Cockroaches and refunds

[Brian311]

We have a guests staying for about 2 weeks, half way through their stay they are complaining that there are cockroaches in the house. Our properties are on an island (tropical weather), therefore a cockroach entering the house is not unheard of, although we haven't had any complaints whatsoever this year.

They called this evening, after a series of  'coincidental series of events' that I wouldn't like to go through here...

In any case I explained that we have no control over cockroaches entering the house and that I can spray the house tomorrow morning. I feel there is nothing more to do. However the guests are indicating that they will probably leave tomorrow to go to a hotel and I'm assuming that they will request a refund.

I don't feel they are entitled to any sort of refund in this case, however I wanted to get some feedback.

What are your views?

Thanks!

[Zappa0]

I feel for you. I live on a tropical island in Florida and rent a boat. Roaches/Palmettos love boats. Lots of little places to crawl into and they like water (like the bildge).

I bomb the boats every couple of months to keep them at bay.  I didn't have any problems but one guest reported seeing some. Because it is very common, I didn't think twice about it. I moved her to the other boat, bombed the crap out of it and found absolutely nothing. Not a roach, a spider nothing.

The guest however was grateful for the action. She left an OK review and just mentioned the "bugs" on the boat in a private message. If you do nothing you will get a bad review. If you do something, you may be able to salvage the review - but no guarentees. Most people who don't live in tropical areas are totally grossed out by it. I was in a $450/night hotel here the other day (my friend had FEMA housing after the hurricane) and killed probably 4 or 5. That was a but much so we just told the older it is time again to "bomb it."

Work with them, and treat it as if they are being truthful. If they are, it will be good for the next guest. If they aren't, well you're place will be extra clean.

[Sarah977]

Good post. Personally, my experience living 16 years in the tropics is that when you start going the constant fumigation route, you actually exacerbate the bug issue. There is a balance of nature, and for the most part, if you leave things alone, the populations take care of each other. One kind of bug eats another kind of bug, or the bats or birds eat the bugs. My walls are full of geckos in the evening, gobbling up the bugs that are attracted to the light. It's quite fascinating to watch.

My neighbor decided to start killing all the geckos he found in his house because he was sick of wiping up the occasional gecko poo on the counters. A week later he was complaining about how bad the mosquitos were at his place. I live right across the street and had none.

Once an army of ants swarmed across my patio, over the outdoor dining table, through my kitchen and out the window. And I do mean an army- about a foot wide and a seemingly endless stream, like a biblical plague. They were just passing through- a half hour later they were nowhere to be seen.

I definitely draw the line at some things- a scorpion or cockroach in my house gets squashed immediately. Doesn't mean there won't be more tomorrow.

[Mihai9]

Hello everybody,

I rented a house on an island through Airbnb for a long term, 2 months, after first day, we found ants, like a lot of ants, I've sent the video to the host and told me to spray the house.

Ants are gone but found 2 huge cockroaches, same size as my thump, I told the host about them, he offered to use some syringe substance as this is a normal issue on the island. My wife is really horified by cockroaches, good that she did not see them, we are not used to have them, I normally don't have an issue with them, but those that I killed were huge. I don't want to move somewhere else now as it is really complicated to find something else now, especialy until mid January.

The house looks clean, still I don't want to stay here for 2 months were cockroaches are normal, maybe people which leave on an island are used to them, but we don't.

I already stayed for 2 weeks in two different hotels and haven't seen any cockroaches or ants.

My question is, will I be entitled to get at least some discount and a change of the reservation to end it in mid January, without paying for changes ?

Can somebody which had simiar complains tell how they were resolved by AirBnb ?

[Paul154]

@Mihai9

Depends how you define "entitled".

Airbnb may give you money back and let you shorten your stay, but that does not mean you are entitled. 

You are entitled to cancel now and get your remaining days' rent back, and perhaps get some discount.

But you are not entitled to the convenience of honoring your contract when you want during the high demand season, then leaving during the low demand season AND expecting to be paid for that convenience. That's mean.

You are either so bothered by **bleep** roaches that you move or you are not so bothered.  Decide.

[Mihai9]

I think you understood me wrong and you are seeing only from the host point of view.

Do please tell me where you could go on a touristic island, before Christmas and New Year eve. When everything is booked, you can imagine I booked this place a couple of months ago for a plan to stay 2 months, and now I find myself in a situation I do not want to be. I don't think anybody writes this in the description, "I rent my house on an island, it might have cockroaches, but do not worry, they are a normal thing on an island."

I don't like cockroaches, I might tolerate small ones, but those big as my thumb finger, no.

Still I apreciate your reply, it gives me a sense of understaning how the host might see this issue.

[Sarah977]

You should have done research on the area you were going to visit before booking a trip to a place where these kind of insects are endemic. It is not the host's fault that you didn't.

Bears and cougars are endemic to British Columbia. Should they all be shot so city folk from Toronto don't run into one when hiking the West Coast Trail?

[Ryan2201]

But they are outside where they're meant to be. Not inside the house. Try again

[David126]

My first thought for this situation arises when those who are not shall we say well travelled choose the wrong sort of accomodation.

Perhaps some where with staff on site would be better.

[Gillian19]

I am quite horrified by the comments a lot of hosts make about people being justified in getting a refund if there are a few cockroaches around. I live in Australia and have 3 properties that I rent out through Airbnb for holiday lets. If I was to give a refund every time someone spotted a cockroach or two I would pretty well make no money. Cockroaches are (unfortunately) part of life here and depending on the weather (they love it when it is hot and damp) they are almost impossible to prevent 100%. When guests then leave food out it just exacerbates the problem (and yes, it can happen overnight). It would appear from some of the comments on this subject that some hosts have never travelled outside of their home state and really need to understand that not everywhere is like their little bubble before commenting.

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

We have a lot of flies but screens keep them out.  No roaches.  Ants sometimes and once ants find a path they take advantage.  So I had two women from Brazil staying and I opened a cupboard to show them the supplies of coffee and tea and I was horrified to see an ant trail up to and into the sugar container (clear plastic).

The sugar was half ants and half sugar! 

I was grabbing everything out and apologizing profusely and wiping it all down and getting the bug spray out and the guests were like "it's fine, we're used to ants, that sugar is fine, we don't need a new container of it, don't worry, just leave it with us, we can use it." 

It's what you are used to or what you have been told to expect.  Manage their expectations ahead of time.

[Sarah977]

I have quite a few spiders at my place here in Mexico, all harmless and quite shy. I'm sure they find humans terrifying.

Just had a guest who came and asked if I could remove one that was on the ceiling above her bed (believe me, I thoroughy vacuum and scrub down every square inch of that room and bath within a few hours of each guest's arrival), she was afraid it would fall on her and said she has a spider phobia (not uncommon). There is a mosquito net, but she wasn't using it, as it's not mosquito season. I assured her they don't fall off the ceiling, but promptly got my vacuum cleaner and sucked it up.

She has traveled lots in the tropics, so didn't blame me in the least. Minor issue dealt with, happy guest, happy host.

[Jaquelynn0]

I have booked a month at a studio apartment (long-term cancellation policy) and there are cockroaches. I feel bad, because I can tell the owners cleaned the apartment, but if the building is infested, that doesn't have much effect. I don't think I'm overreacting... I have stayed in tropical places with a cockroach or two making an appearance over my two-week stay and it was no big deal.

But I wasn't expecting this in a apartment building in a suburb in the middle of winter. Furthermore, I've been in the place less than 24 hours and there's been 3-4 cockroaches already. Small ones but still.... I was expecting to cook my own meals in this place but I'm grossed out by the very thought of preparing food there.

The host has been so nice, I don't want to cause trouble for him. But I messaged him and asked to negotiate a shorter stay. I don't want to leave him in a lurch, so I even offered to stay and pay for the first 5 days. I think that's more than fair. But I definitely do not want to stay longer.

If he doesn't agree what should I do next? I want to be fair to the host. But at the same time, I can't stay there for a month.

[Elizabeth2946]

I would never book more than three days if possible to see if a place is acceptable… lesson learned. 

[Jaquelynn0]

Update: the host has offered to fumigate. I still don't want to stay. In addition to the bugs, there are noise issues (not just loud music or tv, but drunken shouting in the hallways at 4am). 

And for the hosts who are being so insensitive, some guests don't have another place to go at the last minute, and furthermore, you shouldn't just assume people aren't well-traveled because they aren't ok with cockroaches. I lived in Mexico and South Korea, and have traveled all over the world. I understand well the difference between a few cockroaches and a cockroach infestation. I am not stupid. Furthermore please be understanding that guests come from many parts of the world, many of which don't have cockroaches, so they may not be equipped to deal with them. If you weren't honest and didn't tell them cockroaches or other pests are an issue, then you can't blame them for leaving food out. A few cookie crumbs aren't going to be a problem most places, so tell your guests if it is going to cause problems.

[Jaquelynn0]

I'm giving this place another chance, but it would be lying if I said it didn't effect my stay. I was intending to cook my meals here, but I am worried about crumbs attracting the bugs again (there's no vacuum, only a broom so it's hard to clean effectively). So in the end, I feel do feel I was cheated, as I specifically rented a studio apartment so I would have use of a kitchen, but now do not feel the kitchen is usable.

Also hosts, to try and avoid this problem, why not buy ultrasonic pest repellers? They are cheap online, don't use chemicals, and though I've never tried them out against roaches, they worked miracles in scaring the spiders out of my parents' basement.