Bad Guest

[Chris1669]

I have been hosting since September of last year.  I have had mostly good experiences and get great reviews.  I have hosted long-term too.  

I have a guest who booked the room for the entire month of February.  It has been an uncomfortable situation since the start.  

My home allows smoking, as I am a smoker.  This is posted on the ad.  When the guest arrived, smoking was discussed; he disclosed that he had recently quit smoking and that he found cigarettes to be expensive in Canada.  

His second day, he complained the smoking was making him want to smoke.  I don't smoke in the common areas, but do smoke in my room.  I offered that I could go outdoors for some smokes, but was not going to go out everytime.  The winter has been treacherous here.  Need it be said, I shouldn't be asked to change my lifestyle for a guest.  He suggested that I ask him to leave.  Of course this would mean I would have to refund him.  

The next day, he complained agian, via an airbnb message.  Of course I responded simply stating this is a smoking unit, and he knew this when he arrived, as he brought up the conversation, and it is listed on my ad.

He then called airbnb the next day to complain to them.  Of course, they told him that the complaint is unsubstaniated.  Its a smoking unit.  

Since then, his behaviour has certainly been anything but respectful.  He wears his boots all over the apartment.  He does not put his dishes away.  He leaves spit and hoark balls in the bathroom sink.  He's torn the shower liner in the bathroom.  He has helped himslef to my food in the fridge, and he has even re-arranged the furniture (not necessarily a big deal, but I would have expected to be asked before someone starts rearranging furniture).  

Frankly, I've been made to feel like a guest in my own room, having to live around him.  He is booked until this upcoming Friday, but I am reaching the end of my rope with his disrespectful behaviour, and frankly his theft of my stuff.  

I want to send him an aribnb message and call this all out, but I worry his behaviour will only worsen.  It has only worsened since he first arrived, asked me to ask him to leave and complained to airbnb, but was unsuccessful.

Any thoughts on how to deal with this, and how not to end up taking a loss.  

Becaue I live here also, I am not sure I want to keep hosting anyone.  Its a terrible experience to be made uncomfortable in your own home by someone who clearly has no respect for your property and your home.  

Thanks for anyone's feedback, in advance.  

[Kath9]

@Chris1669, call Airbnb immediately and ask them to cancel the booking. They may refund the guest (as they generally take the guest side) but hopefully you can rebook at least some of the time. If you do decide to continue hosting, do short term bookings only as long term bookings  seem to cause a lot of problems with hosts.

[Donna519]

I Agree with Kath, contact Airbnb authorities and have this disrespectful person out of your unit as soon as possible.

More importantly, document yourself (photos) of his poor cleaning skills or behavior to help raise your case with Airbnb.

Airbnb is all about community and usually very fair - this person may not be refunded and asked to leave imediately.

Bottom line, you should not feel that way in your own home, no money is worth this, have him out ASAP, money side is secondary.

Good luck! 

[Sarah977]

@Chris1669  Ditto what the other hosts have said. As someone who hosts a private room in my home, I set a 2 week maximum stay from the beginning of my hosting. I've been lucky to get wonderful guests, but if I got someone who was objectionable, I sure wouldn't want to be stuck with them for a month.

[Rebecca181]

@Chris1669 I learned long ago as a host to never allow fear of a guest's retaliation to prevent me from doing what I must do to feel safe and comfortable in my own home. Therefore, I agree with all the other hosts here. Have Airbnb cancel the reservation so you can relax and breathe in your own home again. Courage!

[Robin488]

Airbnb will definitely refund the days not stayed. I had a group book for 10 in my entire home listing. We monitor the start of the stay with outside cameras(it states this in our listing) .  Cars kept coming and all of a sudden there were 29 - 20 somethings at my home. Needless to say I called Airbnb and had them evicted immediately, and even though I lost $500 for a weekend booking, paid $200 for a reclean and maintenance visit to secure the house they refunded the guest money.  I was able to recover the costs for the cleaning and maintenance but I don’t agree if the guest is evicted for breaching the booking contracts they should be refunded.