Be a guest —it’ll make you a better host.
Before you host, PLEASE (I beg) go be a guest.
Before I ever hosted, I was a guest first. Funny enough, I was actually a first time host’s first guest. This was before I had ever even considered hosting and I’m SO glad it happened this way.
We went on a family trip (10 of us) and I was in charge of booking the Airbnb. It was a cozy home in a walkable neighborhood with plenty of restaurants and shops to explore. The home was a little older with well-used furniture, clean, comfortable and had everything we needed for the stay.
One of the beds was a blow up bed, which the host let us know up front about when we booked. There was a hiccup with one of the sitting chair’s legs collapsing when one of us sat on it. You could visibly see where someone had previously tried to glue it back together. No one was hurt and it wasn’t a big deal for us, but I made sure to send photos and inform host right away. Parking was terrible, and one of our group even got a parking ticket. That’s never fun, but the parking situation was detailed in the description so it wasn’t the biggest surprise. Overall, the host was super responsive and was available if we needed anything.
Was everything in the home perfect? No, but here is the #1 thing that (I think) was worthy of the 5 star review I left —it was communication. The description of the home and decor, the description of the neighborhood and what to expect with parking was all laid out in the Airbnb listing. So as a guest, was I going to start whining in the review about how I wish the parking didn’t suck? Or complain about one little piece of broken furniture that didn’t hurt anyone? No.
Too often I’ve seen guests complain in reviews about the most RIDICULOUS things. Granted, if there’s a host out there scamming, lying, ghosting you, refusing to address urgent matters, or falsely advertising their place just to try and make money — go ahead and LIGHT THAT REVIEW UP. But only if that’s what they’re truly doing. For the little things that aren’t a big deal that you just want to bring to their attention, a review is not the place for that. Just send them a private message or use the private feedback feature. That is what being a good guest is all about —giving constructive feedback and not sweating the small stuff. Imagine you were a host and your guest was nitpicking about the smallest things. I’m not telling you to go lay your standards down by the riverside. All I’m saying is, don’t make a big deal about things that don’t truly negatively impact your stay in any way. Go be a guest first, and I promise it’ll make you a better host.