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Post by bsuze on Aug 16, 2016 22:55:02 GMT
We are new to ABNB. This is our problem. I don't provide dinner. We have had guests kind of stand around, sitting at the table while I am making dinner. SO we ended up inviting them. Its an uncomfortable situation for us. How should we handle it? Perhaps as soon as they arrive, asking if they need suggestions for dinner? We eat at a certain time and do not have another dining area to go to. We'd kind of like them outta of our hair. The other thing is they seem to check in right at dinner time. Help! there isn't a place to say check in between 3 & 4 and then again from 6 on.
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Post by carolyn on Aug 17, 2016 0:20:53 GMT
Hi! You absolutely can specify a check-in time. You would put that in your description AND in the House Rules. Your listing may read, in shorthand: "Check In: any time after 3 pm." But you can specify further in the text of your description and in your rules. The problem is, if you have in-house guests and kitchen access is included, you may run in to the situation you describe. Not on check-in day; they just may be using the kitchen or want to use the dining area at the same time as you. To avoid that, you'd need a rule stipulating that guests do not have access to the kitchen and dining area between, say, 5 pm and 7 pm. Personally, I would NOT do that. It's too restrictive, and they are paying guests. I find that you do have to give up some privacy when hosting, but there are ways to make it work. Just always be clear in your listing and rules.
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Post by bsuze on Aug 17, 2016 11:47:06 GMT
Thank, we do not allow guest to use the kitchen. I do have a check in time of 3 or after. When they check between 5:30 ~ 6:30 ~ that is our meal time. The problem arrises that i am not sure what to do, when they arrive at that time. Kind of milling around, not sure how to avoid the awkwardness of dinner time. They have a microwave and small fridge in their area.
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Post by nancesf on Aug 17, 2016 16:26:17 GMT
Greetings from SF. Sounds as if you are clear that the kitchen is not included at least in the amenities section. I have pretty detailed House Rules that reiterate key things. In my case, guests may use the kitchen BUT not the stove. I have that referenced several places. Re the ck in dilemma, I communicate with my guests around the ck in times, asking for their travel info, if flying their details so I can ck status for delays. You might consider having a reference to your family dinner time in your house rules, saying something like you serve your family dinner during those hours and would have limited availability for ck in. You can also discuss this with each guest in your pre arrival communications. Of course, if you do Instant Book this is more challenging BUT you can certainly have communications to clarify things before someone shows up. Hope this helps. PS, I've adjusted my listing and Rules based on lessons learned over the years. You can too. I try to head off problems but you can never anticipate everything...oh well.
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Post by High Priestess on Aug 17, 2016 16:49:31 GMT
Hi Bsuze I can see the awkwardness in what you describe. The as I see it seems to be.... that guests don't know the etiquette about how to make themselves scarce and/or how to go get their meals elsewhere, when you are having a family dinner -- and you don't quite know how to set up a system to delineate a good solid boundary.
I have a question...as well as having microwave and small fridge in their room, do guests have a dining area of their own? or are you expecting them to use yours? Where are they supposed to eat things they prepare in their microwave? If they are supposed to eat in the same area as you do, I don't see any way to avoid awkwardness, other than to specify certain times when they may not use the area because you are having your family dinner then.
I think it's possible but difficult to do as Nancesf suggested regarding having certain times when guests may not check in -- that they can check in before those times or after. ONe of the greatest difficulties with this is that owing to circumstances beyond their control, like flight delays, people may plan to check in at 3pm, but get delayed and arrive at 6pm and now it's right in the middle of your dinner, so they either have to interrupt your dinner and perhaps end up standing around, or else they have to sit on your porch or find someplace to hang out (awkward, with luggage) until they can check in after your dinner.
I see two possible methods of trying to solve this problem somewhat:
(1) one is to state that guests can check in at any time after stated check in time, but that you PREFER that they not come when your family is having dinner (and if they do come then, indicate it will be a quick 5 minute check in, with the bulk of check in and tour having to wait until you are done with dinner) , and also indicate that you need your family to have privacy when you are having dinner -- eg indicate guests should find something to do or somewhere to go during this time. YOu may also combine this with trying to find a way to set up guest dining table somewhere else -- for instance some small dining table in their room --- so that they dont' need to use the same dining area as you use.
(2) Is to highlight in your listing that you expect guests for the most part to EAT OUT, that is, to go out to cafes/restaurants for all their meals, but that you will provide them a small fridge and microwave to heat up food they have brought home. Thus really strongly encourage guests to think of their stay as one where they always eat out, not eat at your house. If guests seem to be eating in too much, you could even remove the microwave and fridge from their room so that they are forced to eat out always. I know a host who has her guests eat out for every meal and she seems to do a brisk business nevertheless. She does not provide them any microwave, fridge, anything. HOwever she does live near several coffeeshops and cafes, which makes it easier to get food out.
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Post by bsuze on Aug 17, 2016 18:27:55 GMT
carolyn, nancesf and Deborah, Thank you for your helpful response. I appreciate your inputs. There is a table and chairs in the area for the guests to use, that is located in their same area as the fridge and microwave. Its a small dining area for them. That is a good thought to remove the microwave. I also like the idea to limiting the check in around our family dinner time. I do not have instant book. Again, thank you for your help
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Post by keith on Aug 17, 2016 20:39:19 GMT
I think there is a problem here.... Hosts want to enjoy some extra income and charge guests for use of parts of their home then complain that guests are around. One of the costs of doing business for this type of income is that you, occasionally, have to have other people around when it's inconvenient for you. They're paying, and they rightfully feel they can ask the host questions. What happens if their flights get in and that puts them right at your doorstep at 6pm.. do you expect them to sit on the porch for 2 hours until it's convenient for you to check them in? How would you feel if you were travelling and your host made you feel as though yo inconvenienced them just by showing up?
Some hosts will limit check in days -- You can say "checkins are on tuesday and friday" but this will severely limit the pool of potential guests and, thus, your income. So, if you want to maximize your potential income, then you're also maximizing the potential for inconvenience.
In your listing, I believe you can specific an exact checkin window (3-6) rather than "anytime after" but you can't split your checkin window into 2 parts which is what you want to do. Even still with traffic and travel, it's virtually impossible for anyone to guess an exact arrival time.
You can get up from dinner, walk them to their room and let them know you'll be happy to help them out or answer any other questions after you finish your family dinner and give them a list of restaruants or things they can do to pass the time. You can also point out to them that if they brought food for themselves, they're welcome to use the guest dining room. By suggesting what they *can* do you're also implying that they're not welcome in your dining room during your dinner without sounding bossy or rude.
In your Interaction with guests, might be a good place to mention that you like to have private family dinners during x time and you'll be generally unavailable to guests during that timeframe.
In reading your listing, it does seem to require the reader to do a lot of work to understand some of what you're saying.. for example: "An open alcove/nook area with table, microwave, mini fridge and tv just outside your room. We do not have cable. There is a single bed available for 1 in an OPEN alcove/nook area, NO privacy and would share the 1 bathroom"
These are a lot of seemingly unrelated items lumped together to a single paragraph... I think what you're trying to say in the last part is: "Aside from the queen bed in a private room, if you have an extra person, there is a bed in an open alcove/nook area in a common hallway which would have access to the 1 shared bathroom or use the private bathroom in the room with the queen bed"
it's a bit more wordy but doesn't leave the reader wondering what this means exactly.
"We have no cable television, but the WiFi is fast enough for you to stream your own content to your personal devices if you wish. However we find most guests are here to enjoy getting away from technology and enjoy the peaceful countryside and our two ducks."
Another thing perhaps to add:
"We provide breakfast in a dining area reserved for guests. We do not provide dinner and reserve our family dining room for private family dinners. If you bring you're own food to microwave, you are welcome to make use of our guest dining area." (if you allow eating in the bedroom you can add that suggestion... if you DONT allow eating then you need to be very clear "For reasons of cleanlinsess and pest control, we ask that you not eat in the rooms or in bed and eat in the guest dining area where we provide complimentary breakfast and you can enjoy any other food/snakcs you bring with you or can cook in the microwave in the hallway near the dining room."
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Post by bsuze on Aug 17, 2016 21:01:31 GMT
Kind of an ouch there. The guest don't bother me. I think you misunderstood my posting of the question. It makes it awkward. Thank you for your great suggestions on my listing. I have put them to use.
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Post by High Priestess on Aug 18, 2016 3:06:10 GMT
One of the costs of doing business for this type of income is that you, occasionally, have to have other people around when it's inconvenient for you. I think as Keith points out, there are some aspects to being a host which are "part of the territory" as they say, and part and parcel of the business. Even so, there are still often various options and creative ways that hosts can lessen the degree or amount that they are inconvenienced. Not all hosts are wanting to maximize their income, for instance...some really only want to dabble with hosting, and do it on a very part time basis. So for those kinds of hosts, there are even more options. For instance, a host could state that check in is at 6pm or later. In other words, guests could only arrive after you've had your family dinner. That would definitely reduce the number of potential guests, as this would be inconvenient for many guests, and setting such a late check in time would absolutely be something you'd have to make crystal clear with guests before they book, to avoid them being unpleasantly surprised two days before arrival, when they expect to arrive at noon. But even if you want to have a lot of guests, there are still some things that can be done to help protect your privacy during dinner time, which have been mentioned above. I think that there are some reasons why it's easier to be a host if you are either a single person, (particularly one who works from home or is self-employed) or have a partner but are quite outgoing and enjoy having dinner with guests. Single people can more easily shift our schedules around guests' arrival times and departure times, and being self-employed also helps us have a flexible schedule to adapt to guest's arrival times. Having a partner in a situation where both of you enjoy having dinner with guests, at least part of the time, is also optimal as it works well for hosting. I think the hardest type of situation would be one where you have a partner AND have children, and/or want privacy at meals, and you are offering guests a room in your home, which is not a separate unit or suite. Over time and by experimenting with this I think you'll find best what works for you.
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Post by CC on Aug 18, 2016 4:19:09 GMT
It's another ironic piece of my puzzle that allows this slim window of possibility for me to do Airbnb. I eat out exclusively, so much so that I don't have a kitchen table (or a kitchen, but that's another story...). Also, I don't mind if people eat in their rooms. I have a very effective pest control service. So no one ever interrupts my dinner. Unless someone brings it in, there is quite simply no food in this house. It's just the way I live. Though I do have one now, I've gone for years without even having a fridge. For what? I sent a pic to my friend on Thanksgiving pre-Airbnb. It was of a fridge that I did have: completely empty, like a new fridge in Sears! 🍽
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2016 5:11:41 GMT
Well, oh happy days in this household, I finally figured out how to share a bathroom with 4 others.
As hosts, we are constantly re-adjusting what does and doesn't work.
I also eat out 3/4 of the time, or not at all, as my guests never bring me home food, then when I'm making dinner, they're hanging around wanting to talk story. Makes for weird moments. Another re-adjustment, I ignoring them.
Ya gotta find what works.
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Post by bsuze on Aug 18, 2016 13:27:36 GMT
Thank you all for your input. You have given me several good ideas to ponder as we work through this new avenue of ABNB. That is why I appreciate this forum.
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Post by CC on Aug 18, 2016 14:37:00 GMT
Well, bsuze, I hope you don't get rid of your kitchen and your kitchen table!
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Post by bsuze on Aug 18, 2016 15:01:38 GMT
Ha, Interestingly, we do not have a kitchen table, just a dining-room table. I have two fridges, a big one and the mini for our guests. I need my fridges!
I have many things to ponder with the helpfulness of everyone. I think i probably have offended my next guest with my timing of check in request. We'll see. I will know, if he cancels then won't I ? or comes and knocks off some stars. Then it will be a lesson learned. Glad I found this forum. !
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Post by CC on Aug 18, 2016 16:49:54 GMT
I'm glad you found us too, bsuze! 😊
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