Back to back reservations cause for concern?

[Anthony608]

I brought this up on another thread, but wanted to revist the issue now that the guests are actually on my property.  Its a complicated situation, so here goes

1) Female guest booked a room with herself and one guest for 20 days

2) Right after the first booking, a male booked himself with one guest for twenty days

3) It turns out, after asking both some questions, they are guests of eachother.  The female has as the second person the male who then, at the 21 day point, then starts his own booking for 20 days with the original female as *his* guest

4) I went into my Airbnb account after talking about this orignally and gave a one day block off window between bookings to stop this from happening again

5) BUT- the end result of this is that these two people will be in the property for 40 days, yet they split it with two reservations between the two of them for 20 days a piece.  The second guest on each booking is also unnamed (just a generic grey head and the word "guest") although they admitted to me the plan was to do back to back reservations and stay 40 days

I am getting very wary of this and I think they might be getting ideas to simply stay in my property after the 40 days.  The female even made an off handed remark that they might need to stay until March.  Am I protected here or should I take action right now before thsi goes any further (they have been here fior one week so far).

[Lynette57]

Hi @Anthony0 If I were in your shoes I would immediately jump on to my calander and block the next 5 days from the end of their booking so that they will have to move out and you wont have to have them back in unless you want too

[Sandra856]

That's a great idea, @Lynette57 ! 

[Sandra856]

Hi @Anthony608 🙂

Did they instant book? If they did you can cancel the upcoming reservation calling airbnb telling them you feel umcomfortable with the guests without being penalized. It could also be that the guest haven't thought about that it could be a problem that they stay for a long time. Maybe they just split the cost between them that way. You can always put an maximum of the lenghts of stays if you want to. Also follow your guts. Do you think they want to cheat you in any way? Do you think the lady would tell you about staying til May if she thought it would be a problem for you?

Best, Sandra 

[Sarah977]

@Anthony608  I think you should contact Airbnb, explain the situation and tell them you're not comfortable with the bookings, as they are trying to circumvent your maximum stay, and ask them to cancel with no penalties to you. I believe this is what you were advised by a few hosts when you originally posted about this. 

Also, you can require guests to upload a real profile photo.

[Ben551]

@Sarah977  can you require guest companions to upload real profile photos?  He was talking about the second guest on each booking being a generic grey head.  I didn't know it was possible to require guests to put pictures up of their whole party.

[Clara116]

@Anthony608 this sounds scary familiar to me....I had a guy that wanted to book max days and more... I asked for photo of him and what brings you to Pensacola....turns out he said he was homeless  lived here in Pensacola and wanted a place for him and a girlfriend....the photo was really telling with a cigar and i immediately blocked days off .....so I wrote sorry...can't help u....no smoking property and wished him well. Immediately he began threats with a lawyer and I was discriminating with smoking.. I called Airbnb, they said he didn't have proper information with them...they blocked him so I didn't get any more threats. He was probably gonna be a squatter and so glad it turned out the way it did. So when in doubt Don't host them!!! 

[John1080]

@Anthony608, I once had a situation similar to this. Both had just signed up for Airbnb, both were from towns that had the word 'Spring' in their names and they were back to back. It seemed too odd to me to be a coincidence. I denied both and contacted Airbnb, and was told that both had confirmed their IDs and both were legitimate. I'm still glad I denied both because it seemed a bit too fishy to me. 

[Anthony608]

Thank you everyone, espeically @Sarah977 and @Clara116.  Part of me is being paranoid as the guests have been nothing but polite and courteous, I rarely see them, and when I do they keep to themselves.  I am mainly investigating what my rights are if something *should* happen.  I had another long conversation with the county government this morning and it looks like, becuase of the unusual nature of how they split the reservations between two people at 20 days a piece, they are not covered by landlord-tenant laws.  Most everyone has told me that on day 41, when they are both supposed to be completly gone, just go into the room and clear it out and if they are still there, tell them to leave.  If they won't, or even worse if they try and stop me from cleaning the room, get the police involved.  The police (I've talked to them twice) have been very hesitant to tell me anything since nothing has happened yet, but the county believes it would be a clear case of trespassing and assault if they stayed in my home and then tried to physically stop me from cleaning out the room.  Thank you again for your comments!

[Sarah977]

@Anthony608  It sounds like these guests aren't sending up any red flags apart from their strange booking scenario. If they are polite and courteous, and not breaking any house rules, there's no reason at this point to assume or be fearful that they'll try to overstay. 

But make sure to send them an Airbnb message the day before check-out just reminding them of the checkout time.

[Clara116]

@Anthony608 How goes the situation? Sp glad you are aware of the tenant laws - in my state - after 14 nights guests are tenants....most pppl think its after 28/30 days, every state and place is different with different ordinances/laws. One thing you mentioned in a post above was you would go in and clear out their stuff - make sure you DO NOT TAKE ANY OF THEIR THINGS outside the house. I know of one host that did that recently of some druggies/meth heads  stuff and they HOST was shut down immediately. They delisted her property. It is against the law to remove anyones stuff  - even with an eviction, YOU can not throw their stuff outside / I don't know the laws  rulings for packing and storing stuff??  Anyway, my father was a wild man BUT he did instill one peice of advice "When in doubt - DON'T" 

hope this all turns out fine for you. keep us posted. Best, Clara

[Anthony608]

@Clara116- excellent advice, thank you.  If it comes to that, I will put thier belongings in a tot by the front door and not throw anything outside.

[Clara116]

@Anthony608 forgot to ask.....why are they in your city??? what are they doing in the day time?? 

You said she mentioned/ slipped we might need to stay till March - THAT is THE RED FLAG - if they don't know if they MIGHT need to stay here and its January -????? Sorry @Sarah977 that flag is looking red to me!  I hope I am wrong, truly. 

[Anthony608]

@Clara0 - At this point I think they are 85% legit with only a 15% chance of being up to something.  They are apparently getting married and are trying to start up a life in the somewhat costly DC area.  The male has some type of job, is gone everyday, and I have hardly ever seen the female.

After numerous conversations with the county, the good news is that Airbnb is right - since they split the reservations they are only guests for 20 days a piece.  As long as they don't establish residency (getting mail at the property, certified written request for maintenance, or a lease) the woman is technically checked out and gone at the end of this month.  The male is supposed to leave in mid February, and if the woman were in the home after that, as far as the authorities are concerned, she would be an intruder - essentially someone who had an Airbnb reservation in January who then broke back into my home a few weeks later.  As for the male, the second he crosses the threshold on checkout day, he is technically out of the home.  I have the ability to change lock key codes and also could shut off the power and water to the room, both of which I would do in an instant if they tried to stay in the home.

Then of course, if at any point during this either puts thier hands on me, be it to force thier way back into the home or to stop me from entering the guest room after checkout, it is assualt.  So, it looks like I will be okay.  I will say at this point I think they are just two people trying to find a place to stay and not up to any evil.  But- I will keep the group informed.

[Sarah977]

@Clara116  Yes, I hear you- that did jump out at me, too, but since Anthony says they are being polite and respectful, I was assuming they would speak to him well ahead of time if they wished to stay longer and he could just say it wasn't possible.  But of course I could be totally wrong, maybe they're the type who know how to appear totally nice and non-threatening while plotting some scam.