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Every checkin…I’m holding my breathe to see…did I make a good choice. I know my more laid back host family finds that a waste of good energy (I do too, but I can’t help it). I just had the nicest “first timer” family checkin last night. We had such an excellent exchange this morning when I checked in on them. It’s going to be a great, peaceful weekend! -exhale-
Does anyone have recent “Best Guest Ever! shares to encourage us? I’d love to hear them! I’ve seen a lot sprinkled in other threads but thought a bunch in one place a good way to kick off the weekend.
I don’t “vet” my guests at all. I have canceled on a handful after I read reviews or because of a request I couldn’t accommodate. One I even canceled after she’d stayed several times. She questioned my pet fee and at my price at the time and her overall weirdness I was done. So all of that is to reaffirm that worrying after a guest checks out when nothing more can be done is truly a waste of energy.
Having hosted about 1000 people/800 stays/over 600 5 star reviews I don’t think I could pick a “best guest ever.” My favorites have been the ones I become friends with who stay multiple times. If I have to pick just one then I’ll go with the one who has now hosted me in her Airbnb, who brings me Gummi Baren from Germany and who first told me 3+ years ago that I needed to raise my price. She is now direct book so no worries about reviews.
I only have one such case but I do adore them (I’m going over for dinner this month). They are just very kind, warm and fun folks. There have been others I wish I could get to know. Since I’m a whole house rental I don’t get the same opportunity to know my guests.
My best guests ever were European guests. Not sure why they wanted to come to the Jersey Shore but I’m glad they stayed at my place.
The first were a French family with three kids. They left the place spotless and left me a bottle of French wine with the sweetest note. The children left us beautiful drawings of them having fun kayaking.
The second were Germans. Young family with a baby and the grandparents also traveled with them. Left us yummy German candies and also a very sweet note in German. Thank God for Google translate : ) They even washed and folded the towels they used and I swear it looked like they vacuumed.
I fondly remember our “best guests ever”, and boy howdy, did they set the bar high for future guests! He was a big city cop, she was an elementary school teacher (who also travelled the world with a jump rope troupe- yes, you read that correctly!) We bonded immediately, & acted like school children, playing euchre til the wee hours & laughing uncontrollably. Ah, to have more guests like that- sigh! The good ones are out there, & I find they by far outweigh the not so good ones. Don’t lose faith!
There was the woman who said she had travelled a lot and knew it was hard to get some products in other countries, and was there anything I’d like her to bring down from the US. ( Yes! Mr. Clean Magic Erasers) I just asked for a couple of them and she brought 2 boxes full and wouldn’t let me pay her back.
There was the guy who invited me out for dinner his first night here, just to show appreciation and not have to dine out alone. Then a few hours before check-out 3 days later, he came back from town with a kilo of prawns, which we peeled together and had a big prawn feast.
There was the guy who left his room and bathroom so clean it didn’t even look like anyone had stayed in there for the 4 days since I’d cleaned, aside from the used towels hanging neatly on the rod. He even made the bed perfectly.
Honestly, I’ve never had a bad guest. A few minor issues, but nothing that would prevent me from hosting them again.
That’s amazing ! I’ve had many excellent guests, but can’t make this claim.
I love meeting kindred spirits. That’s such a great share!
It’s so nice when they go above and beyond to let you know how much they appreciated you. I’d be tempted to frame such pictures and hang them in my place; maybe leave pencils and paper so other kids might capture their experience to share. Super cool…love this story!
I have begun to vet more carefully, in addition to adjusting pricing (I tried to stay on the lower end of my comps but it brought along a category of guest that caused me many issues), etc and have been very pleased with the outcome thus far. It’s refreshing, really!
I know some hosts here don’t vet, but I think I’m picking up that these are on-site or renting a room (or rooms) & I think that reality is “self-vetting” to some degree. I’m off-site, whole house, no in-person contact (I am immune compromised).
99.5 % of our guests have been really excellent, I would have been happy to get to know them better to likely become friends! Whether they felt that way about us, well, that is an unknown. Unless you read our love notes book.
No, we don’t vet either. We meet all guests, but they are not in our home.
I think the difference is I share my home with guests so its key that there is a good fit - for example I don’t want a long term guest that works from home.
Home shares tend to be quite different in terms of guest behavior than entire places. I know some home-share hosts have had issues with guests, particularly if the guest has only booked it because of the price point.
But guests who book home shares because they actually enjoy the experience of living with a local, or at least are easygoing and respectful about shared space, are a different breed of guest.
And it’s much harder psychologically for a guest to act like an a*"hole when they are sharing a home with the host. Home-share guests also tend not to be critical of things- it’s not like the host set up the entire house to cater specifically to guests, so they accept that it will be “lived in” and that’s in fact what they enjoy.
I’ve never stayed in an AirBnB (haven’t traveled since I started mine), but hearing these stories makes me think I’ll definitely do something special for my host to show appreciation when I do.
I have a home share. There are about a dozen guests whom I would love to have come anytime. They are the ones who communicate their needs without being whiny, respect our home, hold interesting conversation over a cup of coffee or glass of wine, and check in now and then in-between stays. A few who no longer need to stay here, still drop in when they are in the area. Our all time favorite stays were when we had three rooms open and the local large antique show was in full swing. They would all leave early with bagged breakfast, return late afternoon and sit together sharing their antique finds and personal stories. We really missed them when COVID canceled the antique shows, limited international travel, and we had to go down to one room.
I’ve never had a ‘bad’ guest either and I use IB so there’s no vetting at all. 99.9% of my guests have been lovely, lovely, lovely people.
In that 0.1% I include a few that I’ve asked to leave as they haven’t been suitable for our quiet little community but I’ve been doing this for hundreds of years so I’ve had all sorts of weirdos but most guests have been great.
In all those years,. I really can’t single out any specific ‘best guest ever’ but I’ve had guests who have given me any number of gifts - books, framed prints, splendid chocolates, booze (my favourite), money …
And I’ve had guests from all over the world until Covid struck. Yet like @Ritz3 , the guests I’ve enjoyed the most have mainly been from Europe. I love my job.
We IB and have had mostly all “good” to “great” guests. Only once was a group of four 30-something women an issue. But I fondly recall the lovely couple from Scotland who found our little mountain, rural lake house. And the woman who just left, after her 9th stay.
But the best was the two groups we had for the eclipse. They didn’t know each other, we didn’t know them before, but the opportunity to watch a historic moment was memorable. We all felt like kids again with the wonder of nature.
We used to host in our home in Michigan - we had two extra bedrooms. If it was the weekend, my husband would make a large breakfast and we’d eat and chat with our guests for a couple of hours in the morning. It was nice, family-style and it allowed us to get to know the people staying in our home. There were only a couple of times that it seemed awkward, but we battled through it and otherwise, it was nearly always a great experience. All sorts of different folks from all walks of life. We listened to some that had differing opinions about politics and such, but everyone played nice.
Now we’re on Maui and have two vacation rentals that are rented entirely, so we very rarely get to meet our guests - unless there is an issue. But on occasion, we have been asked out to dinner (pre-COVID), and those are very good experiences.
I really do love to host in-home. It’s really nice to meet and talk with people.
We had a few return guests that we have kept in contact with - over Facebook and one ended up being our lawyer for when we purchased a business!
! I’ve had many excellent guests, but can’t make this claim.
and otherwise, it was nearly always a great experience. All sorts of different folks from all walks of life. We listened to some that had differing opinions about politics and such, but everyone played nice.