Guests who work from home

[Michelle2145]

Hello,

I just had my first guest after COVID, and my first guest works from home.  He booked a room for 2 weeks, my maximum, and told me when he arrived that that he would be working from home.  It is very hot in my area and air conditioning is required, and he never leaves the room.  I'm going to look at the bills after leaves, but I imagine it will be hefty since he is in there 24 hours a day (he has his meals delivered).  I wondered how others handle working from home, or if it is possible.  He also found a hole in the system in that he booked an additional 2 weeks in a new booking, which escaped the 2-week limit.  I'm talking to Airbnb about this now as I think they should have alerted me to see if I wanted to extend his stay past my maximum.  I definitely would have because the guy is a great guest, but I would have increased the rate slightly.   

This was not an issue for me pre-COVID because most of my guests were here on vacation and the few that were here for work went out to work during the day, the peak hours for electricity.  Now, everyone, including me, is working from home.

Thanks for any tips, Michelle

[Ted307]

@David8879 I agree! The whole point would seem to be to get your work done and then have your time off, weekends at least, in your new location. They could work day & night in their parent's basement for free.

[Debra300]

@Michelle2145,

I have been telecommuting for 10 years, and when I want to take time off I still might have to work for limited periods, because there isn't always a workmate available to cover for me, or it will make things easier for me when I return to work.  Taking that into consideration, just last week I installed fold-down desks in two of our guest suites.  We installed electric monitors for each suite to address the potential issue of guests staying in their suites all day with the AC on.  Guests are informed of their electricity allowance for their stay (it's quite generous), and that they will be charged for excess usage.  We collect a refundable deposit via the Resolution Center, and this is enough of a behavior modifier that we always give a full refund.

[Michelle2145]

How do the electric monitors work?  Do they monitor the AC only?  How did you determine the allowance, and I'll research refundable deposits through the Resolution Center.   I'm going to be looking into this option for sure.  😉

[Michelle2145]

Hi there, I talked with Airbnb and they said that the security deposit now needs to be set up in a 3rd party property management program, that costs extra, and that it is no longer collected through the Resolution Center.  Bummer!