Roach in my bedroom

[Tyfany0]

I have a rental for almost two weeks. I didn't stay at the place for the first four days because I had a guest. I have been staying here for two days and I saw a live roach crawl from under my bed during the day. It was literally crawling straight to my luggage. I haven't seen more than on but is one enough to justify a refund?

[Debra300]

@Tyfany0,

You first need to notify the host, and give them an opportunity to remedy the situation.  Have you done that?  

[Tyfany0]

No, I'm trying to decide if it's warranted. I'm really freaking out  and considering this isn't my only issue...I'm literally held hostage by airbnb's refund policy. I'm wondering if I should put it in the review because I hate to hate on someone's money but I wish I had known. 

[Anonymous]

@Tyfany0   "Literally" held hostage?  That means that you are being forcibly, physically prevented from leaving the property.  Obviously this is not the case - you are free to pack up and go at any time, if one roach sighting is too much for you to bear. 

But nobody would consider renting a room out if all the guest had to do to get a free stay is go over the host's head and say they saw a roach.  Hosts want their guests to be comfortable, and if anything is upsetting them, they deserve to be informed about it and given the opportunity to resolve the issue. There are many forms that could take - for example a checkup for whether unsecured points of entry or food/waste was present, a professional pest inspection, a discount, or a mutual agreement to let you terminate your booking early and relocate. But please tell us, how is it possible for the host to fix your problem if you don't inform them of it?  And how does taking income away from them magically alleviate your discomfort?

Waiting until the review the address an issue is an option, but this kind of behavior is unsuitable for the peer-to-peer dynamic of home-sharing - which really depends on communication in both directions. 

Not sure what it is that you "wish you'd known." Should the host have put a disclaimer in the listing that a 320 million year old species of insect still exists? Or should Airbnb have more diligently informed you that feeling squicked about a bug doesn't instantly get you a free trip?

[Sarah977]

@Tyfany0  As Debra said, the Airbnb protocol is to first notify the host to give them an opportunity to deal with an issue.

Cockroaches are endemic to many areas. If my guests demanded a refund every time they might see a lone cockroach, or some ants, or any other bug,  I wouldn't be able to host at all. Of course I clean thoroughly and kill any cockroach I might see indoors, and also have some cockroach bait in areas they tend to be attracted to, like the kitchen, or damp areas, but cockroaches can scurry inside in an instant just by leaving the door open for a brief time.

If I saw one lone cockroach in an Airbnb, I'd kill it and get on with my life. Of course, an infestation would be another story and the place should be fumigated, but spraying poison in an entire house, simply because one cockroach was sighted, seems an unnecessary environmental hazard to me.

[Anonymous]

@Tyfany0   Once, while visiting LA , I was  with my family enjoying a 7-course meal in an excellent Japanese restaurant (truly, a place I'd gladly go back to anytime if I could possibly afford ). Just after the 6th course and the final bottle of sake arrived, a cockroach made its way up the wall next to me. I pointed it out to the server, who swiftly arrived with an empty glass and paper to relocate the insect out to the street unharmed. We resumed our delicious meal and tipped the servers generously both for their attentive hospitality and their compassion to an innocent living creature who happened to make its way into the room.

What we did NOT do - and what really seems unconscionably callous - was demand some kind of refund for all the hard work the kitchen and floor staff put into our meal just because we saw an unsexy insect. The fact is, there was no indication that the room was infested with vermin, the conditions were sanitary, and it had a city-issued A grade posted in the window for health inspections. But the building does not exist in a vacuum; it has windows and doors, and it's no reflection on the owners that a tiny unwelcome visitor might occasionally wander in. 

If your concern about the single roach warrants an inspection, @Debra300 's advice would apply - by all means, report it to the host and give them a chance to offer an inspection. If on closer examination it's clear that the roach's presence was part of a pattern of poor sanitation and deterioration of the home, you have the right to cancel the remainder of your booking and pursue a refund for the nights you didn't stay.

And I presume that's what you meant. Because obviously a decent human being wouldn't go around trying to get a retroactively free stay because they saw a bug, unless they were auditioning for one of those "Karens Gone Wild" clips.

[Tyfany0]

I love how you try shame me using a term that is literally meant for racist white women who use the police to exert their control. Especially because if anyone is being a Karen (to use your incorrect and demeaning use of the term) it's you. I am undoubtedly justified in being freaked out considering I'm in my bedroom a place not typically known for harboring roaches. The place where I have to sleep  considering I don't know if there are roaches every where. If I was try to scam, it would probably have been when I didn't use the room for four days. I'm definitely not in grade a restaurant eating a seven course meal. But you guys are definitely better people than me because that's disgusting and I wouldn't even be able to eat after seeing that. But thanks for your assistance. 

[Sarah977]

@Tyfany0  One comment I'll add- those who come from areas where insects aren't that common may have been brought up to assume that seeing a cockroach somewhere means the place isn't clean. But that is false- as I said, they are endemic to some areas, just as bears and coyotes are endemic to others. My daughter lives in the desert and I've seen cockroaches there scurrying around outside, nowhere near any dwelling, nothing obvious for them to eat, no standing water or dampness.

I doubt there are many people who don't find them disgusting, creepy creatures, but if you see one somewhere, just don't leave your bags on the floor unzipped and don't leave food out uncovered. Whack it with a shoe and unless you see more of them, it's not a big deal.

[Mark116]

Maybe its living in the urban Northeast, but if I saw a roach inside an airbnb, unless there was some feasible reason to think it had just flown in or crawled in from outside, there is at least a 50/50 chance I'd walk out right then and there. 

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  That's what I meant about one's attitude towards them- if you aren't from, or haven't travelled much in an area where they are prolific in the natural environment, that would probably be the reaction of most people. Just like there are people who would totally freak out, absolutely terrified, if they saw a bear or a cougar, even if the animal wasn't close enough to pose any danger. Roaches aren't dangerous in that they don't bite or sting, they're just revolting. 

[Debra300]

@Mark116,

There are feasible reasons why a roach would be in even a pristine Airbnb.  Like @Sarah977, my spaces are in humid areas, and roaches, ants and geckos/lizards are going to appear no matter how clean the places are kept.  We spray our properties at least once a year, but they will always survive, and continue to look for food and water.  In an attempt to curtail the presence of these creatures, we explicitly state in our house rules that guests are not to leave open food and drinks laying around, and to clean up spills and dropped food.

[Emilia42]

@Mark116 That's how I feel about lizards and I stay clear away from Florida because of it . . .  they run around like squirrels!  

[Helen427]

hahaha, I shouldn't laugh, however they are just another creature on this earth despite the fact they are annoying and cheeky enough to enter people's homes.

Funnily enough I seem to get a lone slug somehow from time to time randomly make an appearance inside my home when it's been raining.

I pick it up with a tissue, place it outside and the cheeky thing somehow finds it's way back inside, so out it goes again.

Place yourself in the eyes of the creatures that give you the heebie geebies.

Now what was that movie a few years back where the animals were greater in sixze than human beings?

[Helen427]

Look at it as the smaller creatures in life having one up on us!!

We probably frighten the beejeez out of them.

[Anonymous]

Let's not forget, the question posed by @Tyfany0 was not how she should personally feel about seeing a roach, but specifically whether it justifies a refund.