dirty guest

[Pye0]

Hi all,

  I'm fairly new to hosting in AirBnb. I've had no problems with my 1st guest but I've had my 2nd guest check out today, and he stayed for long term for 2 months. My place rents out just a room with a single bed and he has his own bathroom, share the living room and kitchen with me. He was supposed to check out at noon today but he said he under booked his stay by 1 day and asked if he could check out at 5 pm. I agreed to that and now he wants to leave his stuff until 9 pm. I also agreed to that since I thought he might have trouble moving.

Anyways straight to my point, hes a terrible guest. being a single bed in a room I did not expect that anyone would bring another guest over for overnight stay, he brings his girlfriend over for overnight stays almost 3-4 days out of the week, when he does't bring his girlfriend over to stay overnight, he brings other girls for 1 night stands. over the 2 months I saw at least 4 or 5 different girls, I did not clarify about the overnight guest at the beginning when he checked in so I take that it was lack of information from me, But he is not responsible for his guest. Room is dirty, when I walk by his room I can see condom boxes all over the floor, usually have a awful stench coming out of his room which then makes my living room smell. Does not take his trash out from his room,  throws his used condoms in the living room trash can and expects me to take it out, uses washing machine more than the limited amount of times I've allowed him to per week. Stained bed sheets, stained pillow and missing pillow case. 

I've reminded him to lock the door after he comes home late at night at least 3 times. he fails to do so most of the time. If I understand correctly guest are supposed to somewhat leave the room or the place clean and somewhat similar to how it was when they checked in, the whole floor of his room is greasy, oily and it will definitely cost more than the cleaning fee he paid for. I've taken pictures of how it is when he left, I will definitely talk to Airbnb about this.

For the review please guide me on how it should go as I fairly new to this community, also I don't think Airbnb might be the right place for him. 

Please share your experiences and thoughts , Much appreciated all. 

[Rowena29]

Hello @Pye,

Welcome to the community boards

You've certainly had a very unpleasant experience and I'm sorry you've had such a negative one with only your 2nd guest.

It's easy to be wise in hindsight, but you let this situation go on far too long unfortunately. By not saying anything to this guest the second the inappropriate behaviour started, your more or less  gave him permission to keep going.  I see that you've updated your listing to include no extra guests, which is a good idea ( although of course it wont' necessarily prevent people  but at least it's clearly stated in your listing.)

It's really hard when you're starting out isn't it? I think the important thing is to not allow yourself to put up with anything that you find unacceptable. For next time ( hopefully there wont' be anything as bad as this) you do need to deal with inappropriate behaviour promptly,.

I'ts often a good idea to do this via messaging so there is a written record of communication.

 this is helpful if you need to follow up with airbnb.

In this case, I personally would have been contacting customer support and asking them to cancel this guest. Yes, you would have lost money. but you've lost money on all the excess cleaning you have to do. 

 Many hosts strongly suggest no having guests longer than 28 days as it can lead to all sorts of issues.

By all means contact airbnb now, but I doubt that you will get much joy - excess cleaning is not something they are generally very helpful about. Still be sure to take plenty of photos.

IN terms of a review I would suggest keeping it very brief and factual and unemotional. eg

I did not enjoy hosting XXXX. He broke many of my house rules, including having extra guests, leaving my front door unlocked. He frequently ignored my requests to monitor such issues.  Upon checkout the xxx's room required left  substantial  cleaning and scrubbing. It was in no way left clean or tidy.  I cannot recommend this guest."  thumbs down and 1 star for everything.

I'm sure Other hosts will be along soon to offer more advice.

You may also want to tweak your listing further especially in regard to house rules to make it clear what your expectations are.  It's not enough to assume guests will leave things neat and tidy. You need to specifically state what you require. It's a good idea to also have this in printed form in a folder in the guests bedroom for their reference. At least that way they can't plead ignorance.

eg guests are expected to empty the rubbish bins in their rooms into the outside bin.

you may find it helpful to read the listings of  other experienced hosts and see how they manage things.

It's a long learning curve. Many hosts refined and update their listings as they gain experience.

It does get easier!

Good luck Pye

Regards

[Pye0]

Thank you , very helpful!

[Gordon0]

I think the problems are more of an issue with long-term rentals like these as they're effectively your roommates, with different rules. You won't get bitten by this again, I'm sure, but sorry you had to go through the pain all the same.