Difficult Guests? 11 Airbnb Tips And Tricks For Hosts

If you’ve been a host on Airbnb for any length of time, you have probably encountered difficult guests. I have Airbnb tips and tricks for hosts when it comes to dealing with difficult guests that I’ll share with you here. 

As a Superhost since 2019, it’s definitely tricky sometimes to know how to do the hospitality gymnastics of when is the guest right or when are they being unreasonable. That’s why it’s important to understand these fundamentals when dealing with guests to retain your 5 star rating.

This post is all about Airbnb tips and tricks for hosts.

11 Airbnb Tips And Tricks For Hosts Dealing With Difficult Guests

1. Take a deep breath

The first thing I do as a Superhost when I realized I have a difficult guest on my hands is take a deep breath. I know the product I have is high quality and my systems are set up to deliver a great experience. But not everyone can always be pleased no matter how many 5 star reviews I have from guests.

I used to get super emotional when I realized I had a difficult guest. Now, I don’t. I have learned how to be confident in what I am offering as a host and to only go as far for the guest as I have systems set up to support.

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2. Could something actually be wrong?

The next thing I ask myself as a Superhost is “Could something actually be wrong?” I humble myself instead of blowing off the complaint. Then, I take a proactive approach to solving the problem that the guest laid out. You never want to come across to your guest as annoyed or dismissive. This doesn’t mean that you need to blow off their complaint.

An example of this recently came from a guest saying there was a foul urine smell in the master bedroom. I responded with an apology and said I would check in with my cleaners to see if they could stop by to address it or send an InstaCart with deodorizer. They opted for the InstaCart order so I sent it their way. Turns out, we had a mouse die in the ducting for the AC. Super glad the guests told us so we could address quickly!

3. Be empathetic

No matter the complaint, just always be empathetic, apologize and restate that you want to make your guests as comfortable as possible in your listing so you would be happy to address. Guests want to be understood and heard!

4. Remember that your guests are paying for this stay

This is everything. I’m in so many Facebook groups where I read hosts complaining about guest requests or reviews. A lot of the time I’m thinking to myself, do they realize these guests are paying for their stay? Some people just want to be understood from fellow hosts in the industry, I get that. But so often I’m easily annoyed or see that other people are too and I forget that these guests are paying me for an experience. No matter how big or small the reservation is, this could be a lot of money for them and they are just looking to get the experience they feel like they deserve or signed up for.

5. See if the guests can resolve the issue themselves

Whatever the issue is, make sure you feel like you can read your guest, but sometimes they will resolve themselves. I had an issue pop up yesterday where the BBQ grill propane tank was out of fuel. The guests were happy to go refill it themselves and I reimbursed them for the cost of the fuel. To me it was a win because I solved the guests issue and was able to get the tank refilled and not have to pay my handyman to go do it!

6. Will InstaCart fix it?

My next place for a resolution is InstaCart. I’m so thankful to be hosting in a technology era! A couple weeks ago, my guests were complaining about stains on their towels (I know, gross). I was able to InstaCart them 4 brand new sets in less than a hour from Target! It’s actually crazy to me that I was able to do that because even if I had a physical person that worked for me that I could send out to do that, they would not be able to buy and deliver new towels that quickly.

7. Refunds don’t always work

I’m almost a no refund host and strongly urge you to not provide refunds! Especially if a guest has stayed in your property, to reimburse used nights is almost always a no-no in my book.

We had a situation once that required the guests to go without hot water for an entire day and night. I thought I was going to have to offer a refund in that scenario but the guest just asked for a reduced rate the next time they booked! They loved the property so much they were willing to book again despite the issues they encountered.

8. Offer a free night

Now this is totally contradictory to what I said above but I have done this! If you offer a great product, this would be my favorite way to get a guest a refund. I told a guest I would love to give them one free night if they booked another stay. Now, I have a two night minimum at all my properties, so I knew this would get me 1 night of revenue and a cleaning fee!

This strategy has worked so well for me lately and I highly recommend. It’s gotten me 3 extra 5 star reviews that I wouldn’t have had otherwise because I went above and beyond to ensure that this guests experience was rectified and made better.

9. Remind them of what you offer

Reminding your guests of what you offer is crucial for any guests that are expecting more than what you are delivering. I had a guest that wanted fresh towels every day, like a hotel. Then gave him the code to my storage closet so he could get extra towels, but there was not a weeks worth of towels in there. I then gently reminded him that we offer a completely “contactless stay” so no maid service would be provided as this was not a common practice with Airbnbs.

10. Do not threaten a bad review

The last thing you should ever do is threaten your guests with a bad review. You would not want them to do the same to you as a host so do not do this to your guests. If a guest deserves a bad review, it should be because they didn’t follow your listing or host rules and you can leave it in the comments.

11. Always respond professionally to a bad review, then move on

There’s nothing worse than when you’ve done so much to try and fix a guest experience and they still leave a bad review. That’s why 9 times out of 10, I always will advise you don’t reimburse a trip or offer compensation for inconveniences because you’re most likely still going to receive a bad review anyway. Keep the money and just expect the bad review. When the guests leave the bad review, what matters even more is how you respond to it.

My favorite response is exactly this: ”Thank you for staying with us and for leaving suggestions on how we can improve. We always strive to provide a 5 star experience for every guest and it looks like we missed the mark with your group. We will take your comments into consideration for how we can improve guest experience moving forward!”

Any future guests will see the bad review, but they will also see how, you as the host, respond to bad reviews. This is going to give them a clue into how you treat your guests and how they can anticipate being treated. I’ve found this only helps me as a host.

What would your tips be? Let me know in the comments below!

This post was all about Airbnb tips and tricks for hosts.