Your strategies to avoid host burn out

I’m a home-share host, with 2 downstairs studios and an ADA in back- all LTRS. No burn-out, though I have to keep our flat meticulous, as guests walk thru to get to the shared shower: so, no crumbs on counters, dishes in the sink or dog hair on the rugs! I clean constantly, but found I enjoy it when I’m cleaning “for company”. It’s also a small space, and my partner shares all the work.

I don’t use IB and, just as I do with my tenants, I vet and communicate. Super-important to have clear expectations. I’m sure this has played a large part in my having zero problems with guest expectations or house rules not being followed since 2019. I’m not saying house rules have never been broken *see last paragraph :wink:

I also block off a day between guests when I can, as I don’t really have an off- season in my urban location (though I get plenty of tourists and foreign travelers), so there’s no built-in down time. My partner’s a homebody, so when I travel, he’s happy to run things.

There are guests that I’ve delighted by taking them apartment or home-hunting, or on day-trips they couldn’t take without a car- folks I like. For the most part, however folks are out all day and interaction isn’t necessary or sought, so that helps a lot to curb burn-out. Again, having a partner helps- he’s quite the chatter-box.

As others have noted, being retired and not dependent on the income, as well as being on-site are all big plusses. Also being able and willing to flex with and for guests: the ones who didn’t read “no kitchen privileges” (they have a fridge, coffee & tea service in the room) and greet me, bleary-eyed before coffee, eating my muffins off my china, rummaging in my “sparkling clean” (NOT!) fridge for the jam :grin:(Hmmm…okay, so It’s bed & breakfast for these folks…)

4 Likes

Well I starting doing this 20 years ago (first booking was December 2002, but airbnb since about 2015). I have to say Covid was well timed because closing the bookings for 15 months gave me a break from it. Having said that they key thing is having a great onsite manager (she’s Ukrainian) and a great airport transfer driver (Czech). Both are extremely reliable and I pay them a bit over the odds, but since I don’t live in that country any more I certainly couldn’t do it without them.
Worst was probably when someone broke in and stole the guests’ passports, but best is the reaction of guests who can’t believe they have a place in the centre of the city when with their budgets they would normally be shoved into cheap hotels in the suburbs. Positive feedback staves off burnout, I do have a few which I still remember word for word, even from 15 years ago.

6 Likes

thesentinel: Positive feedback staves off burnout, I do have a few which I still remember word for word, even from 15 years ago.

That’s inspiring!

1 Like

@SleepingCoyote to quote part of a post and tag the poster just highlight the text you want to quote and a gray pop up that says “quote” will appear like this:

d

Click on the gray box and it will past the quote into your reply like this:

Whoaaaa! How cool is that!! Thank you very much KKC, I thought I need a magic wand or something :slight_smile:

3 Likes

I’m only a year in - but I’d just say like everything else - developing processes and continuously improving them. Once you get everything running smoothly it becomes more systemic as opposed to each booking being a special experience.

Of course I say this as someone who’s renting out an entire house and has contactless checkin / check out. So processes are critical.

3 Likes

I think that the more you can automate your rentals, the better time you’ll have as a host. Use softwares that can automate messaging, pricing and even your stays to help you enjoy hosting more. That way you can respond to the things that truly need responses.

2 Likes

It depends on what kind of rental one has. I think you are an investor host and think all Airbnbs are like that. Communicating personally with guests is one of the things I enjoy about hosting and which helps me filter for guests who will be a good fit, not something I try to avoid.

6 Likes

I agree, even though my rentals are separate places unlike @muddy’s. I can’t say that I particularly enjoy communication with guests but I do feel that it’s essential.

That is especially the case with hosts who are in their first year or so. Personal communication immediately makes the guest feel more relaxed with the host and often you’ll get to know things about the guests that can be used to your mutual advantage.

For instance, I tend to curate (hate that word) the books and magazines that are available in the rentals to suit the guests’ tastes. If a guest is coming for an art festival, it’s art books. For a motor racing event, motorsports books.

They might mention that they are vegan or don’t drink alcohol or follow a gluten free diets. This affects the welcome snacks that you leave.

There are plenty of other ways you can make your guests feel special without it costing you extra money or extra effort.

If you’re a newish host then reviews might be really important to you and by making your guests feel special, you’re well on the way to five-star reviews.

We all get so many automated messages these days but just because we can do it, it doesn’t mean that we should.

3 Likes

In no way am I implying you avoid messaging your guests personally. It’s simply that certain aspects can be automated to help get important information out there. You can be as automated or as little automated as you want to be. Just seems like a hybrid approach could work great!

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

3 Likes

There isn’t any “important information” that would be universally pertinent to all my guests.

1 Like

Host burnout hasn’t been an issue for us, what with the two-plus year pandemic break.

I’m going to try the copy/paste, also never having figured it out.

@KKC @casailinglady Okay- my first quote, :tada: :pray:

4 Likes

I follow the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Stupid. I use the Windows Sticky Notes to park my most used message boiler plate (the backup is in another file). I just pop up the note, copy, paste, make any necessary edits, and I’m done. I found that this gave me more opportunity to customize the message, particularly if they are coming for a particular activity or event.

2 Likes

So you don’t provide a house manual, Check-in instructions or have house rules? Seems odd.

No- I have a private room home-share, so there is no need for those things.
My only rule is no pets.

I just need to send my guests a map to my place, as it’s hard to find, and get their ETA. No self-check-in.

I do have a saved message regarding how to catch the bus from the airport for guests who are arriving like that, but it wouldn’t be applicable to all guests, so a scheduled message would be pointless. For instance, my upcoming guest is planning to rent a car when she gets to the airport, so she needs the map and written instructions on how to get here.

Some airbnbs are rooms in homes and others are stand alone vacation homes. It really just depends on what you have. In our case - families on Vacation book. They don’t really want to meet you or have you meet them. They are simply paying for an entire private home they can use. So we make it all as smooth as possible.

1 Like

I agree… there were so many things guests told me about. I’m not into sailing but there are huge sailing events where I host. I started looking into those events and raising my rates around those events. It was highly profitable for me to communicate with guests.

2 Likes