A piece of advice

[Evangelos0]

Hello,

I have been a superhost since the first assessment, 2 years ago.

I have never had a bad experience with any of the guests I have hosted, but of course with some of them I had a neutral-positive experience. I am offering a private room with private bathroom in my apartment and at the moment I am hosting a young Thai couple. The first day they arrived they have left the balcony door open (they do that every single night) in their room which made the whole apartment freezing cold (We are in Denmark with 0 C degrees/ 32F these days) luckily they were not in their room when I cam back home, so I had to enter and close the balcony door- noticing that they have turned the radiator in full heat! The next day, they entered my personal bathroom (!) where I have my laundry and started washing and drying their clothes (without asking - eventhough I am clearly stating in my listing that laundry is available only upon request and at an extra charge). When I tried to talk to them, they did not seem to understand the issue, or pretended to - language barrier. Later, they turned one of the radiators in the corridor (common area) in full heat to dry their wet socks... My heating is always on 3 (in scale to 0-off  to 5 which is full) and it has always be warm and cozy. It is the first time dealing with such an issue and I am not sure how to approach it. It is obviously not a matter of them feelign cold, as they are sleeping with open door... I feel that it is very disrespectful behavior and I am struggling to find the right balance between friendliness, kindness and practical approach. I am thinking of let it go and write a negative review...  Any suggestions?

[Fred13]

This is a tricky one. There are two dimensions at play: they are young (oh boy) and from a far, far away a different culture than yours.  To them such 'odd' behavior is probably perfectly normal, to a westerner it makes no sense.  I just came back from China, and by coincidence had to two groups back-to-back from the Orient, and they were challenging because of the ways they differ so much from 'western ways', but I did understand a lot more since I just came from there. So, I took that into consideration in my review, and what bode well for them was how grateful they were that I was so patient with their very different ways. 

[Paul154]

Everybody on Airbnb, guests and hosts both agree to the review system.

There is no privacy.

You are more than welcome to say in the review. "During the winter season, guests opened windows and turned heat on high 😞    "

Make it factual and neutral.

It is the truth. It prepares the next hosts for these people.

Part of Airbnb's philosophy is learning about different cultures.  I would not go to Thailand on turn on the A/C with open windows.

You may get a good result by saying to guests, " I appreciate that you are from the tropics.  During winter in Denmark, we do not open the windows.  It is a Danish tradition. Thanks for understanding"  Try to say it without telegraphing your feeling of disrespect (this is a skill)

[Matthew285]

@Evangelos0, @Fred13 is spot on.

The culture in Thailand is very different from American culture and, I imagine, from your local culture.

Add in the fact that your efforts at communication are either being ignored or you are facing a geniune language barrier, and it sounds like a recipe for host frustration.

I am not Thai myself, so I am hoping a Thailand-savvy host can explain to all of us what part of this is normal Thai behavior, and what part is this couple behaving badly.

Bonus points for explaining the "turn on the heater, but keep the window open in freezing weather" thing.

[Fred13]

Hahaha, that last line made me laugh. Ok, that 'turn up heat/open window' move defies logic. The socks on the radiator, I use to do that as a kid in the old house we grew up in.

[Marzena4]

Hi @Evangelos0. I have hosted alot of guests from Asia and that's true what you described. I am planning to put some rules in the form of notices around my place ("do not change the settings of the furnace, radiator," "do not dry socks in the room," "do not drop water on the wooden floor") because I have come to the conclusion that words do not work on those guests.