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I know what you mean about closure, I like to have an in-person goodbye too, when possible. I haven’t paid super close attention, but I seem to get better reviews (and reviewed more often) when I say goodbye. For me, this is usually the night before check-out (I have a 4-night minimum and only host shorter stays occasionally in the gaps between longer rentals), rather than in the morning.
I agree with many of the other comments here that I wouldn’t mention anything in the review. At the end of a trip guests are often tired, and catching planes/trains/busses can cause otherwise considerate guests to rush out the door in a hurry.
I like to say goodbye to guests if possible, just because we’ve got to know them and to remind them to LEAVE THE KEYS BEHIND (fewer problems with that now I have special lanyards for the keys) but so many of them are getting early flights and I don’t even know what 6a.m. looks like, so it’s not always achievable.
A young German couple of guests that we had were obviously expecting a “formal checkout” and when I went downstairs to say goodbye were almost standing by their beds waiting to be inspected. They asked if I wanted to “check the apartment” and so I glanced around and said “Yes, it seems to be still here.” They commented on my “great British sense of humour” in the review …
Yes, I like to say goodbye to my guests too. In fact, I’ve written it down in my guide thus:
I’d like to say goodbye.
And yes, keys are a concern, which is why I have them return it to me at checkout. Though the only lost keys so far were lost by my second guest ever, in June 2016, who managed to lose them 2 hours after check-in.
I used to have one of those too. But it seems to have gone AWOL. And not British. Some weird hybrid. Anglo-Indian. maybe?
[quote=“faheem, post:15, topic:17428” sometimes dispensed with the formal checkout thing, though I like to do it if possible. It provides closure to the experience, gives the guest a chance to tell me their thoughts on the stay, and gives me chance to check on the room before they leave. And so far nobody I said - no thanks, we don’t want to do this.
[/quote]
From a regular Airbnb guest perspective, I think your intentions are spot on and it’s your listing, do what works for you. However, I don’t need ‘closure’ from the host at the end of my stay and I personally would find this annoying as I like to have fluidity in my plans if I don’t have a flight etc and would not want to annoy you by changing time. I would also find it a bit parental and invasive and would not be comfortable critiquing my stay to your face or refusing your request for a formal check out. Just something to think about.
Yes please! I’d like to see it too! I often put a personalized, hand-written note on the bed/desk prior to their arrival, saying 'Welcome ___, If there’s anything I can do to improve your stay while you’re here, please do let me know. I try very hard to achieve 5 stars in all areas of my reviews. I hope you have a wonderful stay!" Would love to see the suggestion form to know if that might work for me as well. If someone wants to leave a bad review, maybe they’d be more likely to write it on the form than in the review?
Nothing very interesting about my suggestion form, but here it is below. It’s pretty simple, and I think I’ve posted a version of it here before. Possibly more than once.
Comments welcome.
Duration of Stay: 19th September 2017 to 21st September 2017
Dear xxx,
Please write suggestions for improvement below.
Please rate these possible improvements on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 means
you don’t care at all, and 10 means it would be a excellent improvement.
Item Score
A side door for easier access to the bathroom
A desktop computer in the tower room
An office chair for the desk
A fridge in the tower room
A faster internet connection in the tower room
Wall-mounted LED TV in the tower room
Cable television in the tower room
Netflix in the tower room
Window blinds
Sitting room in the balcony garden
Sitting room on the upstairs terrace
A sofa to sit on in the front entrance room.
A better sofa in the kitchen area
A better (coffee) table in front of the kitchen sofa
A coffee machine
Washer and dryer
Single lever taps and shower mixer in the bathroom
Soap and shampoo containers attached to the bathroom shower wall
• Please comment on soap/body wash/shampoo provided if used.
• Can you comment on the stability of the internet connection? Did the connection drop at any point?
• Does it matter to you whether an Airbnb host is a Superhost? Would it influence whether you booked with him/her?
• Please add restaurant/dining suggestions for future guests. Please include web sites if available.
I am curious to know if you’ve been getting the same sorts of responses on the “Suggestions for Improvement” list.
Forgive me, I think you’d said that you give this at check out? If so, as a guest, I’d like to have it during my stay so I can check these things off as they occur to me (which you may already do) and to have more time for comments.
I love this list because then, if 20 guests said that they’d like x thing to be put into one of the rooms that may help with reviews (then again, we all know maybe not) but I like the idea…
Have you ever received any ridiculous suggestions on these forms?
Eeegads… I would never prompt a guest this way. Most of them don’t even write a review at all just because they are flying to and from Hawaii and just want to get on with it. I’d feel super pressured as a guest to answer questions about minutiae like body wash.
eeeek! I think this just helps the guest to think about things to complain about!! Some of these they wouldn’t have thought of unless you asked them and they might end up in the review!
Sorry, I don’t understand this sentence. What does “same sorts of responses” mean? Same as what?
No, I give it to guests on arrival, if I remember. If it’s a short stay, I sometimes tell them to ignore it if they want.
Often people ignore it till the last minute. And fill it out hastily if I prompt them. Sometimes they refuse to fill it out. That’s usually a bad sign. It means I will get a bad review or no review. Generally no review.
Occasionally someone will take a bit of time to think about it, and write detailed suggestions.
Yes, that’s certainly the idea. And it does highlight that people do to some extent tend to be concerned with the same things. Though there is a lot of variability too.
I expect so, but the only one that comes to mind right now, was from someone who said I should put glass windows in the dome so guests could see the sky, or something. I’m not exactly sure what he was on about. He was a perfectly reasonable person, but that suggestion was definitely on the wacky side.
Another one, which we did take seriously and even checked out a bit, was to put fancy lighting around the edges of the dome, on the interior. Like spotlights or something. But we eventually abandoned it as impractical and something few would care about. I’m not sure that qualifies as “ridiculous”, but perhaps a bit over the top.
I haven’t noticed that happening. I think it’s more likely to act as a lightning rod. If write stuff on the form complaining about stuff (mostly they don’t) they’re less likely to put it in the review, because they feel they have been heard. Unless it’s something that they feel they need to warn other guests about, I suppose. But I haven’t really had much of that. And the things guests mention (outside bathrooms, no lift) are already clearly stated in the listing.
Actually, that reminds me - I think the lack of lift isn’t explicitly stated. I should change that.
They can completely ignore the form if they want. Sometime they do. And it takes like 2 minutes to fill it out. I suspect that’s all the time most people take.
People flying to India might be a different group from people flying to Hawaii. Isn’t Hawaii supposed to be some sort of almost-legendary Paradise-like place?
