Bad Guests!

Bad Guests!

I have had two bad lots of guests staying - both leaving dirty & untidy house with damage.  Both lied about how many guests were staying.  Both were new to Airbnb so had no 'history' or any good reviews.  Dont you think it would be a good idea for those guests who are looking to book for the first time should provide some sort of personal reference to give reassurance to the host that their house wont be trashed?

5 Comments
Donna240
Level 10

@Daphne23, I'm curous as to why this happens to some hosts and not to others. Any ideas? My theory is that when you are not living on the premisis or have a keycode check-in some people think they can get away with this sort of abuse. I limit my guests to 2 people and clearly state in the description that I live on the property, and have never had this problem, although I have had other problems with damage caused by careless guests.

Anonymous

I've had untidy, uncouth, and dishonest guests who also had positive reviews from previous hosts. I haven't found that someone else's subjective opinion of a guest is in itself even a small measure of assurance that your house won't be trashed.

 

I do find that when the guest party consists of more than two people (or two people who aren't a couple or related), the sense of responsibility is spread too thin. If you're hosting a party of 4 and they leave a mess or break your rules, the review you leave typically only applies to one of them. It would be nice to be able to require all adults in the group to be registered individually with Airbnb accounts so that they all receive confirmations and House Rules, and the host's review appears on all their profiles.

 

Sylvie180
Level 2

I state clearly on  the profile that there is a $250 penalty for not disclosing all overnight guests.

 

Amy38
Level 10

@Daphne23   When I have time, I go to poster’s listing.  Two things almost always stand out.

 

1. The listing is too cheap.  Why rent a house of the cost of a hostel?  People who pay more have morerespect. I have learned this the hard way fron 40 years of handling long term rentals.

 

2.  The cleaning fee is way too low.  There is no reason to charge that much less than a professional would charge just because you are cleaning it yourself.

 

I charge half of a deep pro cleaning  which I only need to do about 3 times a year.  Otherwise, I am very well paid for the hour or two I spend between guests...and a good bit of that time is  checking stocks, arranging flowers, etc which cleaners cant do anyway.

 

We dont need to be the cheapest bed on the block,just the most welcoming and less expensive than the nearest acceptable hotel.

 

Donna240
Level 10

@Amy38That is a brilliant assessment and I applaud you!!! When we do not respect our property, neither will anyone else.