So I just started the whole hosting thing this month. My first tenants were AWESOME! Zero issues, bedding and towels left in the washer, dishes clean, etc. I did a quick rinse-down of the shower, swept and vacuumed floors, washed/replaced bedding and towels and all was great!
Next guy to come in I guess is a big hoster with 142 reviews. Told me that he was local, drove by my rental, that he was getting a remodel done at his house and needed to crash somewhere cheap for a few days - I was like OK!
A few days before his rental was to start, I contacted to see if he wanted to meet up early to do a walkthrough, get a key, etc. He elected to meet the day before. From the first words out of his mouth, the guys was just... odd. Can't place a finger on it, but he went on and on about how he's been hosting for years, how it takes only one bad guest to wreck your day, etc. But even his verbal cadence, was... odd.
Anyway, we go check the place out – an Mother-In-Law in the back yard of my property (as advertised).
Guest – hey man, are there dishes and stuff? I point at the dinner table right in front of us, set up with place settings restaurant style.
Hey man – it’s hot! (Seattle literally set an all-time record temperature that week) Is there A/C in here? I told him, “sorry, but there is no A/C”, neither was any advertised. He replied, “well then can you get me some fans, or something?” I replied that I had a few box fans in the garage that I could let him use.
He walked around the entire area and said, “Yea man this will work. Can you leave some windows open? It’s good that there are big trees here, it will be less hot in the shade.” I was like, OK. He then asked if I would be open to renting for a few extra days, to which I replied that they were yet unreserved, but that he should extend online. I gave him the keys and we parted ways.
About an hour later, he texts me: “Hey man, I forgot to get the WiFi password.” I told him that no WiFi was advertised and that because I was in the process of moving from the main house, there was no internet on the property at the time. The guy literally started to lose it. “I’m going to have to cancel man! I didn’t look, but…. I need WiFi…. for my work. My girlfriend, she is coming in from the Philippines tomorrow… She doesn’t have cell service here – she needs WhatsApp and Venmo…” At this point it should be noted that his reservation was for one person. He told me a few times that my place was good, he liked it there but he might need to cancel. In hindsight, I should have just let him. Instead I told him that I’d see what I could do – maybe talk to neighbors and see if I could get permission for him to use theirs, or see if Comcast could bring service in same-day.
In the end, I ended up rushing to the Xfinity store before they closed, to pick up a modem, which didn’t work out of the box, spent 2 hours on the phone with tech support, got it working and texted my guest the SSID and password for the new WiFi.
The day his rental started, he texted me to let me know that the WiFi wasn’t working. I came there later in the day to help him. The WiFi was legitimately messed up, but tech support got it going in 10 minutes. I went over to knock on the door and could hear lots of running water. They finally opened – a girl who looked quite displeased with her arms crossed and the guy in elbow-high rubber gloves, an apron and a mop looking sweaty and tired. For a second, I thought they killed someone in there and were cleaning up a crime scene! “This place is filthy man! There are dead flies in every corner! I’ve been cleaning for two hours” Clearly, it was good enough for him to ask to extend his stay the day before, but when the girl got there, it was suddenly, “filthy”. She was clearly not pleased. If there was a dead fly somewhere, it likely got in through the window he asked me to leave open… I helped them get their phones onto WiFi, asked if there was anything else they needed and left.
I didn’t hear anything for the following 3 days and on the eve of their last night there, I texted to ask what time they were planning to check out. (I had another group coming later the next day) He told me that they left early and that the key was on the dinner table.
What I found inside:
It started with dirty dishes. Apple peels on the counter and sink (there is a trash can right there). Food left in the fridge. Dirty napkins all over the floor – one containing an apple core. But the best part was awaiting upstairs: They stacked all of the furniture up against the one side of the room. The windows were covered with brown butcher paper taped to the window frames, the futon was on its side, more napkins and trash on the floor, strawberry tails in the bathroom sink, unflushed urine and paper in the toilet, bunch of the light bulbs were unscrewed and the shower was left running with a small stream. WTF?!
It took a few hours to get the place back to normal. I will have more work to do tomorrow before the next guests arrive… But I am at a loss here. I mean, you hear of people trashing hotel rooms – I’ve left a napkin or two maybe sometime. But you are staying in someone’s home! I’ve stayed in AirB&Bs many times – I’ve never heard of a thing like this! Nothing was actually damaged, or broken. But if this is par for the course, I’m not sure I want to deal with it. Just not worth it!
I took pics of it all. But I am just... WTF?!
