Weird Guest Behaviour During Covid-19???

[Sean433]

Is anyone else experiencing odd guests and odd requests during this pandemic? I understand that at times like this, people are hyper sensitive especially when it comes to cleanliness.

Lately, I have had:

- 2 separate guests ask me to bring an extra tv when the unit already has 2 tv's (one in each bedroom). So 3 tv's in total for a 2 bedroom guest house.

- 1 just asked me 15 minutes ago if I can buy another table for her and her husband so that they do not have to work from home on the same table. Why would I risk myself to go out and buy a table? Why not just look for a place that has 2 work stations? Why buy a table just a 1 week stay at $77/night? Boggles my mind. Some People have no decency

- last week, I had a OCD mother and daughter. They wiped the window ledges with a cloth to show me that the window ledges were dirty. There was some dust on it but otherwise the unit was clean. They used that as an excuse to leave

- last week, a guest complained that there were metal spatulas instead of plastic. I was so fed up at that point. Are you asking me to go out during this pandemic just to swop spatulas for you? seriously?

Is anyone else experience wacky guests right now more so than usual? Do you have guests asking you to buy weird things for them during this pandemic. I have just resorted to saying 'NO" now.

[Helen3]

No, I haven't personally @Sean433 . I blocked out my place for April and May, following our regulations here that bans STRs outside of key workers and other categories such as those attending funerals.

If your guests are asking for amenities not in your listing, just say no and that it was clear which amenities you included when they booked. Personally I would suggest if they want a place with those additional amenities they would be best to cancel and find somewhere that better suits their needs.

Do these guests meet the requirements introduced by your government in early April for STR stays?

https://nowtoronto.com/lifestyle/real-estate/ontario-bans-airbnb-coronavirus/

[Luana130]

I haven't really had bookings since the pandemic started. But previously, yes. I have received a few requests for kitchen items (specific types of pans, blender, coffee machine, etc), workstation (because aparently the kitchen table was not an option), change the mattress, washing machine (some actually have asked to use my personal one) and a few others. Most of my requests are for kitchenware, I only provide a basic kitchen, for basic meals. 

My response is always that we only provide what is available on the apartment, which is on the description.

[Aaron691]

I'm a little late to this thread, but did a search for "Weird Requests" and "Sketchy Requests" and this came up. I couldn't agree more. I feel like every request is strange these days. 

- First time renters with few verifications.

- First time renters with strange intro messages in the request or their profile. ("Hello Boss Man...")

- Many Many last minute request. Most recently one person said he had family coming to PA from NC that day and he needed a house. Who wouldn't book a house at least a few days in advance? 

And I'm at a bit of a loss of what to do. On one hand I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. On the other hand, in my neighborhood where my primary residence is, we have had many issues with AirBnB's being rented to partiers, typically aged 17-19. Makes me weary of renting to people I'm unsure about. And I feel AirBnB discourages you from not accepting sketchy requests.

Pre-covid, I feel like 1 out of 20 request was a little wacky. Now I feel like 8 out of 10 request are strange. Totally flipped. 

[Nanxing0]

@Aaron691 I have exactly the same feeling. Pre-covid I had 9 out of 10 guests sent request to book with sweet greetings and detailed explanation about what they are here to do. However now at least half of the requests are with just one meaningless sentence like "looking forward to my stay". Not to mention that more requests are from local guests. We are having so many problems with those local guests that we are not accepting any local guests with no past review right now.

My cleaning crews are also reporting to me that during this time the quality of the guests are much lower than before in the sense that they always have to spend more time clean the rooms and the linens always get stained by something.

[Huma0]

I've not noticed any difference or strange requests although, as a lot of people are now working from home, I have been asked what kind of WiFi I have and what work station options there were outside of the bedrooms (which all have desks). These kinds of questions don't bother me.

What does bother me is that every single request I've received lately has been asking for additional discounts, for no reason other than the 'current situation', and all from people who still have jobs.

The requests @Sean433 is getting are just bizarre though. No, I would also not add extra TVs and desks, especially for short stays. I understand that people want a sanitary environment, but I've not actually had ANY guests enquire about cleaning/safety measures. The only COVID related concern they have is that they think I must be desperate enough to give them a 'special offer' on the price.

[Debra300]

@Sean433,

I've not had any weird requests for additional amenities, but I wouldn't get anything extra, anyway.  If a guest wants another TV, espresso maker, or work table, they can order it online and have it delivered.  When they checkout, they can either send the stuff back, take it with them, or ship it to their home.  If they were to leave it, I would inform that I will chuck the whole lot if they don't make arrangements to retrieve/ship it within 24 hours.

I did receive one inquiry that requested an additional 21% discount on top of the weekly 25% discount that was offered.  I told the person that we would have to take out or disconnect almost all of the appliances to accept the offer, and counter-offered with a $5/p.n. discount.  I never received a response.

[Alex1286]

I have been getting way more, like not dirty, but filthy guests. Trash bag people. I’m lucky if a couple times a year I would get people like this, now it’s like every stay. Now it’s like I’m terrified to walk in to the place and see the nightmare task ahead of me.
I even had a ground find a hidden fire pit that had a sign that says do not use (not to mention the countless times it’s mentioned in my rules to never start a fire on our property), Anyway find it, and then use that fire put UNDER our deck????!!!!! Like the WTF. Who do I report that to? You should have seen the mess they left. I had a guest stay for a weekend and they had 10x 55 Gallon trash bags full, like maxed out full. What the hell occurred at our place? I’m so angry lately, and I normally love this job!!!! So it’s frustrating.

[Sarah977]

It really is mind-blowing the things people do that are just unfathomable. I have a friend who hosts 2 private suites i her home, ad she's never really had any horror shows with her Airbnb guests, but she also has a separate studio building on her property that she rents out long-term privately. She had rented to a young man and after he moved out, she went in to clean, found the place filthy, and did a thorough top-bottom scrub out. 

But it still smelled awful in there, even after leaving the doors open to air out, so she went back in and washed the walls and floor down with strong bleach solution.

Still smelled awful and she couldn't figure out why until she lifted the trap door to the crawl space under the house to find he had just been stuffing all his garbage bags down there for the entire year he lived there. 

Now she doesn't live out in the boonies where you have to haul your own trash to the dump- she lives right in town where there is curbside pick-up every week.

She first called a hazardous waste removal company who quoted her $6000 to deal with it. No way she could pay that, so she had to enlist the help of a friend, don a hazmat suit, heavy duty rubber gloves and rubber boots (everything had turned to slime) and go down there herself and pass the trash bags up. At one point, about halfway through, she came up and told her buddy she didn't think she could do it anymore but after a break, and some "You know you have to, you can do it" from her pal, she did resume. When all the bags were out, she had to shovel up the slime into buckets and pour a bag of lime down there. The whole operation took an entire day, a full truckload to the dump, and she couldn't eat anything for an entire day afterwards, she felt so nauseous.

She did get eventually get even with that guy when she found out where he lived about a year later, I can't tell you how, but it was some stellar revenge.

So sorry you are getting such crap guests. @Alex1286

[Ann72]

@Sarah977  That is the most horrifying story ever.  Happy she got revenge, whatever form it took.  @Alex1286 I'm so sorry too you're getting the worst guests.  Really can't believe the fire-pit-under-the-deck story.  I mean really how stupid are people?  I hope you can raise your rates so that if you keep getting bad guests you'll at least be well compensated.

[Danielle513]

After 2.5 years of hosting lovely guests, I'm having some of the same experiences described above.  Mostly guests who make unreasonable requests, leave my guest house filthy and overall shady behavior.  I've decided to be extra diligent before I accept a reservation and I won't accept first-time Air Bnb-ers and read reviews before accepting.  I definitely see a marked difference in the quality and behavior of my COVID-era guests.  If I have any more bad experiences, I'm going to pause the listing.  Very sad.

[Nanxing0]

It's not only odd guests, but I have experienced a few guests that are very rude and communicate in a very entitled way I guess probably partially due to some recent social events. Basically I'm rejecting most of the guests with bad reviews, and/or don't know how to communicate and/or don't have a valid reason to book with us. For example some guests are booking "local getaway" while the city still has order of "safer at home". While I'm rejecting those reservations, some guests are quite erratic and accuse me of racism immediately. Comeon don't these people know Airbnb hides their photo prior to booking? I don't even know your race/ethnicity how can you accuse me of that? Ridiculous.