Currently having problems with guest HELP

[Debby5]

I have been hosting for over a year now and have received excellent feedback. Any problems we have we address straight away. However, the current guest booked for 4 weeks at a reduced rate as she would be working and alone. She arrived a day early and then collected her partner from the airport the next day......he is staying for 4 weeks! He is working from "home".

That was the first problem but then she texted me at 6:30am to tell me that the WIFI wasn't working. I went over everything with her and even disconnected my iPad and reconnected then she realised she had put in the wrong password.....but this was my fault as she assumed the f I wrote was a capital, even though it states all lower case!

Next text came at 7am the next day.......no cold water in the bathroom. My husband went to fix this after he finished work only to discover they had left the water heater on for over 24 hours and boiled the cold water tank. I had explained that the water heater should not be left on for more than 1/2 hour. Today the WIFI had stopped working. This turned out to be caused by the guest resetting the booster which resulted in a break. Then when that was fixed she said the freezer wasn't working. Turns out she turned it up full on the day she arrived and over froze the freezer .......it had to be pointed out that it is a frost free fridge/freezer as it says on the door! 

This whole experience is costing us money and she has book another 4 weeks after this 4! Help what can we do before she bankrupts us??

[John212]

Hmmmmmm. Tricky.  First, if she booked your place for only One person, at a discount, then her partner either needs to pay an added amount, or leave, depending on your guest policy.  She doesnt have the right to Add weeks to her reservation without asking your permission to do so through airbnb. You have no obligation to keep her, and if she is asking for longer, this may be a good bargaining chip, for better behaviour.  I would sit down with her, and explain the total workings, Do's and Dont's, of your apartment. Explain that she is not to touch anything!  Explain how your water system works, as it sounds more complicated than ours here in SF.    Obviously, if you agreed to another 4 weeks, you increased the rate to include her husband?   It doesnt sound like she is trashing the place....she is just a pain lol.  Talk with her, explain that if she is going to stay, you need her to be less demanding, and to understand the workings of your apartment more clearly.  With this particular guest,..I think you can eliminate assuming she has Any common sense. You need to treat her like a 1st grader , and explain everything in great detail,...print it up, and give it to her also!  If she is too much of a pain, dont let her extend her stay.  John

[Andrée2]

@Debby5

Unfortunately your guest is a bit on an imbecile. And obviously a poor communicator that isn't/doesn't take directions.

You can try to explain everything again but you are not going to see much in the way of positive results. Remember, "how you do anything is how you do EVERYTHING" so I feel confident that you can expect many weeks of more of the same. Besides, who goes into someone's home and cranks up their freezer?!

Eventually in her ignorance, she is going to start breaking your belongings and she (now they) are going to be SHOCKED that you would suggest that they be financially responsible for these items. 

My guess is that these folks planned this two for one deal from the beginning with the assumption that you would not be inclined to say anything.

That being said, you may have some options here. If you are set up to charge for the second guest, you could send them what is called an 'alteration request' with the new number of guests which will adjust the fee to cover his stay. While you are in that screen, you have the option to also adjust the number of days that these guests will stay. If she already has a booked confirmation for the 8 week stay, you could simply adjust it back to 4, explaining that you needed to schedule a professional service person as it appears that you must must MUST replace that water heater that she tampered with. She will have to "accept" the alteration when it comes in an email to her inbox so have a talk with her about it beforehand.

Of course, if you are still in discussions about the second 4 week stay, you can still use exuse mentioned (or one of your own choosing) to let her know that she/they cannot stay for any longer than the first 4 weeks. 

Finally, if all or some of the issues that she has caused are mentioned in your listing details and, even better, your house rules, you could always contact Airbnb as you have a guest that is refusing to acknowledge your rules and therefore violating the terms of your agreement and see what they can do to (hopefully) send her elsewhere. You don't want to get the penalty for cancelling her but you don't want to find out what is next on her agenda for things to mess with either. 

Keep in mind, Airbnb would prefer to relocate her via the Airbnb service vs have you cancel so do try to use the Resolution tools to your advantage.

[Debby5]

I had already accepted her next 4 week stay but tonight she boiled the water heater again! She is simply going to have to leave......how do I contact Airbnb? I've clicked on the resolution centre but it just brings up a guest that is booked in August. Do they have an email or phone number? 

[Andrée2]

@Debby5 Sorry I didn't get back here sooner to see that you had more questions. Did you get ahold of Airbnb? In the resolution center, you should be able to choose your current guest even if it is stuck on a previous guest.

[Sharon64]

This is an unfortunate situation. Firstly, she can request an extension but you don' have to grant it. You can called Airbnb customer service and they can help you to get her out of there and relocated. For me it would have been a deal breaker when she brough an outside guest in, especially if the room was booked for one. Double everything; water, electric, towels, etc.  I actually would fib and tell her I have another guest arriving so the room is not available the entire requested time. She sounds like a piece of work, for sure.  Diplomany on your end and Airbnb is good at dealing with these issues on their end.

[Helen82]

Yeah, unfortunately you've already accepted the additional 4 weeks. The person arriving early would have been a deal breaker for me. However, if she's breaking the water tank and internet, and so forth, you could try to claim Inability to Accomodate. What this will boil down to (no pun intended) is how much you are willing to part with financially. After all, this is a home, not a hotel. You are a host, not a bellboy. The other way to look at this, is people are people. And people are usually demanding and difficult. (This coming from a jaded first responder no-less). You can try to negotiate and explain to her that she and her partner have already violated the house rules (bringing an extra guest without booking them) and you have gone above and beyond to accomodate them making an exception, however tampering with house necessities (the fridge settings, hot water, wifi reset) is now creating a barrier to your ability to provide service for them. If they are people who enjoy tampering with their basic necessities, this is not the place for them. They need to respect the boundaries that you as home owners have put in place, and a part of those boundaries is arranging things like the wifi and fridge/freezer to work appropriately. If they break the wifi again, I wouldn't fix it. You agreed to provide these things in "good faith" that they wouldn't be breaking them. I would also not text them, have them communicate via Airbnb messaging only. That can be tough though if you are in the same building/home as them. It also maybe wouldn't hurt to initiate "working hours" on your part. Say, let guests know you are available everyday from 10am-3pm for onsite help, but other times messaging only. Or if you work, maybe you're only available 5pm-9pm, and emergencies. Maybe get some ideas from your local renters board and tenants rights act; or ask your local hostel/hotel for a copy of their policies to get some ideas. Again, do you care if you loose money? Because I would just cancel their stay. Of course the silver lining is they are not trashing the place, but breaking things (even unintelionally due to lack of IQ) can feel just as bad. I'm sorry about your experience and hope you find some creative answers in this forum to help you! Best of luck! And remember you're not alone (if that helps at all), I think many of us have experienced an ill-mannered/obnoxious guest.