Hi guys, I just began hosting at our small family farm 3 days ago and have had two guests arrive within a day of each other, one for our RV and the other for tent camping. The first guest arrived and has been going super smoothly. The second (tent) guest was a different story.
We had a delay in getting our portable restroom delivered so I offered powder room access for tent guests in the interim. Our tent spots are located at the back of our property in our wooded area. I walked the guest around and explained all of this. While walking him around property, I learned that he was currently homeless. We told him where he could access water and he told us it would just be Diet Coke and scotch for him. We have house rules against overconsumption of alcohol on premises as we are a working farm with already innate risks so this made me nervous. I told him we lock up the house at night and to ring if he needed to use the restroom by night. He seemed put off and I get that it's inconvenient and it wasn't the setup we had intended, but I did discuss it with him at check in and I'm not comfortable having my house unlocked at night with me and my children inside.
I asked if he needed help setting up and he told me he did not, that he had a hammock and a tarp he would throw up. My listing specifies tent camping but I didn't specifically state no makeshift shelters so my bad there, that's been fixed. He then began asking how many months he might be able to stay and what kind of makeshift shelter he could construct, what discounts he could get, etc. I told him it would be a maximum of 28 days due to state landlord tenant rules. By this point, I'm feeling quite uncomfortable with him on my property in general and even more uncomfortable about him coming into my home for restroom use, especially during the night.
The next morning I was out at 6 AM to do morning chores. I found the guest sleeping in his car, parked dangerously closely to my own car and in full view of our other guests at the front of the property, NOT where we had told him he could be. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, we ended up with a toilet leak in the newly installed toilet in the powder room and had to revoke restroom access so I canceled the booking with Airbnb and provided the guest with a full refund. The guest left the property but cursed me out and told me he is going to sue me.
SO... I'm a bit in shock and the dream has shattered. I was envisioning happy families who love farm animals visiting so we could share our love of farming and whatnot and definitely didn't consider the other side of things.
Would you more experienced guests be willing to share your feedback and tactics on the difficult side of airbnb? I have made my listing much more explicit with a lot more rules and it reads as a lot less inviting now, but I think that's better than the alternative. Any other tips for dealing with difficult guests? Any tips on how to avoid them in the first place? I use instant book and thought perhaps that's unwise - though this guy has 12 good reviews and I would have likely approved him... AND you get hit with cancellation fees if you don't use instant book and it would have been $100 a day in this case on a $30 a night stay! Lastly, do you guys have people answer any questions or sign waivers or anything like that? I was nervous through the night that he might be intoxicated and either injure himself or my animals or let them out or who knows what.
Anyway, I'm frazzled, sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for your responses!
