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People who may eat all organic fruit, gluten-free sprouted Ezekiel bread, cage free eggs, fresh organic squeezed orange juice with lactose free milk, everything must not contain GMOs, are not the kind of guests I see using Airbnb. They will almost certainly choose a hotel serving their needs, and pay handsomely for it, too.
Airbnb is about staying with local hosts, and, as the commercial says, sit at their table so you can share their taste so guests are supposed to share my taste at breakfast. I donât provide lactose free milk, neither do I provide eggs (except on Sundays). So it isnât a question of catering for guestsâ special needs. It is all about providing a simple, basic breakfast.
Why do you think people who eat really healthy would stay in a hotel rather than in a home? I think it would be the opposite - healthier people have more dietary restrictions so they like being able to go to the grocery store to buy these things and prepare food in a kitchen.
I see what my guests leave behind in recycable bins, trash, and refrigerator and many do consume the more expensive food products.
OKâŠI have a family of six coming in for a week over Christmas, and another family checking in for a week right when they leave. What do you suggest I leave this family for breakfast for a week? Specific quantities and descriptions please.
Agreed. âAirBnBâ is a misleading misnomer. B&B is a standard term meaning âbed & breakfastâ. Itâs been around for decades in Ireland and the UK (and many other parts of the world), and the breakfast is always some variation on a fry, i.e., a cooked breakfast based around bacon, eggs, sausage, etc. Nobody in their right mind would pick a particular B&B based on the breakfast - itâs part of the deal, and less important than location, price, or the look of a place. In fact, nobody in their right mind would suspect that a place might not serve breakfast. The fact that AirBNB has become a big deal just in the past year or so (and could well be gone in another couple of years) is not going to alter the expectations of many people that have been staying in B&Bs for possibly forty or fifty years or more. Blaming them for not reading the fine print is stupid. It would be like going into a new place called AirFishânâChips, and then having the server sneering at you because you didnât notice that the menu doesnât actually mention chips. Everybody here is all caught up in the ins and outs of AirBnB, but there are still plenty of perfectly intelligent well-travelled people that have never heard of it. I have a friend with a PhD who travels a lot and knows a couple of people that run traditional B&Bs; when setting up our offering I was picking his brain for tips, and after talking for a while realized he didnât know what the heck I was talking about any time I mentioned AirBnB.
Maybe it is a regional thing but many people in my neck of the woods expect a full blown home cooked, delicious breakfast if they are staying in a Bnb. I keep tabs on several B&Bs in my area (to see what couples are willing to pay for a room and breakfast - to compare my rates) and I read complaints about how breakfast or wine/snacks were not what they expected. And of course many will rave about the breakfasts too.
One person complained that the muffins at a local place were only of one variety and none of the baked goods were homeade - all store brought. The guest was disappointed to find out there was no host to greet them for breakfast and the hash browns, french toast sticks, and other items were store bought. The bacon was good but the eggs were overcooked and cold, etc. No snacks provided on a Friday afternoon before dinner - and they are used to getting wine and appetizers at any B&B they have stayed at.
Many people do book a true B&B for the experience of being able to interact with host and other guestsâŠso really most of the listings on Air would not even qualify.
Using your Airfishnchips exampleâŠhotels.com doesnât just list hotels. So one could say the condo they rented was supposed to be a hotel room and they were disappointed because they had no 24 hr. front desk staff to provide them with a toothbrush they forgot.
People should really read before they make purchases. I would have to wonder when I rent a self-contained space, how breakfast is going to be provided daily for my family.
I have been an Airbnb host for almost three years now, and experience shows that guests rarely read anything written in the description. When asked, they even admit that they didnât read the details about my place before booking.
I 100% agree. Thatâs why I was confused when you said the place you rented didnât specificly state in the description that breakfast wasnât served, so therefore it should have been served. Even if a host were to write that they donât offer it, many wouldnât read it anyway.
Just look at the people who book a room and then get upset when they find out they wonât be staying in the home alone. They didnât take the time to READ.
this is a long post so iâm not sure if this was addressed yet or not. i was told by a long term host that the original concept of airbnb the bnb stands for bed and BATH not breakfast. i am not allowed to cook for my guests due to health regulations in my area. i provide fruit, bagels, yogurt, and eggs for self serve but guests rarely use it. even with self serve iâm skirting the margins since i donât have a commercial dishwasher. i leave a basket of snack bars and fruit in the room and thatâs most often utilized. costs me maybe a dollar or two. no biggie.
I disagree. I am not responsible for the name of the platform that books my guests. Iâm not a BnB and donât serve breakfast. If you dinged me for that, Iâd be pretty pissed and think of you as one of those fusspot guests looking to nit pick.
What do you mean? If the platform booking your guests were called âBrothel & Sonsâ you would be using it nevertheless, and still not think of offering the services the name seems to imply?
I can see that starting this post has opened a can of worms. What Iâm staggered about is the fact that Eberhard_Blocher has criticised a host for not providing breakfast and then in fact has confessed to offering nothing more than a cup of coffee and a piece of bread as a host himself. If E_B had bothered to read my opening question he/she would have noticed that I advertise that I DON"T provide breakfast on a daily basis, yet my guests received organic chilled orange juice, bread, butter, several different jams, tea, coffee, milk, soft drinks and bottled water as a welcome pack. I can tell you I would be so much more pissed off to believe I was getting breakfast from someone such as EB who has ticked the breakfast provided box and to only get a piece of bread and some coffee (which he confesses most guests donât bother to have - well go figure) than to arrive at my place where I say thereâs no daily breakfast and find a generous selection of things to get me started.
Kona, Iâm with you. Itâs a self-contained space and I donât know if my guest wants steamed vegetables and miso for breakfast, or tea and marmalade with white bread, or strong coffee with salmon and rye. So, all I do is provide some generic sustenance to tide you over until you can get to a supermarket. Iâve stayed at Airbnb places in France, England and Italy and never once was I provided breakfast and nor did I expect it.
Thatâs simply not true. I do provide coffee, tea, hot chocolate, cereals, orange juice, bread&butter and jam etc. I do not provide a full English breakfast since I am not based in England, but in Germany, and we donât do hot breakfast in our country. It is all a question of âsit at their table so you may know their tasteâ.
I am saying that 90 per cent of guests donât bother to ask for breakfast at all, and those who do, usually just have a slice of bread. I am not forcing any food down my guestsâ throats if they prefer not to have it.
What i think its stupid, is not to read fine print when you rent anything. If you so care about breakfast then be sure its there.
And when its a separate appartment is rented its just ridiculous to expect a host to go grossery shopping for you. I stayed all over the world in separate units and nowhere i found food in a fridge for me to use for breakfast.
I would alert Airbnb before a review is written. To me that is such a clear failure on their part to understand your terms and amenities. I had a guest who complained about my neighbourhood and I wish Iâd contacted them before any reviews were written. She didnât trash my place, but actually warned people about the area, which was completely dumb and actually affected my bookings for a couple of months. At any rate, I wrote to her afterwards and said, my listing describes the neighbourhood in a detailed way and thereâs this little thing called Google Earth? I also let her know that her words had had a damaging effect. I was polite, but let her know that I was carrying a mortgage on the property and that reviews were important to me.
You could also encourage people, early in your description, to read everything carefully. I also put some information underneath some of my photos. I took a photograph of exactly what breakfast/kitchen things I provide, arranged nicely on the table. It makes things very, very clear. Maybe you could take a photo of your âstarter packâ and describe it as one.
iâve stayed in a number of airbnbâs too wilbur. the only one that provided breakfast so far was in England. i stayed in two in england and only the one served breakfast.
Hereâs a couple of my reviews from German guests, none of whom expected âbreakfast,â or ANY meal from me.
âKâ war eine tolle Gastgeberin! Wir sind erst spĂ€t bei ihr angekommen, da wir an dem Tag auf den Vulkan gefahren sind, aber sie hat uns dennoch am Auto abgeholt und uns alles gezeigt. Die Wohnung war sehr sauber und gut eingerichtet. Sie hat uns Schnorchequipment geliehen und uns fĂŒr unseren Aufenthalt viele Tipps gegeben. Wir haben uns sehr gefreut bei âKâ wohnen zu dĂŒrfen!
And:
Perfekte Unterkunft fĂŒr alle AktivitĂ€ten, die man sich nur denken kann, sehr gute Lage, toller Strand. Liebevoll eingerichtet und sauber. Danke fĂŒr die vielen nĂŒtzlichen Insider-Tips und die super AusrĂŒstung fĂŒrs WasservergnĂŒgen, ist wirklich alles da, was man brauchen könnte. Und am besten: eine sehr nette und zuvorkommende Gastgeberin. GroĂes Lob.
And many many many other Germans and others from around the world have left this sort of praise none of whom expected, asked for, or received breakfast. (I do have coffee and tea available. But thatâs it!)
Why on earth would you leave a negative review for a fellow host who didnât offer breakfast!!! I must take you to task on that! Did they promise it in their listing and not deliver? If it was not listed and you left a negative review, shame on you. To me, this was mean and petty of you.
