly, kind, chatty
We should never assume we know how an individual will behave - based on their race, but should treat them as individuals.
The country I get the most guests from, by far, is Mainland China. Yes, it is a different culture. However, I havenāt had any Chinese guests treat me as ātheir personal servant or housekeeperā. In fact, most of my Chinese guests tend to ask if whatever they want/want to do is okay rather than assuming that it is.
You appear to be saying that as hosts we should tell Chinese guests how to behave according to the dictates of our culture. Anyone who tries to give another person a culture makeover is setting themselves up for failure.
People use the term āChineseā in different ways, so perhaps thatās causing some confusion. Iām referring specifically to people āfrom Chinaā as opposed to people of āChinese originā who may have grown up in western culture.
I also never said I make assumptions about guests from China, I am simply telling you my anecdotal experience. My small sample of guests from China (or Chinese citizens living in Canada) may be different than your small sample of āChinese guestsā. Maybe I only get the rich ones who have an entitlement mentality. Itās not racist to say that well-off Chinese people are well known for having an entitlement mentality.
I will never apologize for telling my guests that I expect a certain standard of behaviour if they want to stay in my apartment. Iām always polite about it, but Iām not going to let someone walk all over me just because thatās what their culture accepts.
This guy in particular came to Toronto for one day to look at investment condos to purchase. When he booked he told me he was going to check in at 10AM (5 hours early) and seemed to think it was my responsibility to take care of his luggage when I told him that was not possible, as well as hold on to it until 9PM the next day when his flight left. The next morning he ignored my message about check out time, and ended up checking out 20 minutes past the deadline.
Iāve also had wealthy students studying in Canada come to my place for shopping trips. Without fail, they donāt pay attention to my check in instructions, donāt respond to my messages, and leave empty shopping bags and boxes all over the apartment. And there was that one time two girls ordered a bunch of pay per view movies on my cable bill without asking meā¦ I host guests from all over the world and nobody else is so consistently aggravating.
I think you missed where I said the country I get the most guests from is Mainland China (not Western born with Chinese parents). What constitutes a small sample to you? I would conservatively say that weāve hosted over 200 guests from Mainland China.
Another observation: I think there is a big difference between hosting groups in an entire property and hosting one or two people in your own home. The former are far more likely to be messy and/or entitled. Iād say thatās probably the case no matter what nationality.
You are absolutely correct. There have been many sociological studies done the results of which show that the more people there are, the more everyone thinks that whatever needs to be done is someone elseās responsibility. However, this doesnāt just apply to one ethnicity. With a few notable exceptions, my Chinese guests have been just as clean as anyone else. Iāve had plenty of people from other cultures who make a mess.
I certainly havenāt hosted that many! Maybe 10, but every single one was problematic in one way or another so of course Iām going to infer a pattern of behaviour. My life would undoubtedly be much less stressful if I didnāt take their bookings, but that would be unfair so I take them all as they come and hope for the best.
Without fail, my best guests are the ones from small town Canada or USA. Theyāre so polite and just happy to be in a fancy condo in the big city, they thank me for letting them be my customer!
@cooperjto, out of interest are you a live-in host or do you have a separate property? I honestly think this is THE major factor. Talking of N Americansā¦ my absolute best and my absolute worst guests have all been from there. So I canāt infer anything!
Good point. Itās a fully separate property; a highrise condo in the heart of the city. I think the issue is that people from some countries seem to treat it like a hotel where they can just show up and leave any time and leave a mess because the hired help will take care of it without complaint. They donāt really understand what Airbnb is all about, or donāt care to understand.
No-one was saying you should apologise for reinforcing your house rules and expectation. This should apply to all guests not just those from a certain country or certain nationality.
Personally I wouldnāt have accepted a guest who wanted a 10.00 a.m. check in and 9 p.m. check out - this has red flags all over it.
My Chinese guests (apart from two sets) were wealthy students. Without fail they paid attention to check in arrangements, responded to my messages, didnāt leave rubbish all over my place or order pay per view on my cable (not that they would have been able to, as I have blocked this function). As Iāve already mentioned they were clean, chatty, pleasant, tidy, friendly guests who treated me and my home with respect.
I donāt agree that people from āsome countriesā treat Airbnb like hotel. Certain guests yes - certain nationalities or countries no.
As @EllenN who has far from experience of hosting Chinese guests than either of us has demonstrated her guests have been just as clean as anyone else.
My worst guests by far have been from the U.S. - does that mean I make broad generalisations about them or say I would ban them from my listing? ā¦not at all.
I think your view is cynical. China is a very different culture where things work differently. They usually have drains in their bathrooms, so splashing water is not a problem. They donāt usually own ovens, so they often donāt know how to use them. Much has been written about how squat toilets are more the norm in China. Our Chinese guests have told us that in China when you buy a house it is a long term lease for 70 years. Individuals are not permitted to own land. Our guests have also told us that the houses are not built to last for more than about 70 years.
As China doesnāt have freedom of speech, they canāt use Google or watch American television shows. Therefore, they donāt learn as much about Western culture as many tourists from other countries.
If I went to China, Iām sure I would make many mistakes. I hope Iād be given the benefit of the doubt.
Still, overall weāve had very few problems with Chinese guests.
@cooperjto Itās your choice to use IB - many hosts donāt.
Having said that Airbnb makes it clear that if you use IB and guests break your house rules you donāt have to host them.
On those grounds you could have asked Airbnb to cancel this guest when they asked for an early morning check in and evening check outā¦After all you donāt offer a 24/7 check in - do you?
This is a very important, ignoring which leads to a fair bit of āshouting pastā in threads here. I think the dynamic is hugely different between the two setups.
Iām tempted to propose a feature to this forum software where posters have to choose which of the two types of listing theyāre referring to.
China has a very diverse population of 1.4 billion. Do you really think you can draw intelligent conclusions about that many people by observing 3 guest groups?
I am currently in China using Google and watching CNN. There are heated toilets. In a house that my family owns. So this assessment is not accurate either.
I donāt know what to tell you except you are inaccurate. There is what you read on Wikipedia and what you actually experience. I also hate to point out the obvious but telling a Chinese person who is currently in China how China works from a Wikipedia page from your living room in the States isā¦
Your description of Chinese people as some type of ānoble savageā is also about 10x more offensive than what the OP was originally describing (which I found non offensive and not entirely untrue.)
These are things Iāve been told by many Chinese guests. I donāt think of anyone as ānoble savagesā just as people with different cultural norms.
Itās also true of London that most people have leaseholds and donāt actually own the land. I donāt think of the English as particularly noble and I donāt think of anyone as savage except as evidenced by their individual behavior.
