I notice a lot of people here mentioning to wait until the review period is over to address issues with guests. How successful is this when there are time limits and some things need to be addressed before the next guest checks in? I realize that many others just eat the issues as costs of doing business but I am not about to do that when I have things specifically listed in my House Rules with their accompanying fines…smoking, unauthorized pets and people, leaving the house unlocked, leaving the pets uncrated when home alone (I provide crates), not picking up pet “duty” in the yard and the latest, driving and parking on the lawn. All of these are because these things happen so often. Almost every time I have guest coming within the 2 week review window so feel I cannot wait. And then, invariably, I get low ratings because I uphold my House Rules. I still get bookings so it doesn’t seem to deter people too much. It just doesn’t seem to deter them enough to not break the rules either. I am in the process of now raising those fines but I’m interested to hear how you all are successful at waiting until after the reviews to deal with things.
How successful are you in actually getting those fines paid?
I usually get on with issues/reviews right away. If I don’t do it I’ll forget (the reviews, not the fixes). The fizes have to be done asap after they live. I don’t care what the guests who did it will think. They will say they didn’t do it, of course.
It’s about 50/50 on if the guests pays it and then about 50/50 if Airbnb pays it so about 75%. That has increased since I got cameras.
One thing I have noticed is those that tend to leave more negative reviews then positive will attract those type of individuals as they do not see the punitive financial cost associated with breaking those rules as it applies to that review. They see … oh this guest brought his dog and got a bad review and broke the rules…no big deal as far as they are concerned. It is very rare that I mention breaking of a House Rule in my review unless it is really bad, such as throwing a party or totally trashing my home. I will mark them down leave a general comment and go on. I will note this is that if you have more Rule breakers than those that don’t you may have too many rules and we all know that people don’t read after a certain point. As far as the waiting for reviews vs doing them right away because of the nature of ABB or any hosting site I will attempt to resolve the monetary issue first and then leave a review unless they have completely trashed the home and then I do it more for other hosts than the guest. I do this because my temper will have cooled down and I can write an honest review, if they thought they locked the door and they didn’t but were great overall I wouldn’t mention it in my review and give them a positive rating. I am a big believer in if you give positivity you will receive it.
Do you use a deposit and how do you vet your guests? @Militaryhorsegal
Just thinking of ways you can increase your pay out rate and minimise your bad guest experiences.
I have always had a deposit. Started it at $100-$150 but now have it at $500. I will note, however, that never have I collected from the deposit.
I do not get guests. I am on IB. Although those that IB have to have govt ID and no negative reviews.
From the problems you have encountered with guest damage it might be worth investing a bit more in vetting your guests?
I have IB too but ask the following questions:
- Who is travelling with you
- What are your plans for your stay
- Why did you choose my home
- Please can you upload a clear profile photo of yourself
If they don’t answer these I ask them again in my welcome note. If they don’t respond after a second reminder I ask Airbnb to chase.
You could also add a comment in your welcome note when they book to ask a guest to reply to confirm
- They have read your rules around pets (if they have pets)
- Smoking
- Leaving house unlocked
- Parking on the lawn
And confirm details of fines.
Yes, that might help, but the one I have now I even spoke to them in person and on the phone and they just don’t care. They are breaking so many house rules. My neighbors are sending me pics of it. And all these broken house rules are clearly right in front of the cameras!!! They DON’T CARE!
The most recent one confirmed that she had read the rules and then was my worst guest ever smoking in my house and outside, leaving ashes and butts all over the kitchen, stoop, patio and yard, not even trying to hide it. I also learned she used the door jamb as her ashtray to put her cigarettes out.
I completely agree with @Helsi about vetting. For those who aren’t IB- check their reviews etc. Maybe an increase in your rates will help weed some of these bad guys out too.
This won’t be popular, but you shouldn’t be on IB. Are you requiring that guests are recommended?
I don’t think I would ever book your listing because of all the fine print, rules and regulations and fines over fines. Not because I would break them, rather because it is so off putting. (But whom I to say something as I did recently add 1 fine for smoking in the Treehouse.) You might be scaring off all good guests, leaving you with a higher % of those 
ones.
Most of my problem guests are not IB guests so I’m not sure I understand that logic. It’s guests that purport a good face and then turn around and screw me regardless.
I have slowly added to the rules and fines over the years after multiple guests have broken the things just mentioned in the House Manual or in person, or just common sense. I actually have had quite a few “bad” reviewed guests that come in, explaina and it apologize for the past behavior. We discuss staying with me and then are IDEAL guests for me. I write them GLOWING reviews in return.
I have to have the long list of rules in order to get any compensation because that is what Airbnb requires. I still get lots of good guests as well. It just seems that the bad ones are SOOOOO annoying.
I have increased my rates across the board and now seem to get more “entitled” nice to my face but screw your rules behind your back kinds. Even though they have cameras recording them doing it and they know it. They have more than enough money to pay the fines. They come in driving jaguar SUVs, Audi’s, land rovers, BMWs, etc.
Since The Insider came in about the $200 limit I thought about raising my fines but now I WILL be as soon as the current guest leaves.
Maybe I should raise my base rates again. I have been using Smart Pricing this year and getting a few dollars more than my bottom rate every now and then.
@PitonView $200 is the limit that case managers can refund without supervisor approval. It was something along those lines.
I would suggest not using smart pricing as it tends to be a lot lower than you could actually get for your home. If my rate was $100… smart pricing would say 45… I have never had it be accurate for my area.
I don’t understand. If you want at least $100 a night you put that as the minimum price. Smart pricing doesn’t price below your minimum.
Sorry…bad example. However using smart pricing has never worked for me. Yes you had have minimum rate set but you need to be on top of current market, events etc otherwise you can loose a lot of income and smart pricing has never even met current market values in my area. But that is my personal experience…I have heard many that it has worked well for
Smart pricing doesn’t keep anyone from doing this.
from what I understand it learns in part from how people use it. When I had my minimum set at $39 it never priced me above 42. But now that my minimum is set at 50 it sets me at 51-53-59, etc. I just got a booking in June where is set a Thursday-Friday night stay at $59. I don’t know why for sure but my guests are coming for “graduation from the Sgt Major academy.” That’s not a major event in our town that would appear on local calendars.
I just see a lot of posts that say not to use it that I feel are a misrepresentation. A host can turn it on and still set their own prices for any individual day if they would like.