I love hosting guests through AirBnB and I’ve found there is one thing you can do to almost always get a 5-star review. Actually, there are two. I’ve written about the first one [link to personal blog removed by moderator] but the second one is to always send a text the morning after their first night, asking how everything was and if they need anything else. What’s your ONE piece of best advice?
My small advice would just be to show you care, but I’m quite sure that most hosts here are already serious experts at what they do and they don’t need this kind of advice.
“I will turn on their electric blanket so the bed is warm when they return.”
"…turn on their bedside and bathroom night light and turn up the heat in their room."
These things I wouldn’t appreciate at all.
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I refused to do the clickbait thing and follow that link. Is this what this person does? Intrudes on their space and decides how warm they will be after they have checked in?
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It appears to get her 5 star ratings every time 
. To me it would be one of the few reasons to deduct stars: I don’t expect my host to actively ruin my sleep 
. The self-proclaimed experts of this world always lighten my day and make me smile 
.
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@vhhorne we are not allowing hyperlinks to other blogs and websites. This forum is privately paid for by the owner who pays out of his own pocket with some help from the on site ads. We are here to help one another for free, not to act as a launching pad to another site. I know you’ve posted here before and you’re welcome to continue as long as you do so with no strings attached.
I have over 300 98% (aka almost always) 5 star reviews.
Now I’m wondering if you are fishing for us to give you our one best piece of advice and then you are going to take it and make it into another blog post and make money off it?
Nevertheless I’ll tell you what my one best piece of advice is: Give them their privacy. I tripled the number of bookings and went up from 92% 5 star to 98% 5 star year over year (comparing 2014/2015 2016/2017) What was the big change? I remodeled the room to put in a private entrance and ensuite bathroom so they don’t have to come through my house.
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Great suggestion,K9!
Definitely, privacy is not negotiable. It is a must for my criteria.
I would feel intruded upon if my host entered my room to turn on an electric blanket.
I leave that kind of pampering to the evening turn downs at resorts…
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I’m afraid to give my tip lest I see it published elsewhere.
Asking via text whether they had a good first night does NOT translate into five star reviews. And seems rather naive “advice.”
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Boundary crashers never think they are boundary crashers they just think they are doing the whole world a huge favour by their caring and sharing interfering presence 
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I thought this forum was for sharing ideas, not bashing other hosts. I guess I am just that naive. 99% five-star reviews out of 249 reviews say I’m doing sumthin’ right. But, you probably bullied the smartest kid in the class, didn’t you?
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It is for sharing ideas, but you posted with an agenda right out of the gate. With a hyperlink to your self promotion. Therefore your post comes off as quite insincere. Sorry. That’s how I read it.
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Even better than sneaking in and turning on the electric blanket is to go to sleep in their bed and when they return and ask what you are doing say: “Just warming up your bed for you. You’re welcome”. They love that I find. I think this explains why I get all “#1” reviews.
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Jam!!! Bahahahahahaha … You character!
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To be fair, though, maybe vhhorne thought it was ok to do that? I know there are specific forum rules but… come on, nobody really reads them. Everyone assumes they’re the same as all other forums: don’t insult anyone, don’t advertise etc etc. Other members have posted links to their blogs and/or websites in the past.
If you step back for a minute, the responses on here are overly hostile. There’s no need for it.
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In the spirit of @Magwitch, I never text my guests. Once they are in my home, all communication is done face-to-face unless they initiate something else. The only reason that happens, in general, is because they leave really early in the morning or get up after I leave for an appointment.
Maintaining good ratings for me, has been just about being me. I provide exactly what I promise. I am present and aware, what the young kids are now calling “mindfulness”, and I treat people the way I want to treated. So far, it has worked. I am a bit shy of @vhhorne’s 249 reviews, but not that far.
Like @KKC, I review everyone. All but five guests have chosen to review me. [Doctors are the majority of those.]
I am lucky since the hosting all seems pretty easy to me. The hard work is the cleaning, laundry, managing expectations pre-arrival… The people part? No so hard.
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Just because someone says they have “249 reviews” or “99% 5 star” doesn’t mean they actually do. As another member said on another thread…it’s best to take posts with a grain of salt.
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This forum has had the guidelines in place for a while and like most forums, we are not keen on people posting their commercial solicitations and promotions. Our fearless leader spends buckets of money to make this site available to all of us. He doesn’t want the links that take people away from the site and I don’t blame him. He asked us specifically to remove them.
K9 could have deleted the whole thing but she chose to give Vanhorne a chance to post her thoughts without the link. She then posts that her secret to a five star review is to send a text in the morning to see how their night went? Really? If I were a guest, I might feel pressured by such a question.
I didn’t even see the electric blanket comments but those seemed equally ridiculous. Like I say, at least K9 went to a bunch of trouble to edit her post so the person could have a chance.
I usually just unlist or delete. We don’t owe these posters an explanation about it.
People, we get innundated. No one one wants to read people’s spam! Especially if it is just people who pop in and post their crap and disappear.
Not feeling too charitable with this poster right now.
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Oh, I guess I could be lying as well. Funny world we have jumped into.
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I wish this woman would write a blog.
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Or this guy…priceless!