Airbnb Problems and How to Prevent Them

Renting out your property on Airbnb can be a great source of extra income and allow you to meet great people from all over the world. In most cases, Airbnb hosts don’t encounter any serious problems with running their businesses.

However, there are situations when problems may occur despite your best efforts. Therefore, you should prepare for them before listing your home or apartment on rental listing websites like Airbnb.

Keep reading to learn about the most common Airbnb problems and what you can do to address challenging moments as a host. Remember that successful Airbnb hosts always plan for the unexpected.

Airbnb Issues: Consider Local Laws and STR Regulations

First, let’s examine potential legal challenges associated with hosting on Airbnb. Before starting your journey to hosting, conduct due diligence to check the laws and regulations in your local area regarding short-term rental possibilities.

Ensure you research the Airbnb housing regulations of potential areas beforehand to determine if any local restrictions prevent you from hosting your home. These regulations are primarily found in zoning codes, planning codes, or city ordinances.

Restrictions on hosting an Airbnb vary greatly depending on location. While some areas of the world welcome the opportunity of Airbnb, in certain cities, short-term rentals are limited or even illegal. Operating improperly in these areas could result in your business being penalized, fined, or even shut down.

To avoid legal Airbnb issues, you need to have a good understanding of the kinds of laws that may apply to you. So you should also check business license requirements for Airbnb, building and housing standards, special permits, vacation rental tax rules, landlord-tenant laws, and other rules. If you have any questions, you should contact your local government or consult a local lawyer or tax professional.

If you are looking to buy a vacation rental property, you may want to learn about the best cities for Airbnb investment.

Airbnb Host Problems: How to Prevent Hosting Challenges

So you’ve done your research and know for sure that it’s legal to rent out your property on Airbnb for a short period of time.  However, it's also worth noting that managing an Airbnb account can be challenging. For example, you may face Airbnb host problems connected with

• Meeting and welcoming guests
• Taking care of your home safety
• Cleaning your property
• Being available 24/7 to respond to your guests’ queries
• Dealing with possible damage and repair problems, and more

Here are some tips on how to handle challenging hosting moments.

Assemble a support team of individuals who can help your hosting business operate smoothly. You’ll need to have the contact info of a plumber, electrician, cleaner, and an Airbnb co-host readily available. That will make solving problems that may arise easier, especially when you’re away from home.

Perform routine maintenance that will help keep your rental space in great shape. This way, you’ll prevent issues such as a leaky pipe or a broken heater from happening.

You should create a maintenance checklist and review it every year. For example, your maintenance checklist may include

• Checking that all heating, ventilation, and air conditioning units are functioning
• Clearing the gutters of leaves and other debris
• Washing hard-to-reach skylights to keep your home or apartment well lit

If the pipe has burst or the garage door won’t close, you, as the Airbnb host, must fix it. You need to be honest and realistic when you let your guests know that you are addressing the problems they are encountering immediately. It’s essential to listen attentively to your guests, be understanding, and demonstrate empathy.

Make communication with guests a priority to provide them with the necessary information and make them feel welcome. You should also be ready to respond to their inquiries fast and be available 24/7 when you have Airbnb guests staying at your property.

Vacation rental software, such as Hospitable, can help you automate guest communication with the aid of AI and deliver personalized messages at every stage of the guest journey. You can also take advantage of the Suggest with AI and Improve with AI tools available in your Inbox to quickly draft and correct detailed responses to guest messages with little effort.

Early guest arrivals, late checkouts, and cleaning issues can all cause challenges. However, you can mitigate potential issues by anticipating common pain points. Here are some suggestions about what you can do:

• Provide your guests with clear check-in instructions. Inform them about check-in and checkout times, and provide your reasoning behind these policies.
• Provide a house manual with detailed instructions for accessing the WiFi and using tricky kitchen appliances.
• Include key details in your listing description and check-in instructions, for example, how to get into your home, what your space looks like, etc. This can help set expectations.
• As you set your reservation preferences, make sure you leave enough time for turnover cleaning.
• If you know your guests will be arriving early, you may consider offering to store their luggage.

By anticipating challenges before they arise, you are more likely to succeed in creating a great guest experience. And that means getting more positive guest reviews and more bookings.

Airbnb Problems with Guests

How to deal with bad Airbnb guests? You are a host, and you set the rules for your place. 99% of travelers obey the rules and mind their own business, so Airbnb problems with guests are relatively uncommon. All you have to do is inform them in advance of what is expected to ensure the stay runs smoothly.

But what if a guest makes you uncomfortable? If you have a guest who has broken a house rule or done something to make you feel unsafe, Airbnb says you don’t have to take their reservation.

The best approach is to turn off instant booking and identify potential problem guests before accepting the reservation. Although Airbnb runs background checks on guests, they have limitations, so you’ll need to take some additional steps to screen your potential guests:

• Check their profile to make sure it’s fully complete—there is a clear photo, the guest’s full name, a description of about 100 words, and a verified ID.
• Check guests’ reviews. That will help you tell if they pose a hazard as a nuisance guest. If their rating is below two stars, it should be an automatic no.

And trust your intuition: If you don’t feel right about a reservation, don’t accept it.

Hospitable users can request ad-hoc verification of any guest on already accepted reservations. It is powered by Autohost, an AI-driven guest-screening platform. We highly recommend this step because it allows you to add an extra layer of protection on top of your own research. Check out our help article to learn more.

You should also create a list of house rules that are easy to understand for everyone, even if your guests come from a different cultural background. Be prepared to explain the rules in simple terms if your guests have any questions.

Include anything you’d like travelers to know before they book—for example, whether (or where) smoking is allowed, whether certain areas are off-limits, where you allow parties, or if guests should take off their shoes before coming inside.

If you encounter a guest behaving in a manner that falls short of your standards, try to discuss it with them first. Share your concern and how you feel, and more often than not, you’ll be able to reach a peaceful conclusion. If it doesn’t happen, you should involve Airbnb.

If a dispute arises, you should never judge or blame your guest. It’s essential to remain professional and calm when interacting with a challenging traveler. Try to solve the problem together.

The best approach to minimize problems is to use effective communication and management strategies. Managing your listing requires time and effort, but with Hospitable, you can put your vacation rental business on autopilot.

Final Thought

Now you know the potential Airbnb problems that hosts may face, so you can do your best to prevent them. However, even if something goes wrong, we recommend that you remain calm and act responsibly as an Airbnb host.

Follow local laws, perform routine maintenance, communicate clearly with your guests, and trust your gut instinct. Then, you’ll be able to minimize potential problems that could pop up.

Looking for more tips about starting an Airbnb business? You may want to download our 101 guide.