Struggling with longterm guests and language barriers

[Sherry126]

I have had a lovely Mother and son stay with me and are 11 days into a 26-day stay and it is causing me a lot of stress and inconveniencing other guests. 

They are SO kind and sweet but so far have managed to;

1. cause a major upset with another guest so that she has not left a review which I guess is a relief given her experience
2. flood the toilet twice so other guests could not use the shared bathroom
3. burnt a very expensive pot that took quite a while for me to clean 
4. left the bathroom smelling strongly of urine so I had to clean it thoroughly 3 times 
5. and they seem to do these things when I have other guests more so than when they are here alone. I could totally be imagining it but it is like they are trying to make my other guests leave. 

There is a language barrier and when I've spoken to them or written there is often confusion. I've spoken to a friend of theirs who translated for us but this is not always possible.  I'm afraid to go away as I'm concerned about what may happen while away. 

They are super nice and have even invited me out to dinner at a very expensive restaurant which I'm a little uncomfortable with given all of this. 

I would love some advice on how to handle this while not offending them. 

Thank you,

Sherry

[Kelly149]

@Sherry126 really what choices do you have?

-get them to change their behavior? unlikely and if you succeed please come to my house to train my children 😉

-get your other guests to not be bothered? flooded, dirty bathrooms - nope, I think they'll be bothered

-tell them that they are a better fit for a self-contained hotel room? not ideal, but I think it is what I would choose. (sooner the better and you will need to refund all the days they don't use)

[Mark116]

@Sherry126   If they have access to the airbnb platform there should not be an issue w/language since the site will translate all communications.  I have found that over communication in writing helps over come language issues, and for some cultures also I think it is preferable especially for sensitive issues like how to work the toilet, etc.

I did have some guests who had virtually no English and for whatever reasons they also had no phone or other electronic capabilities so I ended up printing out various directions and information in their own language and giving it to them, which while it was very stressful and time consuming, it seemed to do the trick.

[Marie82]

@Sherry126  personally i will ask to have a small meeting with their friend/translator and the guests so u can explain the dilemma u have and insist it is not you but the others guests sharing and as a business owner u cannot afford to lose 1 guest over another one, you need to make sure all guests enjoyed their stay equally. So they need to respect rules  of home-sharing space 

[Sherry126]

Thank you Marie, this response really resonates with me. They are really sweet and kind but they see this place as their own and with comes more territorial behaviour on their part appearing put out by having to share the space even though it is clear in the listing it is a shared space. 

[Elena87]

@Sherry126 

It's time for a google translatable ( sans idioms or colloquial expressions) cease and desist formal  warning letter. If no immediate visible improvement in their conduct, then it's time for you to take your prerogative and cut short the trip.

Maybe when you reflect on this booking, to consider capping your maximum trip length to your private room. 26 days is a very very very long time with the wrong visitors.

[Sherry126]

Thank you Elena. It is a long time for the wrong guest but I've had delightful guests that I would have missed out on if I'd done that. These guests are very sweet and I'd hate to cut their stay short as it would inconvenience both of us greatly at this late stage.

[Sherry126]

This is the response from the guest;

Hi Sherry,

Understood your concern. In fact I was really bothered by the toilet flooding as well, but didn't make any complaint because we know it's an old house.

But since you brought it up, it really bothered me to see the toilet not flushed every time I tried to use it, with a lot of toilet paper inside. Please note we didn't use excessive amount of toilet paper nor try to flush the toilet paper down because we know your toilet couldn't take it. If you recall, you must have noticed every time when you take out the garbage, I will also take out mine as well. I kept almost all the used tissues and toilet paper in my garbage bag. If you would like to, next time I can show you when you take out the garbage.

Please do let another tenants of yours know that we are the victim of the toilet issue too and we've been trying our best not to exacerbate the flooding the best we can (by keeping our used tissues and toilet paper). Please do call in the plumber if the issue persists because as your tenant we would like to have a toilet that's operational at all times . Like you said, a good toilet would bring down the stress level for all of us.

Have a nice day.

This has not happened before their stay in 3 years of being here.

I've personally noticed large amounts of toilet paper in the toilet after they've gone.

I think I need to get Airbnb involved at this stage as I'm at a loss to know what to do. They are not accepting any responsibility for this and putting it back on the toilet which has never had a problem in the past.