The, “baby,” is 8 years old now so not THAT long ago.
Yes I get two sorts of guests. Those who appreciate the isolation of my place and its views over the sea and lack of people and those who feel the need to point out in the review that it is not closer to a major tourist attraction 60km away which I also point out in the listing. I’ve had people give me 4 stars for “location” because “it’s a bit isolated and there are no shops” which is mentioned 3 times before they arrive and like that’s a bad thing.
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Maybe you should change your listing title to ‘Isolated and Shop-free Views-over-the-Sea Paradise’.
Some expectation management needed here?
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That doesn’t work. My listing ‘small room in shared flat, zone 2’ regularly gets dinged for being small and shared. Yes apparently there are people who people two people can get a large london flat to themselves for £32 per night.
I once took issue with the accuracy feedback I got from one guest (small room, small flat) and complained to Airbnb that it was even on the title. Air said it was the guests experience and so the review was valid.
I have feared that emphasis on something that’s a bit subjective and relative (small: I’ve had folk say the room was spacious while fussy folk said it was small) will only prejudice them to interpret it that way. When already proclaimed to be ‘small’ their confirmation bias will kick in.
That said, it doesn’t explain why they ding the accuracy rating for sure. I can never understand why some guests attack on the accuracy front even when you’ve provided them info of almost every damn thing in the place down to the last detail.
I am a student in US. Here are my opinions on the reasons you feel that American guests are hard to please.
They like big things absolutely!
And they are picky on service. People in the US value hospitality and service. People in the US and people in Europe have quite different expectation on Airbnb service.
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Except when they are from Germany. Germans seem to complain about everything lol
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I tend to get along really well with German guests. They are generally polite, rule-obeying and modest folk who do not expect you to fly around them and babysit them. I appreciate that. But I noticed that the older generation of Germans are really though reviewers. My German friend even explained to me that for them 5 star review is the absolute, almost unattainable ideal and many Germans are reluctant to give it unless the place is absolutely exceptional. 
I find it silly, and it seems not to be the case with younger folks, but it seems to be the thing. It happened to me already three times to get absolutely glowing review from elderly German guests and the praise in the private feedback, and then realize they gave us 4 stars.
I just used Airbnb as a guest recently and one change I noticed is that when writing a review, Airbnb is explaining what each star means as follows:
Germans are my favourite guests, out all day and if you do anything nice for them like some baking or dropping them somewhere they are so grateful. They love to embrace the culture and the life.
I had 2 Americans last week, I have never seen the room so dirty in two years. My youngest is 8 and he was horrified and he is messy . Bathrooms were pretty awful as well, I knew by the state of the bathroom toilet, floor, sink on the first day that the room was going to be bad. I have washed their bedding twice and still can’t get the stains out.Stains went through sheets, mattress protector and mattress cover. She said she was going to start AIrbnb herself after the holidays God help the poor guests.who stay with her. Most Americans I have hosted were lovely and I remember them with fondness
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A brief update on American guests: we’ve had not just the one expected but four American bookings and they were all great. No issues at all.
Happy New year to all, and may 2018 be AirBnB’alicious for you 
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Let’s hope so! I just got cancellations one after the other on my 3 upcoming bookings in January. Gonna smudge some sage or something to realign my karma.
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I just got two cancellations but they were just one nighters at the end of a 3 weeks of being booked solid. So I’m ready for a break. Still, cancellations always annoy. Which refund policy do you have?
Liberal. Oh well. Some of them sent reasons but they sound a bit bogus – could be just the very cold weather or making multiple reservations to block the spaces, then deciding and cancelling.
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One of my most difficult couples was over middle age Chilean-American staying with me in Chile. You would think that their US passports gave them the right to complain about everything. I tried to comply in every way but they infuriated me by leaving complaints in the review which they had not expressed to me. At the end of the day, hosts black list back stabbers. They certainly are not welcome in my house anymore.
Lol. I love your post! Aren’t you a capitalist yourself? You’re running a business for personal gain! And btw, I travel all over the world, I’m an American, a capitalist, and no, I don’t stick my nose up at anyone! I resent your very inaccurate depictions of Americans.
My post was not about “Americans” but about The Americans who have come to stay with me and who have stabbed me in the back after the fact while to my face they indicate that all is well. As of too date only some American guests of mine have complained to Airbnb and not to me. In general, guests politely criticize me to my face if there is an issue and we work something out during their stay. It seems like Some Americans like to suffer through their stay by not mentioning whatever issue they might have.
Airbnb does not appear to be asking complaining guests if they have brought their issue up to the host. Just this morning, my Chinese guest kindly asked if he was suppose to buy toilet paper. I was horrified and exclaimed no! Turned out that the supply under the sink had been used up and I had not checked it. Problem solved immediately with four rollos of tp…
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What American knows what a North Korean accent sounds like? All they hear is a foreign accent but can’t identify whether it is German or Indonesian if it weren’t for the physical characteristics.
This cannot be a criticism of Americans as they have little contact with foreigners.
The most amusing complaint I have had was an American girl who said the bathroom was a tad bit dirty. After she left, no one had entered the bathroom. When my cleaning lady and I went to inspect the bathroom, the only thing we found was a strand of her hair on the floor!
So we concluded that she might want us to follow her around with a dust pan under her hair!
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