Do you let guests receive mail?

[Huma0]

I have seen other threads on this subject, but dealing more with scams and fraudulent activity conducted by guests, e.g. regisering businesses, bank accounts, social security  etc. at the host's home. Of course, those are situations we all want to avoid (I have been the victim of a large identity fraud involving the postal service), but I want to talk about guests receiving mail in general.

Do you allow it? If not, how do you stop guests from doing it?

I have in my house rules (which I ask all guests to confirm they have read) that guest must NOT give out my address as a mailing address (but that long-term guests can ask permission first). I do understand that if someone is staying with me for months, they may need to receive some mail within reason, but I cannot allow short term guests ( I host around 150 people a year) to give out my home address.

Many companies will spam you forever regardless of how many times you return to sender. Only today, I got a letter addressed to a girl who stayed for two days in December 2016 and never asked permission to give out the address. When I emailed her asking her to get it removed from that mailing list, she first claimed that I had messaged the wrong person and then, when I confirmed her full name, that it still had nothing to do with her. How else did her full name + my full address get on the letter then?

I have had numerous guests receive mail at my house, often concert or football tickets, but also packages of varying descriptions. If they ask permission at all, they usually ask after placing the order, so they are not really asking, just letting me know so that I can be their concierge service! I have also had demands for payment sent by FedEx which the guest lied about and I had to sort out myself.

A current guest, who is staying a month, casually told me the first day that he would be getting his groceries delivered to the house. When I reminded him that he wasn't supposed to give out my address, he seemed shocked and asked what he was supposed to do about his Amazon orders. I reluctantly agreed he could order things from Amazon, but nowhere else (as Amazon don't tend to send spam mail). Since then, he's had numerous packages arrive from different companies. I can only imagine how many years I'll be receiving mail for him after he leaves. My other guest, who is staying six months, had six enormous boxes delivered after she arrived (I'm talking the size of suitcases). She did ask permission and said she would be sending them to China within one or two weeks. Two months later, I had to ask her to please have the boxes shipped back.

How can I stop this? I tell them no, but they do it anyway. I am thinking of adding to my rules: "Any unauthorised mail received will immediately be returned to sender or destroyed." Is that too harsh? And what if it still happens? It would be difficult to follow through on this without causing a big drama!

[Rajan2]

@Huma0 This is a great thread on the issue of mail and packages. Thank you everyone for sharing. Having an issue with current requests and getting clarity to help our booked guests while weeding out potentials guests mistaking us for a postal service.😎

[Anna9170]

@Huma0  My guests don't have such requests, because I have daily rent. But, to be honest, if I as a guest booked accommodation for a period of about a month (you rent your airbnb long-term, if I understand correctly), it is very important for me to be able to do online shopping and receive delivery from Amazon, Zara, etc. 😋. 

[Huma0]

@Anna9170 

I don't have a problem with Amazon so much because Amazon doesn't tend to send endless spam through the letter box, but if a guest intends to do a lot of online shopping, they can easily use Collect+ or a similar service, where they can have the items delivered to a local store, as all of the big online retailers offer these kinds of options now.

Of course, if someone is staying long term, I'm willing to let them have a bit of shopping delivered, but unfortunately, some people take it too far, like the guy who was receiving five packages a day from different companies. I work from home and my listing does not include a concierge service where I have to constantly leave my desk to sign for people's packages! The guest doesn't think they need to be at home as they expect me to be.

So, you have to have a rule in place to avoid these types of situations but also, because you don't always know what type of mail guests will be receiving (I am not opening it obviously), to avoid more serious situations.

I agreed to let a guest have Fedex deliver a new credit card as she had forgotten hers at home. Mistake. After the guest left, Fedex started sending demands for payment. The guest wouldn't deal with it so I had to, otherwise I could have ended up with bailiffs kicking down my door. I know that Fedex are extremely aggressive when it comes to collecting payments, even if they are small.

Another one had her new passport sent to my house after she left, because she just thought it would be more convenient. The passport then went missing in the post for one month during which time she was constantly calling me in a panic about it and also implying that maybe one of my other guests had taken it.

Another guest was allowed to use my address for her bank account/credit card because she was staying so long and seemed like a reliable person. Mistake. Not only did I continue to receive letters from the bank for months after she had left the country (even though she had promised to have the address changed the minute she left), but she even let her cousin, whom I had never even met, use my address for a visa application! That's not okay.

I rent out rooms in my own home. The Airbnb guest is getting the room, plus any facilities mentioned on the listing. They are not buying the right to use my home address for whatever purpose they feel like and to give it out to whomever they feel like.

[Carmen802]

I have a guest arriving on Sunday who wants to use my address so that her family can write a letters to her.  Sheis staying for 30 nights from the US.  My first thought was by the time th letters arrive her stay will be over - and who writes letters these days if you can speak to your family on th phone for free?  It sounds dodgy to me.

[Huma0]

@Carmen802 

Sorry, I just saw this. What did you do in the end? Did you let the guest receive letters?

[Rajan2]

@Anna9170 We aren't really concerned with delivery of items or food deliveries when the guest is there to receive them. This is specific to accepting mail without the host knowing this is taking place. 

[Anna9170]

@Huma0   I understand you, with so much negative experience, of course there is no doubt about the guest mail.
I had one time, a guest asked if it was possible to specify an address for Amazon, there was some book that could not be delivered to the pick-up point. Of course, the guest was waiting for the courier, this was not my problem, because I rent a separate apartment. By the way, I wrote this phrase and realized that I would not allow mail to guests if cohabitation, because delivery in Spain is such a separate PAIN, I will not spam in this topic.😆
So, it was an adequate request and once, so I have a positive attitude. But I completely agree with you that guests mostly consider themselves people from another planet, who can do anything for the cost of apartments.
Often have to re-read the brilliant post of Utah (sorry, don't remember the spelling of the nickname for sure) where she is awesome and teaches how to say NO.😎

[Huma0]

@Anna9170 

Yes, Ute is definitely the expert on the how to say NO to guests topic!

I understand that in some countries or locations, receiving mail is not so straightforward, but here guests have so many options to collect not only packages, but mail, locally. Perhaps it's a bit more hassle than having it sent to the house, but I don't think it's an unreasonable request. It's often the quickest way to get it because then they don't have to wait in or arrange a redelivery if they miss the package. Unfortunately, they seem to think that I will be waiting in instead.

Yes, this topic was about mail but also about deliveries. The guest who had several packages arriving every day was disrespectful of my rules in many other ways and I was annoyed at myself for making an exception for him, which he then totally took advantage of.

[Rajan2]

I just wish the guests were educated better by Airbnb. They aren't taught anything except put in your payment and leave a review (positive or negative).

[Anna9170]

@Rajan2  If the guest knows how to do this, it's not bad)

[Rajan2]

@Anna9170 agree. We have great guests all the time. They receive their packages and never ask us to do more than they themselves would not want to do at their home. We have been educating ourselves on how to prevent guests from staying who might want a hotel experience - hence the reason for reading this thread. For a hotel-type experience, we recommend they stay at a hotel where the hotel will gladly go above and beyond with mail and deliveries. Of course, they would also being paying a resort fee for such experience, but that is usually a better place for those guests who wish to have 24/7 attention with a highly-trained hospitality staff who is there at a moments notice. 

We love hosting guests who we could be friends with and love learning about our guests. 

[Anna9170]

@Rajan2  I honestly don't understand why one or two orders from the Internet for a guest is a "hotel service"). Here's a round-the-clock eat my brain is another thing.
I had a guest who used up a few days ' supply of trash bags and a pack of toilet paper, and asked where to get a new one. I said at the supermarket. The guest who is booking an apartment should understand that this is self-reliance, not a hotel and cleaning every morning.
He also asked me why I don't have specific medications, he has a problem with his knees and tendons, and I also advised him to go to the nearest pharmacy.
In such cases, the guests needs a reception 24/7 , and mail is the smallest problem for me))

[Huma0]

@Anna9170 

Some of the examples I gave above (the guy who received up to five packages a day, the girl who used my address for her cousin's visa application) were long term guests, but actually, I haven't had many issues with long-term guests receiving mail as they just have the occasional bit of shopping delivered and this girl was the only one that opened a bank account/credit card using my address as far as I am aware. The vast majority of long-term guests still realise that this is an Airbnb, not their permanent residence and respect that.

The main problem was with short-term guests, whom I still hosted when I started this thread, and there we are talking about this "guest expecting hotel type concierge services without having to pay for them" type. They "ask" if they can receive such and such, but actually they are not asking at all because the mail or package is already on the way, sometimes due to arrive days before the guest. They are TELLING me to make sure I will be home to receive their package. I'm sorry, but I don't remember offering that service on my listing!

This is the same type of guest that arrives with a load of dirty laundry and expects to do it here for free, or who uses a whole bag of sugar in two days and expects me to run to the shop at 10pm because they want white sugar, not brown. Or, they expect you to run to the pharmacy late at night because they want a particular type of plaster and none of the five varieties in your first aid kit are good enough. Or, they want extra, extra virgin olive oil because that's what they prefer on their salads. Or they want to store their cases at your place for two days for free and get angry when you have a work meeting because you should be there at the precise time they would like to collect it. I could go on and on...

[Rajan2]

@Anna9170 it might be better understood when I explain the US Post office mail versus FedEx/UPS deliveries. With FedEx and UPS deliveries, those packages can be tracked by the guest so I do not need to worry that they will pick them up. If they order a package of goods, those packages are delivered and picked up by the guest. If they miss the package, it becomes very difficult and expensive to return ship, store and manage for the host. Those companies do not want the packages back unless I pay full price to return or re-route them. Full price starts at 25 dollars for me to ship back. 

For the US Post office. This is a very different story. It is considered a felony for anyone including myself to accept mail that is NOT in my name. It does not matter that the address is listed as mine. If the mail does not have my name on it and I start handling it, this becomes problematic. I do not want to be in a situation where I have to manage someone elses mail - EVER. It's a federal mandate and if the guests do not have residency, they cannot legally send mail to the address either. This gets into a discussion of me receiving their mail after they leave the airbnb and what I need to do to return the mail. If the mail was sent to this address, I begin to get phone calls and mail from the originator of the mail trying to track down the mail and the pain point that is missed in this thread really goes deeper and deeper into a discussion of never wanting to host again.