Did you know Airbnb hosts get to leave reviews for the guests? Yep. And you’d better believe that I look at those reviews before a guest arrives in my home. A host can decide not to host you based on negative reviews, and you don’t want that to happen! Usually I leave a pretty standard review for guests, but I have left a negative review a time or two. Basically, reviews are important and you should try to get a few good ones.
Before becoming an Airbnb host I am quite certain I didn’t know how to be an ideal guest, but now I do and I now feel obligated to share this wisdom with you.
How To Be An Awesome (or at least an above-average) Airbnb Guest:
+ Don’t smoke. If the rules say you can’t smoke, don’t smoke! This is especially an issue in Washington state since marijuana is legal here. But, even if it’s legal, we don’t want it in our home, and we say so in our rules. The issue isn’t that we mind the smell (we actually don’t), but sometimes we turn our unit over within three hours and there is no way to get the smell out in that short of time frame. Please be considerate to hosts and future guests and smoke elsewhere.
+ Arrive (and leave) when you say you will. It really helps the hosts to know when you’re going to be checking in and out. Tim and I are in contact with our guests pretty frequently and ask for time estimates for check-in, but if those times change, communicate! It’s inconsiderate to show up an hour (or more) earlier or later than you said you’d be arriving. If you come too early, we may still be cleaning (this past week Tim was half-naked cleaning the unit when the guests showed up! All of the parties involved were quite surprised), and if you come too late we may be waiting around for you to show up – and there’s nothing that annoys me more than wasting my time.
+ Remember that your hosts aren’t running a hotel. It’s fine for guests to ask for certain things, but remember that the hosts may not be able to accommodate you. For instance, I’ve had guests ask (months in advance) if they can check-in (or at least drop their bags off) early. Here’s the thing, I’m going to say no if you ask months in advance. The reason is simple: I have no idea what I’m going to be doing on a random Tuesday at the end of August and I’m not going to rearrange my schedule this far in advance to accommodate an Airbnb guest. Sorry (not sorry). That being said, if a guest messages me the day before they arrive asking the same question, I may be able to help since I will know if another guest will still be in the unit or whether I’ll be home for an early luggage drop-off. I’ve also been asked if we have a printer (no), if we have sugar (sure), etc. There’s certainly no harm in asking, but be prepared to hear ‘no’ for certain requests.
+ Don’t check-in really late, especially if you think you may have questions. We allow guests to check-in on their own via keyless entry, which works well for late check-ins (most of the time). However, we’ve had guests call us after midnight for pretty basic questions, which is frustrating. For instance, we’ve had guests call (at 1am!) to ask us to clarify where they are allowed to park in our neighborhood. There are signs everywhere, but I guess sometimes people get nervous when arriving in a new city (especially if they aren’t ‘city people’). Trust me, I understand having some questions, but I have a toddler and a newborn and I don’t want to be woken up unless there’s an actual problem. If you don’t know if you can park in a certain spot, find a spot that you’re certain you can use instead! To avoid a similar situation, I would advise checking in early(ish) so if you have questions you can ask the host without annoying them in the middle of the night.
+ When you check-out, make sure you secure the property. We’ve had some guests check out and leave the door to our property wide open, meaning anyone could have walked right into our house! This is not only an (obvious) safety issue, but it also allowed a lot of bugs into our home. Make sure you shut the door and follow all other check-out procedures.
+ Clean up. Some guests are so considerate of our space, and we really appreciate it! We especially love guests who take out their garbage and clean their dishes (which is expected – don’t be jerks who make us clean your dishes). We REALLY love guests who take off the bedding and throw used towels in the laundry bin!
+ Don’t come back covered in glitter. I have no idea where a certain group of our guests spent their evening (a concert, maybe?) but they must have come back covered in glitter because there was glitter all over our apartment after they left. Do you know how difficult it is to get every speck of glitter out of an apartment? It’s hard.
+ If you need something during your stay, ask (at appropriate hours). I would much rather a guest request something from us (especially something they would have expected to have in a rental unit) than leave a negative review because they were uncomfortable. (This hasn’t been an issue for us yet, thank goodness!)
+ Leave a review. I’m sure you know how important reviews are for any business, especially those that are really only run online – like Airbnb. We have some great reviews and really appreciate them and the guests who took time out of their day to leave some kind words! If your stay is not living up to your expectations, contact the host while you’re still at the property to see if something can be done to make your stay better. Also, don’t be too picky when leaving a review. Three stars (in the Airbnb world) pretty much means you had an AWFUL stay, while four stars means you were disappointed. Basically, I urge you to leave a five star review if the stay met your expectations, and if you’re not going to give a five star review, at least leave constructive criticism or a detailed review that will be useful for other travelers.
Happy travels! (I used affiliate links in this post and if you use one of them to sign-up for Airbnb, I get $25 and you get $25 of travel credits. YAY!)
I also wrote two other posts (here and here) about hosting through Airbnb.
