Take it from your guest: Make your Airbnb feel more like a B&B

• They’re far more reasonably priced than a hotel.
• They’re clean. Hostels freak me out because I’m a neurotic hot mess that cringes at the sight of someone else’s hair in the shower drain or fights the urge to run screaming when I ask for toilet paper and get a wad of napkins from Front Desk Guy’s back pocket instead. Yes, this actually happened to me.
• You still meet cool people. I know that’s a big deal to young travelers and the draw of a hostel, but trust me, it’s still doable even if you have your own space in an actual home or apartment. I stayed in close to 10 Airbnbs while there, and did things like having barbecues on rooftops and swapping travel stories with my hosts.
• Most of all, they’re quiet. This is a big deal, especially if, like me, you’re also a neurotic hot mess that appreciates the opportunity to just be. 

Just like hostels, Airbnb is its own world with its own culture. It changed the way I traveled when I first started using it last summer and I haven’t stopped.

I knew it was a big deal (there are over 300 listings in Charlotte) and that its growth was skyrocketing across the world, but I had no idea to what level until I checked into one and the host looked at my group and said, “It’s so cool to have Super Hosts stay at my Airbnb!” like we were a group of celebrities.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Super Hosts are a thing and I hang out with them. So glamorous.

Essentially, a Super Host is a person that Airbnb says are experienced hosts that “are passionate about making your trip memorable.” They have at least 10 bookings in a year, 80% 5-star reviews, a high response rate to inquiries and almost never cancel once you’ve booked.

But to me, it’s not so much about being a Super Host as it is about just making your guests feel at home in a new city (or, sometimes, a new country). It’s easier than you’d think, and here’s how to do it from a guest’s perspective.

Make checking in easy. When it comes to checking in, agree on a set time at your place. Nobody wants to go out of their way to find a key, especially if they’re coming off of a long day of traveling. If you can’t get away to hand your guests a key and show them around your space, leave the key in an easy-to-find spot or with a neighbor that’s easy to reach.

Make them feel welcome. I know that life can get in the way, but if you’re there when your guest checks in as opposed to leaving a key at the front desk or under the mat, don’t just drop it and leave. Strike up conversation that isn’t awkward about things to do around Charlotte, especially if they’re not here for business. This is easy – think places to watch the Panthers (16 and 1, hello), brewery tours or quite literally any of these things.

If you can’t be there, do something small but impactful, like typing up a welcome guide to everything Charlotte (restaurants, bars, landmarks, even things like Harris Teeter and Publix). This could make someone’s trip a lot less Yelp-and-guess-based and far more this-is-the-locals’-Charlotte-based.

That being said, be easy to reach. If something goes wrong or the air conditioning starts making a funny noise, you’d better believe I’m going to start panicking and have no idea what to do about it. And that I’m going to call you.

Or, sometimes, people just have questions about things like whether or not you own a corkscrew or if your bathtub drain works so that they can actually take a bath. Leave a number that you’ll pick up or an email address that you actually check, even for things like wine and baths.

WiFi. Always, always, always WiFi. I’ve noticed that the second I get to the place I’m staying, I’m trying to connect to the WiFi. There is nothing more frustrating than realizing that it either doesn’t work or doesn’t reach every room, so make sure that a) it works and b) that your guests have the right password.

In fact, consider putting all of the above in the same place by creating a handbook. In addition to important phone numbers, restaurant recommendations and WiFi information, definitely include rules of the house.

Clean beyond washing the bedding and towels each and every time you have a new guest. I’m not telling you to get on your hands and knees and scrub between the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush à la Cinderella, but it’s nice to not hesitate to shower or walk into the bathroom barefoot. Or wonder if there are creepy crawlies in the mattress and whose hair is in the sink.

Do you have trouble figuring out how clean is clean enough? Approach your cleaning method the way you would when your mom visits from out of town and look at it through her eyes.

Provide the basics in the bathroom and in the kitchen. In the bathroom, think things like travel-sized shower amenities such as shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and soap organized on the bedside table to make clear that they’re for the guests’ use.

The kitchen is where a little goes a long way. If your guest is there for a while, consider providing little things like eggs and bread and then leaving a shelf in the fridge free for groceries so they’re not having to eat every meal out. What you leave for them in the cabinet is important, too – don’t make running out and buying little things that they can’t or don’t need to take with them (olive oil, salt and pepper, etc.) a necessary evil. Don’t, by any means, break your own bank, but let them go a little easier on theirs.

Make it easy on yourself and never have to put on real clothes to buy these things with Amazon Prime’s PrimePantry. You’re welcome.

Leave them a snack! Nobody will ever convince me that they don’t get excited over the prospect of a free Otis Spunkmeyer cookie offered in a hotel lobby, especially when it’s late and that’s exactly what you needed. Coming into an Airbnb and finding a basket of teabags and granola bars instead of having to go and find a convenience store feels a lot like that.

Or, if you want serious points (and serious points turn into serious stars), leave a local beer for each guest or a bottle of wine in the fridge the way my last host did. Chances are they won’t take it, but the thought won’t go unappreciated.

Basically, you know what they say: the key to anybody’s heart – and then their ratings – is through their stomach.

Practice the rule you learned in kindergarten: treat others the way you’d want to be treated. That’s the easiest way to make your Airbnb feel more like the bnb half of it. Think about what you’d want to find in a new city and what you would and wouldn’t appreciate in a host and their space. Chances are, the same applies for your guests.

And then go forth and prosper.