Do you take guests who are local residents?

Deborah0
Level 10
California, United States

Do you take guests who are local residents?

 

This is an interesting question that has come up on the host community groups from time to time, so I thought I would ask it here again to see what responses we get this time.  Do you take guests who are local residents? Meaning, they are people who live in your city, or in a nearby city.  If you get a local person inquiring, how do you respond?  Are there any specific questions you would have for them, that you would not generally ask other guests who were not local residents?  Would you have any specific concerns?  If you were "on the fence" about taking such a guest, what would allay your anxieties? If you would not consider taking a local guest, could you say why?  If it does not matter at all to you where your guest lives, let us know what reason you have for that approach.  

 

61 Replies 61

We rent rooms in our house and I don’t like to accept local guests for the mere fact that they could come back at any time when we aren’t home. We have a lot of valuables. 

Andraea0
Level 2
Fort Lauderdale, FL

I have had a bad experience with locals and was even told by Airbnb support that many locals are looking for places to do drugs, which was the case i had.  I usually ask for the purpose of their stay and if they say something very non-specific that is a red flag!!!

Lori277
Level 2
Salt Lake City, UT

Absolutely not! After finding heroin and even overhearing a drug deal I certainly don't host locals who are often homeless and addicts. However if you have an expensive rental you can probably price this type of person out. 

Sandi48
Level 9
Los Gatos, CA

My Husband and I host a property that's  close to a popular  beach vacation spot.

Probably half of our guests live  not more than 60 miles away.  I would be foolish not to accept locals  here. I can understand why many hosts are carefull about hosting locals. I'm blessed to not have that as an issue. 

Pete69
Level 10
Los Angeles, CA

Why would you want to reject local guests? 

I've had a guest who was having their home fumagated, I've had guests who were renting their home out on Airbnb, and I've had guests who were just wanting to stay near the beach for a mini-vacaton. Others I'm not even sure why they were staying.

Kevin1056
Level 6
Los Angeles, CA

If you have instant book you have no choice... I have security Cameras so I montior locals closely. Its a Red Flag. I had a Local guy once want to book a 7 bedroom house for Him his wife and 2 kids and then they asked if they could have access to the guest house as well. It didnt go well from that point, i ended up cancelling the reservation after he decided to Cuss me out and tell me about his extensive MMA experience. 

 

Maxine3
Level 3
Plymouth, United Kingdom

I think a useful rule is to say no to anyone who hasn’t got a home to go to - in case they won’t leave!

 

I have accepted local people WITH homes to go to however I am wary as they can bring plenty of complications.

My worst couple was several years ago, not long after I started. Their house was flooded badly and they had been moved into temp accommodation whilst the insurance job was undertaken. The job ran over by 3 weeks and they asked to come to me, at a good discount, as they were local.  I met them, very nice, all seemed fine.

Went back the next day and all the shutters were barred at the windows and the curtains were closed floor to ceiling, in summer. Guests would not answer the door. I asked about the weekly bed and linen-change day via messaging and was told no thank you. Guest said they would do the washing. I protested, to no avail.......

this went on for 23 days. When they left the place had been occupied by a cat, amongst other things. Bathroom was mouldy. White Towels were now slightly pink. I believe they had actually moved all their furniture out of paid storage and kept it stacked up in my apartment for the duration. This was a massive health and safety risk and a huge fire risk in a listed building! 

Plus it was very cheeky. 

 

When I get wedding groups I can understand that some guests will be from nearby. E.g the bridesmaids all getting ready together in a special place. 

Weekend ravers are not welcome! I don’t do 2 nights as I don’t want people just getting wasted, getting up late and then leaving everything in disarray when they depart. One issue with local people is the “all back to mine” mentality where they can’t wait to show off the apartment to others and the party comes back to the house. Then suddenly other local people are wandering in and out, clutching my keys, to get a takeaway or beers .... then staying over in the 3rd bedroom ....

So, once again I have beefed up my house rules and started being more security conscious, as one thing often leads to another. 

The best thing is to find out why they need it if possible and then mention you are always nearby! 

It is hard to get the hang of hosting guests. I do about half my business on Airbnb so have hosted around 600 trips of 3 days or more in the last 5 years. Some have been for a few weeks at a time.

It is a sort of sixth sense that makes me question people about their trip. However I always do it nicely! Me: “Will you be bringing a vehicle? If so, I will allocate you an off road space :)” answer: “Yes we will be driving down...” Me: “ I notice you have only mentioned one guest on your booking....”

- Ha!

etc etc. You live and learn! 🙂

 

Ann489
Level 10
Boise, ID

@Deborah0 

Several of our neighbors regularly book our Airbnb for their family member who are coming from out of town to visit.   Otherwise, I am very cautious with locals who are wanting to rent our space--especially, if it looks like they are just looking for a crashpad after night on the town.  I know this may sound discrimatory, but age plays a factor in this as well;  I tend to ask a LOT of questions and if I don't like the answers then it's a 'no-go'.   😉

George724
Level 2
Vallejo, CA

Today I found heroin stuff in two of the upstairs bedrooms.

 

We normally rent out the full house and get great guests.  When the house doesn’t rent, I open up individual rooms.  Last year, I’d say 99% of our individual room guests were wonderful people... travelers looking for a budget friendly place to stay or people who have come here to work and need a temporary place to stay.

 

This year, I have noticed a SHARP decline in the quality of our individual guests. In fact as soon as I see someone wants to rent and they’re local, I get an uneasy feeling.  

 

Today takes the cake... awful disgusting smell from our two upstairs bedrooms.  In one room we found a black vaseline type substance on our  carpets.  And that guest also got this blackish sticky mess on our clean white towels.  In the other guest room, the guest hid the fire alarm under the bed, put out her cigarette in the window sill and left a huge orange bad smelling liquid mess in a top drawer.  After researching, I am pretty confident it was heroin. It was disgusting to clean it up, the rooms smelled like burnt tar/urine.  

 

These guests, though in different rooms, knew each other.  They looked horrible in the morning.  They left at noon even though checkout is 10am.

 

Because of this and just a ton of local people who seem very unsavory, I’m also thinking of not renting to locals. 

 

Also, local guests rarely respect the hours... probably because they are homeless or close to homelessness so they try and camp out in the rooms as long as possible.  

 

This year we’ve just had way too many negative experiences with locals. 

Will258
Level 2
Anaheim, CA

I host in California and am only allowed to do long-term. The law here states that if a person stays 30 days, they can legally stay up to six months for free while you go through the eviction process. Because of this, I like to rent to people who are traveling from out of state. I know they have a plane ticket home and a home to go to. They also probably have a good job  if they are being paid to travel.

 

Locals are another story. I rarely take them for reason others have stated. The most recent was a kid who wanted to stay a month. He's never rented before. Always lived at home with parents. He was given a new job in my city and is moving out of the parents home and wanted to stay a month in mine while he worked and looked for a permanent place.

 

So here we have someone with no rent history, Starting a new job in a new industry that he could easily get fired from if hes not as good as they think. This is a NO NO for any landlord. They want references, they want time on a job for income security.

 

My biggest question was.. he needs to save at least first and last months rent to move out of my Airbnb in 30 days if he wants a permanent place. Starting a new job as a "gamer" for a software company, probably not paying much to start.  What if he can't get the money to move? Then what does he do? Will his parents take him back?

 

Unfortunately on Airbnb we can not talk to the parents or check references. VERY RISKY in California.

 

To solve this problem, I would feel much more comfortable if Airbnb would guarantee payment if the person decided not to pay and keep staying there during the eviction process. 

 

But because they won't and because I'm not allowed to give out phone numbers in order to talk to landlords or parents, I RARELY will rent to locals.

Mike444
Level 2
Chicago, IL

My experience with local guests has been not positive. Past experiences.

 

1. Several people on hard times with a lot of problems, brings those problems into the house. Had 3 local guests who smoked like chimneys in my apartment and didn't bathe. Never had this from non-local guests.

2. Had one guy bring a drugged out woman to have sex with and leave her there after he was done with her.

3. Had one local guy try to have a party I had to bust up.

4. Had a woman book from my local area who stayed in the room with her guest and did drugs/drank/screamed loudly.

 

In general it seems that people who do book locally for themselves are doing so because they're either homeless, want to have a party space, or want to do something that they couldn't do in their own home. Basically they're bringing their problems to your house. I've had a few local guests be okay, but the majority really brought some problems my way.

I had a guest who booked one night. Didn't have a phone and gave me a sob story that I bought. He said he was robbed and he doesn't feel safe. 

He was dressed weirdly, and was making weird comments. He messaged me early in the morning that he wanted to give me something (red flag). I went outside and he wanted to give me some chocolate as gratitude. He had heated a large bowl of food that we cooked and ate a bit of it and left the rest outside. I was an idiot not to have him leave right then and there. I told him that if he needed anything else he has to ask me. 

I left for work and check the camera. 10 minutes after leaving I noticed he was in our bedroom. Should have called the cops but didn't have time. Turned the car around. Turned on my camera and as I opened the door he jumped out of our room and went into his room. I told him to GTHO. He had the audacity to question why I was asking him to leave. I confronted him and he said he was looking for pain killers and he didn't steal anything. I looked around and noticed some clothes were missing.  I called airbnb and told him about the problem and that I was asking the guest to leave 2 hours early. The airbnb employee told me that I cannot have the guest check out early. I confirmed if he understood the situation, and he said he does, but somehow he expected me to let him stay until checkout. I don't know what kind of training these people get. I asked him to put his manager on the line, and asked the guest to empty all his bags otherwise I was calling the cops. He had taken medication, clothes, anything of value he could find. And everytime he'd say that's the last thing and there isn't anything else. I took away 3 check books belonging to other hosts. I threw him out and walked him out of the property. 

Reached out to the check owners and one said he caught him stealing as well, followed up with airbnb to see if they were going to reach out to other hosts and what they were going to do? They weren't going to do anything. Anyway, I have turned off instant booking and mostly decline local guests. I'd rather not get robbed again or have my place trashed. 

Rob151
Level 2
Columbia, SC

My experience with in town guest have been pretty negative. The first booking inquiry I ever got was from an in towner that wanted to have a “Little” bday party of 40 people. The last in town guest I hosted caused 600 dollars of damage, did drugs in my house and stole items. I have had a few guests booking for their relatives to come visit which was Ok, but I would be very careful. Personally, I would never host in town guests ever again. 

@Rob151  "Booking for their relatives to visit" isn't "okay", although you may not have found those guests to be problematic. 3rd party bookings are clearly against Airbnb TOS and I would never accept them. The relatives need to set up their own account and book for themselves.

Michelle53
Level 10
Chicago, IL

I just got this one a day or so ago. Inquiry send at 12.31 a.m., and I read it in the morning. 

 

"Hello, Michelle, I am looking for a place where I can get away and take a break from my family for just one day. Not even the full day, just like 4 -5 hours. I was hoping you would be able to have your check-in time for me at 12pm or 1pm on the 17th since I would leave at 5pm that same day and not spend the night."

 

Joined in November, zero reviews, profile reads as follows : "I am a young shy girl". 

 

2 Verifications: phone and email. 

 

There are so many things wrong with this. Firstly, is a "young, shy girl" even old enough to book on Airbnb?  Secondly, my check-in is 3pm. In this case, not negotiable. Come on, if you really want to get away and take a break from your family, just go sit at a coffee shop for 5 hours.

 

Really ? Do we have to tolerate this ?  This is why I do not have Instant Book.  If I'm going to be penalized for denying this kind of behavior by Airbnb, so be it. I'm still going to.