9flats host tips
Don’t want your hotelier to be your hippie guru?
You may have heard a lot about the hip concept of collaborative consumption – often it is marketed as a sort of new age, free love community marketplace when that plainly isn’t the case. Mashable’s Erica Swallow has the right idea in her article. Not that 9flats doesn’t like to get a bit idealistic sometimes too, but we also address the practical challenges facing users in collaborative consumption. This is the first of a series of posts that deal with these challenges, so you don’t have to. Being aware of these pitfalls helps you to make your 9flats experience a safe, enjoyable one.
A big problem for a lot of hosts is the act of passing keys to the guest. This simple act, so taken for granted in hotels, is a massive pain for guests and hosts on 9flats. There is no quick, easy fix for this. If a host forgets to meet a guest, or the keys break, a guest cannot just walk to the service desk for a new one. The advice we give to hosts and guests is that they should give an hour for the meeting time window. Flights can get delayed and rush hour traffic can hinder your host. The meeting should be conducted ideally at a nearby cafe, prominent and easy to find, with free Wifi so a guest who can’t get through the host’s local number can still logon to 9flats and send a message.
Meanwhile, our human-centred solution to this conundrum is our wonderful customer service team. A snappy, professional customer service team goes a long way towards making your trip a more enjoyable one, unburdened by a long wait for a response from the ghost behind a disembodied web form. If anything goes wrong at all our team will be there for you as a listening ear in a strange city.
So who knew that the key to an apartment could also be the key to someone’s happiness on vacation? Enjoy the weekend and travel safe.