AIBU to ask you to read a host’s description before you book on Airbnb?

[Frannyhy]

We’re not hoteliers. If we say check in is until 9pm, it’s because we work outside the home in the day. Planning to arrive after midnight is not acceptable. I won’t get up and come to the door. If you know you have a late flight arrival get a hotel for the night. (Transport does get delayed, I know that and will suck it up. But if possible let me know.)

If you book a room in someone’s house, kitchen use is a concession not a right. Despite me saying my kitchen is to be used to make a hot drink only in my house rules, every other person wants to cook.

I have cats. I have pictures of them on my description with photos. I still get people coming here and whining that they are allergic to them.

Don’t bring extra people or children if the accommodation is for a single person. Hosts will turn you away.

Yet again a guest has asked to move because of my cats. Yet again she has lost her money (over a hundred quid) because I clearly say I have them. Airbnb sided with me and wouldn’t allow them their money back.

Read the whole listing and house rules please. I say won’t tolerate smoking or a stranger in my house and I mean it. If you pick up a fucking partner and bring him or her back here and I wake up, I will kick you out no matter what time it is.

On the whole airbnb has been a positive experience. Thanks to the lovely people who do read the details before booking, you’d be welcome back anytime.

I think your rules are perfectly okay.

No doubt CFs will consider you perfectly miserable. It would be great if they read and take the message.

Am using Airbnb for the first time this summer and am now feeling nervous

Well if you read the listing fully before you booked, you’ve a good chance of nothing to worry about!

I agree that guests should read and consider the description and rules before booking, and any problems arising are their fault.

However I would say that when people stay in several airbnbs with the same rules, they can assume that is standard for airbnb and that all places follow those rules.

If you want to reduce people making these errors, I'd message them a list of rules after booking but during your free cancellation period. And maybe put a printed set of rules in their room on arrival.

Perhaps you’re not really cut out to be a host. You sound inhospitable and like your paying guests are a nuisance.

Reminds me a bit of our neighbour who has foreign exchange students. We were over for drinks and poor girl arrives asking for a hot drink. Neighbour rolls her eyes and mutters FFS under her breath, think she may have said no.

I asked if the girl could just get it herself- no not allowed in the kitchen- or have a kettle upstairs- no no food or drink allowed upstairs. I mean I get boundaries and all, but she had no way of getting anything other than water from the upstairs tap after 7pm.

In your case OP I wonder what your cancellation policy is. It may be worth emailing folks as soon as they have booked to remind them of your key policies so they have an opportunity to cancel and get a refund early enough not to impact either side.

Also OP anyone who works with the general public will tell you how difficult a sizeable minority are. So sadly this comes with the territory.

@ Rookiemere

Airbnb tells us to only communicate with guests via their site, so no email. I do message them and remind then to read and understand my policies - and tell them they have 48 hours to cancel without penalty. It doesn’t always work.

We’re not hoteliers. Don't run a BNB then.

@frannyhy Are the cats kept out of the guest room at all times? I have no issue with cats in a house, I don't expect there to be cat hairs in the room I am sleeping in or cats to be coming in.

urbanlife I personally don’t think they sound like they’re being inhospitable though, at all. It’s just a list of rules which reflect the fact that you are staying in someone’s home as opposed to a hotel, but also paying quite a lot less than you would for a hotel. Ideally it would be nice to have use of a kitchen but if it’s explained in the rules that it’s not included then it’s not an issue. And I was in a hotel recently where guests were asked to leave because they’d snuck girls in with them, so I don’t think not wanting unexpected guests in the rooms is exclusive to Airbnb properties! I wouldn’t ever stay in a spare room (I’m not even a fan of B&Bs), but none of the mentioned rules would bother me, and if they did I’d book somewhere else!

This is why I never use airb&b. You sound really ill suited to hosting. Not that everyone's requests are reasonable. But it's not right for you if you're going to be so pissy.

I think the difference with hotels though is that they tend to be run more as a business, with professionalism. Air bnbs often are not. So if there is something wrong in your room, a hotel will nearly always apologise and sort it. Air bnb hosts tend to get defensive and deny there is an issue IME. Because they do not act professionally, but like the amateurs they are.
Air bnb used to be about giving access to a home and the people running it were a host. Now it is mainly people who want extra money giving access to a spare room. There is a big difference.

I agree that OP's rules sound very over the top, but in all fairness it sounds like she spells everything out on her listing. If you don't like it then don't book. That's the whole point of her post.

There’s also a big difference between hotels and B and Bs. Some of the comments above are uncalled for and unfair comparisons.

If you want full access to a kitchen book self catering. If you want a manned reception and restaurant on site, book a hotel. Pay accordingly.

Don’t book a room with a set of conditions and then kick off because you’ve received what you’ve selected 🤨

@starjump Working with the public is difficult. If you provide any kind of service you have to recognise that substantial minority of your buyers are going to be difficult.
Professional hotels and b and bs recognise that any have ways to deal with that. Any listing on air bnb sounding off about this just betrays total amateurism.

This is the trouble with anything cheap. People expect it to be up to the standard of the full price option. If you want late check in/self catering kitchen use, you can expect it to cost more.
There's a reason it's cheap to stay in someone's spare room, and that's because there are likely to be some slightly more restrictive rules and some inconveniences.
Proper B and Bs have to meet certain standards and that all costs money.

I'm just staggered anyone would pay £100 for the kind of set up the OP is describing. It sounds like some kind of grim 1950s boarding house. If you've got £100, Travelodge is surely a better bet.

I find air bnbs to be slightly cheaper, but only slightly. Because they tend to go below the standard rate of hotels and bnbs and do not take account of the many special offers hotels and bnbs often run. So the difference is usually not that large.

I often wonder how representative MN posters are to real life. Reading this thread I sincerely hope they are not representative at all.

Never read so many nasty and plain stupid posts. Airbnb is not a hotel. It is similar to B&B's. Do they let you use the kitchen? Of course they don't.

I can only hope that some posters don't really understand what Airbnb is which is fair enough but why comment on something you don't understand?

The OP is not being unreasonable and certainly doesn't have too many rules/regulations. Are some of you just trying to wind her up?

It's her house and if she doesn't want people using the kitchen that is fine. Many many Airbnb places don't allow guests to use the kitchen.

I think no check in after 9pm is fine. I would never expect to check into a B&B or Airbnb after that time. A hotel is different but, even then, some hotels would want notice if you were going to arrive late.

As OP has said, she is a superhost with Airbnb so she is obviously doing something right. You can never please everyone unfortunately and there are many morons around. Having had the misfortune to work in retail for the last years of my working life I know just how stupid and bloody rude people can be.

I have also cleaned hotel rooms and holiday homes in the past so also know how dirty and entitled people can be.

@jennymanara, in my experience over several years of using Airbnb both in the UK and abroad they are more than "slightly cheaper" than a hotel.

I take it you haven't read the thread through? As I said, me and DH, use Airbnb at least once a month and always rent the entire flat/house and it is quite a lot cheaper than Travelodge and much cheaper than other hotels.

We rented a 4 bed 2 bathroom detached house last week for £52 a night. The closest Travelodge was £70 a night for the week nights and £90 for the weekend nights. The cheapest independent hotel was £105 a night.

Every time we book somewhere (at least once a month) I check Travelodge, booking.com and several others as well as Airbnb. I have always found flats or houses cheaper than any hotel.

Also, as I also said, why would you want to pay £100 or more for a room in a hotel with usually only the bed to sit on, often awful tv reception, breakfast when the hotel dictates etc when you can have a whole flat or house, kitchen (usually fully equipped and often things like tea bags, coffee, milk, bread, biscuits, cereals etc supplied), a comfortable sofa, a decent tv often with Sky and/or Netflix?

No comparison whatsoever in my view

The reality is many air bnbs do let you use the kitchen to make simple meals. It is wrong to compare it to be bnbs or hotels as they are not like these in other aspects either. So hotels and bnbs tend to offer cooked and continental breakfast, it is very rare for air bnbs to offer a cooked breakfast. Hotels and bnbs tend to offer a daily clean of the room. Many air bnbs do not offer these either.
When air bnb was set up it was advertised as a home away from home. That was its selling point. Not a room in a house, and you have tos tay in your room at all times.
I know things have changed a lot, but the advertising will have had an impact on what people think an airbnb is.

@jennymanara I’m very experienced in the hospitality industry. Of course there are always issues that crop up. What is not an issue is clearly stating what you are offering, regardless of the restrictions you impose. No one’s compelled to book, they should choose according to their requirements and as I said, if they want self catering then look for that option rather than a B and B room with a kettle.

Whether you, or any of us, consider the OP’s facilities to be satisfactory or not isn’t the question here.

There must be a lot of people on this thread who get disappointed when they turn up to their £29 travelodge (ha!) at 1pm to find the check in is from three and then discover they aren't even allowed to use the travelodge kitchen.
The op offers a budget service. If she allows use of the kitchen presumably she'll put her prices up and then thay gap will be filled by someone else who probably won't allow use of the kitchen!
And if anyone can find me a £29 travelodge in Leeds over the next month or so I'd be very grateful. I used to get these cheap rooms but haven't found one in the last couple of years.

@mydogisthebest Renting a whole house is different and was always possible before air bnb. I am talking about renting a room in an airbnb as that is more comparable to a hotel or bnb.

And renting a room in a hotel with decent facilities can be amazing.

batvixen how on earth can you tell what kind of set up the OP has? It could be the most beautiful Georgian rectory with an amazing garden, comfortable bed with a sea view from the window and a tin of homemade shortbread next to the tea making facilities.