All Forum Posts by: Christina B.

Saw Michael's post just now where he discovered a guest had taken a small heater- which is really a bummer. What are some of the weird experiences you all have had?

I'll start off with my small list. I've had people take the salt and pepper grinders. One person took a new cooling pillow and replaced it with their crappy old pillow. The strangest thing I've had taken so far is my solid wood hangers. They got replaced with all black plastic ones. Kind of like- I feel slightly bad for taking your wood ones so I'm leaving you some cheap plastic ones instead. Weird.

This is all small potatoes, I know. We did have a set of guests who left dents in the drywall, blood and vomit on the sheets and towels, gave zero heads-up, then got upset they got a 1-star rating instead of the 5 they're used to. That's crazy, lol.

Thanks, John- for the perspective. I wouldn't rent to her again, given the number of wonderful guests we've hosted in the past (knock on wood). But I will reach out to her because as you've said, I do tend to give the benefit of the doubt and perhaps she was unaware (even though she's ultimately responsible).

Michael, I'm really sorry to hear that. I hear you on crazy guests. Since I don't want to hijack your thread here, I'm going to start a thread on crazy guests, lol- just so people can vent. Glad you were able to troubleshoot and fix!

Also meant to add that we've had many groups (with kids) who left the place in much better shape and more thoughtfully. Those groups are clear 5-stars to me. I read about writing reviews in "code" so that other hosts get it but this seems not as helpful. I also dislike the equivalent of grade inflation- in the sense of just because it's all average wear and tear (?), they should receive 5 stars? Appreciate all your thoughts and thank you in advance.

This group did leave a handwritten thank you note that was kind and appreciative- which is why I believe I should reach out to the guest first just to get her feedback. If our cleaner can't get the blood, makeup, etc. out, I don't know that it's worth it to try to get a refund from AirBnB for costs that are probably max $300 (extra cleaning & linens replacement). Thx again.

I just had a large group check out and our cleaner informed us that while most of it was what you'd expect from a large group, the bunk room had two sets of bloodied sheets, imprints on the black out shades, multiple chalk drawings on the garage floor, various towels used to remove makeup, various dirt handprints on the walls, and didn't run the dishwasher. I'm a little surprised because this guest has twelve 5-star reviews on AirBnB.

From reading the collective wisdom of this group, I know that all the above is small stuff. That you wisely build in the costs for replacement linens and towels (also offer black face towels), possibly don't use high-end top-down shades in the Bunk Room (although those black out shades match all the shades in the rest of the house and it's a high-end property), chalk can be brushed, semi-gloss on walls for easier clean-up... and yes, there are clear check-out directions to run the dishwasher provided via an online guest book, a physical guest book, and an email I send regarding check-out the day before they check-out. Let's not go into how gross the hot tub was for just a few days (but we all know that's par for the course with a large group of adults & kids) and yes, I factor the extra for drain & fill although in this case, it needed even more cleaning.

What I'm struggling with is what is the most professional way to reach out to the guest and to write my review? While I know that leaving no review is a possibility, they left us a review very quickly and my guess is it's a 5-star review since I went out of our way to not just answer her questions regarding recommendations for sight-seeing (and provide the links she requested) but to bring in more options (including a playset and keva planks) for the younger group of kids (since I realized most of our games were structured to a slightly older age range).

Thx so much, @Michael Baum. I'm looking forward to your insurance post (whenever you get around to it... it's complicated as you understand!). I think Underwriting requested gross income to better assess "loss of rental income". However, I'm curious if there's a correlation between higher gross and higher premium. Hoping others will either chime in with- it's pretty standard/no effect on higher premium or provide better insight. In general, I'm loathe to provide that info unless I have to.

Currently, we have a commercial policy with State Farm but when our lawyer reviewed it, she recommended we increase our medical liability coverage. Both Air Cover & VRBO provide medical liability up to $1M (and we are currently only listed with those two with no plans yet to host directly). Do most of you add additional medical/general liability on your policy (in addition to what Airbnb/VRBO provides)? If so, do you recommend $1M?

Second, I received a request from State Farm today:

• Please provide the gross sales/receipts amount for the insured location(s) as reflected on their most recently completed tax filing or anticipated gross sales for the upcoming fiscal year.

This strikes me as a little weird and perhaps I shouldn't jump to the conclusion that this info will be used against us (and result in a higher premium). But I'm curious as to the collective experience here. Is this a typical request? Possibly, it's just time for me to get other quotes. FWIW, I have talked with both Steadily and Proper. I didn't realize that Steadily basically uses Fortegra and then also outsources to other insurance companies. Proper's quote came in 3x as much as State Farm's (although we could probably get that number down if I go item by item to remove a bunch of unnecessary items). Thanks for your feedback!

Costco towels have been great for us. Not sure why they claim online only because these are available walk-in (for usually better prices):

https://www.costco.com/purely-organic-towel-sets.product.100...

https://www.costco.com/purely-indulgent-100%25-hygrocotton-t...

It is absolutely possible to run two listings with the same address. Just did this recently when transferring our STR from a PM to our direct handling. First, I requested an amicable parting of ways which the PM agreed to (multiple differences of opinion, cleaning issues, etc.). We agreed on the date of separation (end of season). I ran the new listing with my own photos (pro) as they wouldn't sell the previous set to me and blocked off the calendar so it didn't interfere with their bookings and my calendar only opened after our date of separation. I explained in the listing the property was under new management (with the same license #) and it has worked out just fine on both Airbnb and VRBO. I did lose all those wonderful reviews but took screenshots for Guest Book and will rebuild in the next few months. As long as there's transparency AND nothing that worries your prospective guests (e.g. scam potential: think same photos, same calendar, different license #, different contact info, etc.), you should be good.

Thank you both @John Underwood and @Michael Baum. After re-reading Pricelabs' section on their recommended base price not including all the various fees (not just cleaning, but for example, Airbnb's own fees, etc.), I've reformulated the base price to consider all these fees so that it better reflects the total price the guest is paying (independent of taxes). While it's a topic for another day, I'm concerned over the softening of the market for domestic travel (although personally, it's great the US $ is doing so well). Grateful for this group.