What 180 Guest Reviews Taught Me About Hosting (Free Checklist)

Most new hosts put their budget into the big things: the sofa, the TV, the view.

So I sat down and reread all 180 reviews of Issa Suites, one by one, and tallied what guests actually wrote about. Almost nobody mentioned the furniture.

They wrote about the peanuts next to the coffee. The labeled cabinets. The spare gallon of water. The shampoo they forgot to pack, and found waiting for them.

Here's the pattern that surprised me most. The most-mentioned thing wasn't the pool or the location. It was how guests were treated. About 64 reviews mention a fast, responsive host. About 26 mention a welcome snack, and many of those guests said they didn't expect it. Cleanliness came up in about 65, but it isn't a bonus. It's the minimum.

I turned all of it into The 180-Review Details Checklist, a free guide for new and aspiring Airbnb hosts in the Philippines.

• The data: what 180 reviews actually talk about, charted
• A step-by-step checklist from before arrival to after checkout, with how many reviews mentioned each detail
• The one listing mistake behind my only 4-star review
• Four copy-and-paste guest message templates
• Budget-friendly sourcing tips for hosts in the Philippines

Most of it doesn't need a big budget. It needs care, done consistently.

"In a nutshell, it's the small things that count." Marion, guest

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