Anything, from a broken heating system, an ant colony to a busted dryer can drive your vacation rental guests crazy. The result will be a scornful guest complaint that ruins your listing’s chance of being booked by other guests. A leading website Statista.com quoted a survey in which 53 percent of the guest respondents were most agitated by the unpleasant carpet odors. Other complaints included running out of hot water and noise. Such complaints can be avoided easily. "Prevent rather than cure". Here's a list of most frequently cited complaints by guests and ideas on how to zero in on these issues.
1. Poor Cleanliness
Below is a real-life review by a guest who was not pleased with the cleanliness standard of the host’s property.
“This place is that bad. The first thing that hits you is the smell when you walk in. Being that is a very old and dirty apartment, it’s not surprising there is mold growing everywhere and an unidentified slime coming out of the wall. The carpet is filthy, there is miscellaneous junk sitting along the edges of the wall in different rooms, and when you start looking around you begin to notice all the places the walls have been patched.”
This is actually a mucky place that the owner has listed for vacation rental. Avoid listing a badly maintained place. It can only get reviews like the one above. So, just to be on the right side, take the following corrective measures before listing your home with a vacation rental website.
- Remove all the miscellaneous junk, big or small, from the bedroom, hallway and kitchen
- Use an automatic room freshener in the bedroom, hallway & washroom
- Find a housekeeper or cleaning service you can trust
Better yet, use this basic
housekeeping and cleanliness checklist for the areas that you should regularly clean. Check-off major items from the list before you sign-up on a vacation rental website. This will save you upfront from plenty of embarrassment that comes from listing a badly maintained vacation home. We’ve seen that the hosts who keep their vacation property in an immaculate condition are considered highly reputable
vacation rental owners.
2. Key exchange Issues
You may be relying on a friend, relative, or neighbor to help you manage the listing. Or you may be at work or otherwise occupied when the guests arrive. In such cases, it becomes a major problem that guests face. Keep in mind that waiting for the keys is the last thing on your guest’s worry plate. So, cut down the wait time. Instead:
- Use a keyless entry door lock that has push buttons right on the lock; prices range between $150 and $500. Order one for your property from Amazon and never have this issue ruin the guest experience
- Use a lock box (Ivation Steel Digital Safe) if the condominium/villa complex allows lock boxes; you can get one easily between $25 to $60
- Mail the listing key or, use a key pick up service. Old fashioned but still works
3. No-handyman
There are thousand and one scenarios in which your guests may need help at your home. If you live far from your second home and can’t visit more than once or twice a year, a handy man on a contractual basis can help ease your guests’ experience at your property.
- Hire a handyman on a contractual basis. Use services like My Working Man to enlist one for your home
- Pay the house keeper some extra amount for additional chores that guests might ask for.
4. Refund
“I tried to receive my damage deposit refund from Italian owner via credit card instead of a bank transfer and neither the owner or I received any help or assistance. Made 3 calls, filed 2 property complaints, asked to speak with supervisor, wrote numerous e-mails... all to no avail. This company assumes no responsibility for customer service, merely using non-English speaking customer service reps who have no authority; no follow up if requesting to speak with supervisor; no help, NO MORE”.
This is not uncommon in the vacation rental world. Guests getting crazy that the property was misrepresented and hosts complaining that the guest wasn’t well-behaved are not uncommon issues in the vacation rental world. Usually, the vacation rental platforms handle the refund terms and conditions. But if you are doing it at your own you may take the following actions:
- Have provisions for security deposit refund in the rental agreement
- Describe your property as objectively as possible. : “The use of words like ‘luxurious’ must be backed by further details. So, instead of writing :”the listing has a set of amenities,” write : “ the listing has a hot tub or a gourmet kitchen.”
5. Inaccurate listing details
“We, too, had a horrific experience. In May we rented what was described as a "loft" apartment in Santa Monica, CA. Upon arrival, we found it to be a 3-bedroom townhouse that had been sectionalized as 3 separate rentals. Two bedrooms were located on the first floor of the townhouse and the 3 bedroom was located on the second floor with the kitchen and living room. Our rental of the "loft" was the 3rd bedroom and secured by a plastic accordion style door at the foot of the stairs”.
It goes without saying that people often add subjective words like gorgeous, amazing, cozy, etc to the property description.”. This causes confusion. Take these steps and avoid any jargon.
- Be descriptive when talking to guests through your listing description
- Write clearly and concisely (avoid unnecessary details about the area)
- Include suitability for certain groups of travelers
6. Overpricing
Overpricing is also a major issue for guests and hosts alike. Here’s what one of the hosts had to say:
“I must say, I feel a lot better having read the latest 50 or so reviews addressing the current scam. I knew there was a change, but didn't realize just how disruptive/dissatisfying it was to both home owners and renters alike. It now appears my outrage is matched by a large number of people. I have been with them since 2005, and remained very satisfied until this year, despite an ever rising price structure. I paid an all-time high $1500 in February 2016 for a "Platinum Membership". My listing for Sanibel Island dropped from 50ish to 384 in the last several months. Seemed like a contract violation given what I paid. I mean, all of us know we pay what we have to improve your listing's rank, right? So I called them to ask why I paid the maximum for a one-year subscription and did not retain my position. I was told that my drop in rankings would have been significantly worse had I not paid all that money. Boy, did I feel relieved.
On the other hand, guests, as well, complain of hosts overcharging them (obviously as a result of misrepresentation of property features or inflating the description). Frankly speaking, you can’t do much to avoid this problem except to adopt a careful approach while selecting the right platform for listing your vacation home. Here, at
CuddlyNest, rental owners are not charged money for getting their property shown prominently. All you have to do is list your space as accurately as possible. So, whether yours is a villa, cabin, loft, castle, bed & breakfast, home or an apartment, we have you covered. You can list your property as accurately as possible and price it appropriately.
Hosts cannot overcharge guests if the features and description of a vacation property are listed accurately.
