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 do have high standards of cleanliness. I’ve just checked my ratings and 98% of my guests agree with that.

And while we are on the subject of ratings... most hosts don’t just check the comments about you, they will also look to see what you have said about other hosts.

I’ve don’t always have time for this, but it’s a good way to weed out idiots.

@mydogisthebest I believe you, but I am surprised. Most premier inns and travel lodges I have stayed in have gyms, and some have swimming pools. I though at least a small gym was pretty ubiquitous now, but obviously not. And I love a big cooked breakfast. I never have them except on holiday, they are the main reason for staying in a hotel. And if you price up the cost of replacing them in a cafe, the difference in cost between a decent room in an airbnb and in a hotel often disappears. Travel lodge breakfasts are rubbish, but premier inn ones are good.

jennymanara as an amateur air bnb runner I'd really appreciate any other thoughts. Noted the ones so far.
Or if you're willing to be a mystery shopper you're welcome to stay in the NE :)

@Frannyhy I find the airbnb rooms in a house tend to be clean. It is the whole house ones where it is run by amateurs that often are not really clean. Because they are great at cleaning bathrooms, dusting and hoovering. But they don't clean cutlery drawers, check kitchen cupboards or properly check fridges. I have had to clean a few places before I felt I could relax in them. I know these kind of things don't bother some people though, but they do me.

OK I do do those things :) I also rewash crockery.
Feeling smug :)

@StealthPolarBear always willing to be a mystery shopper.
The best advice I can give though is to actually stay in the room or place you rent out as if you were a guest. Then you will notice the little niggles such as nowhere in the shower to put your bottle of shampoo, or the dust that only becomes very obvious when you are sitting on the toilet.

Also if someone complains, apologise and put it right (assuming it is not a stupid complaint). I have given up telling people things like - lovely place but just so you know, the pipes make a lot of noise, I think you have air in your system and your radiators need bleeding. Because every time I get back - well no one else had ever complained! I am not actually complaining, I am trying to pass on helpful maintenance tips of things that may become a real issue if you don't deal with them.

I'd love the cats, but you sound like a 1950's boarding school matron with your times and rules, not a friendly and hospitable host. We do use airbnb, generally for whole houses or flats but sometimes just a room. We do read the description so if they dont - and lets face it if the description is like your post then if they did they wouldnt book - that is their look out.

saying that the ‘use of kitchen for hot drinks only’ could be seen as ambiguous

How, BlueSkies? What alternative meaning could that possibly carry? In particular, how could you interpret it to mean "use of kitchen for any purpose whatsoever"?

Having read the full thread and seeing that the room is £25 per night I’d be of the opinion what a bargain and who cares about a few perfectly reasonable rules if I was taking nice accomodation for that price!

Thank you. It is a house we stay in during term time and rent out during holidays and some weekends so I suppose we're staying in it quite a bit. And we are grateful for that sort of feedback and have made most of the suggested changes. That said I do know there are things we can improve, our pillows are a bit rubbish. And we have no tin opener as DH discovered last week!

I have read air bnbs that say no shoes on indoors. I never book those as I just assume if they have that rule, they will be a total pain about other things too.

"It never once occurred to me that I could have free use of their kitchen"

Why? Air Bnb is usually self-catering.

Because it was very clearly advertised as a room in a house where the host lived, with no suggestion that it included free use of the rest of the house, and it was stated that breakfast was provided.

If I'd been desperate to cook (which I definitely wasn't!) I guess I'd have asked before booking.

@stealthpolarbear Then it is more about whether you make the place too personal to you? Are there photos and nick nacks that would make people feel like they are staying in someone else's space? Are there drawers or wardrobes full of your stuff?

No, we clear it out. The dcs have some pictures on the wall and we leave some kids books and games in the spare room which they're welcome to use but other than that it's empty of our stuff (oh apart from a cupboard where we shove the rowing machine and spare sheet a) We're not really a nick navks family anyway.

Where you lost me was use of the kitchen... if someone has paid to stay in your house you should let them use the facilities of the house including the kitchen.

Why? Should AirBnB hosts also allow guests first choice for use of their TVs and computers, and free run of their bedroom and en suite?

It's a B and B. What B and B gives guests unlimited use of the kitchen? Other issues apart, it could nullify your insurance.

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

Only the ones who expect to turn up late at night, have full run of the house, to be able to smoke in the house, bring their friends in as extra guests, and that the host send her cats out to a cattery - all for £25.

Do tell us precisely which BnB or hotel wouldn't regard all that as a tad inconvenient?

@jennymanara, not stayed in a Premier Inn for years so can't remember what their breakfasts are like!

As I say though, I am not really a breakfast eater so cooked breakfasts are wasted on me (well so are buffet ones really but I do like to see a good buffet selection).

When we stay in Airbnb's we usually just have something like cereal (which is often supplied) for breakfast. Other than that we may have toast. Even if we do go to a café for breakfast I will only have toast although DH may have a cooked breakfast.

I think because I really scrutinise the photos (I like to double check they have a shower and preferably a walk in one and not one over a bath and also check they have an oven and not just a hob or microwave) and really read the reviews, we have not had a bad experience. Some have been better than others but none bad.

I never pick anywhere new so it has no reviews and try not to choose a place that only has a few reviews. I think I am also quite good at recognising the reviews that are just people being really picky or even nasty for whatever reason.

I also agree about giving constructive criticism. We stayed in a hotel earlier this year because I couldn't find an Airbnb in the area. It was only one night and the room wasn't bad, bed comfortable. The shower though was awful. It just dribbled out and it took me ages to shower and wash my hair bearing in mind my hair is really short. I told the receptionist that I wasn't complaining but just letting her know. She said no one else had said anything about it. It was honestly the worst shower I had ever used and I have used many!

For me, you need to offer some use of eating meals. This is main issue. Unless you are surrounded by cafes and eating outlets within 2 minutes walking distance then it is unreasonable to offer no facilities at all.
Hotels - offer meals and usually room service.
B&B - offer breakfast, often use of kitchen and sometimes evening dinner. Most can arrange cheese and biscuits

So to not even offer the use of a kettle and a microwave is really very inhospitable as a bare minimum op. What are your guests supposed to eat? Even assuming they can buy a sandwich do they sit on their bed and eat it? I just find it extraordinary that you choose to do this, and yet make it very difficult for your guests to even have their most basic needs met.
You are not really coming across very well on here, to be fair you may be much nicer in rl 😁

I live in a house of stairs, and have an open fireplace which I use in winter. That’s why I say no children. Yet I had a woman say “I’ll decide what’s safe for my son"

Yes, and guess who she might have tried to put it onto, had the lad been hurt?

And what if the op were to offer a discount for the inconvenience of NOT being able to use the kitchen? Would that be ok as long as guests booked in the knowledge?
Well she effectively has. She's just not offering the non-discount 'use of the kitchen' option.

But urbanlife if you need to self cater you should just book something where you can? Personally I like Molton Brown shower gel and feather pillows when I stay somewhere, so I book places where I’m likely to get them.

@urbanlife, not everyone wants or needs eating places 2 minutes walk from where they are staying. People might be happy to drive to somewhere to eat or they might go out for the day, eat and then go back to the room.

I don’t consider a kettle and a microwave to be ‘self catering’.
Self catering to me would indicate a full kitchen.
As a host surely it is in your interest to not have your guests eating takeaways etc in their room ( which is really horrid anyway) or have you banned them from eating full stop?