Shower length—HELP!

[Lisa1649]

I have a guest who is booked for 18 days, with the potential of another 3-6 months. I love the earning potential! However, we are on day 12 of his stay and his showers average 30 minutes (tonight was 35 minutes—I timed it to make sure I’m not exaggerating). I live in an area of the country that is in a drought. I can’t stand the wear and tear on the hot water heater, the wasted water, the electricity usage, etc; which is undoubtedly effecting my profit. I want to talk to him, (but my instincts fear retaliation based on interaction with him). Desperately seeking solutions. . .suggestions? 

[Sarah977]

@Lisa1649 You say your instincts fear retaliation based on your interaction with him. Why in the world would you even consider approving a reservation extention of a further 3-6 months for this guy? I can't imagine having someone I couldn't even talk easily with in my home for that long. Don't do it- you deserve better guests. Then, since his booking is over in 6 days, just let it go. If you are bound and determined to allow him to extend his stay for months, you need to talk to him about it.

For the future, put something in your listing description about you living in a drought-prone area with the need to limit showers to 10 minutes, which should be plenty of time for anyone to get clean. Reinterate that when messaging after they book, and again when they check-in. But, if you get a guest who cluelessly overuses resources again- I think you have to find an opportunity to educate them about this. I'd just nonchalantly invite the guest to join you for coffee, tea, or a beer one day, do some chit-chat, then say "Oh XXX, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

Then give the run-down on why showers need to brief. The drought conditions in your area where all residents are expected to conserve water, the fact that you base your pricing on average water and electricity consumption, which would be showers of xx minutes. Try to keep it light, informative and easygoing, thank them in advance for their understanding and cooperation, and hopefully they'll get it and comply. 

I have water issues at my place, too and my guests have all been quite co-operative. Most are pretty energy-conscious anyway, so they follow the same practices at home.

[Daniel2195]

Maybe add a water fee to your listing, explaining that it’s a drought area, so that guests take on the additional water burden. If they want over 10 minutes then charge them for the extra. 

[Sandra126]

You are lucky he is not a full hour-shower man!

Agree with Sarah, why would you even consider extending his time? There will be other guests.

[Randy-and-Barbara0]

Hi Lisa, this is probably coming too late to help you with this guest, but thought I’d share a couple of things we have implemented in our Airbnb. First, we had a young lady stay who was taking 45 - 60 minutes showers. The first night I just kind of noticed that it seemed rather long. The second night when the shower turned on, I took note of the times. It was an hour!  I wanted to cry!  The next day as she was leaving for work, we had a conversation!  She was clueless about wasting water. Apparently her parents never worried about that. She did reduce her times and after she left, a note went up in the bathroom about conserving water by limiting showers to 15 minutes max. 

Second, we have a maximum stay limit of 14 days. If guests want to stay longer, I tell them that we will evaluate the situation after the initial 14 days and if all is well, we may allow another 14 days!  We have had guests wind up staying for several months, two weeks at a time!

Set boundaries!  I hope this helps!

[Midori2]

I hear you.   My current guest takes shower around midnight, for about 20 minutes, and that is after he's been in the bathroom for 10-15 minutes before he got in the shower, and he talks to his mom and girlfriend on the phone while he's using the toilet - so depending on the length of his conversation with them, he may be running the water for a very long time.  Also, when he cooks, he tends to let the water running while he's prepping the food.  He wash dishes by hand - I asked him to just rinse off food and put them in the dishwasher...so now he washes the dishes then put them in the dishwasher.  It's good that the plates get cleaned twice...but not necessary.  I explained to him that we try to conserve water in California and it is far more expensive than where he's from (Canada).  I think he understood, but it's hard to change one's habits.