Are we just not culturally sensitive enough? Or are we being completely taken advantage of?

[Wolf-Family0]

So our family has been hosting for some time.  We consider ourselves diverse and globally minded, have done extenisve world travel, I think more so than your average American family.  But we keep having these same overwhelming challenges with guest from a certain culture that makes us want to start declining folks from that area of the world.  I'm not going to name it out of courtesy to all the wonderful, considerate people who may be or have family from this area.  

But here's our dilemma:  Out of lets say about 60 hosting experiences where we also live in that home, about 15 or so have been from this specific culture/country, as first time guests and every singe one of them we've had exactly the same negative experiences despite our efforts to improve upon communication. It actually got so bad where they just seem say f*ck your house rules we can act and live as we please to the point we've had to ask families to leave before their stay was over.  But then the same issue arise every time again and again, but only with this certain culture.   

There are quite a few issues, but the most common repeat offenses 1. Forgetting to lock the doors (ok that can happen to anyone once or twice but not every night for your 14 night stay), 2. Turning on every single light in our home, lamps, overheads, you name it and leaving them on when the go to bed or when they leave the home (weird and expensive but not a deal breaker as long as they stop doing this), 3. Cooking with grease and oils, but forgetting to use the overhead fans or opening the window so then our entire house reeks of stinky burnt oil, fish, meat etc. for weeks after they've left. We've tried large signs in the kitchen with arrows in their respective language nothing has helped with this one. (We undertand, this could happen maybe once or twice in visit, but not with the big signs and arrows, and for us and our home this is a more difficult situation since we are for the most part a plant-based eating family and sadly smell senstive, which we list online in our "about us" and "house rules") 4. So they won't open the windows when cooking but they love to open the windows and then running the ac or heat at full blast, and leaving it on high when they go out for the day. We have it set on a schedule with a sign that says please don't touch so this would stop happening but 9 times out 10 they change it even when repeatedly asked (this is rude and expensive), 5. Pulling out furniture and moving things around, leaving out dirty dishes and utensils, and then not cleaning or putting it back (inconsiderate), 5. Using up our food and spices specifically labeled and kept away from the shared areas (this is just really disrespectful). Three times now we caught different guests literally digging through a cabinet marked private and shaking and spilling bottles of oil and spices on the floor and not cleaning it up (yup), 6. Going into areas and rooms labeled private, 7. Just leaving a really disgusting big mess behind every single time (think poop on the toilet seats, dirty tampons, pee all around the floor, in the tub, rotten food under the beds, smeared stuff on the mirrors, bags of garbage in the bedrooms. We're not kidding, every. single. time.). Pretty intolerable at this point and we don't know what to do.

We are really generous and supportive of our guests, but it's starting to feel like we are being taken advantage of or just not communicating the house rules and expectations properly.  We've tried direct communication, communication through Airbnb, communication that is translated, and big signs in their respective language with arrows as reminders, taped off areas label private, do not enter etc. nothing has worked.  Our house rules and direct communication (even if it has to be translated) has always worked perfectly for all of our other international guests when issues have arisen but not this challenging group.

Has anyone experienced this?  Do we now start racially profiling and prohibiting any more guest from that specific culutre? Only accept folks with positive reviews and no first timers?   What are some other suggestions?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Wolf-Family0

Well the simpliest and cheapest solution would be to decline all their inquiries and simply don't host people from this country. Find some reason to decline them and that's it 🙂 But be carefull with declining booking requests , it could impact your search ranking.

Other, but expensive way would be to turn your house into smart house so you can remotely lock the doors, adjust the temperature, AC would automaticly turn off when windows are open etc.... I would love to have it ! Unfortunatelly smart house does not clean itself 🙂

There are cheap plastic wall thermostat covers with a lock so you can program the temperature and guests can not change it. I've seen it on ebay and intend to buy it.

If you don't want your guests touch, remove, use or change something then the best way is to tape it.

In the kitchen you could set fire alarm so if they don't turn on the hood then fire alarm will turn on. Or maybe unplug the stove and leave them just microwave owen and water cooker or do not allow kitchen use at all (depends if you live there or not) 

All hosts recommend to be present on check in and have a human profile picture . It seems it influences the guest's perception about you and your property.

We recently changed all normal light bulbs with LED ones which consumes little energy so we don't worry about lights any more.

To prevent overheating you can give your guests vey thick duvets in winter , and to prevent AC misuse in summer you can give them just a sheet as cover. 

To prevent them leaving windows open and doors unlocked tell them that there were several burgleries in the neighborhood so they should close it and lock it for safety reasons when they are not home or they are sleeping.

Do you think any of this ideas could help you?

[Andrea9]

@Wolf-Family0

Good advice from @Branka-and-Silvia0.

You're lucky, since it looks like non of your reviews are from any of these abnoxious guests.

Personally, I find your house rules very wordy, esp. to persons whose first language isn't English.

More concise and professional-looking would be using bullet points and instead of 'Please this and that' (sounding you hope this will be done), forumulating it clearly as a rule  'Shoes are not to be worn inside the house' (because you say so!)

I've also read that using tie-wraps to join handles of cupboards is also a way of locking them. Cutting through them would be like picking a lock, thus equalling theft. Having a guest record with their ID card no. (announce this check + registration in house rules!), also seems to give more leverage because guests know you have their personal data. And if there was ever any theft, you'd have something for the police report 🙂

[Wolf-Family0]

Thank you, that is good advice.  

[Wolf-Family0]

Yes, thank you that is all good advice.  The original question was regarding a location that I help with, so I wll pass along all of the suggestions. For my posting I will try and make the rules more clear.  Thank you. 

[Helen3]

Hi @Wolf-Family0

I am sorry this has happened to you.

I agree that your rules are quite long and complicated particularly for someone whose first language isn't English. I suggest you simplify them.

If you are guests are breaking your house rules, talk to them about this in person and follow up through Airnb messaging and let them know if it continues you will need to ask Airbnb to cancel their booking. This way if they continue to behave badly you can ask them to leave.

I have a house rules that guests shouldn't cook curries, fish or other strong smell foods as it is an open plan living/kitchen space and haven't had anyone break these rules including guests who are from outside of western countries.

They are only able to continue to break your house rules because you let them. Be prepared to take action to terminate a booking for guests who disregard your rules.

[Wolf-Family0]

Thank you.  We will par down our house rules. The hosting question is actually regarding a home that I co-host, not the one listed here.  But that's all good advice.

[Kate157]

I always put a small fridge, microwave, kettle and coffeemaker in the guest space. I do not allow use of my kitchen. You might try this. Phillips hue makes great smart lights that work well. You can control them from An app or from Siri or Alexa. That would give you the opportunity to either dim The lights very low, or turn them off completely remotely. The dimming feature is very nice, you could dim all the lights to 20% for example. I agree with the other advice given above, simply your rules, and state them as rules, not requests. Remind guests also that broken house rules are a cause for them to be removed from your house. 

[Wolf-Family0]

This is all good advice thank you.  I guest I felt shameful refusing guests from a certain culture, as blanket racism.