First guest was terrible. Now what?

[Erica312]

Terrible guest + time = comedy???

My first guest was terrible. I’m taking it as a learning experience but don’t know what to do about the review. I have ZERO reviews as a host. She’s apparently left me one and i havent left one yet because i don’t have much to say that’s nice. I almost don’t care about her review and just want to forget she was ever here. 

The list of grievances:

- Kitchen was not included in the listing, she assumed it was. Agreed to let her use it due to the length of her stay. Let her use the washer/dryer too. 

- Left dirty dishes in the sink; Coffee and food spills were not cleaned, or food she dropped on floor; food was left food out on counter, attracting ants. I talked to her about that and she started dealing with her dishes but left food out again, attracting ants.

- left her socks in the (not included) living room.

- one day she made the entire house smell like something lemony, the next it smelled like a homeless person was in my living room (turns out it was sage oil???)

- pulled the sheets when she left, i later realized, so I  wouldn’t notice she stained the sheets with wine and something bright yellow, not urine. 

- Took a towel.

- To her credit, she confessed she had just gotten released from jail and was an alcoholic.

All in all pretty light compared to some of the other experiences of other hosts on here. The weird thing is she apologized for abusing my hospitality, her words. 

So now what? I do not want to leave this woman a review. She told me she made friends with a great car thief during her 3 years in jail. On her way out, she asked me if the other car in the carport would ever be for sale. 

I’ve added 5 new house rules; a security deposit; increased the price; added a max length of stay, and removed instant booking after this experience. 

[Alexandra805]

Hi Erica

That sounds like a nightmare but be assured not all guests are the same. Some will be awkward and others will be angels, that’s just what it’s like. 

My main piece of advice would be make sure your description makes it absolutely clear what is and is not included. If there is any ambiguity, then change your wording. Get someone else to read it over as a second pair of eyes. I have added to my listings over and over, every time I’ve found something that guest has done that has annoyed me. I also find if you are totally honest with guests they tend to follow the rules. 

[Erica312]

Thank you for your input Alexandra. Makes me feel better just hearing support from other hosts. 

[Sarah977]

@Erica312  Oh, I'm so sorry you had such a bad experience the first go round. IMO not using IB is a very good decision. I've never used it, gotten wonderful guests. You can tell a lot by the way someone communicatesand I can't imagine having someone book my private room and share my kitchen without having some messages exchanged beforehand.

I can understand you not wanting to review her, but the reviews are for other hosts- we'd like to be warned about a guest like this. It's interesting that she was aware that she took advantage of your hospitality and apologized for it. I had a very similar thing happen with a house sitter from hell I foolishly engaged a few years ago. And she wasn't an alcoholic, but had mental problems and had stopped taking her medication, all unbeknowst to me until after the fact.

You don't have to write a nasty, detailed review, but something like "There were ongoing cleanliness issues with this guest as well as a failure to read that kitchen use was not included. Bedding was stained beyond repair, disappeared a towel. Hosting this guest was a stressful experience. Unfortunately cannot recommend."

If she leaves a bad review, you can leave a response to it, and you should, since it will be your first review. Keep in mind that review responses are read by future guests, so should just be used to correct any lies or misrepresentations that the guest made in the public review, not to further review the guest. Come back to the forum here if you need help with that when the review appears.

May you be blessed with lovely guests in the future.

[Erica312]

Thank you Sarah! Reading what you shared made me feel better. That’s a good point you made about mental health. In hindsight, aside from the addictive tendencies i observed, i think there was probably a mental health issue or two going on as well. 

I’m going to try to get the wine stain out but seeing as she put it in the washer and I naively ran the load without checking it first, i doubt I’ll be successful. I bought brand new sheets for the next guests. What do you and the rest of the community think about stained sheets? No guest wants to see stains on their sheets but if I can get it to be a faint stain??

[Lisa723]

@Erica312 hard no on stained sheets:  they invite cleanliness mark-downs, and encourage guests to think you don't care, leading to guests taking less care.

[Sarah977]

@Erica312  Definitely no stained anything unless you want bad reviews. Don't purchase expensive sheets for a rental room, you can get quiet decent ones at Ikea, Walmart, etc for not much $.

Depending on the extent of the stains, there may be enough unstained parts left that if you or someone you know sews, you could turn the fabric into pillowcases. Otherwise, you've got some cleaning rags, or keep the faintly stained sheet for yourself, or friends or family who really won't care, if they spend the night.

Laundry tip, if you don't know-(too late for this one, as she already washed it, so stain is set)- anything that has what looks like it might stain, soak in cold water for awhile before washing, treat with stain remover (hydrogen preoxide will take out blood and other proteins) then wash in cold water- hot water sets stains in so they'll never come out.

[Kimberly33]

Thank you for posting this information and experience. I tried to take off instant booking and the B n B site asks a lot of questions and want to know why. They also state that without instant booking my listing will not be higher on the list or show up as much. Based on that it appears that I'm pushed to keep it or.....

I'm still learning though. My second guest put a small hole in my sheet and mattress protector. I'll have to look and check the mattress actually, I forgot to look at that.