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Comment by baus | Hacker News Reader

It goes both ways. I'm an Airbnb host and renter(1). Mostly I have had good experiences, but I have had more problems on the hosting side lately. I take pride in my property and lived there myself for years.

But I've gotten guests who nit pick everything and then ask for a refund. I had one guest ask for a refund because there was snow in Tahoe, and they stayed for the full time anyway. Another guest wanted a refund because my shower curtains were expanding tension rods and not permanently mounted.

Generally it still makes sense for me, but running an Airbnb well takes a lot of effort. I have a great support team, and I still struggle at times.

(1) https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/12247150

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Tahoe is a tough market. Prices should be way higher for what you get in my opinion. I'm not in Tahoe but I can sleep 16+ people at my place and I have more problems when I have the price lower.

I had guests complain once that there were a few things in one of the bedroom closets (still tons of storage for their stuff), some things in a small pile in the garage and some food in the cupboards (usually have ketchup, hot chocolate, popcorn, etc).

I had my head of turnover go over and chat with them in person and removed all the stuff just to be nice. She told them that some of the things were destined for Goodwill and then the lady who was complaining started picking through it and her tone completely changed! They also showed up with a small towable U-haul full of stuff and a crazy amount of canned food for a short trip. This was a big trip for them.

So sometimes people are just unrealistic. Complaining about some things in the bedroom closets - you're staying at my house! And the stuff in the pantry is for you to use!

However, some people are spending a lot more of their money proportionately and they have different expectations because of this. They want everything to be perfect. Maybe they're being guilted by their spouse or family for spending that amount. They'll complain about really trivial things.

I don't really like instant book because anyone can book. You have to do legal discrimination - AirBnB doesn't do much to help and hosts are often hesitant to leave bad reviews on renters for some reason.

We had a group of 30+ sorority girls message us wanting to stay. Legally we're approved in our area for 16; if you're doing it right and you pay your TOT taxes and are registered - you get approved based on square footage. So of course we declined their request. If they instant booked, I'm not going to be able to kick them out, I'll get more wear and tear, and I could be fined by the city or get my license revoked. Not worth it.

I see why Airbnb is pushing instant book but not participating helps me minimize risk.

Wait, can't you enforce the number of guests with Instant Book?

People lie. You still get negative feedback if you cancel a guest that is obviously lying.

Sure, you can follow up w/ airbnb, but since they outsourced their staff to a Clearwater, FL and Ortigas, Metro Manila call center their SLA dropped from 24 hours to 2 weeks.

This is changing the subject slightly, but Tahoe, especially S. Tahoe, is a total bargain. There are few destinations which offer what Tahoe does for the price. I will never understand why other alpine destinations can demand higher prices. There is quite a bit of supply in Tahoe though.

I do think people have unrealistic expectations, but my house is pretty damn nice. My cleaners are amazing. I'm pretty happy to stay there myself.

I've rented thru AirBnB twice in the Tahoe area and both times it had been absolutely phenomenal. I mean unbelievable in terms of value for what I was paying. The competition there must be epic.

Yes I agree. Prices should be WAY higher for what you get. I looked at buying in Tahoe but didn't because I was buying for cash flow, not strictly for a second home. There's just too much high quality inventory and the amount of snow can be an issue for guests. It's a magical place though and if I lived closer I might buy regardless of cash flow.

I don't know of a better value for the consumer. One of my family members purchased a place up there about a year ago and she's starting to do better but it's been a grind. She told me that her renters are often unrealistic. I find it odd given the amount of money up there and the low nightly price but it's probably just the supply and the fact that a lower price means people aren't forced to really evaluate the value as they should. That and the fact that primary housing prices are so damn high, that when people get away they don't/can't spend a lot.

You have a head of turnover, which implies other employees under them, and you only rent out your primary residence?

It's my second home which I rent out about every weekend in the winter peak season. I say head of turnover because she runs a property management firm but I've contracted her operation only for turnover. The property management firms want too much % for the effort which is mostly being decent at yield management and being responsive on AirBnB and VRBO/HomeAway. They used to get 20-30% but with AirBnB and HomeAway, it's moving downward to 10-15%.

My wife is a superhost on AirBnB and it's not challenging - you just have to be responsive. The challenging parts are when you have difficult guests but I also pay my head of turnover to handle those issues a la carte if needed locally, otherwise my wife handles remotely.

It would be very hard to turnover my place without using a company that has staff due to it's size. Laundry takes about 5 hours alone. You have to have multiple sets of clean laundry if you're doing it right. I have a license and pay 10% TOT tax. Other operations aren't registered, don't pay hotel like taxes and don't replace with clean sheets. I did 80k in revenue on one property alone last year and I'm buying another soon. There's a lot of opportunity but you have to buy it right, meet guest expectations, and be compliant.

Clearly those are lame asks from the renter. Does Airbnb assist you in those situations? If you forward those requests to Airbnb support will they prevent a bad review from showing?

Wifi network and password in the Airbnb listing description, is this a normal thing to do?

I had one renter complain that they couldn't get the wifi network and password (and again ask for a refund), so I just gave in and put it in the listing. Airbnb has a way to enter it securely, but most guests never figure it out. Airbnb should probably text the wifi network and password automatically when a property is booked

Update: I'm on phone with AirBNB support about this right now. Frankly their phone support is pretty poor, eventhough I'm a "super host." They can't seem to answer basic questions about how the wifi network and password is provided to guests

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