To Kick or Not to Kick

[Kelmany0]

Hi, somewhat new to hosting. I kicked my first guest. It was hard to do. She was violating my house rules and progressively getting worse as her check out neared. 3 weeks into a 4 week stay and I finally decided I respect myself, family and my other guests to send her packing. Airbnb was engaged and they advised her if the new check out. Naturally I got a bad review and my listing dropped to 4.6. I am new enough that I am worried her bad rating will impact future guests. Have many of you kicked and recovered from the ordeal? Second question , is it normal for a guest to get up at 5 am and cough and spit and run the water for an endless amount of time in the washroom? 

[Emiel1]

Hello @Kelmany0 ,

I read the review and comment. It's clear: enough is enough. At some point you have to kick them out. You should be rewarded instead of punished by Airbnb (as offcourse such guests leave a negative review)

Best regards, Emiel

[Kelmany0]

Thanks. I think I made an error posting a room too cheap and clearly attracted the wrong crowd. I will wear that one and won’t make the same mistake again. My next question is regarding someone in a long stay arrangement expecting us to absorb the cost to wash their clothes. He just asked for two pods as he likes to was his whites separately.  I told him that he can use the machine but the laundry pod costs$ 2.00 each. I love the guest who brags about how rich he is at home and expects me to pay to clean his clothes.....ugh.... 

[Westley-and-Pete0]

I made the exact same mistake when I started hosting - it's harsh, but cheap attracts cheap, as the old adage goes. I read the negative review too and I wouldn't have paid it any attention if I were looking to book with you. I think hosting on AirBnB is a huge learning curve. I started out with overly-nice-host syndrome because I wanted to be welcoming, but it's only when I got my first rude and inconsiderate guest that I realised I can still be professional and welcoming whilst establishing boundaries and enforcing them. I think you did the right think by booting that guest out.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Kelmany0

I get up at 5am every morning, so that's not unusual. Running water  - some people do some don't.. Spitting while washing is a cultural thing - prevalent in many parts of Asia, but makes us feel uncomfortable. While I think you are right to ask AirBnB to find the person alternative accommodation as they were not a good fit with your expectations, I do think we all learn a bit and have to give a bit when hosting. You can respond publicly , but keep it brief and professional - and  again, despite what I said I think if you are uncomfortable then you have to do the right thing for you and your home. Good luck!

[John1574]

@Kelmany0  @Gerry-And-Rashid0  @Westley-and-Pete0 @Emiel1

Good for you!   Kick the Bahhstards out!

And thanks for posting as many can learn from your experience.

Very valid points about cheap begets cheap.  I guess it's a class thing, and one has to adjust their listing to find the sweet spot that works for you & brings in a better class of people.

[David126]

The old adage that some business is not woth having comes to mind.

One of the reasons I do not offer long term discounts, most of my business is short term and if I have a weird one well I can put up with most things for a few days.

@Kelmany0 One thing I would mention is your response, now there are 2 school of thoughts - personal preference, reply to every one or reply to none. I go for the latter but then I very rarely read reviews anyway.

When replying your target is future guests, the weirdo is never coming back anyway. So keep it short and to the point, a long reply amongst other things just draws attention to the review.

The Guest review is truncated so the first few lines show and you have to click on more to see the rest. Often the long ones are rambling so the first few lines do not say much so are not that visible, you do not want prospective guests clicking on more.

[Kelmany1]

Hi, wanted to thank everyone for the feedback. The short and sweet approach is a important message for me to receive and implement moving forward. The good news is we suffered some growing pains and since my first group of bad guests I have since been having a wonderful experience with air bnb. Every guest has been wonderful in their own personal way. My take away is learning to set boundaries and rolling with it. I am so happy that we are doing Airbnb!