@Viviana62, one bad review will not hurt you, so forget the fear of it, whilst a guest is here. This "walking on eggshells" makes normal people uneasy and invites the mean ones to exploit your anxiety. It changes the normal rapport of forces between you and manipulative people profit from it
The normal relation is that you are in force in your place and the guest may feel uneasy at arrival in a strange place. Your job to make them feel welcome, but not your job to give them dominance.
At arrival, I give an introduction into the place, after a first glass of water or other offer and a few words. During the introduction, I repeat rulesrelated to the room in a very clear way (I learned that the hard way) Like : "The bathroom is here, The light switch is up here (flip it), towels... shower..., these boards are Wood, please Wipe them after showering with this sponge hanging here"
if someone forgets it, I tell them again, then I have a talk and explain the rewason for the rule .most people comply the second time, rarely to need a more formal talk. - Although I had one men in his fiftees, where the talk was started by him and turned absurd like that:
"You take showers in the evening. Please wipe the window sill after the shower, as it's not good for the wood to have the puddles stand all night!"
-"why do you have wood there? You should tile it!"
-"the wooden window sill was there before we created the bathroom and if you look closely, you see that it is one long board going under several windows."
-"you should put tiles on the wood!"
""I would gladly, but then the window would not open any more . It will have to wait till I change the window. In the meantime everyone has to wipe the window sill dry!"
he did so tgen but noted in the private review that the window sill should have tiles. A character like that will always find some reason why it's someone else's fault if they break the rules and whatever you do will not be enough. If I had changed the window and tiled the board during the day, he would still give me four stars.
It's not good for your mental wellbeing, if you let strangers define your home for you. It's your sanctum, others are only admitted as long as they respect it.
I had to send one guest for one night to a hotel, but he was a young student with mental issues. I proposed a refund for the night and gave him 10 Euros for the difference to yhe hotel next door. The latter because he came for a week of admission tests and I wanted to spare him the extra stress of asking his mother to pay the difference. In five days of discussions, I learned to like him but he drove me crazy. In such a case, you can simply negotiate an earlier departure. If however there is ill intent, you can involve airbnb and force a booking alteration.
Most people have no ill intent, are just lazy and may jump on an occasion to order someone around, if the other invites it. The moment you set boundaries firmly, you take their power away.
