I am now already in a +10 day discussion with Airbnb on an i...
Latest reply
I am now already in a +10 day discussion with Airbnb on an issue of blocked days that are being switched to 'active' in the c...
Latest reply
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I am away from home right now and have an existing booking who has just arrived today with her son. They are staying in my double room and the lady has already been in contact frequently changing the booking dates, asking questions, etc. etc. which is great, I am always ready to answer questions gladly or change booking dates. However, today she has discovered we have another room which is not being used at the moment. It is a single room and is not booked out at the moment due to respect for the lady and her son's privacy. She telephoned me and asked if she can use this room for their luggage and as practice space for her son's violin practice. For me, if it was a hotel, this would never happen - if a guest discovered a vacant room, they would have to book and request and pay for it. I am totally aware Airbnb is not working on the same ethos or business patterns as hotels so I agreed to allow her access to the room. She wants to pay extra for the room use. Should I accept and what would be a reasonable amount to suggest? Ordinarily, I would allow the use of the room anyway, but the guest shouldn't have been going into other rooms that are not their own anyway. We offer our big space sitting-room for guest access and allow guests to use the fridge and the kitchen if they so request. It's sometimes not clear of where to draw the line with guest expectations. Any advice would be greatly appreciated - many thanks 🙂
It's a tough one alright, and the very reason I have locks on all of my doors! That said, if it's only for storage/practice, perhaps £20-30 a night?
Thank you. I would rather not have locks on the doors, but the guest offered to pay so we'll discuss when I arrive home but then shortly afterwards, she sent a message telling me that she didn't need it after all???
My conclusion is that if the room isn't being used and the guest wants to leave a donation, then why not - after having thought about it. Thanks for taking the time to answer 🙂
@Mell0 If the guest has been snooping around your house like this, it's almost certain that she's also been looking through your personal space and belongings. I'd personally find that rather creepy. But not everyone has the "common sense" to recognize that they're not welcome to enter areas in a shared home that they haven't been shown/invited into, so it's important that you define and communicate your own boundaries.
If you have a listing for the single room already, the guest should reserve it as an additional booking and pay for it at full price. It doesn't really matter whether it's for sleeping or violin practice; the fact is that once they commandeer the space, you are effectively deprived of any other use of it.
Thank you Andrew, that makes good business sense and hopefully the guest has been in our personal space and belongings, though we don't have anything to hide and do generally open the house to guests. Most of our guests have been super respectful and don't spend a lot of time in the house, though recently we did have a 'kitchen invader' who had a definite presence and not much awareness of how much of our space he was invading. Ho hum! I think sometimes with Airbnb and it's pot luck, sometimes we attract the right people and sometimes we just get these people who don't understand what boundaries are.
Thank you kindly for your advice - much appreciated 🙂
@Anonymous wrote:@Mell0 If the guest has been snooping around your house like this, it's almost certain that she's also been looking through your personal space and belongings. I'd personally find that rather creepy. But not everyone has the "common sense" to recognize that they're not welcome to enter areas in a shared home that they haven't been shown/invited into, so it's important that you define and communicate your own boundaries.
If you have a listing for the single room already, the guest should reserve it as an additional booking and pay for it at full price. It doesn't really matter whether it's for sleeping or violin practice; the fact is that once they commandeer the space, you are effectively deprived of any other use of it.