Guest refusing to leave

[Ola7]

I WILL TRY TO BE BRIEF.  I 'VE NEVER BEEN  SCARED IN MY OWN HOUSE BEFORE!

i had this very weird guest who booked for 2 nights and then extended for one more. ( i assume because he liked my place and was happy here)  i accepted him as he said he was in a city checking some universities out and he seemed  to be nice and had 3 ok reviews..

I ve hosted 40  people over a year and I've   always had great contact with my guests and I've had only excellent reviews...

he arrived at 2.30 at  sat night ( i expected him by 11.30 max) i said nothing... it happens..

i always ask my guests not to cook meet ( i don't mind them eating or warming up in a microwave). this guest said he was going to cook chicken, one kilo a day minimum as that was essential for his diet ( he was a body mass builder). Far enough. i didn't state that in my profile and i understood  it was important for him so i said it was fine. i heard him cooking late at night and then again early morning at 5 am. then he would sleep whole day and go for  a gym at night... i didn't mind( i tried!)  but reminded him super politely that on Monday i will need him to vacate the room before 12 as i needed to get the room ready for another guest. i even offered to keep his luggage  but stressed that i will be getting the room ready   for  a new arrival. He said it was fine .( normal reaction)

Monday morning at 5 am i could hear him talking over the phone in the kitchen( no door) while cooking super smelly food!!!!

i said very gentle that it was Monday 5 am , his answer? he spoke to Greece and it was 8 am there!!!! but was apologetic....  he stayed around talking all the time.  and eating till 7 am till my boyfriend was off to his hospital app. i couldn't sleep as he was loud talking( monologue to my b.) and I was so angry !! i was looking forward till 12 when he supposed to be gone.

at nearly 12 he was still asleep!! i knocked his door and politely reminded that in 15 minutes i needed to have the room empty.( i needed to leave soon too). after half an hour i knocked again... first he didn't answer then i could hear him on the phone. i shouted it was already after midday  and our agreement was   BEFORE midday.   and then everything started....

after 10 minutes he came downstairs and shouted at me very rudely ( still in his pjs btw). he said i embarrassed him while he was on the phone and i had no right to shout at him.. then i reminded him  about agreement and 12 o'clock then he said : THERE WAS NO AGREEMENT AND HE'D PAYED FOR THE ROOM AND BECAUSE I HAVE FLEXIBLE CHECK IN/OUT  POLICY HE CAN STAY EVEN TILL THE EVENING!!!  i asked him to leave my house immediately but he refused to!!! shouting at me , scaring me . saying how horrible host i was setting rules regarding cooking !!!! and how many fevers he has done to me!!! ???? i reminded him he didn't respect me , was loud at night waking us up etc but he didn't seem to be bothered. he insisted he had right to do whatever he wants even at night because that was what he payed for!!!   i was so scared i said i was going to call a police!!! and went downstairs shaking.

luckily my boyfriend could arrive soon. he was very firm and when he heard how  the guest was talking to me he firmly  ask him to leave.  but the guy still wasn't getting it!!!!!   we needed to explain to him ( we lost a temper i have to say) THAT HE WAS A GUEST IN OUR HOUSE!!! AND HE CROSSED ALL POSSIBLE BOUNDARIES!!!!

he was explaining he had an important  call to make and i interrupted!!!  at 12.30 on Monday after a sleepless night!!!!

he left the house eventually but stayed within the estate for a next few hours.  ( using our wifi)

i know he wrote a review for me already. i expect it to by really bad after all horrible things he have said.

 AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!

SHALL I WRITE BAD REVIEW FOR HIM OR JUST LEAVE IT.

WHAT SHALL I WRITE?

thanks for all help

[Zandra0]

Hi Ola 

Sorry you had this experience I can imaging it was upsetting. where in your house rules does it say you can't cook meat; I actually can't find any house rules at all for your listing.  

Did you follow up your verb 

[Zandra0]

Did you follow up your verbal conversation with regard to check out with a message on Airbnb ? 

This is guy sounds like a horrible guest but having clear house rules and communication via the app leave a clear audit trail putting you in the strongest possible situation if you ever need to liaise with Airbnb. 

Regarding this guys review; review him honestly and tell it like it is.  

[Dee9]

My opinions:

Yes, leave him a very detailed honest review.

You need to update your house rules.

You should have shut off the wifi. Nowadays any guest will leave fast without wifi.

[Corey7]

This review makes me want to pull my house off Airbnb. 

How did you resolve this?

[Tim-and-Holly0]

In my opinion one bad guest someone else has is not a reason to pull a listing. For that matter, one bad guest you or I have is not a reason to pull our listings either. Anyone who stays in the business long enough is going to have a bad guest. That's all there is to it. I've been going for a little over a year and have had close to 400 people in our house with less than 5 bad guests. But I would never consider shutting down my business because of one or two bad people.

We can minimize the chances of hosting poor guests by being clear in our listing about the space as well as our expectations of guests. I have read dozens of listings from hosts with whom I would NEVER book because we are not a match, yet their houses stay booked constantly. And that is the excitement of Airbnb.

This host made some major rookie mistakes. I hope she learns from them and takes the time to improve instead of letting it get her down and ruining her business.

Great guests start with great hosts who have written great listings.

Here's to many years of good business for all of us!

[Momi0]

@Tim-and-Holly0  Momi stands up....and CLAPS!!!!!   Bravo Bravo Bravo.  🙂

@Ola7  Please take the time to read what every single person has written to you.  @Annette33 @Corey7 @Dee9 

I have gone through your entire listing, and there is so much that is needed to be said, written, clarified, added and updated.  I know you admitted in your post that you didn't have a rule of "NO MEAT BEING COOKED" in your house rules, but hopefully you have now.  Take the time to look at other hosts listings, (such as mine) and other Superhosts who actually host IN THEIR HOME (private rooms) and you can absolutely see that many of us are very clear in our expectations, rules and how we want our guests to behave.  And please understand that you do not have to allow anyone to check in at 2:30a,m if that was not the written agreement between you and the guests in the Airbnb message board.  Its not reasonable.  (Unless you OK'd it.)

1.  Why don't you have any House Rules?  Couldnt' find any.

2.  Share a bit more about yourself as a Host.

3.  Share more about your place, write a House Manual and definitely add some clear House Rules.

4.  Noticed you have 24 hours crossed off in your amenties...for checkin.....is that a new update?  Just curious since you allowed him to check in so late.  Definitely add your CHECK IN TIME and CHECK OUT TIME.

I'm so sorry this happened to you, and sadly this happened to me my very first month as a host, but I can tell you that it took me less then 18 seconds to call 911 and Airbnb  (to have the guests and his family removed by 14 police officers.)  He was also arrested for verbal threats towards my husband that I recorded on my Iphone, breaking my 3 toes, and damaging our home at 1:30 IN THE MORNING!  His VISA was revoked, he was banned from Airbnb, along with his wife, and there will never be another person staying in my home again acting the way he did.  He too also refused to leave at midnight after we caught him smoking again on the second night, but I can assure you that he was no match for the 14 police officers that surrounded him.   ALWAYS CALL POLICE FIRST AND THEN AIRBNB!  You have a right to feel safe in your own home.

** Save Airbnb 24/7 phone number on your phone to quickly contact them the next time someone acts like a supid caveman!! 

And for the sake of everyone else who hosts on this platform, please leave a HONEST complete review...Again, so sorry this happened, but the good news is,  many of us including myself have enjoyed hosting hundreds of AMAZING PEOPLE.....who I now call my friends!  Friends from all over the world.  And so will you again, but in the meantime, spend some quality time on your listing. Wishing you the best......

[Annette33]

The good news is that he is gone now! Take a deep breath and consider it a learning experience for the future:

As several other hosts have suggested, you do need clear house rules in place - and then enforce them! This guy sounds like trouble from the beginning on, even his "innocently" adding a day.

Arriving at 2:30 am and not being able to get him out on time is simply ridiculous!! We are all adults now and that is unacceptable. So you absolutely need to  have  check in time and check out time clearly specified , then follow it.

Allowing him to cook led to him taking advantage of you by doing it at very odd hours, and then those tons of food!! ?  No.

As for your review of him, or more importantly actually what you might say under his review for you (which will be visible on your listing, for all potential guests to see) : wait a day!! do not react emotionally, do not write a long novel, be short but clear, not defensive -  and future guests will see that it all speaks for itself. Good luck to you!

[Anthony608]

Stay far away from flexible check-in and out. I had in the beginning of my hosting experience and guests abused it **all the time**.  Always have a firm check-in and out time and don't be nice about.  we are not the guests buddy and pal.  If they are in the house after checkout time, they are asked to leave immediately and if they do not, they are escorted out.  I only have had one situation where someone resisted and they left right away when the police were mentioned.  As for arriving early, unless they pay for early check-in they are asked to come back at the proper check-in time.

[Sarah977]

Regarding flexible check-in/check out times, they can work just fine depending on the kind of listing you have, the guests you attract, and your availability settings. I've always had a flexible check-in time-11AM-11PM, and a check-out time of 4PM. This works for me because I home share and also work from home, and I don't take back-to-back reservations- I have a 1 day prep time window between them. And my guests almost all arrive by bus, either from the airport an hour away after an international or national flight, or by highway bus from another part of the country. I've never had a guest arrive by car except for 2 guests who each rented a car at the airport after they flew in. So my guests have little choice as to when they arrive in town-it is dictated by their flight times and bus schedules. 

I've never had a guest abuse the flexibility of my listed times. The one time a guest had an early flight and would arrive in town at 9AM, she messaged that she realized that was too early to check in, and that she'd find a cafe to hang out in until 11. Because she was so respectful, and it didn't inconvenience me, I told her it was fine to just check in when she got to town. And the only guest who's arrived later than 11 PM had a massively delayed flight and kept me informed as to the delay, when she finally boarded, and when she was due to arrive, which was about midnight. And no one has ever overstayed the 4PM check-out.

I've been very lucky to get guests who are good communicators who always let me know their ETA, so I've never been left waiting all day wondering when or if a guest is going to show up.