Guests breaking house rules + complaining (smoking weed + complaining about temp) - bad reviews?

[Rachel3322]

Hi, New host here and looking for advice. 

I have a guest complaining about the temperature of the house. It's an old historic home (which we're clear about in the listing). They're saying it's too cold and they're uncomfortable. The temp on the thermostat is between 70-72, but we wanted to make sure they were comfortable so we brought them a radiator. 

When we brought it over, it was clear they were smoking weed in the house. we have a very clear no smoking policy on our listing and in the descriptions. 

So not only are they violating the rules, but I'm guessing they're cold in 'reasonable' temperatures because they're high? 

I don't really know what to do or what my options are with Air BnB. 

Even if I just let it go and just accept they broke the rules, I'm afraid of getting a bad review from them and don't know what kind of options I have for that.

Would appreciate your thoughts. 

[Wendy-May0]

That is a tough one for a new host, but you handled the temperature complaint perfectly by offering the radiator. You were accommodating, and that is a great defence against a bad review.

Your immediate focus should be on documenting the house rule violation.

Dealing with the Smoking..
* Document Immediately: Send the guest a message through the Airbnb chat right now. State politely and neutrally that when you delivered the radiator, you noticed a strong odour of cannabis and gently remind them of the strict no smoking policy. This creates the written proof needed later.

* Request Compliance: Ask them to stop immediately and confirm they understand. If the smell is persistent, you are technically within your right to start the resolution process for early termination or a cleaning fee, though most hosts wait until after they check out.

* Future Review Defence: The good news is that because you documented them breaking the rules during the stay, you now have strong grounds to potentially get a retaliatory bad review removed, especially if they mention the temperature after you bent over backwards to help them.

Do not worry about the temperature being the reason they are cold, just stick to the facts of the house rule breach. Document everything via the platform chat.
Do do free to ask me any questions about claiming a cleaning fee, is the smell very noticeable or just lingering? @Rachel3322

[Rachel3322]

thank you!!

[Joan2709]

@Rachel3322 

This is a sticky situation to be sure. The problem is, how do you document smell? Did you observe any marijuana paraphrenalia? See ashes? See buds? Then commenting on what you suppose they were doing is tricky. You need proof (not just smell) to prove they were breaking House Rules. Airbnb would need to see the proof.

Did you have the guest permission to enter when you delivered the radiator? Normally Hosts will leave items outside on the porch or doorstep and not enter when guests are staying. The reason is, the guests could claim you entered without permission, even though you had messages back and forth. They could claim an invasion of privacy. 

I would not rely on assurances from Airbnb CS that a retaliatory review will be removed if the guest broke a house rule and were called on it. Numerous posts here from Hosts who were in similar situations, promised a retaliatory review would be removed and then wasn't.

My suggestion is to add a cigarette smoke detector (not a typical smoke alarm) to the unit. It will notify you via an app on your phone that cigarette (or cannibis) smoke was detected and send you an alert. That can be used as proof the guest was smoking in the unit with Airbnb. The one I hear Hosts mention is Minut. If you install one, be sure you add to your listing that your property is strictly no smoking/vaping of any kind and a cigarette/cannibis smoke detector is installed inside the unit.

"For the comfort of all guests, smoking or vaping of any kind is not allowed inside/outside the unit. A cigarette smoke detector is installed to help enforce this policy."

Add this statement to your additional House Rules and Other Details. If guests continue to smoke inside the unit, you may need to add this to your after booking message.

[Greystone0]

Hi @Rachel3322  - they were cold because they probably had windows or doors open while smoking.  LIke they are standing in the entry, so technically outside. Other than the smell, are you able to 'document'? otherwise it's a 'he said, she said' situation.

Guests don't read fineprint. I would add a "no smoking" sign to the inside of the house, if you don't already . Marijuana is very potent and they could be standing in the entry on the outside and the smell is getting inside. This is possible. Do you allow smoking outside on your property? If so you may need to better define this like put a little chair away from the house and resource for cigarette butts and say where to smoke in you marketing materials. Outside with smoke wafting in is almost the same as smoking inside.  If you don't allow outside smoking, you need to say that.

Do you have exterior cameras to help manage these properties? The absence of exterior cameras can be a way for guests to identify where to go so they can get away with this, if that makes sense

I would add that "marijuana smoking" is also prohibited. We had to add 'cigars' to our no smoking list as guests decided that since it wasn't expressly said it was ok, if that makes sense. So list everything.

And respectfully to the advice given, I would refrain from saying anything to avoid the conflict, unless you have photo or video evidence, and even then I would refrain as I don't think you have the background fully covered (didn't expressly say marijuana, it isn't obvious if outside or inside, and so on),  and I would come armed with the cleaning team to help remove any lingering odor.

For bad odors we use: baking soda on fabric surfaces, a spray called "No odor" and an air purifier running constantly.

Good luck!

[Greystone0]

Hi @Rachel3322 

and I just noted that you do allow smoking outside.  So having smokers in your home would not be unexpected given this. Marijuana is a really potent odor and even if they are outside they'll be smelly on this inside, it's just the reality, so be ready to deal with this type of thing,  for this case.

In our case, we don't allow anywhere on our premises and we've had to explicitly say what this means as guests are extremely slippery. So we have to say no smoking in the garage, no smoking from the balcony, no smoking at the firepit, no smoking hanging out a window, and on and on and on.

People who smoke smell like smoke. It just gets into stuff. In our case, we are just too busy and really, really, really dislike the smell of smoke and so we don't want this in our home. In practical terms we don't have the time to get it smoke-smell free between guests. Guests who smoke marijuana at the firepit can be smelled from the neighbor house and we don't want this either. It is very potent. So we have to say this, over and over and over and over.

[Elaine701]

@Greystone0 

We don't smoke,and initially, we also did not allow smoking anywhere on the property, for all the reasons you mention. In our case, this was a bit of a mistake.

Smokers will book on Airbnb, and they will smoke. Most smokers are happy to smoke outside. It's what they do at home. For those that smoke inside, this is so strenuously forbidden and we make that very clear with signage in the house. In fact, it's  our only "house rule", really.

So, having said that, our total ban on smoking anywhere on the property consistently resulted in cigarette ends being tossed all over the property, in some cases, still burning - we have some artificial grass around the pool; now with burn marks. When they didn't just toss their burning ciggy ends, the guests would take plates from the kitchen as use them as ashtrays.

Morale of the story is this: 

They're going to smoke. And there's precious little you can do about it, so make it easy for them to smoke outside, and they will.

Leave ashtrays everywhere, give them a comfortable place to light up and relax, away from the entrances to the house. And you know what? They don't smoke near the entrances and don't throw their ciggy ends on the ground anymore, and they don't use kitchen plates as ashtrays. And the most important thing: They don't smoke in the house. And we don't have the conflict nor confrontation. Everybody happy.

Oh, and marijuana consumption is perfectly legal here. So for me, it's the same as tobacco. It's smoking.

[Greystone0]

Hi @Elaine701  - totally agree with all you have shared!

We tried giving a spot to smoke on our property and it failed for a bunch of reasons. In a nutshell it is just too cold and snowy from Nov - April to realistically maintain a smoking spot outside, away from the house. Guests can't realistically stand outside without a shelter around here and smoke. It doesn't work. They need their hands and face covered if outside, which is absurd for a smoker. So we'd need to build a little heated smoking hut just for this or some such thing. We'd need our crew to shovel and maintain the path to this place, which they just don't have time for. We'd need to add more exterior lights and run electrical, a cost we don't wish to bear. Our street is private, with no street lights and our night sky is very dark around here. Smokers just aren't prepared for this darkness, our exterior is well lit but this just pushes folks to stand on the lit porch for example.

And outside of winter, temps are often below 35 F (or 1.6C) so it's cold winter or not. Smokers smoke at night too and cigars and marijuana are more of an evening thing. So guests who want this idea are now forced to reconsider. Go outside in an unanticipated cold, dark spot or just hang out near the house and smoke. They chose the latter. 

And add this to a list of worries, we are in an unfriendly-to-short-term rentals area. Maintaining a good standing with our neighbors is highly relevant, we made a commitment that being a good neighbor was first on our list.  A group of marijuana smokers in our yard (we often have 10 adults) can be smelled from the neighbors house and beyond. It's just the reality. It's very upsetting to have this oder waft into your home.  No one likes it, legal or not.  We don't want to be 'that' house. It will target us to no end to allow 10 guests smoking outside. We'd last one more month and then our permit would be removed. Our local quiete hours would not be conducive to a group of adults who need to smoke every few hours either.

But agree that creating a spot is the way to go for this case!

[Elaine701]

@Greystone0 

Yep. Ok I get it. I didn't know your location, and it makes perfect sense. 

We rarely, if ever get to freezing and have 300 days of sun per year. So while it works for me, it wouldn't work for you obviously. 

But you still get smokers occasionally, yes?

By the way, your lodge looks dreamy! If I ever found myself in your patch, I'd love to book it. But I'd probably be locked up for being a foreigner with a social media profile, so it's unfortunate that I won't get that opportunity. 

[Greystone0]

Hi @Elaine701  - thanks! right back at ya, love your place! welcome anytime!

Yes, we 'sort of' still get smokers.

Currently, we vet hard around this topic - it just isn't realistic for smokers to come here, even if they wander off property, it's just too cold/rainy/windy/dark to realistically offer this idea.

Once they are here, it's 'uh-oh' I need to smoke morning-noon-and-night and I don't want to be outside! 

We sort-of lose business because of this - a recent AIRBNB booker (for February, cold-cold-cold) revealed that Uncle Joe was a smoker and could just go to the smoking area. I explained the reality. She canceled. This time period was then re-booked (not on AIRBNB) with a smaller group, no smokers, blah blah and all is right in the world. 

The result is that we will lose our superhost status this quarter, I can't seem to put together '10' guests in a rolling year anymore, on this platform. This smoker, plus a group planning a party, plus another with too many occupants is what I am faced with on this platform, and other permit losing shenanigans.

And add this scenario - our last group of smokers was two couples and 4 small children between them. All 4 parents were heavy smokers (heavy is my interpretation,  in one evening they were outside on the porch smoking 5 times in front of the ring camera, door open to the interior, end of January, freezing cold. We asked them to go away from the house or they could cancel for a full refund. They opted to stay and tried to walk away from the house, leaving 4 very small children alone inside. A super dumb idea. Their need to jointly smoke seemed part of their vacation or something. So what they needed was a heated smoking hut with a live camera feed to watch their children or something. 

So, I decided even "IF" I could somehow overcome some of the shortcomings mentioned, I'd still have absurd things like this coming up.