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The things that come up for me that are the most work or hassle are:
People not booking the correct number of guests
People not getting their dogs pre-approved before booking
People not having their information filled out at all (not even an email address, much less an ID)
These three things don’t phase me anymore but they are still extra work. I have some copy and paste replies that I’ve perfected over time and send them out right away and then people book, tell me about their dogs and fill out some information.
Hair. The people hair is so much more work than the dog hair.
We got a Miele with a bunch of attachments and a lint rolller collection, so it’s all good, but still a thing.
Early check-in / late check-out.
These guests should just have an “I’m special” badge on their profiles. It’s stressful for me because I truly like being accommodating but I really don’t want people coming early or staying late, so it continues to be an internal battle.
People who want to either sneak their children and infants into my home and/or want to argue with me about the legality about it (for which they are incorrect). Some pretty angry parents out there but also lots of family friendly listings in the area, so not sure why they bother but I guess I’m just lucky.
I’ve gotten better at this one too but regardless of how helpful and diplomatic I am, there are still some who just want to make a fuss and read me the riot act. Airbnb usually does a pop-up asking if I want to block them and I am grateful for that but it’s such a waste of time.
All in all not really issues but the things that seem to take up time, usually when I have the least of it.
Infants - booking 2-4 infants that almost all, if not all are over 2 years old. In a lot of cases this has lead to being well over occupancy and costs me more money and cleaning.
Just coming early or staying late without permission. This has caused many problems for me. I do many same day turn arounds especially in summer.
Lying - Intentionally lying about guest count, parties, visitors expected by guests and damage. Most of these are more common in my whole house rentals than in a shared area.
I got cameras that show the driveway. Part of my issue was wanting to see their car in front without going to look out the garage window. So now in the rare case that someone parks over there I can look on the camera and it doesn’t bother me.
I added more concrete on the side where I want them to park. So they have, in effect, their own driveway and parking space.
I included parking instructions at the beginning of my check in message. I used to just have it in the “house rules” which I thought they read. You could also put a message inside your rental. Perhaps a sign that says "Before leaving for the day, turn off the HVAC and lights, lock the door and make sure you aren’t parked in back of any cars.
I stayed at an Airbnb recently where they painted lines like the kind in parking lots in their parking area because they had guests parking the wrong direction.
If you have completed the check in guide online on Airbnb maybe put the picture of where to park first in the sequence.
I got cameras that show the driveway. Part of my issue was wanting to see their car in front without going to look out the garage window. So now in the rare case that someone parks over there I can look on the camera and it doesn’t bother me.
I added more concrete on the side where I want them to park. So they have, in effect their own driveway and parking space.
I included parking instructions at the beginning of my check in message. I used to just have it in the “house rules” which I thought they read. You could also put a message inside your rental. Perhaps a sign that says "Before leaving for the day, turn off the HVAC and lights, lock the door and make sure you aren’t parked in back of any cars.
I stayed at an Airbnb recently where they painted lines like the kind in parking lots in their parking area because they had guests parking the wrong direction.
If you have completed the check in guide online on Airbnb maybe put the picture of where to park first in the sequence.
Indeed. You’ve reminded me of a very handsome guest, immaculately dressed in a suit, totally bald-headed and utterly charming. Yay no hair, I thought! But apparently he was a complete werewolf from the neck down Weeks later I was still finding curlies all over the place.
I’ve posted this “story” before. Starting to feel like my old Welsh grandmother who would often preface conversations with ‘Ah right, story 353 coming up now’. And we’d all recite it with her!
My pet peeve is hair…everytime I think it have it all I find more… reminds me of the song from Hair…I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy, snaggy, shaggy
Ratty, matty, oily, greasy, fleecy, shining, gleaming
Streaming, flaxen, waxen, knotted, polka dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided, powdered, flowered and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled and spaghettied…HAIR!!!
This has been the year of the Insane Demand. Women wanting assurances that it it is safe to walk 2 miles after midnight in my city. SH’s wanting to check in 2 hours early and have no human contact for hours on end. And no noise. Guests wanting to stay 2 more weeks free until they got paid.
I am now turning down over 70% of my requests because of this.
Most of the rules are simple direction on sharing a house and unless they are markedly antisocial, people are pretty good.
I’m with those who don’t often have guest problems or communicate with Airbnb, but speaking of communicating, my biggest peeve is guests who don’t communicate after booking or maybe not at all.
That is interesting bc those are my favorite guests! The ones who say nothing!!
And I came back for the community here who understands how I feel this morning after refunding cleaning for gasp- 2 hairs!
I believe you, @Cindy_Turner_Dodd, and I believe all the other hosts who have listed hair as their top issue. (And I love your “Hair” reference.)
I’m just surprised. I can’t say that we’ve ever had any issues with hair—and we have two dogs. We’ve had plenty of guests with long hair, curly hair, beards, and undoubtedly a lot of hair we haven’t seen.
Maybe hair isn’t an issue for us because we’re resident hosts, and we can vacuum daily. But we also haven’t had hair issues in tub, showers, or sinks.
I guess we’re lucky. Sorry it’s such an issue for so many others.
Yep…everything above, but in particular the children issue. I am not insured for children under 12, Clearly state no children under 12. So I too have a clear response on this. But some parents still persist and persist. Is that a tautology?
All the issues people have mentioned so far are familiar to me, too, but I have learned to deal with them. I want to explicitly state that issue #2 (Airbnb support) doesn’t really apply to me. I did have to call them pretty frequently, and they have almost always been very helpful and saved me a lot of time and hassle if they had to sort out things which had gone wrong.
However, there is one issue I have to deal with: public backlash against Airbnb. This really is a tough one. There is so much opposition to Airbnb, these days in Germany, I hardly dare to mention the “A” word any longer in public.
In fact, the city of Cologne, Germany, spent a lot of money, in recent months, putting up giant billboards specifically targeting Airbnb hosts. For one or two years now, you have been feeling like you committed a criminal offence if you rented out a room on Airbnb.
Guests expecting a hotel experience at my homes!
Including wanting fresh towels every day…a cooked breakfast when it is self catering and the usual bringing unbooked extras, wanting children to stay for free when I don’t allow children under 12… because they booked an entire house and that gives them permission! After all there are all these beds…
I’ve learned that some people loose a lot of hair every day and other people never seem to loose any (or their cleaning it up) In any case really glad I bought a Dust Buster.
I used to sweep the tile and wood floors before I mopped, but I started vacuuming them instead and saw a huge difference in the amount of stray hairs.
I also bought a stick vacuum (Dyson V8) to vacuum under the beds. It came with attachments that make it easy to vacuum along the baseboards and behind the toilets, and I use the small beater brush head to vacuum the sofas.
Hair really hasn’t been a problem after the two changes with vacuuming.
We have three of the Dyson stick vacs. They’re brilliant. Each one stays charged about 20 minutes. For daily vacuuming, I can usually do the whole house in 20 minutes—well, all the parts that need to be done. Some rooms don’t get used at all.
With three of them, we always have two on chargers. And if we have to double up and both vacuum at once, we always have the resources to do that.
My vacuum is my best friend! at least when doing turnovers! I like you used to do the sweep and then clean but now with my handy dandy 2 vacuums it is much easier. I don’t do mopping but the old fashioned hand and knees with a bucket and clothe. So I up close and personal with my floors…lol. I have one bathroom that is my bane… no matter how many times I vacuum when I go to wipe the floors down it can be a fight that I do evidently win.
Caroline_Bradbeer:
Weeks later I was still finding curlies all over the place.