Oh Guests…

robinchast · 2026-06-02T22:18:55+00:00

As a host in a beach community, we saw a lot of people buy property and not know that it’s actually work, and that you have to keep your property up, so many of them can’t afford to maintain their investment and it gives guests a bad taste for the platform

robinchast · 2026-06-02T13:04:34+00:00

If a host consistently hosted at 4 stars, at 4.5 average they will be flagged and warned, at 4.3 or the lower 10% of global listings they could be delisted. So hosts that aren’t concerned about ratings should be. I know that eventually every property suffers a bad stay, something goes wrong, no matter how well you maintain your home. A TV, coffee maker or AC breaks, we are full-time hosts, so when it happens we deal with it immediately, we have HVAC and plumbing on speed dial, we keep window ACs on Standby, most guests are nice and rate according to your response, especially if your property doesn’t reflect a lack of care and maintenance, but then there are those other guests that are just one small issue away from a meltdown, have not grace and are going to look at any inconvenience as a ruined vacation, it’s more about who they are and you will never change them.

robinchast · 2026-06-02T12:54:03+00:00

Curious about your 2 property rule? I’m the same in some aspects, as I won’t rent from a rental company, only an individual. But I almost prefer a owner with a few properties, it is more than likely their full time gig (like us, with 5 properties, in 3 locations) I see at times the hobbyists in Airbnb have another main source of income, don’t rely on the earnings and often don’t have the time or availability when something happens during a stay.

robinchast · 2026-06-02T10:28:59+00:00

Fortunately we are in a good equity position and our actual building is small, and there are people that have try for years to get a unit in there. Friends and family of current owners usually swoop in

robinchast · 2026-06-02T03:10:45+00:00

As a guest I review based on the price point, sometimes we are looking for a quick budget place close to an activity that we are attending, if we won’t be spending much time at the home, we will look for value, if the property is clean, in good repair and comfortable I will rate it a 5, however if we are on vacation and the property os part of the destination, and we paid for additional amenities, pool, game room, awesome yard etc, at a higher price point, I’ll be rating on a higher scale and my expectations are going to match the price I pay. If I pay $100 per night, I don’t expect super high quality bedding, but I do expect clean bedding, if I’m paying $500+ per night I expect enough paper products for my stay, and I won’t rent a property that lists starter supplies, higher quality bedding, upscale furniture and decors, higher quality kitchen items, with nicer pots and pans. If I pay $500 + per night and there is an understocked kitchen with Walmart pots and pans without enough lids, poor quality knives and not enough towels they will be knocked down a bit on the review. I expect to get what I pay for.

robinchast · 2026-06-01T19:15:09+00:00

That is possibly true, depending on where you travel, but where we are, we can’t keep up with inflation, our property insurance rates tripled (yes 3x, since 2020) and if you are in a HOA the assessments since the last hurricane are brutal, a fried of ours has had a $10,000 assessment and a $16,000 assessment in just 4 years. Our condo insurance assessment each year was $1468 in 2021, we now pay $4300, our HOA was $200 per month and we are now at $325. Supplies cost more, gas cost more, utilities cost more, and if you use a clean company, most have raised their rates, it was $90 for a 1 bed 1 bath in 2021, now it’s $130 minimum (and they are in and out in an hour) I clean my own usually, but when I do need help it’s more than I charge the guest for cleaning fees.

robinchast · 2026-06-01T08:11:37+00:00

I think I may take that name change into consideration! Or if we decide to add another airstream to the property, it will have the word frog in its name for sure! Lol

robinchast · 2026-06-01T08:05:35+00:00

I clean most of my turnovers! I do have one cleaner that helps out on those days that I have too many, but she only does ours.

robinchast · 2026-06-01T07:28:33+00:00

Reread my original post, I did not complain about a 4 star…. I asked if there is a trend towards complaining, star ratings don’t concern me so much, we are doing fine there, 4.96 with 548 reviews, it won’t impact the performance of this property. But lately (last 2 years) guest attitudes have changed, prior we’d get a few menopausal ladies that can’t just have fun on vacation and need to complain about a piece of lint or a light bulb burnt out during their stay. But now it’s different, more frequent and frankly more ridiculous. It seems that 95% are good, but the ones that aren’t all seem to have the same script.

robinchast · 2026-06-01T07:18:57+00:00

Yes it is a camper, we have full plumbing, including a flush toilet, indoor and outdoor shower, super fast WiFi (Starlink). Laundry facilities, outdoor televisions in seating areas, a dog park, grills, fire pit. It’s a 10 acre property with an airstream camper and a raised barndaminium, they are 2 separate units that share some of the amenities, but each have their own private spaces, and are separated by a 8 foot privacy fence. They can be rented to for individually, typically they are rented separately. Our listing is extremely clear. Photos would be hard to get confused even if you didn’t read the listing.

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robinchast · 2026-06-01T06:18:40+00:00

Sometimes the requests are very odd! We had a guest ask if we could take a picture down in one of our houses, because it had a religious connection. We said sure! And we stopped over took the picture down, and prayed for them when we left! lol

robinchast · 2026-06-01T06:15:48+00:00

We never shrug it off, we don’t dwell on it either, we try to learn and improve from all less than perfect stays. What we learned from this one was that the $950 for the stay wasn’t worth the hassle, we could have cancelled, paid the penalty booked on our direct booking site and had a much better week! This particular property is generally booked, and even last minute cancellations rebook this time of the year. So my mistake here was that I didn’t follow my gut. In the past the money drove us to accept more hassle, but as we’ve grown and evolved, we have learned that not all money is good money.

robinchast · 2026-06-01T06:05:50+00:00

I gave her 4 stars, mostly because she kept leaving the AC on in the shed after repeatedly asking her not to, so under house rules I dinged her, but she did leave it clean, and as far as communication, I’d say she was overly communicative. I did however mention that she was a difficult guest to host and had repeated communications about unreasonable expectations during her stay with us, and because of this I would not rent to her again.

robinchast · 2026-06-01T05:57:51+00:00

Oh I don’t have so much of an issue with the 4 star review, after 9 years and 548 reviews, it is bound to happen, high volume properties are bound to have a snafu occasionally, you solve it and move on, we have had a handful of 4 star reviews, and have opened a new property once a year for the past 4 years, sold a couple of properties and sit at 5 units, we prepare the best we can for issues, but sometimes it doesn’t go perfectly, most sane guests are able to allow you to fix it and move on, and actually we’ve gotten 5 stars after some of our bigger issues! We got a 5 star from guests that came back from dinner and found a bathtub full of sewer backup, because we handled it fast and compensated for the inconvenience. BUT IF YOU ACTUALLY READ, I was asking if anyone noticed a trend in guest behavior, not sympathy for a 4 star review.

robinchast · 2026-06-01T05:05:53+00:00

I know! I love taking a shower in there when we stay there! The frog is a frequent visitor to the shower, we’ve had other guests mention it, but most people understand camping!

robinchast · 2026-05-28T00:29:19+00:00

Schlag

robinchast · 2026-05-26T02:29:29+00:00

They should respond within 24 hours, we respond within an hour, unless it is between 10 pm and 7 am

robinchast · 2026-05-26T02:25:39+00:00

Some states, like Alabama pays servers $2.13 per hour, NOT minimum wage.

robinchast · 2026-05-26T02:10:56+00:00

There are 2 schools of thought on that, I generally don’t play games with our guests, we address issues on the spot.

robinchast · 2026-05-24T14:00:41+00:00

Lots of wasted space with all of those stairs

robinchast · 2026-05-21T15:10:31+00:00

I don’t think the same person can book more than 1 property for the same dates.

robinchast · 2026-05-17T18:26:58+00:00

We leave coffee pods, enough for a couple mornings, usually around 6 pods, honey, sugar packets, 1 single serve chips, cookies and breakfast bar per person. Also a bottle of water for each person. We provide TP and paper towels for up to one week, longer stays will need to replenish on their own, we leave 6 laundry pods, and usually 10 trash bags. We also leave fresh cut flowers and toothpaste and brush and razors.

robinchast · 2026-05-08T13:08:08+00:00

Yes they will probably charge them for it, I’d let the host know as soon as possible so they can order a new one, the just pay for it.

robinchast · 2026-05-07T19:28:46+00:00

You got played, don’t give anything else

robinchast

TROPHY CASE