Should I mention my neighbourhood is a little hilly?

First 13 reviews were all fine, saying its ‘just a short walk’ to the closest attraction in my area. The last 2 have mentioned how hilly it is to walk around and destroyed my location stars. It’s a 10 minute down hill walk to get to where they want to go. Unfortunately that means it’s a 15 minute walk uphill to get back to the apartment.
Any suggestions on how to add that information to my listing without making it sound so arduous? Or should I not say anything? I already mention it’s located on a hill.

No sense being the bearer of bad news. It is already mentioned; if it is an issue for someone, they will pick up on it and act accordingly.

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My place is a five minute walk to the train station. Unfortunately it’s up a steep hill and I got severely pinged on stars for location by 2 guests. I mention that the station is just a five minute walk up the hill. It’s up their imagination, or up to them to ask just how steep that hill is.:slight_smile:

If you already said its on a hill then what else you can say?.
People need to read what they are booking.
I just had low star on location and suggesting to disclose it in my listing that transportation can be a problem. Guys from Europe.
I had a whole paragraph devoted to international travelers writing how problematic transport in US is and how they need to prepare to use LYFT or UBER to get around faster. I wrote how many miles to the beach and airport. My location is as good as it gets with local buses across the street and local train.
I even offered them to call LYFT since they could not figure out app. But they were on a tight budget and somehow it became my fault that they could not afford to use anything but buses.
If people paid attention and read the description there would not be any issues like these.

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I wonder if the last guest read the previous guest’s review before writing his, and just decided to follow suit and make an issue of it.

  1. I would address it before accepting their booking request and just say “Before I accept your booking request, I want to be sure you read the entire listing and understand the surrounding area is somewhat hilly, and that walking uphill will not cause any issues for you.”

  2. If you are on instant book, then put the same comment in the message field that guest sees when trying to enter credit card info.

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When these guys suggested you need to disclose this information - was this in private feedback or they did this publicly in the review?

I find it so odd that so many guests don’t read the materials.

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When they left, in public review but I don’t think they did it on purpose. They were students and were traveling very cheaply. But wanted to make the most of it. I gave them a great weekly deal but they were saving on everything possible. Which is of course their business but I don’t understand how is not disclosure if I even wrote where South beach from us??. They even got a ride from my husband one way there.
I answered them in public response that it’s written all over and they need to read. They also did not read about kitchen :slight_smile:

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My DC hotel in DuPont Circle was also up hill from the metro stop. It only proved a hassle on our first night, as arrived from Hawaii and were lugging our bags up a hill at 10:30pm in 20-degree weather. :smile: However after that, everytime we came from the metro we didn’t even notice the hill. The hotel recommended we get a lift from the airport after such a long journey… We thought we could walk it so we got what we deserved. :smile:

It’s frustrating. I just had a newbie stay with us. She needed an early check-in because they were coming to town for the prom for her daughter. We work regular business hours and have our check-in as late as 6pm because we’re not home from work until then.

We came up with a solution for both of us, we would just leave the back door unlocked and they could come in before we got home. I even said when asked “an early check-in is fine as long as you don’t mind coming to an empty house”.

When we finally met, she seemed nice enough, a little shy of the Airbnb thing.

We mentioned that she can park at the back of the house. She was driving a small SUV/Cross-over. She was nervous that she was too close to the house or too close to our landscaping (boulders). We told her she was really fine, plenty of room.

When it came time for a review, she dinged us on “Accuracy” and said in her private comments to “maybe tell people the driveway is narrow”.

It’s really a normal driveway, one car width but very open once you get to the top.

I was really surprised by the ding and thought she was nuts about the driveway but have since updated our listings to include a description of the driveway - an incline, narrow for about 150 ft, then opens up in the garden.

I hope that’s what she meant about accuracy, otherwise I just don’t know.

This not thorough reading is so true. Just about everyone of my guests ask me: “Where do we meet?”, to go the island, yet is #1 on my information list I guess they keep forgetting.

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As many of you have already alluded to, some guests do not read the listing descriptions as well as we would all hope. We’ve hosted over 15,000 nights in the properties we list and we have seen everything. Part of being a good host is knowing that guests are not going to read all of the details in your listing, so make sure you emphasize/reiterate what is most important, ensure the pictures on your listing tell the whole story and respond to all of your guests’ feedback in the best light. No one said hosting is easy!

Interesting conceptual idea. I take my guests from an aerial shot to ground level, afar to slowly in, then cover section per section. Perhaps ‘the whole story’ should conclude happy laughing guests, while doing a fun activity. Ok, but no flipping of omelets (or was it a glorified tortilla?), a’ la’ AirBnB’s latest ad campaign, that’s out. LoL

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Rather than presenting further detail or description of “The Hill”, perhaps add a requirement that guests must submit the results of their most recent EKG.

Dying laughing!! I think you need to show people sky diving to your listing…oh, wait…

Crepes, my dear man.