Controlling Behaviour? Am I becoming neurotic?

This is SILLY!!! I have all 4.6 and 4.5!!! I’ve been hosting since 2010 and am still getting bookings. Not a thing wrong except guest expectations are WAY TOO HIGH.

I am glad you delisted to take a break though. Good for you.

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On second thought… Because a refund case was opened, you might want to stay live until it’s resolved. I worry that Air will think you are agreeing with the guest? Take it off IB and decline bookings until Air issues their decision.

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For now, I’m done. I’m fully booked through to the end of April and had not opened my calendar further. I’m now sure I don’t want to host further past that date; lots of things have happened with air that convinces me they have lost touch with their hosts and have adopted some really odd policies. The fact that you can’t question anything and if you do they will just shut it down is another nail in the coffin.

When I replied with an in depth answer raising some concerns the reply was ‘thank you for reaching out. We are happy to have as part of the community’. No attempt to address any of my concerns.

Nevermind. I get that Airbnb don’t need me … and for now I don’t need the stress either. There are easier ways to earn £500 - £600 quid.

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Adding my sympathies and good wishes to you @Zandra. I agree with kona that it would be outrageous if Air refunded them. I’d also add that somebody who truly wanted a “lovely Valentine’s evening” would have done a lot more research and not been such a cheapskate. (Sorry, not implying that your place is for cheapskates, hopefully you know what I mean!). So yes, the review is all a load of BS and they are just the worse kind of guests. I think your reply to them was great, by the way, and you’re right that it DOES help weed out the idiots. I would book with you, no problem. Hope you enjoy your break from Air and maybe come back to it in the future?

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Ooh, please do tell :slight_smile: I could do with a break too.

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@Zandra we are solid 4.5 hosts across all 3 of our properties, still flush with bookings. Think about how you said in the previous thread about the BS travelers, that you would still rent to them, even though they had a few less than stellar reviews. The same goes for hosting, people will still rent from you even if you have a few poor reviews.

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  1. You think your price is too low.
  2. You are burning up from hosting too much and want to host less.
    1+2=3) Raise your price, have less guests, burn up less and make the same amount of money or even more.
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It doesn’t work like it that in this market. I’m competing with 35,000 hosts in London alone . I think my price is about right given some of the idiosyncrasies of the listing

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If I understood well, you are almost fully booked. Correct?
If you are booked well above 70% of the time, you can try to ask a higher price. And considering you are talking about delisting: What would you be losing by trying to ask more? There clearly is a market for your place and most guest leave (very) satisfied.

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Hi @Zandra,

If you are thinking of shutting down the listing anyway, what do you have to lose from trying a higher price? What’s the worse that can happen - you don’t get any more bookings? :slight_smile: Think about it.

And I thought it was 25k, not 35k. Where are you getting your numbers from?

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Faheem has a point. I used to think that I should never charge more than $99 per night for the high season and recently experimented with rates as high as $135 per night! The audacity!!! I changed the price and forgot about it, and the next thing I knew I had a bunch of bookings. You can’t compare yourself so much to the competition.

You have nothing to lose by raising the rate. Maybe you will attract a better class of guest.

Honestly I have to laugh at “Olivia” thinking she was getting a sweet little private Valentine’s canoodle for the price she was paying… and then getting all over your case because she wanted to break house rules that you clearly state. Just unreal and may she never head this direction.

Take some time, think it over and come back… Or … get an adjunct job teaching. It will be less hassle and more satisfying.

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Inside Airbnb for the number of hosts in London. You can interrogate every single listing.

And yes you have a point but… I want my bed back for a while. That said I like the idea of hosting less and earning a bit more…

Yes I’m always fully booked. I haven’t struggled with demand and assume that’s simply because of the price which Is £32 a head.

My boyfriend (a lawyer) just admitted he snuck a look at my listing earlier because I had messaged him saying I was dealing with a complaint. He says it’s 100% clear what’s on offer. If a lawyer says that then I think I’ve done all I could to be as open as possible.

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If you were on instant book, you should change to request to book, then have a template where you set out to each inquiry the relevant info, so they read and confirm before you accept booking!

No need. I’m on moderate booking and I message guests with a template immediately after booking. And I tell them if it wasn’t what they expected to cancel as they can cancel up to five days before arrival. So far no-one has taken me up on the offer to cancel …

The below is what I have saved as a template but ironically I didn’t send it to my problem guest because their booking was for one night. (I didn’t imagine someone would want to spend the night indoors when they were booked for a concert at the O2). Funny how the Drake concert became a romantic night in thatvwas totally ruined… anyone would think they were writing a review to ensure they caused as much trouble as possible. And yes they went to the Drake concert.


Thank you so much for booking with me. I’m a traveller too and I just wanted to check in with you to make sure this booking meets your needs.

Just to remind you it’s a small, cosy room, in a small flat with no access to the kitchen. The flat is located in Rotherhithe which is a super quiet part of zone 2 London (though lovely river views).

My focus is very much on providing guests with a good value, pleasant place to stay in an expensive city. During your stay I will be sharing my small, simple and quiet home with you.

I serve a simple, self serve breakfast each day between 08.30 and 11.00.

I really hope this meets your needs…do get in touch if anything is not as you expected.

Otherwise, I’ll be in touch slightly closer to the time to arrange check in.

All the best, Zandra

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Did y open it back up?

No I’m done for now… I have a lot of bookings to work through and am full until April (I hadn’t opened the calendar up for that month yet as I had been feeling ambivalence over hosting and the issues I’ve recently had with Airbnb). I will see out the ones I have and then may dabble but will definitely no longer do this full time …

The way guests can just make up a review (remember Olivia did not stay at the flat … they never came back and never slept in the bed.) is shocking. Their attendance at the Drake concert became a romantic night in that I totally destroyed; my very open information about which parts of the flat are for guests became : the host sleeps on the sofa and there is NO PRIVACY. Total exaggeration but I get it; they’re angling for a refund and the review needs to support their claim.

I just find it disgusting that air doesn’t protect hosts from this type of thing .::

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This is TOTALLY grounds for removal. Contact them now on Twitter!!!
It worked for me!

No they already said it wasn’t grounds to remove the review because the guest didn’t cancel.

Oh… So she did stay? Or did they leave at check in? Even if she stayed one night, and left, that is still considered a stay. I’m sorry. I misunderstood.

She didn’t stay. She checked in, went out and then never came back until the next day when she picked up her bags and immediately asked for a refund saying she hadn’t stayed and wanted a refund as they didn’t use any of the facilities.

But she didn’t cancel and that’s why Airbnb say her review counts. Even though it’s all conjecture.