homeless

[Mike28]

New to hosting and somehow I feel I may have guested a homeless person.  He is working however when he came to the door he had three huge bags and an odor that was hard to describe.  Anyone else came across this or have had guests like these that are basically drifters who pay for a room.  My question is should I be alerted?  He already paid and is pretty good at keeping the room okay however he mounds of dirty clothes on the second day made me think this guy is just using AirBnb as cheap rent.

[Nathalie-Et-Gilles0]

Bonjour Mike

I imagine that the smell can bother you and disturb you.
Cheap rooms attract budget travellers.
You did right in setting 11 nights maximum in your listing.

I would say that if the guest is not violent or disturbing (noise , alcohol), respect the house rules and treat your place nicely, just wait he leaves (maybe offer a washing machine , good for him and you).

For the future, many hosts ask prospect what is the purpose of their trip and decline any request from people living around because they fear they would stay in longer than planned.

[Mike28]

Thank you for your input.  I need to change that to about 7 or 8 days and great point because yes it was strange to come across things mentioned.  I thought screen would be sort of a privacy thing. However I feel now it may be necessary.  I don't mind a person who is staying and visiting Seattle for vacation or meeting, but to use my place as cheap rent, I feel like I was a little violated and will learn from this experience.  I have bought new stuff like sheets and pillows etc... just in case.  Thanks again!  

[Nathalie-Et-Gilles0]

Your feeling is normal @Mike28

we do not do that to manage the social problems.

As you rent a room in your home , it is very important de screen the prospects.

when one rent a whole place, one can have brackages and mess if you have bad guests.
But when one rent a room at home, one can have brackages and mess and bad behaviour making the owner feel not at home !

Host renting a room spend a lot of time to screen guests to be sure it will matc.

Il you prefer hosting visiting  guests for vacation or meeting, always ask the purpose of the vacation and check where they live.
People living near Seattle have no (good) reason to rent a room at your place to visit Seattle.

[Suzanne14]

I have a guest that I let book for 2 months, 4 days in he was acting weird, talking to himself in the middle of the night, Iam worried that I wont be able to get rid of him. I altered the length of stay and told him I have to shorten it due to family issues. he has not approved the alteration, what should I do?

[Mike28]

Wow 2 months... At least try to contact Airbnb and if anything please talk to the person face to face without bringing up the subject or your suspicions as a homeless or crazy person.  But two months is a LONG time for someone you are not familiar with to be staying with you... I am sorry you have to deal with this..

[Nathalie-Et-Gilles0]

bonjour @Suzanne14

call Airbnb and ask them to rehome him.

Tell them that you do not fell safe with him and want him to leave.

They already had to deal with those situations.

Let us know how it was handle for you.

And change your maximum of night parameter. 

When you rent a private room, 15 days can be rather long when it does not match. So it should be your maximum.

[Arianna343]

How did you know he was talking to himself in the middle of the night? Was he a temporary roommate or did you leave a camera to spy on his room? I thought Airbnb was just a temp sublet like a hotel or vacation stay? So how did you know this about his behavior while he was staying?

[Sarah977]

@Arianna343  "I thought Airbnb was just a temp sublet like a hotel or vacation stay? "

It isn't.

Many Airbnbs are private rooms in the home where the host lives. I've had guests who snored and I can hear them snoring from my own bedroom. If someone was talking to themselves in the middle of th night, I'd hear that, too. Why would you assume the host was "spying" on the guest?

[Arianna343]

Oh yes that clears it up. TBH it's not good if you can hear a guest snore in another bedroom, it means the house is shoddily built and there is no insulation. That is a very bad place to live. I live in an apartment and I can't hear my boyfriend snoring in the very next room. 

[Sarah977]

@Arianna343  I live in the tropics, there's no insulation- the house has solid concrete walls 7 inches thick. There's nothing shoddily built about it. I can hear a guest snore because there is a bathroom between my room and the guest room with doors on each side leading into each bedroom. When I have a guest the bathroom door on my side gets locked off and that bathroom is for the guest use only. I can hear them snore because it is coming through the wooden door on my side, not the walls- they usually leave the door on their side open as it opens right into their bedroom.

And sound travels more in concrete and tile construction with no carpeting, it bounces off the hard surfaces.

[Arianna343]

Ah I see, that makes sense...maybe a better word is "badly designed" (at least in one respect). 

[Sarah977]

@Arianna343  No, I designed the house myself and it's designed exactly the way I wanted it. Most of my guests are quiet and I can't hear anything. And if I have a snorer, I just put in my earplugs. It isn't something I consider to be a problem.

[Arianna343]

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@Sarah977 wrote:  @Arianna343  No, I designed the house myself

Well that explains it then.

[EcoBuilt0]

I just posted a message about the homeless couple living in a room in my home and then I did a little more digging and found this conversation.  I am really paranoid about writing this because the homeless people in my home came equipped with all sort of electronics that they set up in their room which they keep locked but smells like smoke in the areas around their room.  No smoking in the home is in the rules.

I've spoken with representatives from Airbnb many times and I there are two days left till their reservation ends and I am feeling very concerned that they won't leave.  Airbnb is becoming aware of the problem with hosting homeless people and I'm not sure what they are doing about it to help hosts. 

After this experience I won't be accepting long term booking.  I will change my listing description to say that we can discuss a long term stay after the initial time, probably no more than 7-10 days maximum and still do a long term stay in increments.  I don't know.  It's starting to become too much of a hassle because I'm having sleepless nights and an allergic reaction to the smoke, etc. 

I wish that I wasn't just complaining about the situation, I wish I was contributing solutions.  But until I get on the other side of this bad experience I won't be able to assess the damages and the wisdom earned.

Thank you for being here for me.