Have You Invited Your Extra Honest Friend To Your Airbnb Yet? Well, You Here’s Why You Should…
You’ve spent weeks, maybe even months, getting your property ready. The paint is fresh, the furniture is assembled, and the towels are folded just right. But a tiny, nagging thought keeps you up at night: What if the first guest has a bad experience and leaves a bad review?
That first review is everything. It sets the tone for your entire hosting journey and can heavily influence your listing’s visibility. Before you open your calendar and hope for the best, you need to conduct a truth-telling Airbnb stay.
This single step can be the difference between a flood of five-star reviews and a struggle to get bookings. A proper truth-telling Airbnb stay is your secret weapon for success. It’s not about getting an easy review; it’s about building a bulletproof guest experience from day one.
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Table Of Contents:
- Why Your First Real Guest Can’t Be Your Beta Tester
- The Huge Mistake New Hosts Make
- How to Organize a Flawless Truth-Telling Airbnb Stay
- The Aftermath: Turning Feedback into Action
- Why This Isn’t a One-Time Task
- Conclusion
Why Your First Real Guest Can’t Be Your Beta Tester
The stakes are incredibly high with your first few guests. Those initial reviews are permanent and powerful social proof. They can build your reputation or break it before you even get started.
Think about the restaurant business. Before a grand opening, they often host a “friends and family night.” This isn’t just a party; it’s a full dress rehearsal to work out problems when the pressure is low.
They invite trusted people to test the food, the service, and the entire atmosphere for honest feedback. This proactive approach prevents paying customers from discovering those initial flaws. You need to treat your Airbnb the same way to avoid early pitfalls.
A few negative initial reviews can signal to Airbnb’s algorithm that your listing is undesirable, burying it in search results. A new host’s biggest challenge is often overcoming a poor start. This makes it incredibly difficult to recover and build momentum.
Want a done-for-you checklist to help prep your property for five-star success? Grab our free Airbnb Essentials Checklist to make sure you have all the must-have items in place before you schedule your truth-telling stay. From the right kitchen tools to backup toiletries, this printable resource helps you cover your bases—and avoid those “how did I miss that?” moments.
The Huge Mistake New Hosts Make
When you set up a new listing, Airbnb might ask if you want to offer a discount for your first three bookings. It’s tempting to think this gives you a pass. You might figure a guest getting a deal will be more forgiving if the hot water takes forever or the Wi-Fi is spotty.
This is a dangerous mindset for any local host. A paying guest, even a discounted one, has high expectations for their stay. A Forbes Advisor article on customer expectations highlights that value, not just price, drives satisfaction.
A discount doesn’t erase their desire for a comfortable and seamless stay. A woman guest or an older woman guest might have specific expectations about safety and comfort that a discount won’t appease if unmet. You simply can’t leave this to chance.
Furthermore, you absolutely cannot ask a friend or relative to book through the platform just to leave you a good review. Airbnb’s systems are sophisticated and designed to detect such behavior by analyzing user connections, IP addresses, and payment information, which is a part of how they manage personal data. This can lead to removed reviews, penalties, or even suspension, creating a bad relationship with the platform before you even begin.
How to Organize a Flawless Truth-Telling Airbnb Stay
A successful test stay has a specific structure. You can’t just have a friend crash for a night and ask them, “So, how was it?” You need a plan to get the detailed, actionable feedback that will truly improve your property and prevent a difficult guest experience later on.
Step 1: Choose Your Brutally Honest Friend
This is the most important part of the process. Do not invite your sweet aunt who always says everything is lovely. You need the friend who tells you when you have spinach in your teeth.
You’re looking for someone who isn’t afraid to hurt your feelings a little because they care about your success. They should be observant and willing to tell you that your decor choice is strange or the bed is uncomfortable. This is not the time for sugarcoating; your business depends on the raw truth, so put your ego aside.
Their tough feedback today saves you from a one-star bad review tomorrow. Their perception is the guest’s reality. If possible, choose someone who represents your target guest demographic but isn’t a seasoned local host who might have industry-specific biases.
Step 2: Give Zero Insider Information
Once you’ve chosen your truth-teller, you must treat them exactly like a guest. Don’t walk them through the property. Don’t give them any hints or “little tricks” for how things work, like which burner on the stove heats up fastest.
Send them the same check-in instructions you plan to send to paying guests via email to simulate the experience. Let them find the parking spot, use the smart lock, and connect to the Wi-Fi on their own. The entire point is to see if your instructions and setup are clear enough for a total stranger who might be tired after a long journey.
You are too close to your property and have natural blind spots. Of course you know that you have to jiggle the handle on the toilet. A guest won’t, and they’ll just think it’s broken, potentially leading them to contact airbnb or leave a frustrated review.
Step 3: Ask Them to Really Live in the Space
You want your friend to pressure-test the property. Don’t let them just drop their bags and go out for dinner. In exchange for the free stay, they have a job to do, which is to identify the biggest challenge you’ve created without realizing it.
Instruct them to perform specific tasks. This helps uncover issues you would never find on your own. Here’s a good list to start with:
- Cook a Full Meal: Have them make breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Do they have all the utensils, pots, and pans they need? Can they find a can opener, a corkscrew, and cutting boards easily?
- Take a Shower at Peak Times: Was the water pressure good? Did it get hot quickly and stay hot? Are there enough places to hang wet towels for the maximum number of guests?
- Work from the Property: Ask them to open a laptop and join a video call. Is the Wi-Fi strong and reliable in different areas of the home? Are there convenient outlets near a comfortable workspace?
- Use All Entertainment: Can they easily turn on the TV and log into Netflix or other streaming services? Are the instructions clear? They should also check if any older tech, like a device needing adobe flash player, is still functional or needs updating.
- Relax Like a Guest: Have them sit on every piece of furniture. Is the sofa comfortable for watching a movie? Is the armchair a good place to read a book? Is the lighting adequate for different activities?
- Test the Laundry: If you offer a washer and dryer, have them run a full load of laundry. Is it easy to operate? Is detergent provided and easy to find?
- Simulate a Late-Night Arrival: Ask them to leave and come back after dark. Is the entryway well-lit? Do they feel safe? Can they easily operate the lock in low light?
If your property sleeps four, try to have more than one person stay. Different people, like an older woman versus a young professional, notice different things. This provides a broader range of valuable feedback and helps you cater to a wider audience.
Step 4: Create a Detailed Feedback Checklist
Don’t rely on memory or a casual conversation. Give your friend a printed checklist or a digital document to fill out during their stay. This ensures they capture feedback in the moment, when it’s fresh and specific, and prevents you from having to guess what they meant.
Organize it by room and experience to prompt them to think critically about every aspect of the stay. Research from Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration shows that specific physical and atmospheric elements heavily influence guest satisfaction. Your goal is to gather data, not just general opinions.
Here’s a sample of what your checklist could look like, expanded for more detail:
| Area | Sample Prompts |
| Entry/Check-in | Were the check-in instructions clear? Was the lock easy to use? Was there a good place to put down your bags upon entering? Was the initial impression welcoming? |
| Kitchen | Did you find everything you needed to cook? Was the coffee maker intuitive? Was there a bottle opener, wine opener, and enough dish soap? Was the trash and recycling system clear? |
| Living Room | Was the sofa comfortable? Was the lighting good for reading or watching TV? Could you easily operate the television and remote controls? Was there any glare on the screen during the day? |
| Bedrooms | How was the bed? Were the sheets comfortable and did you sleep well? Was it dark enough at night or were blackout curtains needed? Were there enough accessible outlets for charging devices? |
| Bathrooms | How was the water pressure and temperature in the shower? Were there enough hooks for towels? Was the shampoo and conditioner good quality? Was the hairdryer easy to find and powerful enough? |
| Safety & Security | Did you locate the first-aid kit and fire extinguisher? Did all doors and windows lock securely? While extreme cases like finding out your housekeepers robbed you are unlikely, feeling secure is paramount. |
| Supplies & Amenities | Were there enough towels, toilet paper, and paper towels for your entire stay? Was the Wi-Fi password easy to find and connect to? Did you find anything missing that you expected to be there? |
Ask them to make notes as they go, treating it like a log. For example: “I couldn’t find a light switch when I entered the bedroom at night; I had to use my phone’s flashlight to cross the room. It felt unsafe.” This kind of specific, real-time feedback is pure gold and helps you make impactful changes.
The Aftermath: Turning Feedback into Action
The stay is over, and your friend has handed you a long list of notes. Some of it might be hard to hear, and your first reaction might be defensive. This is where the real work of becoming a top-tier host begins.
Take a Breath and Make a Plan
First, sincerely thank your friend for their honesty and time. Then, sit with the feedback and resist the urge to argue with it or dismiss it. Remember, their perception is what matters most because it’s the closest you’ll get to a real guest’s experience.
Go through their list and turn every piece of feedback into an action item. Create a prioritized punch list: safety issues first, then major comfort problems, and finally, small enhancements. Think about your response as if it were a pm reply to a professional report; be systematic.
If they said there weren’t enough towel hooks, don’t just add one cheap plastic hook. Add several beautiful, sturdy hooks to make the bathroom feel more convenient and thoughtfully designed. If the Wi-Fi was weak in the bedroom, invest in a mesh system or an extender; don’t just hope guests won’t notice.
Update Your Listing and Photos
After you have made the crucial improvements, your work isn’t done. You need to update your listing to reflect the changes. This prevents guests from finding inappropriate content in the form of outdated descriptions or photos.
Now is the time to take new pictures. On your host dashboard, find the upload location for your listing’s photos. You can start uploading drag photos from your computer or use the choose files tap option on your phone’s browser.
Don’t just reuse your saved photos. Take new, high-quality shots of the blackout curtains, the fully-stocked coffee station, or the new comfortable armchair. This helps with targeted advertising by showing potential guests you’ve invested in their comfort.
Test Your Turnover Process
Here’s a pro tip: use this test stay as a chance to do a full turnover of the property yourself. Treat it as if a guest just checked out and another is checking in within your standard cleaning window. This is one of the most valuable exercises a new host can do.
Wash all the linens, clean the kitchen, scrub the bathroom, and reset the entire space. Time yourself. This gives you a realistic idea of how long it takes to clean properly and helps you create an accurate checklist for yourself or for your future cleaning team.
This is another form of pressure test. You’ll see what it really takes to get your property back to five-star shape after it has been properly used. You’ll also identify what cleaning supplies are essential, helping you stock up effectively.
Why This Isn’t a One-Time Task
This process isn’t just for new hosts. Every experienced and successful host should consider doing this once a year. Think of it as an annual stay audit to maintain your high standards and adapt to changing expectations.
Properties change over time. Things get worn out, items go missing, and wear and tear happens in tiny increments that you don’t notice during quick inspections. You might visit your property with the eyes of an owner, but you need the fresh perspective of a guest.
Staying overnight lets you experience the home through a guest’s eyes again. Maybe construction has changed the route to your property and your check-in instructions are now outdated. Maybe a nearby restaurant you recommend has closed, or the neighbor’s new dog barks all night.
An annual audit helps you catch these things and keep your listing fresh, accurate, and appealing. For more tips, you can always visit the Airbnb community center or look for advice from a community manager. Some areas even have local host clubs that share best practices for property maintenance and guest satisfaction.
Conclusion
Your goal is to be a host who gets glowing reviews consistently, not one who is constantly worried about getting a bad review. That process doesn’t start with your first paying guest or your decision to turn on Instant Book. It begins before you ever open your doors, with a carefully planned truth-telling Airbnb stay.
By asking the right questions and taking honest feedback to heart, you can fix issues proactively. This lets you launch with confidence, knowing you’ve already created an experience that people will love. If a guest does have an issue, you’ll know it’s an isolated incident, not a systemic problem with your property.
Don’t leave your success to chance or hope for forgiving guests. A detailed truth-telling Airbnb stay is the best investment you can make in your hosting business. It builds the foundation for countless five-star reviews and a profitable, enjoyable hosting journey.
Once your property is guest-ready, don’t forget your support team. If you’re bringing in help for cleaning, landscaping, or other services, protect your business by using our Independent Contractor Agreement Template. This customizable document ensures expectations are clear from the start, so you can confidently hand off tasks while staying legally protected.
Calling All Hosts: The Hosting Handbook
If you loved this post we invite you to check out our one-stop-shop solution for hosts everywhere —the Hosting Handbook! While you can download all the easy to consume, step-by-step tips we use in our own hosting business and create the ultimate “book” the Hosting Handbook is so much more than that! If you’ve consumed or content for years (or just met us!) this is the reference guide for all the amazing and tactical tips we have for running a profitable and, more importantly hospitable, short-term rental. How do we price for pets? How do we fold our towels? What sheets do we buy? How do I purchase a short-term rental? All these questions (and more!) can be answered in the Hosting Handbook! Check it out now!
Happy Hosting!
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