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

Research
41

The stress walking in after a guest. Never know what you might expect. I don´t care about trash, I care about damage. So far I´ve been lucky but the stress still there.

42

The uncertainty of bookings, when reservations slow down. For us, that’s the winter months. We experimented this winter with a longer term booking (not through Airbnb, using a lease) for those months in one of our rooms. Worked well. We’ll do that again in one room for next winter.

Of course we tell ourselves that we don’t depend on STR income. But when it’s consistent and plentiful for much of the year, it’s hard not to!

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43

  1. Trying to maximize profit formula given lots of unknown variables: (Avg Price * Occupancy Rate) - Expenses.
    And, depending on your personality, two related issues:

  2. Growing a thick skin and not getting upset over or being a pushover for those guests who are not pleased or demanding. As others have noted, aptitude for living with uncertainty factors in here.

  3. Realizing you are in the hospitality business, emphasis on business. Being a welcoming professional host without going overboard and over-investing your time or amenities when it does not get a return.

I think the latter is particularly hard when you are hosting in your own home or space attached to your home, with space that is nice but not luxury. It is easy to conflate paying guests with personal guests (and I think Airbnb counts on that!) and set a standard of “hospitality” that may bring you personal pride but that guests care bupkis about and won’t pay extra for.

I have a sticky note on my monitor that says “I’m friendly but I’m not your friend,” just to remind myself to keep things in perspective when the dopamine hit of a glowing review gets too important to me. If we become friends in the course of your visit or repeat visits, that’s great and the relationship then changes – but that’s not the norm for me. Your mileage may differ.

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44

The most painful part are the narcissists. They love to push it just as far as they can. You can’t pin it down to rule breaking, but they are unbearable to be around, constantly in your face and nit picking. Then there are the ones that appear perfectly happy, but stab you in a review.

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45

Having others hosts reporting you to Airbnb for TOS voilations for months.

46

Really? I have never heard of that.

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47

@tlavinia There has been nothing “painful”, let alone “most painful” for me re my home-share hosting.
Dealing with Airbnb itself could be classified as painful, but to me it falls more under “infuriating”.

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48

Well said, @muddy.

I’ve been in this business for a long, long time and I’ve never found anything to be painful either. I’ve only ‘dealt with Airbnb’, in other words had to call, them just twice in a lot of years and they were fine.

If people expect the worst, then maybe they’ll get the worst.

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49

How many times per month do you deal with Airbnb support services?

50

@SNC Per month? About 6 or 7 times in over 3 years of hosting. Either tech glitch issues or asking them to try to get in touch with a guest who wasn’t responding to my messages. Luckily I don’t get the sort of guests who require me to contact Airbnb to have them removed for bad behavior, demand refunds, or cause damages I’ve had to make claims for.

51

Is Vit B Forte the same as Neurobion Forte? Asking for a friend who might get a hangover on her vacation next week… :wink:

52

Neurobion is a Vit B complex as opposed to forte, and what we’d call an off the shelf brand, i.e. expensive. It’s pretty much the same though, and should do the job.

Disclaimer: I cannot comment on dosage though. She’ll know when her pee goes green!

53
  1. Horrible guests, who don’t read the house rules and don’t treat property with respect.
  2. Guests who complain when they are charged for damages/extra cleaning, loss of items.
    Guests who leave bad reviews because they were charged for damages/extra cleaning, loss of items.
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54
  1. Guests bringing extra people into your place without authorization.
  2. Having emergency repairs while guests are booked (plumbing etc)
    I have seen stuff I cannot unsee.
  3. Getting qualified maid help if you don’t do it your self.
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55

You can help that, I had the same issue, until I put a sign above the toilets, asking people directly to lift the seat and remove their stains. And to use the toilet brush. With red underscores and exclamation marks.

Perfectly clean toilets since then. Every time :slight_smile:

56

Nah, I just hate cleaning the bathroom and toilets. And I hate the little tiny hairs that people leave behind. ick. :pouting_cat:

57

Amen, Roslin! And welcome to the forum!

58

I will happily clean your bathrooms if you make our bed!

59

For some reason cleaning the toilet doesn’t bother me at all, but I hate cleaning the bathtub. It’s somehow deeply satisfying to have a spotless, sparkly toilet.

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60

It is subjective.You will receive a better response by being more specific.