How do you manage your house rules?

[Sybe]

Hey everyone!

It has been an unspoken rule for centuries that when you’re the guest in someone else’s house, you abide by their rules. Your neighbour might want you to take your shoes off when you come in, or the store in your local mall might prohibit you from entering with food or pets.

Whether you’re welcoming guests into your own home or you have a separate property, house rules allow you to set expectations with your guests. Though even with house rules in place, breaches can happen, leading to tricky situations. Knowing how to deal with them can be very beneficial for both your business and your peace of mind!

How do you manage your house rules? How do you make sure that your guests are aware of the rules? What do you do when a guest breaks the rules and how do you address them? 

Let us know in the comments below!

Sybe

P.S. If you’re unsure how to add house rules to your listing, check out this Help Center article.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Sybe 

Great question - and such a well worn topic in the forums. 

The Guest Suite is a wing of my full time residence. House Rules are rarely an issue, as our  guests see how we live as an example to follow. We respect our masterpiece of a home, it is clean, and the grounds are groomed and free of debris and trash. 

It is so simple - we meet them at their car, with a warm welcome. When we all enter the house, we remove our outdoor shoes, place them on the rack by the entrance; guests follow our example. Most of our guests remove their shoes at home anyway, so this is not revolutionary. We give a tour of the spaces available to them, answer questions and assure guests that we are here, available as - and only as - they wish. 

We establish ourselves as hands on communicative and responsive hosts from the moment of first contact online. We have a welcome letter sent when they reserve. We ask if they have any questions, goals, information about the house, the area, the house rules, house manual, etc. The conversation has started, and so has the trust and bond that we establish. 

I am convinced that hosting in my home is key to the total lack of issues we have.  Not using instant booking makes it personal, that our home and our guests are special, that their stay here is more than merely transactional.  Our guests are self screening both by the nature of our listing and our using requests to book; which starts a personal conversation and gives the opportunity for them to be assured that we are a good match for them. 

[Wende2]

Hello all...I have house rules printed out and posted on the fridge, next to all the important info, WIFI, phones numbers and such.  Either they don't read them, like they don't on the listing, or they could care less.  My main rule...PLEASE be mindful of crumbs and spills, they attract ants = stress.  The weekend guests 2 small children left crumbs everywhere, sticky on the end table.  I use to try and leave a read between lines review, no more, I could write a novel for some, I just make it simple and to the point.  I really can't complain, I've had so few horrible guests it's been a plasure to have 99.5% visit.

[David8879]

Just an example why I, who prefer to be totally invisible to guests (unless requested and till 1 day before check out) - annoy the living hell out of them twice.

First time when they request booking (NO, I do NOT instant book - sue me) - I say thank you for your interest - here are the rules - please read them and confirm.

Any normal potential guest really interested in my places will watch airbnb messages and see what I am asking of them - so if they do not reply within 24 hours - "I do not feel comfortable with them" - sue me. Got nothign to du with pictures which I can not see - you would not let me in if you saw mine - I am middle aged white male.

Second time I annoy them right after booking confirmed after thanking guests for booking, explaining that they will get detailed instuctions 3 days prior to check in and so on - rules are, once again, attached.

That approach, no matter how much airbnb "experts dedicated their lives to helping hosts" try to convince you otherwise - WORKS.

I had few bookings that were canceled by guests I knew I did not want within first 48 hours (I have strict policies - I am not smart enough to agree on "recomended" flexible "screw host any time" policies) and guests actually THANKED me for making sure they know what they agreeing on. 

"We wanted to have a bachelor party and were thinking that since entire property will be at our disposal....but glad we saw "Property's surroundings and hallways is under 24x4 CC" and we realised that it is not for us.

As I said - it is YOUR property - take care of it

P.S. And, unlike some hosts here, do set realistic expectations because no matter how many times you will tell guests: "Please do not wipe your below with face towels" - they WILL

[Elaine701]

Indeed, "House rules" are in any practical sense, unenforceable, so in my experience, you need to resort to a bit of simple psychology. 

First, it's important to have some degree of contact with the guest and establish a friendly relationship with them. If they never meet you, then you're faceless. They don't know you and are unlikely to consider your interests when making or leaving messes or ignoring house rules. 

Second, most (decent) guests don't actually realise that house rules are unenforceable, so attaching some sort of penalty to violations of them can make them think twice. "Smoking in the house will result in a 500€ fine". Yeah, well, you may not be able to enforce that, but they don't know that. It makes them think twice. 

Third, and I can't say this often enough... Screen your guests. Ask questions before they book. How many people? What is the age range? If they seem unusually detached, don't answer, avoid answering, or give inconsistent answers, that's a red flag, and you have to decide for yourself whether you're willing to accept this guest. I can tell you from long experience that it's spared me regret quite often.

And then, there's a security deposit, if you feel uncomfortable with the guest who's just made a booking request, you find out it's a bunch of 20 yr olds, and you'd prefer to either scare them away or demand a big security deposit... It either scares them away or gives you security. If you're holding a thousand bucks, you can be sure they'll be extra careful. Often, they'll go to great lengths to leave everything in perfect condition. More than you ever expected. They want their deposit back. 

It's all psychology, really. And yes, it's work. But anyone who tells you that hosting is easy money has obviously never been in the business...

Which reminds me of those Airbnb hosting adverts I hear on the radio. "You can put that extra property to work and make extra money. And you're top to bottom covered by Air Cover", so it's all easy peasy. 

Yeah, right then. So, Airbnb, you've never been in this business eh? Allow me to give you a few pointers... 

[Mariann4]

But now Airbnb has taken away the possibility of keeping a deposit, @Elaine701 ... 

[Elaine701]

@Mariann4 

How can they do that? If you collect a deposit, it's in your hands. If the guest damages something, you give them back the difference. That's what it's for.  How can Airbnb intervene in that? 

[Mariann4]

Most use the resolution centre to request a deposit. From a couple of months back Airbnb have put their foot down for this and and changed their ToS to explicitly prohibit cash deposits. 

Link attached @Elaine701 :

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140/security-deposits?_set_bev_on_new_domain=1590733828_Y2U3Zjdi...

[Elaine701]

@Mariann4 

Wow, that's new. It may explain why a future guest is having difficulty paying a security deposit through the resolution center. He's been trying, but it just doesn't work. He's been on the line to Airbnb, but they say his card hasn't been "validated", although he made the booking with that card, and that worked. 

We haven't received any message from Airbnb about it. 

**bleep**. I didn't want to be forced to cancel this booking, but it looks like I'll have to. 

Thanks for the heads up. 

[Mariann4]

Nothing new about hosts not being notified @Elaine701 ... 🤷‍♀️ And the stand is very much anti-host when we know collecting for damages is hard in the first place. It's our properties! When damaged by guests you need to be able to collect compensation to fix it

[Elaine701]

@Mariann4 

Yes, well that's the point of a security deposit. I think Airbnb is the only platform that (now) prohibits it. 

With that new information, I just won't bother offering risky Airbnb guests (e.g., eight 20yr old males) a possibility to be approved for the booking. I just won't let them book. Nope. Not without a security deposit. 

And no, I don't expect any explanation from Airbnb. It's not my first rodeo. It just wont work and nobody can or will say why. 

Thanks again. Strategic revision in process... 

[Basha0]

I find that guests may read rules when they book which could be months prior to their arrival. I email them the house info and agreement about 10 days before arrival which they have to sign. No excuses in their part. @Laura2592  good to hear from you!

[Helen744]

@Sybe My house rules are important to me but are also few ,so I make them count and introduce and reinforce them at the appropriate times .Firstly around id and establishing exactly who will be in the house by whatever means possible . We will need to have some idea of each other before meeting . A blind date if you wish with different consequences. house rules specifically for me are told to the guest . number one rule . If small children are with the group then the gates leading to the road must be closed when the car is on the property . an inconvenience to those who want to go in and out but they pretty soon understand.Next rule . Try for the love of god to recycle . I provide bins of all types and expect guests to have a go at it .This leads guests to tackle garbage generally always if not properly at least in some way. Dont take linens off beds . I simply do not want them on the floors .Hang wet towels up or put them in the laundry basket .Dont lose the key because you only get one and I explain that the house is so secure that you wont get in without it The only rule I tell people is the one about closing the gate , but I explain the dishwasher and the stove and the bins are marked , the laundry basket is in the bathroom and wastepaper baskets are everywhere . The only thing I cannot do anything about is the free microwave popcorn. People love it . Its cheap but it gets everywhere . sigh. H 

[Willie64]

certain guests with different backgrounds may break house rules. You cant avoid it.  if you set your price high, you probably get rich guest which are more educated and obey house rules. if you set your price low then you will get low or moderate-income guest which might not follow house rules. if you get a group of youngsters then they might break the house rules instead of family guests.  I did not write long house rules. Just highlight the important rules among house rules because guests lazy to read them. 

[Sybe]

@Willie64 What do you do when a guest inevitably does break the rules? Do you have a certain approach to addressing it with your guests?

[David8879]

@Sybe 

when you have to deal with that - firstly know (not presume) that people lie.

So, gather the facts.

Takes pictures right after guests checked out, preferably with witnesses and timestamp.

Collect "testimonies" of neighbors if there was a party or noise.

Be prepared to be called lier yourself.

Get ready to fight - it is YOUR money

And - do not rely on AirBNB - call your insurance and buy the rider to cover commercial rental damages and civil liability to as high of amount as it makes sense in your country (in USA I have 1 million and property is separated with LLC), in Portugal - 100,000E which is A LOT for Europe non litigious way of living...unlike USA - that will give you peace of mind

[Mark116]

@Sybe   Much like @Huma0  and @Laura2592 we started out with minimal rules and as we hosted and saw how guests treated things we added rules like no furniture moving when guests moved velvet dining chairs into the kitchen and when dragging around who knows what scratched the wood floors.  We added 'no visitors without permission' after a guest snuck in a 5th person. 

Now we ask guests to confirm via the platform that they have read and agree to the rules before we accept the booking.  They probably don't read the rules, but at least they are on record as claiming they did so they can't say at a later date they had no idea. 

We also send an 'apartment basics' long message that tries to troubleshoot the things we've had most problems with...how to use the stove, how to use the bathtub, using the washclothes to prevent staining of towels and sheets, etc....to recycle.

Quite frankly, there isn't much you can do when guests break the rules because Airbnb is not supportive.  The last guests who left a pot size burn/scorch mark on the kitchen table and never said a word about it...if Airbnb were a different company we would have asked for $$ for such a large damage, they also damaged a few other minor items like crunching a wicker waste basket behind the door [after they moved it] and making it unsusable....but since Airbnb makes getting payment for damages difficult and since asking for payment will almost always trigger a negative review, we live with it.  Even minor corrections, or as with these guests, when we told them we didn't use whatsapp and only communicated on Airbnb, they gave us a low star rating for communication--despite that we actually typed up several notes/instructions, translated them into their language and printed them out and left for them after they told us they couldn't access Airbnb during their stay.  

Lastly, we send a check-out message that reiterates the few things guests need to do before check-out and thanking them for staying. 

[Huma0]

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@Mark116 wrote:

Now we ask guests to confirm via the platform that they have read and agree to the rules before we accept the booking.  They probably don't read the rules, but at least they are on record as claiming they did so they can't say at a later date they had no idea. 

Yes, this is important. As others have mentioned, the first step in getting CS to help with breaking of rules (no guarantee, but you need to have your ducks in a row) is to have those rules stated. Otherwise, there is no requirement for Airbnb to do anything. 

I learnt this early on with some misbehaving guests. So, I called CS. I told the agent that the guests were making a lot of noise at 3/4 am, including loud arguments and, although they apologised every time I brought it up, would just go on and do the same again. The first thing she did was check my house rules. She even said, "I know it should be obvious that it's unreasonable to have loud arguments or blast out music at 4am, and I would personally find it objectionable, but I first need to check that's against your rules... Oh, okay. I see you have quiet hours after 12pm. Right, let me call them and tell them to behave." 

That's not to say that Airbnb will always back you up with the stuff that is in your house rules, but if you don't state it, they can use that as an excuse to do nothing.

In less extreme cases, where it's not necessary to call CS, you ave the recourse of telling the guests, "As stated in the house rules you agreed to, please no loud noise after 12pm." Most guests find it difficult to back chat when it's something they explicitly said they agreed to.

@Mark116 

Sorry about your table. So infuriating. Is it possible to sand and refinish it? I know it's massive hassle, but hopefully it can be saved. I find with these kind of damages, guests will never admit to it/agree to pay.

[Mark116]

@Huma0  Yes we already sanded the burn mark out and put a new coat of polyurethane on it, the new coat isn't as smooth as the original but it's fine. 

There is no way the guest could deny they did it, since our video walk through shows the table with no burn mark prior to their check-in,  and the photos we took of the burn were taken about 1-2 hours after they left and before any other guest.

But, if we had tried to claim for damages, how would it have gone?  The table retails for $300, but we got it new for free, so no receipt.  We could point to the same table still being sold for the cost, but that might not work.  We've also had it for probably 6 years, so Airbnb depreciation, what would they value a six year old $300 table at?  Our choices would have been to buy a new table and hope for the best, or, we could find some carpenter who would charge almost the price of the table to sand it down, and hope Airbnb would have paid for that. 

We are lucky in that we're pretty handy so we could fix the damage but not everyone has those skills.

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

I hear you. I've had numerous damages from guests but only ever claimed for one. I just doesn't seem worth the hassle of going through it all if it's not a MAJOR expense (and that's without taking the revenge reviews into account).

I think I would be mortified if I damaged something in a host's listing, and do my best to rectify the situation, not just leave and not say anything. Okay, some people are careless and inattentive (especially when on holiday) and might not even have noticed, but the level of denial really baffled me when I first started hosting. People come up with the most ridiculous excuses sometimes, especially trying to blame other guests because it is a shared listing. They forget that I know who is and isn't staying at any given time and that people can hear glass smashing etc. when they come home drunk late at night and collide with stuff.

'Watermelon girl' was my most ridiculous, but that's a whole other story...

[Huma0]

@Sybe 

The house rules to me are one of the most important parts of the listing. They are not just there for my benefit but also for the guests'. They help the guest understand the boundaries so that they know what is expected and don't have to second guess about various things. It's a shame Airbnb chooses to try to hide the rules as much as possible, despite it being something that guests are apparently contractually agreeing to when they book.

Of course, like many other hosts, I quickly learnt that the majority of guests will not read/digest the house rules unless prompted. So, I started messaging guests when they booked/requested to book/enquired to please read the rules and let me know that they agreed to them.

This worked with some, but I discovered that many others would say they had read them when in fact they had not at all. Sometimes they would give this away in their correspondence. Other times, you would only find out once they arrived and it was too late. Unhappy host, unhappy guest or both.

So, I decided to include an Easter egg question in my house rules that guests need to answer if they want to book with me. This was a tip I read about here on the CC. At first it sounded heavy handed to me, but I found that it was really necessary. It doesn't filter out all the non-rule complying guests, but it has certainly helped and I have found that most guests do not mind being asked at all (helps if your Easter egg question is something fun/lighthearted). The ones that do mind are the type that I don't really want to host anyway.