British men not following house rules

Janna25
Level 2
Stockholm, Sweden

British men not following house rules

I've hosted people from all over the world, however I'm noticing a trend here. All guests have followed the house rules and left the place nice and tidy. But all bookings made by brittish men that have travveld with their fiends hav not followed the rules, there have been heavy drinking, they have been throwing up, peeing all over the bathroom floor and disturbing the neighbours. i have hosted other companies with only male guests from alot of different countries and also companies with both males and females from the UK without problem. Have anyone else had the same experience? When I travel myself I've noticed that brittish guys are quite keen on alcohol and they party like crazy, but so does alot of other natiobnalities that I have hosted without problems. Is it just bad luck that all 4 companies with men only from the UK disregards the rules and makes a mess. I might stop allowing direct bookings due to this.

9 Replies 9
Julie143
Level 10
Princeton, NJ

Are they there for bachelor parties (AKA stag parties)?

 

 

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Janna25 

after some time we can see the pattern and realize it can't be just a coincidence.  But it mostly depends on the location. We in Zagreb don't have such problems but on the island, Pag is a different situation, it's party destination.

Unfortunatelly young people from the UK and Ireland, regardless of gender, are known for excessive alcohol use.

 

You can turn off instant booking option but you will have to be careful with declining booking requests because discrimination based on gender, age or nationality is not allowed on Airbnb. And also, if you decline too many requests your search ranking will suffer.

 

I would try to put a title and description which will be unattractive to this type groups. Add words like a romantic, quiet neighborhood, video surveillance, you live next door and work as a police officer ;D I didn't look at your pictures but maybe some feminine decor would turn off male groups from booking. 

 

Maybe you could also try VRBO, it seems there are more middle-aged and elderly guests while Airbnb has younger clientele.

 

Ian-And-Anne-Marie0
Level 10
Kendal, United Kingdom

@Janna25 

Not all British Males are the same. 🙂 However, if I were you I would definitely put some restrictions in place or insist on communicating beforehand to establish reasons/motifs for travel. Even we wouldn't want to mix with many British Males abroad.

 

We host many British groups here in the UK and many -  even all male groups - can surprisingly be really great, but even so in general we (they) have so much arrogance and expectations that they need to be kept on a very short leash. This might be difficult for foreign cultures to evaluate, and you shouldn't need to, but it's true.

 

As far as I'm concerned you should discriminate against British Male travellers because in my experience we (they) deserve it, despite ABB policy.

 

Even as British (UK) hosts we know pretty much how groups from different parts of the UK will behave and have learned to accomodate accordingly, right from the very first contact communication.

 

We also find foreign guests equal, if not better behaved and curteous than the many great UK guests we do actually host here.

 

The sorts of guests you have had to encounter are an embarrasment to Britain and the UK and should be tagged at such via ABB. ABB fail totally in this as no insistance of a full guest register is made and it would be a great benefit to all hosts if they did this in etail to prevent such negative experiences by hosts and the root of discriminatory actions.

 

There have never been any problems with brittish couples. But these seem to be proffessionals aged 25-35. Very polite in communication etc but have good reviews. In order to book with me you (if you book my intire apartment) you need a picture, verifierat id-care, recommendations from other hosts. Ive written in the description that patties are not allowed. My experience when Travelling is that brittish men are very polite but when they drink I stay away. Usually I only decline very Young companies. My place is 10 min from

the center of Stockholm with a nice backyard with a Jaccuzzi, the place is very modern and cool actually and I live here myself, i mostly just let one room and then its never a problem. I have the lost amazing guests and hang out with them alot when I have time. I really live hosting and the partying have only happend 4 times. Same type of guest everytime.

Mike1034
Level 10
Mountain View, CA

@Janna25 I strongly suggest that Airbnb to enforce some types of penalty/fine when a guest breaks certain house rules

(1) No parties and events

(2) No smoking

(3) No criminal behaviors such as stealing, drugs

 

You may put a fine in your house rules just to warn the guests who tends to break the house rules. In addition, you can do

(1) Read reviews given by hosts and any guests reported with issues, you may want to reject their booking request

(2) Send messages for new guests who have no reviews to stress the house rules.

(3) Take photos with timestamp for the damages or mess left by guests and make a claim in resolution center.

 

 

@Mike1034  Airbnb does not enforce penalty fines, even if you put them in your rules. If you discover before the end of a stay that a guest has broken the rules, your main recourse is to terminate the booking. Airbnb does not usually side with the host for claims that don't involve physical damage, with some exceptions (there's a set amount you can charge for overstays, and a small fee you can impose for smoking in non-smoking properties).

 

Another problem with threatening a fine is that it weakens the rule that it's meant to strengthen. I'd compare it to parking violations:  if the risk is a fine, unruly parking is just a gamble, but if the risk is having your car towed away it's not worth it.  With that in mind, the only penalty measure I can recommend stating in the rules is:  "Any violation will result in immediate termination of this booking."

@Anonymous I agree with you. But when you terminate the booking, it is hard to execute. 

 

(1) The booking contract is for the entire period booked. It is very hard to let the guests go once they are in the house. 

(2) You cannot cancel the reservation early, otherwise, you will get penalty. If you ask Airbnb to terminate, they ask you to refund any unused portion to the guests.

 

If you just want to be more effective for threatening purpose, I would suggest change it to "Any violation will result in immediate termination of this booking without refund". 

@Janna25  When I lived in the UK I would deliberately spend extra hours at my workplace to avoid walking home at the time when all the pubs closed. Of course there are binge-drinking cultures all over the place, but Britain's somehow feels more aggressive and competitive. I wouldn't say it's limited by age or gender, though I can certainly understand having extra wariness of groups of young men.

 

If you'd rather risk lower occupancy rates than deal with more pee and vomit, turning off Instant Book would be a good start. The initial correspondence with the guest is a much better indicator of what you can expect than the nationality, age, gender, etc.  

 

Also, you mentioned that rules were broken but the only clear rule I can see on your listing is "no shoes inside."  I'd suggest using more clear and specific language. Instead of "don't be too noisy,"  state which times are quiet hours (no amplified music, etc.). Instead of "take care of the place" (which doesn't really mean anything), communicate the cleaning tasks you expect guests to do before checkout (e.g. clean bathroom surfaces, wash dishes, remove trash). Instead of "no parties," state unequivocally that no unregistered guests are permitted to enter the property - and if necessary, back that up with video surveillance of the exterior door. Reinforce the "no smoking" with an instruction for the nearest place that guests can smoke outside the property.

 

You might also find it better for you or a co-host to personally check the guests in and out, rather than relying on the smart lock. That signifies that there are eyes on the house, and that it might be inspected before the guests depart. As long as you're renting a whole flat with a hot tub, you're going to get some hard-partying guests, but there's no reason you can't guide them toward leaving the place in good condition and mopping up their own pee.

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

While there's some truth to my fellow countrymans' alcohol consumption (see today's Metro), I think it's a little ott to throw us all under the bus simply because we're British.

It's a fact that some citybreak destinations have become well-known (with little pushback from their councils) for pushing booze as their usp. Of course, add a lo-cost airline from UK regional airports and you've got a recipe for possible disaster.

I think vetting is your best chance of avoiding things getting messy and not taking bookings from 'ladz' groups maybe the answer. 

As for the drinking culture here, there's areas I'd stay away from on a Thursday night (Liverpool St/the City etc) because, as @Anonymous says, there's a competitive streak amongst some (City financial services for one group) who quite literally want to see who can drink who under the table.

 

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