Pushing me to the edge

[Adele441]

I have a guest who has been a challenge since day 1.

She locked herself out on the first night even though I had gone through the lock settings with her. Because it was late at night I offered to pay for a hotel and get a locksmith in the morning (I am in a small town so no 24 hour locksmiths).

She said she had to get in because her insulin was inside and she ended up having to break a glass panel on my door which cost me $800 in repairs. Unfortunately I had not given the lock details in writing, only walked her through them so could not charge her. 

She is paying for a room but has the whole house as I am traveling. She complained about the cameras (disclosed and in compliance with AirBnB policy). I never charged her a pet fee or a deposit (this was prior to AirBnB offering these options). 

She advised me my mailbox was knocked down several days after the fact. I have asked her on numerous occasions to be sure to communicate effectively with me. I have been patient with her excuses (couldn’t access ber email, changed jobs, not well)

I extended her on a special rate which she felt she did not have to pay until the day before her current reservation expired. 

I was home over Thanksgiving and the house was clean, I did not have any issues - but have reminded her on several occasions that she is responsible for the home as a condition of extension. 

I went home last week and I could smell smoke on her clothing immediately as she opened the door, and inside the home. She denied she has been smoking or had anyone in the house who does. Two neighbors that visited with me immediately commented on this. She still denied it. Two days later I sat on a lighter on my porch chairs. The same lighter I had seen inside on the dining table. 

She went away over Xmas and I agreed to look after her cat as she was due back Sunday. She mentioned she may go see the doctor when she was away and I asked her to keep me posted if she did. 

On Sunday early evening I messaged her to ask what time she was getting home and she said “oh I might just stay over here”. I reminded her I had left on Saturday and the cat only had food until Sunday night. She said “the cat will be fine”. Then she messaged me and said “I am in hospital so I don’t know when I will be back”. 
I checked with the hospital she said she was at and they said they had no one by that name. 

On Monday I arranged for someone to go to my home to feed her cat and change the litter. When I advised her she said oh I just came out of surgery. I called the hospital and they advised she had been admitted .. but several hours AFTER I contacted her on Sunday. 

She has not communicated with me since then. She DID arrange for my pet sitter to come in WITHOUT notifying me. The cat has been alone since Saturday. 

The daughter of the guest is now communicating with my pet sitter and giving her instructions but has not reached out to me. I have sent a request for payment for the pet sitter which the guest has not responded to. 

The guest is obviously quite capable of communicating as she is with her daughter and the pet sitter. 

She is due to leave on the 5th. At this point I would like to change the code on the door so the guest cannot get back in. I am a pet lover but am

ready to turn the cat into the shelter since at least she will have company! 

[Huma0]

@Adele441 

Oh dear. I am sorry for your situation. I am afraid you were too accommodating to this guest, but I can understand that it's very tricky when the guest and their pet is in your home. 

I would remind the guest that she needs to accept the request for the cat sitter's fees or you will have to escalate it to Airbnb (bear in mind, Airbnb won't collect any additional fees for the guest if she doesn't agree to it, but she might not necessarily know that and, telling her you're getting Airbnb involved might make her pay attention). She probably is reading your messages, just choosing to ignore them.

Once she is out, you might also put in a claim for the smoking/extra cleaning required to get rid of the smell. Sounds quite possible that she was only smoking outside though, so perhaps there is no smell or mess inside to deal with.

Poor cat. Not sure what you can do about it. I assume she will come back and collect it, but perhaps she is under the impression that you and your cat sitter will look after the cat for as long as it suits her.

I really don't think though that you can change the door code without cancelling her stay. If you want to do that, it is better that you contact Airbnb, explain the situation and ask them to tell the guest to leave and do a neutral cancellation so that you are not penalised for cancelling.

Bear in mind though, seeing as she was genuinely admitted to hospital, she may have a case for extenuating circumstances, which means she might try for a full refund and Airbnb might support this. Pretty rude of her to just leave the cat for you to look after and not pay the cat sitter.

Were there no red flags when this guest booked? She sounds a bit off the rails. Either that, or she's just going through a difficult time and can't deal with anything else right now.

[Mark116]

@Adele441  I'm sorry you are in this situation, and always sorry to  hear about bad pet owners. 

But, after she cost you $800 for breaking the window, you were crazy to extend her stay.  Instead, you should have recognized an unreliable person then and there and shortened her stay as much as you could.  It's only another week, so I guess at this point, just let it ride. 

[Adele441]

You are right - and I even said to her I know how tough it is right now to find reasonable accommodation - with a pet - and was trying to be nice. 😞

[Mark116]

@Adele441 I no longer extend myself to Airbnb guests unless they've demonstrated a good level of communication/responsibility/gratitude.  It sounds mean, but there is a certain type of person who will take advantage when they sense they can succeed with getting extras or not being called on poor behavior.  It's hard to tell from your story whether this person is extremely disorganized or some kind of scammer.  Hopefully she won't actually come back to your house to stay before the reservation ends and her daughter will come and move out her belongings.  

[Vania30]

Tive problemas esta semana com um hóspede, chamei a Polícia.

Como bloqueio este hóspede para ele não reservar mais na minha casa?

@Adele441 

[Mary4772]

WOW, and I was catalogued as the worst guest they ever hosted. hahaha

So sorry you had to go through that!