Am I justified in asking my guests for more money?

[David192]

I'd appreciate hearing the views of other hosts about a situation, and whether you feel I am justified in asking for more money from the guests.

Over Christmas, while I was out of town for two weeks, I had a single booking for 5 days. This is the first time I have offered my whole flat. I returned home five days after the guests checked out.

Before they arrived, I sent the guests instructions for setting the thermostat. There are individual thermostats in each room (two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room/kitchen space, and the corridor). When I left home I had them set at 21C (ie 70F). For me that's enough, as the daytime sunlight raises the temperature about 3 degrees Celsius. Anything above 23 or 24 is too warm for me. 

I do realise, however, that many people like their rooms to be warmer (particularly guests from East Asia, I have noticed), so sending instructions for the thermostat was something I felt was necessary.

When I returned home five days after the guests checked out, I opened the door to what felt like a blast furnace. The guests had left every single thermostat set at 29C (84F) which meant that in the daytime, the room temperature was at least 32C (in the windowless bathrooms, far higher).  In one of the bathrooms, which both have underfloor heating, I was unable to walk on the floor for several hours because the floor was scorching. To have set the temperature so excessively high was bad enough, but to leave it like that as they left? Outrageously rude, in my view.

The scorching heat of the underfloor heating, which was left on for at least five days (and probably during their stay too), has led to the sealing between the floor tiles to dry out and crack, which has in turn led to tiles becoming loose. The tiles are quite large, so walking across the bathroom floor leads to the tiles tipping as you step on one side, then the other. I have no idea yet how much it will cost to repair.

Also, I read the electricity meter the day after I arrived home and submitted the reading to the electricity provider.  It generated a bill much higher than normal. I take frequent readings (yeah, I'm that guy) so I always know what to expect when the bill comes. 

So, am I justified in asking for damages and compensation for the higher electricity bill? I didn't actually ask them to turn down the heating when they left, but to me that was to be expected. That's basic courtesy and common sense, isn't it? I certainly wouldn't leave the heating set so high when I check out of a place.

[Huma0]

@Gerry-And-Rashid0

Thank you. Your points are very valid. Yes, my list of house rules has grown quite long over time. It actually started out very short! While I would love guests to actually read them, I know that many won't. However, I did also learn that it is important to have those rules stated on the listing as back up.

For example, the one time I had to call Airbnb about guests repeatedly breaking important house rules was early on in my hosting experience and I learnt that Airbnb would only back me up if the guests were breaking rules that I had specified in my listing.

The only time I have ever had a guest leave early in over 400 stays was due to something clearly stated in my house rules/guests must acknowledge section (traffic noise). She had wanted a refund, but when I showed her this, she admitted she had not read the rules and dropped any claim for a refund.

So, it's not just about getting guests to follow rules. It's also about covering your back. If you haven't already stated it, you can be on shaky ground.

[Ange2]

@David192

Yes I would go ahead and try but don't hold out much hope as it's difficult to get compensation from Airbnb even for clearly documented damaged goods.  I have a similar set of rules as many here and I also reiterate them when the guest arrives and add more verbally so as not to have an unending common courtesy list.

@Huma0  "please don't use my towels to clean your shoes"  

Ha!   It's more common that I thought. I do have shoe polish, brushes and polishing rags.  But, I have had guests use the dish towels to clean their shoes so I got rid of all of them and tell guests to just wash the dishes and leave them in the drying rack ( two birds, one stone: saves on guests putting plates and cutlery covered in food into my cabinets).  I now have disposal paper towels for those intent on drying dishes or polishing their shoes, although I hate adding to the mountains of garbage in this world especially when it's unneccessary if people would just stop and think.

[Huma0]

@Ange2

Yes, I have a problem with paper towels for that exact reason. Toilet paper is a necessity, in our culture at least, but I do not see the point of paper towels in general and think they are a waste of trees. If you need to mop up a spill, use a wet cloth and clean it properly. If you get food on your hands, wash them! A paper towel is not going to make them clean.

The issue with paper towels is not so much the humble paper towel itself but people using excessive amounts, which is why I don't keep them out for guests. I had an industrial roll of the type that is sold at builders' merchants, specifically for cleaning my paintbrushes. A guest saw me using it and then saw which cupboard I put it in. The next day when I went to get it, I found that she had used the entire industrial size roll, who knows for what.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0@Ange    I'm with you two on the paper towels- I can't believe so many people consider them to be essential. I do keep a roll around- they come in handy for a few things, but one roll lasts me for months and months. I cut the foam scraps from my upholstery work into sponges of all sizes- I have bags full of them- that's what I use for tons of cleaning chores.

[Ange2]

@Huma0   Would be fascinating to discover what people do with paper products.  Origami and paper plane obsessed?  I had 3 boxes of tissues, 12 rolls of toilet paper and a mega roll of paper towel disappear over a three day stay, not to mention bars of soap, toothpaste, handtowels, and knives, forks and spoons!  I noticed that some of these people were travelling to many destinations – stocking up for their road trip?

[Huma0]

@Ange2

That does sound like stocking up for a longer trip. I have rarely had those sort of things disppear, but certainly I've noticed excessive use of toilet paper!

I think that I am naturally a frugal person. I believe in "Waste not, want not". Still, I like to have little luxuries. On shelves in a couple of my bathrooms, I have an attractive display of very prettily packaged soaps, many of them from Portugal. I also have hand soap (both liquid and solid) at the basin for guests to use AND supply them with individually wrapped mini soaps and other toileteries in their bedrooms to use.

Still, recent guests decided that instead of using the liquid soap at the sinks or the individual soaps I had provided them with, they would go into each of the bathrooms, unwrap the decorative ones, pile them onto the basins, but not use them. Nice. Thanks for that.

[Huma0]

Actually, @Ange2 I just remembered that my kitchen scissors (part of a 14 piece matching set of utensils my mother gave me) disappeared last week. They have not been misplaced. They are gone. Very weird as I'm not sure why anyone would have taken those fairly large scissors on their travels! Oh well..

[William692]

Hi David, that's really unfortunate. 

For our set-up, we have the Nest thermostat. The room that we are renting out has a Nest sensor, which is picked up by the Nest thermostat. We've locked the temperature between 60-70 degrees Farenheit for winter so they can't adjust the temperature to be above or below that amount.

That has prevented abuse for the most part.