Unreasonable Temperature Expectations

[Steve2743]

Canadian, here. I'm currently dealing with a VERY high maintenance guest, but the biggest issue is over temperature. I've increased the thermostat to 25° C (77° F), which means it's about 21° C (70° F) in her suite. The furnace almost never shuts off at this temperature, I'm sweating to death in my boxers upstairs, I've already provided her with extra blankets, and it's still not enough to keep her warm. Fortunately, it's supposed to warm up again next week. I'm thinking of adding something like below his to my listing for future guests. Thoughts?



Note To Guests From Warm Climates: Please remember that the fall & winter months in Canada are very cold. There's nothing we love more than snuggling into a warm blanket and a thick sweater on a cold winter night. As such, our homes are generally kept at a lower temperature than you may be used to. Basement suites are a touch cooler. I'll do my best to keep the suite at a reasonable temperature, however I can not turn the thermostat above 20° C (68° F).

[Roy93]

Just a side note about reviewing a guest that’s not been what you’d wished for. My personal policy recently is not to review that particular guest at all. No review is better than giving a bad one. I’ve found that most guests leave a good review or none at all due to whatever reason, busy or forget to once home. Respect 

[Ana1136]

@Roy93 I strongly disagree 🙂 Wouldn't you want to be warned if someone is a bad guest? What is even the point of reviews if we only give good ones? 

[Roy93]

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@Ana1136 wrote:

@Roy93 I strongly disagree 🙂 Wouldn't you want to be warned if someone is a bad guest? What is even the point of reviews if we only give good ones? 

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Ahh yes this is true in a perfect world. However I guess I’m lucky I don’t have many bad guests and no bad reviews even from the not so 5 star guest. 

[Rachel177]

@Roy93 I agree with @Ana1136 

You're doing a disservice to other hosts by not writing a review about difficult guests or ones that you wouldn't wish to host again.

[Tracy65]

We are new to hosting and have our third guests - a couple. They said they felt cold last night in their loft room, which a lot warmer than ours below them. They have asked that I leave the heating on until 1am and switch it on again at 6am. Does this sound reasonable? My heating bill will be through the roof if I have guests that need heating on for 19 hours a day!!  We normally turn it off around 9.30pm . As background we are in Yorkshire in the U.K.  We moved to the uk 13 years ago from South Africa and feel uncomfortable with the house too warm and so keep it at about 18 degrees although overnight it will get cooler. The temp outside is around 2 degrees. Any comments welcome. 

[Lyndsey2]

I, personally, would never turn off the heat with guests in the house. I may turn it down a few degrees around midnight and have it come back up around 6am, but with it off entirely, I worry that temperature in the house would drop to an uncomfortable level if guests should wake up and need to get out of bed. It's also illegal here for landlords to drop the heat below 65°F (18.3°C), though that may not officially apply to Airbnbs. I keep the house cooler than that myself, and know guests can have a wide range of temperature needs, so I added a small electric baseboard heater to the room that they can control themselves, if they feel it's too cold in the house. An electric blanket or something similar might also work. Then it seems like an amenity! (In case you feel cold, I have provided extra things to make sure you are comfortable!).

In this case, I would absolutely comply with the request of the guest. It's quite possible they may be the only guests who really mind and the small expense of doing it for a few nights may be worthwhile. I also think the more communication the better. You might consider saying to guests upon arrival, "We turn the heat off at night so there are extra blankets if you feel chilly." Then you have set their expectations and they are less likely to complain. 

[Tracy65]

Thanks for your ideas. We did have a heater in the room but they didn't like it and there was an extra quilt on the bed but I will adjust the heating so it stays on at a reduced temperature overnight. 

[Roy93]

Hello Tracy I see your posting is a few years old now.

I’ve been hosting in Scotland for about 13 months to date  and generally been a good experience. I’ve hosted 118 groups now in my self catering entire house. Heating as been controlled by Nest and has been since the beginning. It’s an oiled fired boiler heats radiators and hot water. Mostly I set the programme to heat to 21c but can be increased by guests to 23c which many do. I learned the hard way prior to restricting the upper temp. Some guests would just put it up as high as it could go for the whole night till the schedule kicks in in the early hours.  Believe it or not some still open windows and heating on at 23c which just baffles me. 

[Alice595]

@Roy93  A few days ago, I had a guest said that 71 F (21 C) was too hot and called Airbnb to cancel his booking after checkin for one hour. And he requested a full refund.

Some guests want >73-74 F (22-23C) in winter and <70 F (20 C) in summer. Do they really want to spend winter in the house during summer and spend summer in the house during winter? Go figure.

[Sarah871]

Thank-you for this. I just came home to my house at 26 degrees Celsius for the SECOND time - I did tell my guest to not touch the thermostat as it has regularly been 21d in the house simply due to nice weather. Didn't think I'd have to put a request like this but... I guess I'm a bit new. 😉