Guest smoking in room and concerned he may not leave at end of booking

[Christine2820]

Hi,

I have a guest who booked a stay from 25/10 to 02/10. A few hours after arrival he asked if he could smoke in the house, I said no, I have a no smoking policy. I informed them that if they needed to smoke to do so only at the far end of the garden. I am asthmatic. Around 10 am that evening the house was filled with a strong smell of cigarette smoke, this came into my bedroom and also my lodger's, my lodger complained to me about it also.  I sent the guest a message informing them they should not be smoking in the house. They apologised and said they wouldn't do it again, they said they didn't want to smoke outside as it was too cold. This guest was in the living room last night and it smelt of smoke this morning.  I can still smell smoke lingering throughout the house. I have another guest checking into that room in the evening on 2/10.

I have a second room in the property that I will use for AirBnB from October when a lodger leaves. Without asking me first this guest informed me today that he had booked that room for a 9 day stay from 2/10, I had a cancellation for that period yesterday evening. The guest currently has an ensuite. I informed him for the room which shares a bathroom with me and my lodger (both female) we just book females for that, by chance bookings for that one are from females so far - which we prefer ideally. I just didn't want him staying longer, I didn't actually get the booking through and he cancelled the request. He informed me he would be calling AirBnB. He kept going on about how he had already paid AirBnB and when will he get his money back, I found his behaviour quite intimidating. He is also generally very loud. He set up his laptop to use skype in the kitchen, blocking the kettle one eve, he has a desk in his room and all rooms get full wifi signal. He set an alarm to go off at 06:30 one morning that the whole house could hear and didn't turn it off until after 07:00. 

I just have the one review currently, I have mostly had longer term residents who have had room rental agreements and before this month only used AirBnB for a month a few years ago to fill a void. I am concerned I will get a negative review from this guest. He is an international masters student looking for accommodation for the year, he hasn't found anything yet and I am also worried he could refuse to leave. 

Any advise on getting rid of the smoke smell would be appreciated. If I don't leave this person a review can he still leave me one? I know a negative review from me would affect his chances of finding other AirBnB rooms, which he may need for a while. But also I feel I should let other hosts know of this guest's disrespect for others they share with and the issue with smoking as I expect they may do this elsewhere, especially is there is no host present. 

Can I report the guest to AirBnB after their stay for violation of the no smoking policy? I don't wish to do anything yet at I am feeling increasingly uncomfortable with this guest and don't want to worsen the situation. 

[Gwen386]

@Christine2820 STOP feeling intimidated. STOP worrying about a negative review from this guest. STOP worrying about giving him a negative review. STOP worrying about whether he has somewhere to stay or not. That’s his problem, not yours. 

He has continuously broken house rules and has absolutely NO respect for you and the other guests. The best thing you can do is shorten his stay and do so immediately; and, if it were me, refund him for the days he won’t be staying. The sooner he is gone, the better!

Also, it appears you have forgotten this is YOUR house! Take back control. 

And advice for getting rid of the smoke smell. Easy-peasy. GET RID OF HIM!

[Huma0]

@Christine2820 

I agree with @Gwen386 . It would be better to get this guest out of your house. You can tell him it's not working out and that you will refund the remaining nights. If you feel it's too intimidating to do this, then call Airbnb, explain that the guest is repeatedly breaking the no smoking policy and that you would like them to relocate him.

My experience doing something like this was positive, but Airbnb CS is a bit hit and miss, so be prepared to tackle the situation yourself if they won't help, but if you have the messages asking him to stop smoking in the Airbnb message thread, you will have a stronger case. Did this guest make the current reservation using instant book? If so, then you have the right to cancel penalty free if the guest makes you feel uncomfortable or breaks your house rules. Remind CS of this if they are not immediately helpful.

RE the review, he might not even leave one. I have often found that badly behaved guests don't. They are hoping that you won't leave one either. Even if he does leave a review, you have a right to respond. Perhaps post his review here and others can advise you on the best way to respond to it. He might even write something that violates the review/content policy so that you can ask for it to be removed. You never know. Anyway, you cannot be held hostage by a bad guest for fear of a bad review because you will drive yourself crazy that way and hosting will not be fun!

A few suggestions for the future:

- Turn off instant book unless you really feel you need it to get bookings. I don't think it is a good idea for homeshare hosts, especially for a new one. You need to have control over who stays with you and other guests/lodgers in your home.

- If you do decide to continue with instant book, switch on all the available filters, e.g. the guest must be recommended by other hosts, have verified ID, a profile photo and respond to a 'pre-booking' message. Guests who do not meet this criteria will then have to request to book with you.

- Restricting a listing by gender is tricky as you could be accused of discrimination. Technically, as a female host you are allowed to host only female guests, but then you have to apply this to the whole household, i.e. BOTH your guest bedrooms. If you do this, state it clearly on your listings. However, you can't really have one female only room and another where you accept male guests.

- Expand on your house rules. You can add extra information here. I would add quiet hours, for example, and also really stress that smoking is not allowed anywhere on the property and that if a guest smokes, their stay will be terminated with immediate affect. Personally, I ask each and every single guest to confirm they have read and agreed to my house rules (which are long!) before I will accept their booking. It pays to be strict up front and set the right tone, i.e. get across that you are friendly and welcoming but also that it's your house and therefore your rules and you take them seriously (obviously don't write that exactly, but you need to convey a sense of it). That is much better than being super nice to the point that people think they can walk all over you, which it sounds like this guest is doing at the moment.

[Christine2820]

Thanks for this. They didn't use instant book. I haven't added any additional rules, which as you mention I could due to hosting in my own home. The guest came into the kitchen this morning and put his phone in my face showing me the picture of my other room and saying he had booked this for next week. I was caught on the spot and I didn't go into all of the issues there and then as I didn't want any conflict. I can understand that even though their room has an ensuite bathroom if I did have restrictions on who I accepted then I should apply it for the whole house. I just had a booking in for a guest I felt comfortable with for next week, that I have accepted. Given the interest I am getting, I could going forwards add additional rules. 

[Gwen386]

Agree 100% with @Huma0   I also like the idea of @Christine2820 pasting review here first and we can give you some pointers.