EPISODE 7: The 5 Most Annoying Things Guests Do and How to Stop Them

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The 5 Most Annoying Things Guests Do

1. Guests leave dirty dishes.

   • Declutter your cabinets, make it so that all dishes fit in the dishwasher

2. Guests rearrange furniture.

   • If this happens often, look at the way they are rearranging it and ask yourself why

     1. Moving bed because they can’t reach outlets - add extension cords

     2. Moving couch, maybe current position makes it hard to see TV - try moving TV location and if you can’t then get a TV mount that moves

     3. Maybe it sits under a vent that’s too cold, reposition the direction of the vent

     4. Maybe there’s too much furniture. If you have a TV stand, do you really need it, or can you wall mount your TV instead?

3. Breaking or staining things

   • Where are the stains happening? If there’s always food on the couch, switch to a leather or performance fabric sofa.

   • Ask why? Do you not provide enough seating at dining table or countertop forcing guests to go sit on couch to eat?

   • If guests are leaving coaster rings, try to leave stacks of coasters on every surface that needs one. Or better, pick materials that don’t need a coaster.

   • If guests are staining towels with makeup, provide dark washcloths.

4. Guests forgetting items behind

   • Don’t put hooks on backs of doors

   • Don’t have drawers in nightstands

5. Not following checkout instructions

   • Do you have too many steps to checkout?

   • Only have 3 rules tops if you want guests to follow them and comply

   • If your cleaner is arriving within 30 minutes of guests checking out, there is a lot you can remove from instructions

   • Don’t ask them to turn off AC/heating, lights and fans, or close windows

   • Pick the 3 most important things to you

Airbnb Quick Tip:

Remove Tupperware from your property. In my past experience, guests often forgot to remove their leftovers and wash the Tupperware. This left more work for my cleaner to remove the leftovers from the fridge and wash the Tupperware by hand. , It also just takes one guest to leave a spaghetti-stained Tupperware. Save your money and time and ditch the Tupperware.

Question of the Week: What do I do if my guest wants to cancel?

Do not be the one to cancel as the host. If you cancel, just one time in a calendar year, you will lose eligibility to become a Superhost for an entire year. If your guest if having technical difficulties, forward the guest to call Airbnb to cancel.

What happens if a guest asks for a refund? Defer to the cancellation policy you have in place. You can also offer to rebook the reservation and credit the guest for the amount that you were able to book for. Note that guests that cancel cannot leave a bad review. So, if they are giving you a hard time about not getting a refund, don’t worry! They can’t even leave a review.

Lastly, another option would be to move the dates of the reservation. Take caution with this option! When you move the dates of a reservation, Airbnb considers this a new reservation. For example, if your guest had a reservation for this weekend and you agree to move the booking to a weekend next month, that reservation is now out of the 14 day window to cancel. Your guest can technically cancel their reservation for a full refund since this is considered a new reservation.

Am I the Airbnb-hole?

This week we react to a host and guest interaction ONE WEEK after staying to complain about the cleanliness of the bathroom. Who’s the Airbnb-hole here?