guest installed 2 portable AC units

[Patti13]

Please someone tell me how to handle this situation.  I had a guest reserve my 2/2 for my 3 day min.  She brought 2 suitcases the frist night and didn't return until the morning of the 3rd and final day as she was getting married on my side of the island (she lives on the opposite).  She did notify me and make sure it would be ok if several / many people would be coming and going on the morning and day of her wedding.  I said, sure no problem.  I left the property about 1:00 pm and learned their wedding was a 4:30 pm.  Upon returning to the property I found 2 ventilation systems pumping hot air out via motors.  I investigated and entered the 900 sq. ft. unit and food TWO portable AC units installed and running.  both units were in the living/dining & kitchen areas with all windows closed.  The two bedrooms had all windows open and ceiling fans running.  My "house rules" request turning off all lights and fans when leaving the unit for the day.  Now here's the kicker, my power bills runs $250 a month for the entire property, 5 bedrooms, 4 baths and there's no AC, no pool pump and I do have a solar hot water heater.  Electricity is very expensive here in Hawaii as is everything.  This woman is from here.   I turned off both AC's and fans.  They returned sometime after 11:00 pm when I went to bed and they're still up there, check out is in 45 min.  Say nothing?  Report it to airbnb?  Make a new rule that if your going to bring your own AC units, turn them off when leaving with the fans and lights?  Someone please tell me!  I can't the believe the nerve and inconsideration of this woman and her new husband!

Deperate for answers in Hawaii,  v/r, Patti

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Patti13 uh...

we have in our house rules something like this "it is forbidden to use your own appliances such as heaters, ovens etc...." bc one of our guests brought their own oven and placed it on our kitchen sink (jewish religion thing ) They didn't ask for permission and didn't tell us. Luckly, our electrical socket was strong enough to support it.

we also have few notes on the exit door and in a house manual and AC manual  "turn off A/C when you are not present" but many of our guests just don't care ..  

I think " a smart house" is the only solution, then everything is automated leaving them with no options. Like in a hotel. 

ps

I think 2 portable AC units deserves to be mentioned in your review, just to warn future hosts what they can expect.

[Emily1419]

It costs about 11 cents an hour to run a portable ac unit. Being from hawaii, I know electric is more, so let's say even 20cents/hour. That is about $50 for an entire month. Not a big deal. Why did you go in their rental? 

[Sarah977]

@Emily1419  It is a big deal for a guest to bring their own appliances to plug in to the host's electric without permission- it's extremely presumptuous.

How much electricity it costs to run is entirely dependent upon how many kwh the appliance consumes and how much the electricity costs. To say it costs 11 cents or 20 cents an hour is only your guess. Electricity is really expensive in some areas.

Where I live, electric is charged at a base rate for 150 kwhs, which is quite inexpensive. But if you go over the base number of kwhs, the rate goes up, and if you go over the second rate tier, the cost of electricity skyrockets to quadruple the base rate on the entire bill. And if you have one month at that rate, you are locked into that rate for the following 6 months, even if you never get near that many kwhs on subsequent bills.

So if a guest were to do something like that at my place, it could end up costing me hundreds of dollars.

[Louise0]

Guest shouldn't have done it without asking you and it's appropriate to mention it in the reviews.  The additional cost will be trivial (around USD.20 per hour running time per unit) and yes, I know electricity is expensive in Hawaii;  it's almost as expensive as down here.

The big issue is whether you had the guest's permission to enter the unit or whether there's something in your House Rules that gives you that right.  If not, you're screwed and will possibly be delisted by Airbnb.