All Forum Posts by: Kathy Hansen

Did you ask Airbnb why the account was blocked?

Lots of Kindle books on this subject.

I think one's own STR website takes time to build effectiveness. I've had mine for more than a year, and I am just now starting to get direct bookings on it. I used a very simple PayPal "pay now" button structure to take bookings. I also don't put an enormous amount of time into maintaining the site.

JUST got the following in a review: "The house is so much more than we expected. She has lovingly filled it with cherished possessions....we truly felt we were staying at the home of a long time friend."

The only thing ever stolen as far as I know was a set of binoculars.

I'm gonna address No. 2 because I converted my family's home. I would say remove things as personal as family photos, but there's a lot you can leave. Guests appreciate the books, artwork , DVDs, and such that I've left. Somewhere (it might have been Airbnb's new Plus criteria) I read that every item in the house should be something interesting for the guest to look sat or something useful for the guest.

Care to share which platform this was to warn us?

This is timely because I got my first 3-star yesterday. It was on Homeaway, my least-booked platform, so it wasn't as awful as it would have been on Airbnb (SuperHost), but the truth is, I am getting more and more bookings from VRBO/HA.

The complaints were somewhere between petty and legit. The fragrance of my plug-in air fresheners was overpowering, they said. My House Manual does address this issue, suggesting that guests simply unplug the fresheners if they don't like them.

The other thing was 2 bowls of unwrapped soaps in a bathroom. Most of these are unused (with wrappers off because they had become worn and dirty), but unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, a couple of used ones had made their way into the bowls, complete with the dreaded human hair. I will be removing these bowls of soap.

@Julie McCoy said: I don't want to rely on the guests doing much of the work - first, I don't feel that's a very good guest experience, and second, guests frequently won't do things as instructed or the way I'd like them to be done.

I agree. If they're paying a cleaning fee, I don't think they should have to do much. I ask that they leave the slept-in beds unmade, turn down the heat if they turned it up, and make sure the doors are locked. I say that doing dishes is appreciated but not required (in 100+ bookings, I can recall only 2 that did not do the dishes). PS: I don't have a dishwasher.

Andy: My groups are a bit smaller than your; my house sleeps 8.