This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
While the majority, all but one, review was positive, the negative one really bothers me! I found our 2 bedroom cabin in one of the best hunting/fishing areas of Montana with mud everywhere! Inside the dryer, in the beds, on the curtains, on almost every surface in the place. We also leave a stocked pantry, refrigerator and freezer in case guests aren’t prepared with groceries.
We were “dinged” on the fact we had “our” food in the pantry/fridge. It’s for guests!
I feel defeated by this negative review. I put so much energy and money into making our place ideal for those who want to hunt or fish in the area. I’m thinking of closing our cabin down and taking it off Airbnb.
If you feel that way, then do so. You don’t say how long you’ve been hosting but it’s not a job in which you can last for long if you want to give in because of a bad review every now and again.
Of course, the way to avoid the comments about ‘your’ food being left, is for you or your co-host to point out during the house tour that the groceries have been purchased that day especially for them.
Do that, plus make sure that any foods left for the guests are still within their sell-by date and are unopened.
Then you can have many years happily hosting delighted guests for many years to come.
Breathe, go have a cuppa, your favorite alcoholic beverage, or other recreational activity. Ignore the bad review, it will soon be gone. If you MUST, one sentence: “John, I wish you’d read the cabin description. The food was for you, something we always provide for our guests.”
Did you ding the guest appropriately for the mess in your review?
I am new to this! 6 months only and hate that people aren’t happy with what we believe are very good places to stay for the area. Just was hoping for some support.
I only have communicated with our guests via email through Airbnb. I’m not there (live 1/5 hours away) to give them a house tour. I have a laminated Welcome sheet with details with a Welcome basket of “goodies” according to what they have told me are their interests and tastes.
We support you, but not in a ahh poor you thats terrible sort of way. More like a let’s figure out a better way to do this sorta way.
You need thick skin around here, but there are hosts here who have forgotten more than we have even learned yet. Take the best and leave the rest I say.
I know. But often if a host is having a problem, it’s something that can be sorted out quite simply by the house tour. (And you know how much I believe in the house tour as a cure for all sorts of things.) If it’s a choice between a house tour though and a host giving up the job altogether, I know which I’d prefer to see.
I’d be the same if I had guests who were unhappy. Some of us are just born as people-pleasers, I guess. We’re not a support forum here though, more of a ‘tough love’ practical guide. That said, we’re all hosts here and so we do support other hosts even though it doesn’t come across that way. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t reply at all.
Truly, you’re amongst friends here, many of whom have gone through a lot in the hosting world. You’ll get lots of opposing views because there’s no such thing as a ‘right’ answer, but it’s the best we can offer.
Since this guest apparently missed your welcome sheet, then it’s time to change.
I suggest leaving your welcome sheet as it is; some guests will see it. Then add another prominent sign on the outside front of the fridge (if that’s where the food is), telling the guests that all food was purchased fresh for their use. An earlier responder said it well and stipulated that all the food must be unopened and within its use-by date. If the sign on the fridge can address the guests by name, that’s even better. A small chalkboard, filled out neatly, is an attention-getter. Colorful, easily read chalk is great.
How stocked? I could imagine a guest being unhappy if the pantry, fridge, and freezer were so full of the groceries you provide that they had no room for their own. Could that be what happened?
I ask because I have seen listings that advertise a kitchen and fridge, but the fridge is full to bursting with sodas and popsicles and there is no room for a guest to put things.
I provide a few essentials in the pantry and fridge, but they are kept mostly empty so that guests who stay at my home attracted by the full kitchen have lots of room for their own groceries.
I have some canned soups, chili, crackers, snacks and zip loc bags, extra water, pasta, pasta sauce in jars, instant potatoes,rice. We are 30 miles from a grocery store and If they forgot something, we were hoping that these supplies would be a help, not a problem.
You can never please all of the people all of the time. Some people are born complainers and many guests don’t bother to read the information you spent time composing. Don’t take it personally.
