Front door wide open among other things

[Kelsey116]

Help! My very first guest in my home left the front door wide open!! Wide wide open. Thankfully, I have a screen door and nothing was taken. They also left all lights on inside, used every towel in the house and threw them wet on the floors,  had water all over the bathroom floor, turned the waterbed heater completely off, moved the tv stand, and left stinky food in the bathroom garbage thus stinking up the house. Since this is my first guest, I don’t want to give a bad review and get a retaliation review, but I just don’t see how I can give a positive one! Any advice is very welcome. Thank you. Hoping my guests tonight are more respectful. 

[Sarah977]

@Kelsey116  So sorry your first guest was so disrespectful. Think about what you can do to mitigate such behavior in the future. More house rules? More verbal and written instruction when they arrive? Try to make your expectations of guest behavior crystal clear.

Reviews are blind- guests can't see your review of them until they have also submitted one, or after 14 days from the time the guest checks out if only you have submitted a review. So they can't write a retaliation review because they can't see what you've written until it's published, and if they haven't also written a review, it will then be too late to submit one.

If you suspect a guest might leave a bad review, other hosts suggest waiting until day 13 and a half to submit your review- that way, the guest may not notice that you've left a review and it will be too late for them to submit one. But if you get a notification that the guest has already reviewed, there's no reason to wait.

So please be honest in your reviews of guests- it's the only way that hosts can help each other to avoid unwelcome guests. You don't need to go into all the gory details- keep the review brief, concise and unemotional. "Guest was disrespectful of house rules, left a mess behind them and the front door wide open. Unfortunately cannot recommend."

If a guest was fine in other ways, try to mention positives- "XX was clear in booking and pre-arrival messages, and left the space clean, however non-adherence to house rules and disrespect for the home made this a poor hosting experience."

[Kelsey116]

Thank you so much! I have rules on my listing, but clearly they weren’t followed or even reviewed even though I require that before booking.  I typed up all the house rules in a word document yesterday and printed them out. They are on the dining room table for my guests tonight. I will definitely be communicating more with my guests about shutting the door and locking it behind them. Wow, common sense isn’t so common, huh?? Thanks for the advice on being short and to the point with my review. This guest had no reviews as of now and I really want to warn other hosts about her potential lack of respect. I will wait to see if she reviews me first or wait til 13.5 days. Guessing I will get notification if she reviews me? I’m very disappointed this was my first experience, but hopefully the worst is over and I’ll get better folks in as I go. Thanks again for your reply and help!!

[Sarah977]

@Kelsey116  Yes, unfortunately what seems like common sense to us that goes without saying has to be spelled out to some guests. Some might think that they can just leave a pile of dirty dishes for you to wash, as if the accommodation fee includes personal maid service or you're their mommy. Some may leave garbage strewn all over instead of in the bin. It's not necessarily that they are being disrespectful- they may live like pigs at home, too-some people do and I'm sure we've all encountered those types. They may be really nice people, some may even be good friends, but you think "How can anyone live in such a mess?"

[Emilia42]

@Kelsey116, I don't mean too give you a negative view on hosting but aside from leaving the door wide open, most of the things you have mentioned are pretty common when guests are renting entire spaces. To curb this, type up your check out instructions and put them into a picture frame which you can leave on your kitchen table. You can purchase some templates online or write up your own. I say put it in a picture frame and use fancy text because guests will likely think it is "cute" and remember it not as a list of chores.

Something like:

At Check out please remember to:

- Place all dirty/used towels in the bathtub

- Make sure the waterbed heater is left ON

- Compile all garbage into the kitchen trash can

- Turn off all the lights

- Tightly close and lock the door

- Drive safely on to your next destination

- Ect, ect.

[Kelsey116]

Eek! 😬 The lights on isn’t a huge deal, but wet towels on carpet and standing water in the bathroom are definitely problems. My typed up rules include check out instructions. I took a clothes hamper over and have asked them to place sheets and towels in it so hopefully that’ll help with that issue. And I have to turn lights off and push the lock button after leaving.  Fingers crossed!!

I like your idea of framing it and using fun fonts. Will have to fancy it up for later on. Thank you so much for the info and ideas!!

[Mark116]

@Kelsey116   We always send a message either the night before or the morning of check out to remind guests of what time check out is:) and the list of basics they need to do for checking out.  I have found this really helps keep guests on track, it won't really help w/messy people but it should prevent wide open doors, etc. 

[Kelsey116]

Good idea! I’ll type up an auto message now to send to guests on check-out day. Thanks for this idea!