Guest being difficult - please advise

[Gary-and-Allie0]

We are relatively new hosts - we started this adventure in December 2016.  We have a couple that has been staying with us for nearly a month.  They have been very good, clean guests and I have had no complaints.   They are staying with us while they finish building a house.  They are schedued to stay one more week.  Today I received a message from them that they had gotten a puppy and the wife just wanted to let me know before they got back to our house with this new addition.  We have a "no pets" policy and a puppy is especially concerning.  I had a very surprised reaction (possibly even a bit dramatic) to the text and said I was concerned about the challenges with a puppy - lack of potty training and chewing.  She then proceeded to tell me that I was a racist and that she was centemplating contacting Airbnb now that they've got new diveristy guidelines.  I was literally in shock.  We are not even close to being racist!  These guests are of Asian descent - Korean, to be exact - but that has never been an issue.  All of our convos are on the Airbnb platform, so they are easily accessible.  Basically, right now, I think I'm terribly hurt that I would be called racist when that is so very far from who we are.  But, it also feels a bit like extortion.  I just need some info on what my best steps at this point would be.

Thanks, Allie

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

They're building a house?  Probably have a construction loan right now that will have to be converted to a permanent mortgage.  I'd slap a lien on that property so fast, Judge Wapner would come back from the dead just to high five me.

Costs $50 around here to file a lien.  You may never get the money but they're going to have a heap of headache and attorney fees trying to get that title cleared before conversion.

It may not be worth the trouble to you, but it would give you a chance to take some of your power back.

Is the puppy a German shepherd or a chihuahua?  Maybe they think you're racist against Germans or Mexicans.  😛

[Andrea9]

>>>>>>> Is the puppy a German shepherd or a chihuahua?  Maybe they think you're racist against Germans or Mexicans. <<<<<<<

Pekinese? racist against Chinese??

Border Aussie??

Afghan hound??

English Foxhound??

OMG it's like navigating a mine field out there!!!  ;D

[Andrea9]

Pekinese? racist against Chinese??

Border Aussie??

Afghan hound??

English Foxhound??

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

@Andrea9, girl...  I have learned to go with the flow.

Had Brits here last summer and a gay couple.

Imagine what happened when Mrs. Brit told Mr. Brit she didn't like American **bleep**s.

Spent the whole freaking weekend explaining **bleep**s to my gay guys.

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

For crying out loud.... ABB blocked the word.  What do Brits call cigarettes?  That's the word ABB blocked and that's the word I had to 'splain forEVER to my gay couple.

@Andrea9

[Andrea9]

Haha @Wendy-and-Frank0, you mean the British word that starts with "F", then has an "A", and ends with a "G" as in "Need a f*g"?

With all of these words being verboten, we are soon going to have an incredibly convoluted version of English that no sane human being will be able to understand, and add into the mix all the 'bleep' censorship to make the mess complete!

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

Laughed so hard at your workaround that I spewed a perfectly good glass of Chardonnay onto my laptop.  Must now go get the blow dryer out of the guest room (thankfully, it's vacant) so I can dry the keyboard.  Without melting the keys.

[Andrea9]

@Wendy-and-Frank0 Oh no,  so sorry about that! Hope keyboard is still working and working fine.

Several months ago I managed to spill a few drops of Margharita out of an almost empty glass onto my keyboard, and now the letters S, W, Q need a tad extra pressure after being idle for a longer while, like overnight... 😕

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Gary-and-Allie0 wait.. I don't understand... if Airbnb was on your side why you allowed them to stay ? They broke your house rules and you coud cancel their stay with help of Airbnb without a refund 

[Gary-and-Allie0]

This is such a complex issue that I'm sure seems like it should be straightforward.  Suffice it to say, that at this point, we have worked out a mutual agreement that works for all of us.

[Stephanie26]

Just FYI, in some US jurisdictions, after someone has lived in a home for 30 days, they are now a resident of that address and cannot be asked the leave.  Neither can the homeowner do something like change locks. They are considered to be on a month-to-month lease, even without a contract.  The only recourse is to evict them, which is difficult.  The idea of this kind of philosophy is to protect people from unscrupulous homeowners who want to throw someone out on the street without justfication.  But, it definitely enables unscrupulous renters.  This has happened to an airbnb host who had someone living in a room in their house and they would not leave, so until it went throught he legal system, they were stuck with this person living in their home  Just a warning for stays over 30 days...

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

In Connecticut, they have to have been here for 15 years.  In most states, the "squatter" has to prove they have paid property taxes.  Anyone getting skrewed on squatter rights defenses has a very bad lawyer.  Cops won't toss you out because they don't want to get involved without a judgment, but most judges have zero patience for these shenanigans.

[Gary-and-Allie0]

I apprecaite your input.  After this current situation, we have changed our host policy to limiting stays to no longer than 2 weeks.  The longer a guest stays, it seems the more confortable they can become and can begin to expect more accommodations be made for them.  This is a very geeral statement, and I know not all guests would behave this way - we had a guest at the end of 2016 who stayed for 3 weeks and she was a peach!  So respectful and completely low-maintenance.  We would love to welcome her back.  🙂

[Annette33]

@Gary-and-Allie0 , 

fellow hosts here were very supportive of your situation, at one point you said the puppy stayed, but just 4 more days, the racist card is obviously hard to overcome : made people think that Airbnb sided against you, and people wholeheartedly supported and encouragedyou to follow through with an honest review.

  But now, somehow the situation was worked out and everybody is happy? What am I missing here? Some kind of explanation by you how it got worked out: that is what would help us fellow hosts to deal with any such situation when it happens to us. So can you please be a bit more specific? Thank you. 

[Marianne88]

phone number for air bnb 855 424-7262 or 415 800-5959.

I'd ASK the guests that since you have a No Pet Policy, how they'd like to resolve the issue.  Take the puppy back for a week to wherever they got it from and go visit it daily???  Surely, they must understand that future guests may have allergies and don't want dog hair all over.  

Perhaps they can give you IN CASH $500 deposit for the dog to cover damages in the final week?  

[Gary-and-Allie0]

I appreciate you providing the phone numbers.  Although our situation has been resolved, I have some additional questions specific to this situation for Airbnb.  I have called the numbers only to sit on hold for 30+ minutes.  Do you have an email address for Airbnb.  I spoke with them previously regarding this situation via email, but now the emails just bounce back to me.  I've aso sent them a message on their Twitter account, but am still awaiting a response....