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Anyone else noticed a new attitude of guests expecting a presidential suite for $50 a night?
All of a sudden we’ve got so many folks complaining about things we’ve never had an issue with for the past 3 years.
I’m honestly thinking about quitting. This struggle is huge trying to make folks happy
Looking for some moral support!
Not having those sorts of attitude problems around here. I suspect it may be the “we’ve been locked up now we’re free and want the world perfect” syndrome. Far too many “entitled” people out there who expect the world to bow down to them.
Make it clear that “this is how it is… if you don’t like it go elsewhere” in all your communication with guests. No deals, no offers, no special treatment. I suspect the next year or two is not going to be a good time to be a remote host without security cameras and ways to control guest behaviors.
Lots of new guests who’ve never used Airbnb and don’t get the concept. Pay attention to whether the guests are new users with no reviews, and if so, make sure to communicate with them enough to make sure they are clear on what is on offer and what is not.
It seems to me that there are also a lot of hosts with high expectations. As many of you know I was dealing with STR guests in the last century and as a generalisation, their attitudes haven’t changed. But I find that a lot of hosts expect some new breed of superguest who makes zero mess, makes no noise at all, leaves the rental cleaner than they found it and abides by the host’s many (excessive) rules.
This is also true. I’ve seen hosts asking if they should give a bad review to families with little kids because there were dry Cheerios around on the floor. Or blankets and bed pillows left on the sofa. Or the guest left some food in the fridge or a few check-out morning unwashed coffee cups in the sink.
And that “leave it as you found it” that some hosts put in their check-out instructions? What, the guest is supposed to vacuum the place, mop the floors, wash the windows, scrub and strerilize the bathroom and kitchen?
Yes. There’s a couple threads about 2020 guests being younger and new to Airbnb so having unrealistic expectations.
The majority of my 2020 guests have been wonderful. The 2 or 3 Bothersome guests are just more interesting to discuss.
Our Airbnb rooms are closed because of the pandemic, so I haven’t had your experience.
You might have been facetious when you said $50, or that might be your rate. I don’t know your location or your market, but $50 sounds pretty low to me. What if you increased your prices by 50%? Or more?
Hello @Earthemma
This has already been discussed quite extensively on another thread a while back so probably worth having a look?
Personally, I haven’t found guests have changed post Covid, in terms of them being more picky, but I do vet guests to ensure a good fit and don’t accept quite a few booking.
I still get mainly younger couples or younger single people, but they now tend to be UK based and have had all five star reviews post Covid.
I wonder if this is a North American issue?
What sort of issues have your post Covid guests been complaining about?
Perhaps have a break rather than quitting?
Raise your price by a lot and leave some good coffee . Hang in there
When we were starting out, I would use Airbnb’s low “suggested” price whenever there were empty days.
However, I noticed that the quality of guests were lower; meaning more hand-holding and lots of questions that are Google-able (how far away is this park? Where is the closest grocery store?) that made it not worth it.
Now we have a threshold we never go below even if no one has booked!
Hi Earthemma, nice to hear from you again. In the cheap n cheerful bracket, I have noticed a change. We used to have IT nomads and professionals, but now that the border is closed, and employment is down, it’s different. One woman admitted outright that she was convalescencing. Eek! Just trying to rent a room here!
I went long term, and very recently female only.
Yes i found the same. Mainly from younger 20 somethings. On the advice of other hosts I raised my price about 13 or 14% AND ITS BEEN FINE SINCE. I always kept my prices lower than average to get full bookings. Now I raised my prices I might get the odd gap but a higher calibre of tenant and no headaches. I suggest you consider raising price.
Folks find this forum when they have a problem, and when they ask about guest quality, that’s almost always the answer. After my first month, I raised my prices about 15% so that I wouldn’t be the cheapest room available, and the quality of guests went up as soon as they started booking at the new price.
It appears that the lesson is that you never want to be the lowest priced place in your market segment, because that attracts cheapskates and nitpickers that give bad reviews.
A good friend who travels frequently & books via Airbnb or VRBO said she makes sure to book mid-price range. She is leery of the cheapest rental.
It is not just the bad reviews. It seems counter intuitive but prices at the bottom of the market gets you guests who want a 5 star resort service at 2 star price even though you are providing three and a half to four star facilities. But when you charge three and a half star prices for the same accommodation you get guests who are more realistic do not expect 5 star and leave the the place neater than the guests who paid 2 star prices. The guests paying middle of the market prices seem more likely to appreciate there is a reason that someones holiday house is cheaper than staying in fully staffed resort with staff at their beck and call. While guests paying the cheapest price are more likely to complain that someone is not coming around daily cleaning up the leaves after a windy day or wiping down the outdoor tables after dusty rain. I have found as others an average to slightly higher than average price will get you better guests with more reasonable expectations than cheapest price.
I think people are moody and overwhelmed in general. I have two properties in two very different locations one in Minnesota a large log cabin that can accommodate 13 and a much smaller property In costal Alabama that can accommodate 4 people. We have had a very busy fall and people want to get away, so both properties have been full, I too have noticed in my Minnesota property people have be complaining about unusual things, like an electric outage (it lasted 20 minutes) was out of our control, but it ruined one ladies entire 4 day stay. Another one didn’t like the appearance of one of the houses on her way into our rural property (the house in question was almost 2 miles away) and another complained about a spider in the basement bathroom. We received our worst rating of a 3 star from the lady who lost her electricity for 20 minutes because she was baking at the time… we have had 85 reviews and we are at 4.89 our home gets sparkling clean on almost every review. We have chalked it up to people being edgy due to the world we live in. On the other hand out small property in Alabama has actually had great guests, two of the last 3 reservations have decided to stay a day or two longer after they got there. That property is also somewhat rural, but near a bay and it is warm, also Alabama/Florida have lifted almost all restrictions and things are mor normal than MN.
yes it is interesting anxiety is through the roof right now!
Every guest we’ve had since reopening at the start of July has been great. Every single one.
I never thought I’d say that about domestic Spanish guests, but it is true. The majority were through BDC, but we had a few Airbnb guests and again, no complaints. All our international guests cancelled, and quite rightly so.
A few hiccups with communication, mainly with the Catalans as I find their Spanish akin to someone speaking with a mouth full of pebbles, and one little “incident” with a sheet, which was sorted with some Ropa Blanca!
No “entitleds”, no-one partying, no-one expecting amenities that weren’t listed, all in all it’s been a decent Summer season for us, given the circumstances. Both apartments were full from mid July through to the first week or so in September, and since then we’ve had a steady trickle in October until last week.
Interestingly, while we didn’t achieve the same occupancy (buffer day) as last year, our rates worked out as only a few euros less.
Now, all we’d like is some guests 
Locked down again 
JF
Yes, we sure have. It’s the entitlement mentality. When possible to meet them we show them around, ask if all looks ok before we leave giving them opportunity to go to the Marriott
Your price might be too low and attract the wrong kind of people. I have not had a problem with people complaining but I do have problems if my price is too low. My old manager was not doing his job and groups of people were renting or someone was renting for a friend or relative. On occasion the friend or relative (who is not paying) makes complaints or on a rare occasion - has refused to leave or swears at the cleaning staff when they come to clean. My new manager has raised the price and is not allowing anyone to rent who is not the actual guest.