Question from prospective host: What is the most painful part of being an Airbnb/VRBO/Homeaway host?

Airbnb will be a pain if you expect them to pay for things that most of us accept as a cost of doing business. Unless you leave a load of towels out for a guest, he / she can’t damage more than a few and that’s hardly going to break the bank.

I’ve no idea about what it’s like dealing with their resolution department.

Please tell us why regular cleaning is a problem for you. Do you have a hard time finding good cleaners? That’s a problem that many hosts here have mentioned.

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Only at it a year and a half (a little less than 200 individual guests), so I’m still in the honeymoon stage.

Hubby does cleaning, fix-it and I use the forum-recommended “promise low, deliver high”, low-key approach.

Noise: not from guests, but
I have 2 long-term rentals, sort of right below the Airbnb room in our small upstairs flat. Tip-top tenants, aware & considerate of us upstairs, but I’m vigilant

We are in a very convenient, but bustling urban center, close to subway

And, the real jaw-clenching noise potential? My irrepressible husband, whose naturally rumbling, jolly voice, guitar-playing and singing, and gift of the gab is audible from the end of the block :confounded::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Luvya, darlin’ but - shhhhhhh!:shushing_face::shushing_face::shushing_face::shushing_face:

Haven’t had a single problem (vigilance!) -
and guests & tenants love him!:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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I get such a kick from people who call Hosting “passive income”! My mop says otherwise.

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Ha, just a joke, isn’t it? I’m a hard worker and always have been but I think that I work harder now than ever before. :crazy_face:

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Passive? PASSIVE!!! Ohhhh - it must be such easy money - just change the bed and swish the bathroom …OMG i want to bitch slap them!

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You don’t want me! I don’t drink…

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  1. Dealing with the aftermath of your first “bad” guest (damage/theft, extortion/retaliation, etc.)
  2. Reading about so many hosts making the same mistakes over and over.
  3. [Airbnb-specific] Living in fear of Airbnb’s one-sided heavy-handedness where they will deactivate your listing and account simply because a guest tells a lie that they believe, and then refuse to communicate with you about it or allow you to prove your innocence. Of course this this applies to guests as well as hosts. Even though the chances of this occurring are really low, this one really eats at me.
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Ironing? What would you be ironing? I just usually toss the bed linens for a room in the upstairs guest dryer after a light quick spritz with water while I’m stripping the bed, emptying wastebasket, and other small chores. Then I pull each sheet separately from the hot dryer so they won’t wrinkle, and make the bed with the hot sheets. Same with pillowcases.

I do have an iron available, but that’s because guests sometime want to use one to press their clothes.

Just watched 2 Rick Steves (well known US public TV travel show host) shows about Andalucia last night, and it made me realize that I need to add Jerez to my bucket list. I assume that you know the best sherry cellars to tour if I come to visit?

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I will show you how to do proper hospital corners instead. More time to test the wine!

I have osteoarthritis in both hands so find bed making hard work as my mattresses are heavy. I have a long handled shoe horn that’s a boon for tucking the bottom sheets in. I’m a stickler for a taut sheet; no one would get bed sores here!

But I absolutely hate putting the duvet covers on; It takes me ages to do them properly.

I also hate ironing but cotton sheets have to be. They go out with Mr J’s work shirts to a very nice lady who does. Covered by my cleaning fee and Mr J.

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Parties, Drunks and Smokers! They cause chaos. Destruction of property and angry neighbors.

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Oh yes we do! If you can make beds you’re in :slight_smile:

You don’t have to drink to soak up the ambience here, even I am having period of abstinence in preparation for the two week Flamenco Festival starting this weekend :dancer::man_dancing:

JF

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It’s ok, @KKC will be allocated those, she seems to think it’s easy :wink:

JF

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That is an area where I am far more skilled than I am with bedding.

We generally recommend one bodega visit, two maximum, as to be frank it’s all made the same. Other than the (very) high end stuff you can sample almost all sherries in the local tabancos, of which there are plenty, some old and some not so old:

We’re considering doing an Airbnb experience relating to Sherry, but I doubt we’ll manage to get it up and running this year. Mainly due to (local) Spanish bureaucracy relating to “tours”.

JF

I have a restorative tip for over indulgence. Forgive the story behind it:-

When I was a Ward Sister of a mental health in-patient unit, we often detoxed people with alcoholism. This included high potency, intravenous multivitamins for a week, followed by a maintenance high potency oral dose of Vit B Forte.

One of the junior doctors would ensure there was a ready supply of Vit B kept in the drug trolley for my team of over indulgent staff.

I was called in urgently, from a day off, when the Inspectors arrived unannounced, as the Staff Nurse on shift was rubbish.

I had a monster hangover. The Junior medic met me at the door, took me into the treatment room before anyone else saw me, locked the door and gave me the intravenous stuff. Wow; I literally felt the hangover lifting as he did so. He knew me well… still does as he married one of my students and we kept in touch.

So, the tip is to have a ready supply of Vit B Forte, which can be dispensed over the counter by a pharmacist. Don’t be fooled into buying expensive stuff off the shelf.

Take six on waking with two pints of H2O

Take four two hours later

A further two x two hours later.

By now your pee should be bright green, letting you know that your intracellular tissues etc are saturated with Vit B. And you should feel better too!

A daily one tab maintenance dose would be welcomed by your body… I do.

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  1. when they don’t follow your rules like parties always until midnight then neighbors go to call the police
    2)Very difficult to claim compensation.
  2. Be careful with case managers, don’t let them get involved.
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Life is too short to run after guests for payment on damaged towels. Cost of doing business.

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Yes we do!!
20202020

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Well, I guess I’m lucky here regarding tours. Juneau is a major summer cruise ship port, where we can get up to 25,000 cruise passengers per day in a town with 33,000 residents.

I started doing tours as taxi charters by the hour when I was driving a taxi, and when I was able to get a permit for our most visited destination, Mendenhall Glacier, and no longer had to depend on a taxi company permit, I bought a luxury SUV and got a limousine permit for it. No need to be licensed as a tour guide or take a test, but my TripAdvisor reviews let potential clients know that I am qualified. All I need is my limousine permit and my chauffeur’s permit.

So May to September is my manic season, trying to juggle guest checkin/checkout/room turns while meeting ships at 7am for tours. Fortunately our location means that most guests want to check out early to catch early flights to the rest of the US, and most arriving guests come in on late flights.

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My better half always irons the pillow cases. I asked her why a few weeks ago, got the look and a “you wouldn’t understand” :slight_smile:

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I agree with the comments about people who do not read. I host within my home so it is a little painful that my kids have to have a “reservation” to come home if they want a bed.

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