Jokes are the first thing foreigners don’t get, that’s for sure. When I came to US though spoke Englidh that’s whst at first prevented me from making American friends.
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Yana,
If I was told that light cooking included boiling eggs or pasta, I would assume that sauteing fish would be fine as sauteing fish takes much less time that boiling eggs or pasta. I think that you do need to spell out what light cooking means to you. Also, I’ve seen many listings that state that only vegetarian cooking will be permitted, even pointing out that vegetarian means no meat, poultry or fish as some people thing poultry and fish is vegetarian.
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Ellen, thanks, I was thinking more about it and you are right , what is heavy cooking for me will be light for someone else. I am writing as we speak specifying. For me light cooking means no grease, smells and use of oils, but for some it means less time
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DC…glad they were helpful! You sound like a friendly host. That tone does come across in your rules. 
Maybe suggest that they shake all the bedding out before leaving? Check the outlets for chargers, etc.
Yes that Matt person did not want to hear the cold hard truth and somehow I was to blame. Classic case of shooting the messenger! So I didn’t even answer after that point.
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Yana, I believe this is true too. Even when my rules are stated in PLAIN CLEAR English, the non-English speakers have trouble. I just had lovely guests from South Korea. He’s a medical doctor but could barely put a sentence together in English… how on earth can expect him to read an understand rules. So I cut them some slack when they left the room a mess. It was their honeymoon and I’m sure the guest document was far too long to wade through. I knew if that if he could have understood it they would have left things in much better shape… But Jokes?? Well no… I have just gone through my copy and made sure everything was even more clear. Communication is the goal. I get a lot of foreigners with varying levels of English. Some with ZERO.
That being said, I do think DC’s tone is friendly and welcoming. Not sure if I made that clear… One of her rules I did like was communication about spills. Great idea and I might steal it and add that to my rules.
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Yana… I totally cannot believe you got someone who brought a cooler of food… !! What is it with people??? Let me ask, in your listing, do you show photos of the kitchen? Maybe remove them and just… I don’t know. Perhaps rethink the cooking thing. Put the kitchen off limits. Put a coffeemaker or micro in their room and call it done. I doubt it would affect your bookings. Sounds like you have a busy rental!
Yana… YEAH!!! I hear you… $55 a night!
Same thing I think at times…
JUST WHAT ARE THEY EXPECTING FOR $99 A NIGHT? The beachfront, five-star Mauna Lani Hotel??? No, they are not getting that!!!
That guest was out of line telling you where she would sleep! What is it with people??? You really get some winners!
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What’s interesting is as hosts here turn from short term hosts into those with more experience and longer time hosting, is they inevitably get the nightmare guests that we all at some point encounter. I wonder if you will continue to answer every new host that comes here with a problem guest that they are upset about with your standard ‘I have only ever had maybe two guests I would not have back, everyone is great!’, now that you have a clearer understanding that unreasonable guests do happen, and when they do, the support of other hosts helps. I daren’t say ‘I told you so’, but it was difficult to listen to you repeatedly tell every host with a problem that as you’d never experienced a bad guest (as if they’d somehow brought it upon themselves).
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Not many thankfully., very few, percentage wise it’s nothing.
After cooks I serioudly considered not doing this at all. The amount of stress they put me through was unbelievable.i felt like I was trapped and couldn’t stay in my own house.
Plus all conversations were in Spanish and out all this is my weakest .
I went desperately on line trying to find some sympathy and thankfully most people here are exactly that;
Most!
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You don’t have to be a host to understand that people are all different. And yes, in my experience out of 50 guests only very few i would not have again.
People come here with problems they encountered like myself. It doesn’t mean we have to totally side with every host and not fairly observe a situation and sometimes not in favor of a host but guest.
Kona I do show picture of a kitchen bcs it’s pretty. I took it off . It’s a very good point, thanks. It’s the same as to have picture of a pool and then tell people they can’t use it
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No, but it doesn’t ever help a host that has just been through an awful situation with a misbehaving or ill mannered guest to say ‘well, it’s never happened to me’. All you’re doing there is trying to invalidate their experience and say you think it’s fairly implausible based on your short experience. Simply not helpful, and shows an inability to have any empathy for an experience just because you haven’t had it yourself. Hopefully when you start to host more and more, you will see that no one came here making up lies after all, and perhaps a bit of kindness was in order instead of the blame you’ve typically given.
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Sandy, are you calling me unkind and inconsiderate? Please put you personal issues aside and concentrate on how to help others with your long term experience as a host
Hi Everyone,
I think the important thing in making recommendations about house rules is to understand that every host has different things he or she can or can’t tolerate. It would be nice if we limited ourselves to letting each other know if we find their house rules clear instead of deciding if we believe them to be reasonable. For instance, I don’t mind early check ins, late check outs, guests cooking whatever they want, guests doing laundry, etc. So far, the only things that drive me nuts are not communicating about check in time and door slamming. The only thing that I makes me want to kick the guest out is if they won’t be friendly to my dogs. If someone asks how to enforce boundaries that differ from mine, I will try my best to help, not criticize their rules. I have found that Sandy really tries to be supportive. She has strong views on hosting, but she is always willing to lend an ear even to people with a very different style. I know that she doesn’t mind people who don’t want to interact with her dog, but that if I asked her to help me when someone wouldn’t interact with mine she would.
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I am simply hoping your oft repeated ‘it’s never happened to me’ phrase which happens every time a new host appears with a terrible guest experience as if to say either ‘I must be a better host than you’, or ‘I don’t believe this happened’ will no longer be repeated, now that you have written here that you have had an awful guest yourself. As you see, bad guests do happen, even to good hosts. I hope this is clear. And for the record, yes, I do think you have been unkind, more times than I can count and it was very disappointing on a forum of hosts meant to be here to help one another. Hope this is clear.
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Thanks so much for your understanding Ellen. I’m a super sensitive soul, having grown up around abusive people. My antenna goes up the second I notice any unkindness and I feel a need to speak up, even when sometimes such as with DC here, no need, she had it all under control, and a much thicker skin than I. I just wish people could be supportive and understanding and think how they would feel should those same words be directed at them. That’s all it takes. We are very different.
Interestingly I have also found most guests love meeting my dog Ellen. Many guests have dogs at home they miss, or they just love a friendly dog to pet as they’re a great icebreaker when feeling slightly uncomfortable with a new person (for the guest, not me!). I bring her down more often now when going out for walks, always assessing the reaction quickly to see if they are happy to see her or not and sticking around for a quick play and cuddle if they are. You were a real inspiration, especially after seeing your tremendous reviews.
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Sigh… The frase " it never happened to me" means just that: it never happened to me. the frase " I don’t believe it" doesn’t mean I don’t believe what people are saying, its a figure of speech which people use when they are shocked or surprised. Hope it’s clear. Anything else Sandy?
Hi Sandy,
Thank you very much for the compliments; have I mentioned that I love compliments?
Almost everyone who stays here loves the dogs and picks our listing because of them. This is a win/win because the dogs get lots of attention and sometimes the guests share meat with them which makes them delirious with joy because I don’t cook or eat meat. The only people who have had a problem with them are people who are nervous around large dogs and didn’t look at their pictures and/or our description of them and people who are of a religion/culture that views dogs as unclean.
I’m so glad to hear that you are having your guests interact with your dog more. I know that when I’ve been on vacation without my dogs I miss them so much, I shamelessly ask to pet every dog I meet. Okay, truthfully this even happens when I’m out doing errands.
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Haha, me too Ellen. I can’t get enough of the adorable, innocent, loving and lovable creatures. I am also guilty of trawling YouTube for heart wrenching YouTube rescue videos, training videos (even though my girl is 15 and as trained as she could ever need, she loves new tricks, and I just love watching all the wonderful new techniques), and sometimes all around cuteness too. I am guilty of asking every walker ‘oooh! What breed is your dog! It’s so beautiful!’ (And am especially chuffed when it is its own unique ‘brand’. I truly believe that the best people love animals. I get wary when people don’t like them, or animals react negatively (although sometimes it’s just that they haven’t learned how to approach well).
Hi Sandy,
That’s so cool that your dog knows a lot of tricks. What are her best tricks? One of our dogs does tricks as her trainer is a set trainer. Our dog has been in two student films and two sizzle reels. Do you show off your dog’s tricks to your Airbnb guests? I can tell you from experience the guests love it. It’s funny when the foreigners want to get Janie to do tricks, but Janie has trouble understanding their accents. Thankfully, she’s been trained with a hand signal to go with every voice command.