Hello hosts, I'd love to hear what you think!
I'm a co-host for a property which is part of a block of 4 apartments, of which one is our Airbnb. Last week I checked in the friend of a guest who would also be staying there, as she arrived earlier. I explained everything to her, also where to park- inside the garage, not in front of it as my neighbours won't be able to turn their cars.
Two days later, a neighbour calls me to say my guests have parked 4 cars, and there is no way anyone of the neighbours is able to move their car out. I called the guest, and she moved all the cars out. I sent a message explaining where to park, and to only park 1 car which she replied to.
The next day, again 2 cars parked. Again angry neighbours. I went there to meet with the guest and made her count the cars. I was very upset. She apologised profusely.
The following day, another angry neighbour, because: again 2 cars in the parking area! As I was contemplating taking the gate remotes from them so they can only park outside, and not bother the neighbours anymore, the friend of the guest calls me to say there's a family trouble and they have to leave early. They had booked 30 nights, asked for a reduced rate which I gave them. And now they wanted to leave after one week. I was happy they were going as I couldn't handle one more complaint from the neighbours.
I told them to drop the keys in my postbox as I wasn't available to meet with them right then. I would chat to the owner and let them know about the refund they had asked about. Then they decided to "keep the keys, until we come to an agreement". I spoke to the owner, and we decided to refund them the last two weeks of their stay, since we can't get bookings for this coming week anyway. And we decided to calculate normal rates for these two weeks as it is not a long stay anymore. Fair right?
I sent the guest a message to explain this yesterday, but no reply till now. No reply on what'sapp either. I am not feeling very comfortable that they still have my keys, and are not communicating with me. I have changed one of the padlocks, so they can't just come in and use the house without having to ask me about this lock.
Now, how long do I give them? They have another whole 3 weeks booked, so I guess they haven't stolen my keys. But the way this is going is not making me feel happy and certain I will get the keys back.
I can't ask Airbnb for help through the app about this reservation, because this option is not available to co-hosts. This is not very helpful.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas here! Thanks! Esther