Dealing with and reviewing difficult guest

Rima4
Level 2
Oakland, CA

Dealing with and reviewing difficult guest

Hi, I'm new to the community forum and been hosting on Airbnb (fairly) problem-free for a few months - until now. My current guests called the weekend before their stay because they didn't realize their flight was 2 days earlier than planned and wanted to stay with us sooner. I told them we had a guest staying with us until the morning of their stay so they couldn't stay any earlier. I thought it was odd that someone wouldn't know their flight left TWO whole days before they thought it did, and really should have taken this as foreshadowing about the kind of neglectful, weird, and difficult people they turned out to be.

 

The morning of their stay I messaged them to confirm their 2pm check-in and was told that they could not do 2pm because the hotel they wound up staying in had a 12pm check out, and told me they will arrive no later than 1pm. They previously agreed to the 2pm check-in time, but because they got into town earlier, they made it seem like it was on us as hosts to solve their problems. Eventually she talked to the hotel and they easily extended their check-out time and they arrived here a little before 2pm.

It is about 73 degrees out here right now - really perfect weather, but they've been blasting the AC day and night. They haven't observed many of our house rules - including turning off the AC before they leave and cleaning up after themselves in the common areas. On their first day, they left the microwave dirty, food splatter all over our stove top, water and food bits on our counter tops and floors, and all the surfaces were sticky. They also left dirty clothes on our front porch. I spoke with them about cleaning up after themselves and received a passive agressive response about these being "small details". They've since been better about cleaning after themselves, but everytime they leave the kitchen it smells bad and there are crumbs and food bits everywhere.

 

Yesterday they called asking for darker colored sheets. When I asked if something happened to the bed linens I provided they responded by saying they "just prefer darker colors". Today they called me at work telling me I need to feed the cat because she is bothering them (the cat has an automatic feeder, and also the cat is in the listing - if you don't want a cat sitting with you in the kitchen then you shouldn't have booked with us). They also creep me out - they'll watch me me through the cracked open door of the guest room and when I see them doing it they'll quickly closing the door...this has happened about a dozen times now. I understand they're a little socially awkward, but this behavior is making me uncomfortable in my own home.

They're staying with us for another week and I'm strugging to endure them. They are messy, don't observe the house rules, and call me way too much about things they shouldn't even be asking about (dark sheets?? feeding the cat??), which feels like a waste of my time and energy. We've had pretty wonderful guests so far and this could be worse, but these people are weird and difficult guests. I need advice on how to set boundaries with them without making things even more uncomfortable, as well as how to leave an honest review. Because honestly, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone but going into details feels petty. Help!

6 Replies 6
Huaai0
Level 10
British Columbia, Canada

@Rima4

 

I have a similar situation so I feel lots of sympathy and empathy. I'm not sure I'm qualified to offer any advice, because I myself am struggling with this next review.

 

On Day one, this guest pulled the dish drainer far away from the sink and the water was draining and flowing on the counter top and down to the floor. Left food stains on the stove top after cooking. Left food waste in both sinks. 

 

On Day two, this guest used the egg cooker, and put it back without cleaning and drying it, so there was water and vapor in it which could cause rust. Used bowls as food containers in the refrigherator. 

 

On Day three, this guest left the stove on for hours unattended till I came home around 21:45 and found it. Talked to her in a polite manner and she had a lot to say.

 

Since Day 4, she had improved and then a couple of days later another thing annoying happened. She left my house for the weekend on vacation without closing the window in her room, and it rained one day. Luckily the rain was not heavy and the furniture and bedding just by the window were not affected. I sent her a message aking her next time to close the window if she was going to be absent for the night, and there was no apology. 

 

A couple of days ago, i discovered she the opened a closet she was not entitled to access. And the door was not closed properly. She also has very heavy foot steps on the staircase EVERY MORNING AND EVERY NIGHT NO MATTER HOW EARLI OR HOW LATE IT IT, making terribly loud pounding noise. She does not care about it AT ALL!

 

I think she is a nice person, and am not sure how to compose her review. However, I feel that its necessary to let her future hosts know what to expect from her. Really no ideas...

Sorry to hear about this guys! So frustrating when people ignore rules and just lack common courtesy! A recurring issue I have with people is they ignore my no smoking rules despite a big no smoking sign! My policy is to give fair warning - I'll mention politely the first time that it's against my house rules but mention something like "it's easy to miss in the information so I apologize if I didn't make it clear" so it can't be turned into a confrontation. That has always taken care of it for me in the past. I beleive it's important though to leave an honest review and mention these things when doing it. As a host, I have sympathy for others that have to deal with anti social behavior and often times these are the guests that leave the unreasonable bad reviews so ultimatley we need them off the platform. 

@Andy192 @Phyllis29 @Huaai0

 

Huai, sorry that you're dealing with a similar situation. Bad guests really ruin the hosting experience! I've had issues come up in previous hosting, but they were small and prompted me to be more specific in my house rules. So I took them more as learning lessons. This however, is purely difficult guests; it's not like I'm going to put "Must be comfortable with crisp light-colored sheets" as a house rule. 

 

I agree that this should be documented in my review and I do want to be dispassionate and factual. If anyone has additional suggestions on how to phrase negative reviews, please let me know!

Phyllis29
Level 3
Dallas, TX

They sound like perfectly awful guests. I know you are wary of posting a negative review of them, but other hosts really need to know what they are like.

 

I recommend being very specific and dispassionate in your review, and without judgement- let the facts speak for themselves.

 

Anyone seeing that they wanted different color sheets will get the idea. (That is super bizzare.)

Huaai0
Level 10
British Columbia, Canada

@Phyllis29@Rima4@Andy192

 

I'm really not sure how to write the review for this guest. She checked out earlier than the scheduled and is traveling. Aside from the unattended stove, window left open for three days while raining, she also left sooooooo much hair in her room, bathroom and underneath the dining table. She also rearranged furniture without putting back, and also left unidentified stains on the pillow cases. 

 

Should I just put "xxx stayed xxx nights" only as some hosts would do? Should I put "better suited for the hotel setting?" Should I thumb her down? I really don't know. Compared to those who trash your house, she was fine. But she was definitely among the most untidy and irresponsible guests I've ever seen, maybe the most untidy one. 

 

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Mairi16
Level 2
Portree, United Kingdom

I feel your pain you guys, I have one hour to leave a review for the guests from hell. From the get go I should have known better, they had no reviews but said they were seasoned Airbnb travellers ( I should have known, why no reviews then ?) I asked them to check my house rules before going ahead with the booking, no probs they said. From the moment of arrival they broke every house rule I listed and added a few more I never thought of such as leaving heaters on all day, putting food down the toilet causing it to choke up noodles, left filthy half eaten food cartons in the bedroom, used the electric kettle to cook food in ( I know you couldn’t make it up) and came down at check out time to say they needed to wait a couple of hours after check out to sort there travel arrangements out. No way hose! So instead sat in my driveway using my WiFi to sort out there plans.