We don’t have to ask for Identification or have the guests fill out any forms. We show guests all the rooms in the house and go over the basics even though this information is covered in the house guide. The reason we show them around is that I’ve seen complaints in reviews and heard complaints about other hosts from my guests that if they weren’t shown around they didn’t feel welcome. I always offer a glass of water and use of the bathroom before I show them around. It takes about 5 minutes when I do it and about 10 minutes when my husband does it. We always get five stars for arrival. I think you need to shorten your meet and greet. Also, if I were you I’d let guests know that it is your government not you who requires that forms be filled out.
Perhaps you could get the legal stuff taken care of after they have a break - like “settle in a bit, and then please come with your ID”.
Although, every time I’ve checked into a hotel in China (or apartment, actually), we have to go through that, so I don’t see how that could be the problem.
Thougt the check in time is on a long side,but i cant suspect that thats what caused such a low rating on arrival.
I dont think the arrival was bad , it was just a bit longer than with most hosts. I am more incilned to think that it was a typo.
Hi Faheem
I think through reading your process at welcome that it may be the hotel like ID checking that is the issue. People stay in an Airbnb as they don’t want to feel like they’re in a hotel. I know you feel you have to follow the rules but I have to say that would grate with me too. Maybe mention on your page that guests will have to provide ID, you will have to make copies and the Form C etc. I’ve had 72 guests and 70 have given me 5 stars for arrival. I make it really really short and sweet. Hi, Here’s your room, here’s the key. Have a great time, make yourself comfortable and here’s how you can find me if needed. In my experience guests have no interest in meeting me or making small chat - they are on holiday, or business trips and have better things to do.
OH Wow. Faheem. You’ve just answered your own question. If I had to spend 20-30 minutes check in at a hotel, I’d be telling them to cancel my booking and I’d be hotfooting it elsewhere. And you say that you want to make sure they are okay, not hungry or tired, but by engaging them for that length of time you are completely disrespecting their needs as a guest. They may be busting for the loo, exhausted, grumpy - anything and you are completely prolonging their agony. You know the answer. You just need to implement it. I spend less than 3 minutes with the welcome, but my big smile and don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything is all the welcome anyone needs.
Thank you for the comments, everyone. I’ll attempt to reply collectively.
First, I think everyone is making a lot of presumptions about my check in process. While I’m not suggesting it’s perfect (clearly it isn’t), I think it’s reasonable, if guests are unhappy about it, to give some indication of being so. Nobody has, in person, in writing, in private comments in a review.
Two people (out of 8) gave me less than 5 stars on “arrival”. One gave me 4, the other (the subject of this thread) 2. I asked both of these people repeatedly whether they had any criticisms or comments. Nothing.
Also, I let both these people check in early. The Indian guy was supposed to come at 10.30 am. He turned up at 12.30 pm, having completely underestimated the traffic. The Israeli lady turned up at around 11 am. My “normal” check in time is 4 pm.
I’ll also say again, that the Israeli lady gave me 3/5 stars for communication. This is also strange. She’s the only person to give me less than 5 stars (out of 8 reviews).
I wrote to both of them to ask about this. So far, nothing. If either of them reply, I’ll update here.
The process takes the time it takes. If I want to collect some information, it will take a bit of time. I actually send out Form C in advance by email, along with an accompanying email describing the background of the form. Most of the time people ignore them. This isn’t very surprising, perhaps. But it does mean I have to collect the information when they get here.
Offering a drink and use of the bathroom when they get here is definitely a good idea. I’ll do that in the future. 5 minutes would really be quite brisk to collect all the information I need, including the actual show around.
I already tell them that the government make me fill the form in. On my listing, and in the email I send out (see above). And it’s fairly obvious from the form, too.
Hmm. That’s certainly a possibility. Or I could just check their IDs, which is the really important bit. Then let them get on with things, and actually copy the ids and write down their contact info later. Or tell them to go ahead and make themselves comfortable while I copy their ids (or somethng like that). Of course, in that case, there is always the possibility that getting their information will get delayed or never happen. That’s kind of why I like to get it out of the way at the beginning.
Well, if a 20 minute wait is so upsetting to you, you’d find international travel extremely distressing. Not to mention India itself. And “agony”? “disrespecting”? I don’t think I’m that oblivious to people’s conditions.
I think I could make the process more efficient and/or comfortable, I’ll think about how to do that. Thank you for the suggestions and comments, everyone.
Don’t forget the sneakiness of guests, or the general human dislike of criticising someone face-to-face. Much easier to do it later in the safety and anonimity of their own home!
I guess arrival is also to do with first impressions. We mostly have guests from the UK and northern Europe, who see the sun and the pool and the bouganvillea on the garden wall and I could snarl and toss their keys at them and it wouldn’t matter … do guests have to pass through your non-beautious living room? Could you tart it up a bit? Plants, flowers, all that stuff?
I do a 2-step arrival process: First show them where to park, show them apartment/suite, offer cold drink/glass of wine/coffee and say I’ll meet them on the terrace for the “formalities” after they’ve had time to freshen up. At the moment this consists of explaining the rather complicated map of how to get to the supermarket/restaurants but in future I’m going to have to do what you do and fill in passport numbers, address, grandmother’s birth certificate (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration) etc for ALL members of the group. I’d rather do this on the terrace when they’re relaxing with a drink than the moment they arrive!
Could you tell me how you know which guest gave you those stars? I haven’t yet figured that out … also must admit I’ve only just looked at the individual categories and am currently obsessing over which guest gave us ONE star for location when we have have solid 5s from everyone else!
Hi @Malagachica,
Very true. But if I was in their shoes, and someone asked me for feedback, I’d probably shrug and say something like - the check in was a bit slow. Maybe you could speed it up? Let people check out the room while you copy id? Something like that. Assuming I had a problem with the procedure, of course.
That would be it. No hurt feelings, hopefully. Not a big deal. Of course, I’m not the most tactful person in the world. I tend to say what I think - within reasonable bounds of course.
And in this case, it’s barely even criticism. Just an (semi-anonymous) star rating.
I chuckled at the image of you snarling and tossing keys. 
Sure, I could improve the entrance room, but it’s really not that awful. It looks a bit better now than it did in the photos in my listing. It’s got rather random bits of furniture scattered around. It certainly wouldn’t get a spot in Architectural Digest or Home Beautiful. The problem is more that there is no really good place to sit. There a humungous big bed right next to the entrance, which has been there forever. It would be better if it was a proper sofa, maybe with a matching table. But to put a sofa there, I’d have to get rid of the humongous bed first. And figure out what sofa to get.
Yes, that’s similar to what @dcmooney and @EllenN said. I think I’ll probably use some version of that. Currently I have them sitting there till I finish, which I agree is not ideal.
I do actually have a terrace. But currently there’s nowhere to sit on it. I’m planning to get seating for it. Though it might not be the ideal meeting place because it is either too hot or raining (this time of year). But thanks for the suggestion.
Sure, that’s easy, though not after the event. Go to the stats page. You can see the counts per category. Let’s say you write them down right now. Then when you are next notified that a guest has posted a review, write down the counts again. Then the changes are the ratings your guest gave you. It’s debatable whether it is worth doing this in the long term - if you have a lot of traffic this could be quite a lot of work to keep up. But I’m just starting out, so… It would really be a lot easier if Airbnb would just post the individual scores.
Actually, come to think of it, it’s possible the two people I wrote to yesterday asking about their reviews are freaked out, because they didn’t think I could tell what ratings they have left.
Thanks for the comments, @Malagachica. You’re so cool!
People are way too picky and fuss a lot. Really arrival should be just about access to the house, and nothing else. Even if this is your way of greeting people, even if it takes a long time, you should not get 2* if you were friendly.
I also dont see anything wrong with telling a host that i am tired and to speed up the check in process.
One host in Greece also started telling me where to go and what to see upon check in. I could see it would take a while and told him that i appreciate it but i had overnight flight and just want to go to sleep. ANd that was the end of story.
Hi @Yana_Agapova
I don’t either.
Wow, that’s admirably forthright. I wish more people were like you. I also tend to just tell people what I think. When I’m tired and/or irritated, the volume can go up. I certainly wouldn’t sit quietly and suffer. (But then again, a diplomat I am not.)
So, complete verbatim reply from the Israeli lady whose review this all started with:
sorry about that
my overall experience in your place was more then satisfying
i don’t know way it is shown differently
i have only good things to say about you and yur hospitality
sorry if according to the airbnb review system it sey otherwise
all the best
I don’t know what to make of this. Does anyone have anything to suggest, other than shrugging and moving on? If anyone wants, I can post the message I wrote to her about the review - it was quite clear and explicit.
The best point made in this thread is the reminder that when guests arrive, most are dying to freshen up and/or sleep. I notice this when I take my guests to the island, I zoom them through real fast (5 minutes) otherwise they grow impatient.
I do have one more thing to say -
UUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!
How frustrating for you!!!
It seems that you’ve done all you can do as an excellent host - and in the process got some other tips about check-in.
Aha, it proves my theory that they just click on things without thinking. I dont thinkshe meant of giving you 2 stars. I would definitely contact Air and see if they can let her to adjust the rating. And send them her response.
What she meant is that she can’t say anything but good about you and your property, and she does not understand why the score turned out to be low. Faheem, i had this several times, actually quite a bit of times from guests who were praising me and the house repeatedly during their stay without me even asking. Thats why for me it was a shock to see that they gave me 4, and sometimes even 3*. In a begining i was asking them what possibly went wrong. And some said, o i thought 4* was very good, others did not even realized what they clicked on.
Instead of asking just why they have you two stars, ask also what would have made it a 5-star experience.
Hi @Yana_Agapova,
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll pass my message and the reply on to Airbnb. I don’t expect they’ll do anything, but it does no harm to try.
Lots of wars and troubles happened because of miscommunication, because people keep it inside. If communicated properly many many issues are resolved without anyone being hurt.
I am still working on how not to get angry if something went wrong or someone did something wrong, and tell them with “love” what i think is wrong and what they can do better.
I could of course stay there and listen to my Greek host for half an hour stories on a beautiful island and suffering through his every word. Only not remembering anything after words. Or i could spare his efforts and my sanity and go to sleep:)
We had reports here that they actually did do something and removed a review that was not justified. Good luck, but i think in this case she did not mean to give you such low rating for sure!
For some reason, this makes me think of the beginning of the plot of a Hollywood movie. Of course, one would need to add a suitable soundtrack. Am I the only one?
Hehehe, our lives as hosts could make an awesome plot for all types of movies.