Bigger Is Better: Changing Perceptions of Large Hosts

I read a lot of press about our industry, both the good and the bad. When publicity is good, most of the time, it’s the story of a retired couple or a struggling artist renting out their spare room (or extra property) on Airbnb to make ends meet.

Airbnb is pushing this narrative too. Always talking about “hosts” and even rebranding property managers as “co-hosts,” it’s become clear that Airbnb wants to project an image of a community of individuals who check guests in personally with welcome baskets of local produce and don’t use any technology (besides Airbnb, of course). They also suggest that hosts offer better hospitality than professional property managers.

And the data seems to partially back up this story: Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s CEO, claims the average rating of a co-host on Airbnb is higher than that of a “third-party” property manager. AirDNA has also found that the larger the portfolio, the lower the score, especially on the communication front.

And maybe it’s partly a psychological factor. It’s far harder to give a bad review to a person than to a faceless company — that’s how our brains work. It’s the same reason Airbnb often puts its CEO, Brian Chesky, front and center in videos and interviews, and very often in t-shirts, as a normal, real person, rather than in a corporate suit or via a written press release.

Mega-Chain vs. B&B

In the hotel sector, it seems more widely understood that there’s room for all kinds of operators, from the Hiltons and Marriotts of the world to tiny countryside B&Bs and eccentric boutique hotels. Each hotel type has its own guest profile, price bracket, and use case. If you’re traveling for business, sure, you might want the consistency and discretion of a large chain, but a romantic weekend might call for something completely different.

We accept that a well-run multinational will usually deliver excellent service — and even a personal touch — because we understand the value of consistency, competence, and scale.

So why do short-term rental guests so often assume that personal touch can only come from an individual host?

Hotels have been a professional industry for decades, with their procedures, standards, and even university degrees. Short-term rentals are only just catching up, but the prevailing narrative favors the non-professional side of the sector. Why?

Professionalisation Is Not the Enemy

Professionalisation isn’t just about using the latest technology or staff wearing a smart uniform — although those are nice too. It’s about excellent service, well-trained teams, and high standards of cleanliness and maintenance.

But it’s also about the boring stuff: regulatory compliance, paying fair wages, safety audits, and getting your taxes in order. All of this is part of embedding short-term rentals in local communities and fighting unfair regulations with hard data to show the positive impact of short-term rental businesses.

Part of the problem is the lack of transparency. Guests don’t understand all the hard work behind great experiences. Because we don’t show them. They don’t see the team debriefings after a maintenance problem, the weekends sacrificed for last-minute arrivals, or the time spent training a new cleaner. In a hotel, we’re constantly reminded of the staff working there — it’s one of the reasons my antisocial parents always prefer a rural cottage — and all the work behind the stay. But without the front desk, daily housekeeping, and extra on-site services, it can be hard to get the message across that all that work is happening behind the scenes.

How can we change this? Guest communications give us many opportunities to start telling your company’s story before the guest has even booked. Even your listing can create a narrative from the start, highlighting the property’s history, your expert local team, and the community your guests will be part of, even if temporarily.

We cannot let the myth that “smaller means better service” go unchallenged. Better service comes from professional working methods: from implementing the best technology to training staff and the strategic thinking that will help your business stand the test of time.