Difficult incidents

[Linda941]

Hi all, this is my first post.  I've been a host since the end of March.  I haven't had anyone trash my place but have had a couple of experiences I didn't know what to say or do.  The first was a very nice couple who stayed 3 nights.  Very friendly but after they left there were two problems I had.  The first was when I was done changing the bed and stood back looking at it, one side was two inches shorter than the other.  I ot to looking under the bed and the wheels on that side were completely bent over and almost broken off.  The husband must of weighted close to 350-375 lbs.  When I went into the bathroom it was apparent that while at the toilet he just covered one nostril and blew the mucus out of the other onto my glass shower wall.  It was so dried on that it took over 45 min. to get it all scrubed off.  It took and hour and a half to get the wheels off the bed and figure out what to put on them to bring the bed back up to the right height.  They left a 5 star review for me and I didn't say anything about the bed or his disgusting habit.  What could I have said to warn others about his weight without being discriminating? And other than rating cleanliness on the other?  I didn't even think about it falling under cleanliness, just disgusting.

The othe incident was a mother and daughter from India.  In my coffee/ kitchenette area. I keep a bowl full of individual creamers, about 25-30, there is hot cocoa, sugar etc.  When they left all the creamers, sugars{regular, raw & stevia}, again about 30 pkgs, and all the hot cocoa was gone.  some coffee was used but not much.  At first I thought that they took them, but no all the empties wher in the trash.  They must like drinking very sweet milk.  How do I warn other hosts to just put out a few of these items?

I woud appreciate any feed back on how I should of handle both of these incidents so the same doesn't happen to other hosts.

Thank you

Linda

*title updated

[Christina355]

Hi @Linda941 I think these are all things you're going to have to overlook. You can think about adding a note to your listing about a weight limit for your bed, but I definitely don't think it's appropriate to site that as a negative in your guests public review. As far as the snot on the glass.... people are gross and as hosts we get to clean up after them. Not really anything you can do about that. In the future you can ding someone like that with less cleanliness stars, but he may have just sneezed and not realized it went all over your glass. We hope that people will treat our places as nicely as we would treat theirs, but a lot of people won't. A lot of people also don't have the same standards of cleanliness that you may have. 

I learned to only put out a few of each item that I want guests to have access to. Once I put out a basket of extra toiletries, including a handful of toothbrushes and someone took all the toothbrushes so now I just leave 1 out at a time. You live and you learn. Can't hold it against them. If these are the worst things you encountered from hosting so far, I'd say you're pretty lucky! 

Most of the time when we come across issues like these, all we can do is look to find ways of preventing it at our own place rather than trying to put every detail in a guest's review. I don't think these are big enough issues to merit a mention in the public review. 

[Linda941]

Thanks Christina for the feed back. I know I will encounter a lot of different incidents as I go along and I will learn from them.  I would never say any of these negatives in a guest review. I was just trying to see what other hosts would suggest since I’m new at this.  Thanks again

[Pete28]

Bleh. Over time it becomes apparent that Airbnb doesn't attract the best quality of guest, and those that host don't do it for the joy it brings.

[Linda941]

Hi Pete, thanks for replying. I have a lot to learn. I do get a lot of joy from hosting and want to keep it that way. I do have to get use to the quirks that go along with hosting. 

[Christine615]

Okay - I'm right there with you on the snot. People can be gross, but it's their responsibility to clean up after themselves. I don't think people do this stuff to be mean (one day I'll tell you about cleaning off a large mirror propped on the floor after a guest got busy with his girlfriend the whole weekend. (Found underwear still in the sheets. They left me a great review and I left them one because I'm learning to be thick skinned and determine the difference between "different" habits than mine, and downright rude and inconsiderate.

But the bed is another matter. I make it clear the place they are renting is a home I use for personal and family occasions. So if the bed is broken, it's his responsibility to fix it. You can't discriminate, but you can expect people to be reasonable.

It's too late now - but you should have sent him a bill for the damaged bed through the resolution center and sent pictures.  It's one thing to do it, it's another thing to do it and not bother telling the host. What if someone were checking in that night.

Airbnb told me they would get involved when a group of lovely women left me with red wine on my new sheets and carpet. But I had to invoice them before a new guest came. I did get paid by the guest, and Airbnb was okay with my delay because they could see in my inbox that I had sent the guest photos of the damage right away.

It's your house. Fees you charge are for revenue, but not that kind of wear and tear. Which is why Airbnb's suggestions that we lower our prices to subhuman levels often strikes me as laughable.