Courtesy – it’s still common. But, sadly, not universal.

I know some of you may feel offended. You’re saying, “Do they really think I need to be reminded of such common courtesies?” No, we don’t. This list wasn’t created for 99% of you. If we could somehow identify the other 1%, we’d only ask them to agree to it. 

So is it important enough to write a whole article about it?

We think so. For these three reasons: 

1. We want all hosts, including those who may not have an active guest status and therefore have not seen the courtesy agreement, to be aware of what their guests have agreed to. This is that courtesy agreement. 
2. We want to explain to guests why we updated the policy. The previous one didn’t include some things that hosts have found problematic. We hope there’s now no question about what’s considered okay and what’s not. 
3. We want hosts to report all non-gracious guests. A clear set of courtesy expectations makes our job easier. It lets us educate, warn, and, if necessary, revoke privileges. 

If you feel your hospitality has been exploited, we want to know about it. 

More importantly, so do your fellow hosts. You can, of course, also accomplish this through a negative review. But if you’d rather not do that, please send us a note instead. We will react but won’t let the guests know you complained. 

Our complaint policy

Yes. We welcome complaints against hosts too. We encourage both hosts and guests to report incidents. We’ll do our utmost to keep a complainant’s identity confidential. Here’s what happens when we get a complaint.  The courtesy agreement is extensive because the warning we issue is not. It does not necessarily identify what they did wrong to avoid tipping off who reported them. In the warning letter, we just remind guests of what they agreed to and let them figure it out. 

Every incident doesn't warrant an official complaint, of course, or cause us to take action. But we will note it and take it into account should similar or other incidents follow. 

Although we welcome complaints against hosts too, we always keep in mind that hosts are the ones generously offering their property with no expectation of anything in return. Previous and subsequent reviews are also considered.

Does it really boil down to only 1%? 

Yes. And 99% of all stays through our site are indeed positive experiences for both the host and the guest. Here’s a little infographic to show what happened last month (July 2019).

We strive to keep the experience overwhelmingly positive for everyone!