Breaking house rules

Breaking house rules

Hi fellow Melbourne hosts

 

What are your thoughts on guests breaking house rules?

 

I have a guest who is staying for 9 nights and has a boyfriend in Melbourne. When booking she did not mention him, and I told her upon arrival no guests in the house, not even her boyfriend. It is in my house rules on my listing.

 

I come home and the toilet seat is up (we are both female) so he has been in whilst I was away (unless she was cleaning the toilet but I doubt it!)

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Kristie

29 Replies 29
Sara2
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

It happened to me too Kristi with my very first guest

i came home from a business trip to find the guest a tall massive man in my normal single bed with his "lady" as he called her 

he claimed ignorance of rules and I refused a three month extension 

 

You didn't kick him out straight away?

Deborah0
Level 10
California, United States

@Kristie0

 

You could confront the guest  in person about your sense that she was having someone else (presumably her boyfriend) over in violation of house rules,--- but it is very difficult, if you didnt' actually SEE the boyfriend or other person there, to do much about it, officially, such as evicting the guest for violating rules, using resolution center to seek payment for additional guest, or writing a review in which you state the guest had someone over in violation of your rules.  

 

Hosts are going to continually have this problem -- that hosts who are not there to be able to observe first hand who is in their home, are going to be victimized by dishonest guests who sneak in additional people.  See this post which goes into that issue:

 

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/Number-of-Guests-Booking-Suggestion-for-Airbnb/m-p/2...

 

Unfortunately, there seem to be a large number of dishonest guests, as this problem you are having has been  quite a common complaint of hosts, actually for  some time.  I have read about this problem for the last 2 years in the host group forums -- it seemed to me that the issue was brought up at least once a week by hosts. THe problem of guests bringing in extra people/visitors, who are not on the reservation, is I think the MOST common problem that hosts have who offer entire apartment/home listings where they dont' also live.  

 

Thus hosts need to decide what they will do about this issue. Some hosts may "drop by" unannounced, to see who is at their home. Some hosts will ask their neighbors to watch and report on who goes into their place.  Some hosts will put up surveillance cameras outside the listing so they can see who comes to the front door.  Some hosts will increase their nightly rate if they feel that they continually are hosting more people than the reservations have been booked for, and want compensation for the use of their space.  Some hosts will state in house rules that if guests bring in people who are not included on the reservation, their reservation is subject to immediate termination and forfeiture of all fees paid, as a way to try to deter this dishonesty.   Some hosts will throw up their hands and decide there is little they can do about dishonest guests.  Except maybe -- not rent to them again --- 

Lisa7
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Kristie0, is this an active booking? You have the right to cancel and kick her out immediately because she violated Airbnb rules. Your listing is a private room -- which means there has to be an even higher bar for trust and safety. 

 

You could bring this up with her and explain that you are renting a room in your house under specific conditions, and if she violates your trust again, you'll cancel the booking and she will forfeit her payment.

 

Does it make a difference to you whether he spent the night or just stopped by? It's reasonable for her to have him by for a few minutes, unless you are absolutely strict about who enters.

Leslie37
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Evening, why is it so hard to get help.

My rules are few but fair. only a whole apartment rental includes the kitchen, no drink of the guests or food to be consumed on the premises, and no guests without permission, so why is she cooking, got a fridge load of her stuff and a bloke downstairs? what do you suggest? i want to tell her to go.

thanks.

 

Nadeen0
Level 2
Carlton, Australia

Hi Kristie, I had the same thing happen to me just recently so I messaged our guest and  just restated the house rule of no unapproved visitors, She came to me and apologized and said she was unaware. She was only a young girl so I beleived she didn;t know but U did find it upsetting.

Then just yesterday I had a couple of girls leave another self contained studio and there was evidence a guy had been there (opened condom packet), along with evidence of drug use and they left the white dooner and sheets spotted with blood...gross and horrible,

Hi KRISTIE, 

Just wondering what measures did you take in regards to the guest who did drugs in your home and left blood stains? did you report to airbnb ? I ask because I had a guest who came with his boyfriend and upon leaving, there was a huge spot of blood on the sheets, it also touched the mattress pad cover and i contacted airbnb for compensation( still pending) hoping they can do something about it, on top of that he also broke a rule " NO SMOKING " in the apartment, now that he's left, im sure theres not much i can do about that. Just horrible

You can of course claim against the security deposit, as long as you report it within 48 hours of the guest departing. Take photos, etc..

I think air BnB homes are often a target for places to party and fornicate on the side- especially the 18-22 yr range- This creates a huge liability on our part as this is our home! ( think  of the horror when an angry husband arrives at your doorstep).As hosts I think we need to keep our hand in what the culture is and who it is for- respectable guests and hosts. I think we need to label these abusing folks so we all are aware of their style of staying and abusing the situation. Then we can refuse their stays and avoid this type of awkwardness.

I contact air BnB and request they flag this guests account. Also, give a bad review and confront them on their abuse. Eventually, air BNB will omit them from the community. I think some should maybe be suspended for periods of time.

lastly, I do think you can request air BnB rebook an unruly guest based on them breaking rules.

As hosts, it's up to us to help create a culture that shows respect to us- say no to the rudeness and request they get rebooked.

I know how you feel. I also had a guest who broke all the rules. One by one. He was only at my home for 4 days so I didn't say anything and I didn't inform AirBnB, and it ended up in a bad review from him, and a stern reply to that from me. I suggest you call AirBnB and let them know, they will intervene, and also prevent bad reviews from the guest (after all, who would do that after they've been 'talked to'). Best of luck. 

 

 Teri (And Aaron)   (software mysteriously doesn't allow a real tag...?)

 

 Four days is an awfully long time hosting somebody who breaks rules.

It would have been more professional to address him right after his first rule breaking. Unfortunately many characters are prone to constantly feeling out how far they can stretch somebody's boundaries. If a person (host) doesn't say anything, they're regarded as doormats in such people's minds and not respected in their authority as home owner/host  and slowly and painfully pushed against the wall.

Because so many hosts don't stand by their own rules it helps cultivate the arrogance of bad guests even more to become even worse guests. 

 

And too many of those timid hosts who suffered in silence to avoid a bad review then got burned anyway, as in your case.

 

 

Um....I know this....but thank you for your considerable effort and the time it took to voice your opinion.

Uh.... sorry... I guess! So many hosts come here for help after not daring to draw the line in the sand...

Couldn't have known you knew   🙂

I have been hosting for close to 4 years. I do know what I'm doing. I come here hoping for solidarity. And to share my views that guests are getting very bad... I have a guest at the moment who was removed from his first Airbnb booking because he ran around wearing a towel, in the home of three women who were offended by this. Airbnb gave him a credit dollars. Within half an hour of meeting me, he said some very inappropriate things, and if there wasn't also another big guy living here, who is a friend, I would also have had him removed. I let Airbnb know and said I was disturbed that they seem to be favouring bad guests.