Guest with medical conditions

[Ann631]

I recently had a guest with Chrone's Disease. I didn't know what that was before, but found out the hard way, after days of him stinking up my flat with dihorhea and not being able to breath in my own house, and not having any appetite to eat due to the smell. Finally, I had to evict him because he eventually soiled the bed - confronting him about it was awkward for all and not something I would wish on anyone. He was a nice, reasonable guy and left without any drama so that was fine... but my question is, are there any minimum requirements for guests? Because, while I'm sypathetic to people with medical conditions, I don't feel that AirBnB is suitable for someone with this disease. I am not a hotel and don't have full cleaning service to deal with these things, and that is why I don't charge hotel prices. Therefore guests should be of a certain standard - they should be independant enough to find a house on their own, they should leave the place reasonably clean, and I believe they should be healthy enough to get to the toilet in time to do whatever they need to, and not damage your property.

In the end, I decided not to leave a bad review because he would just create a new account anyway if I did that (as his was blank to begin with). But, I do believe AirBnB has to start taking some responsibility about this. Currently there is no rule about minimum requirements for guests (while there's plenty of minimum requirements for hosts) and this should be addressed. Perhaps it should be stated upon sign up that guests must be a certain level of health, safety and hygeine, and cannot enter someone's home knowing they have this kind of illness without letting the host know.

[Ricardo741]

Very serious issue we all need to pay attention to.

[Helen3]

Airbnb is a listing company @Ann631  No listing company is going to ask guests to be in certain level of health and to tell hosts about their health conditions.

There are many millions around the world with Crohn's disease, the vast majority 'stink up' a place and are easily able to get to the toilet when they need, particularly if it is a home situation.

[Ann631]

I'm not sure I agree that listing companies are exempt from obligations to ensure a certain standard from tennants. There are a few real estate agents in Sydney who lease rooms in share houses rather than the whole property, and in those cases, they have a dual obligation to ensure the tennant is a good flatmate as well as a good tennant. If the other flatmates are unable to co-habitate with them, it is the real-estate agent's responsibility to evict, if they were the ones who found that tennant.

This was not a situation of someone who unexpectantly got food poisoning, which happens beyond your control. People who have Crohns disease know what is going to happen, he just didn't chose to be transparent with me about what living with him entailed. That in itself is disrespectful. (he also lied that his dog was 'well behaved', the dog clawed up one of my chairs so I don't think he was well behaved at all). Also, I wonder of those millions of people living with Crohn's desease you mention, how many of them live with flatmates? After this experience, I certainly wouldn't want to share a flat with someone with this condition. At the very least, if they're going to AirBnB, they should rent a whole flat to themselves instead of a share house property. What if the condition is communicable? Like, a contagious desease, or bed bugs? Surely I have a right to know about this before I decide to endager myself.

[Ahylin0]

Hi Ann

Unfourtunately, Airbnb has no policy that protects host from this. I had a very bad situation where awomen rented the room and went and got a liposuction. She was dropped off by an Uber driver in front of my house bleeding profusely. Next day she had no meds and tried to manipulated me by screaming for me to go and get her meds. She also tried for me to take care of her which was not achieved. I contacted Airbnb and they say that she had broken no rules. I was astonished by the poor protection host in Airbnb have. It makes hosts not wanting to host.

[Ben551]

@Ahylin0 Sounds like my worst nightmare - having a guest turn up with medical issues that my wife and I are not equipped to deal with... I think we would do our best, but I would draw the line at safety. If someone was becoming abusive, violent or threatening to myself or my wife, then I wouldn’t tolerate it, no matter their medical condition. Meds or no meds, I wouldn’t want to compromise our personal safety.

[Ahylin0]

100% Ben. 

[Ann641]

It seems AirBnb don't care as long as they make their money, so I guess we just have to look out for ourselves... and knowing how little protection there is, yes, it makes me want to not host as well.

I find it weird to rent an airbnb after a medical proceedure... if you continue hosting, good luck avoiding this situation again..

[Paul154]

@Ahylin0 

Wow what a story.  Why pay for very expensive after-surgery care in a specialized care facility, when you can dupe some Airbnb host for cheap medical care?

I'm glad you said No I won't go get your meds.  But really, why did you need to?

I'm sure that UBER driver was very happy to ditch her on your stoop!

[Ahylin0]

Yes Paul, that was the porpoise. Rent an Airbnb and use the host for medical care (all in one package). That was not over, I requested her to drop the keys twice (one the day before her check in and another one few hrs before. She agreed to it and of course, it did not surprise me she did not. I contacted Airbnb and after promising me to reimburse if I change the lock they did not. I returned the lock and let them know. I don’t think Airbnb have much of a concern for hosts. Not happy at all with them. 

[Rebecca181]

So sorry you went through this. I asked Airbnb about this myself when a senior couple stayed in my freshly painted and furnished beach cottage when I was a "newbie" host; they apparently had tuberculosis or some other serious lung ailment (one or both of them - not sure: All I know is I heard hacking coughing all night long and when they checked out the next day there was blood spattered EVERYWHERE - walls, counters, floors; sinks; shower, my white sheets, towels, spa robes, etc, and the next guests were due to arrive in just four hours). 

However, in my case, I DID leave an honest review, without going into medical detail - I did not want a host to go through what I had gone through (I used the word 'stains that required copious amounts of bleach and wearing gloves and a mask was required') and I reported the incident to Airbnb and recommended the guest be removed from their database and permanently banned, not sure if they did it or not but they DID pay to replace all of my ruined white linens. It was Branka and Silva who famously suggested I write "better suited to a hospital environment" - I still laugh about that to this day. Which perhaps will help any host reading this understand why I repeatedly say here "My guests' rights end where mine begin." And I have a right to live in a safe environment, given it IS my personal home that I am sharing, as in where I actually live.

[Ahylin0]

It is so sad this happens. People abuse the system. No regards for others. 

[Kim418]

Every guest is asked to message the host letting them know the purpose of their trip.

In my opinion, not divulging the fact you are using the accommodation post surgery is dishonest and should be considered a rule broken.

So unfortunate.

[Ann641]

WOW.

Thankyou for the suggestion "better suited to a hospital environment", I will utilise that phrase if I continue hosting. It's all pretty offputting, especially considering that, even though I didn't write a bad review, our guest had the audacity to write a bad review about our listing! Giving 3 stars for cleanliness (when all others gave 5). I will not attempt to comprehend the mentality of someone who defacates in your house, tries to hide it from you, and then accuses you of being unclean....

[Kath9]

@Ann631, I'm positive this would go against ABB's anti-discrimination policy. I feel sorry for this guest - Chrohn's disease is pretty nasty and the symptoms can come and go randomly, particularly with stress or unfamiliar diets, etc. It may have been that he had an acute flare up when he was at your place, and, really, what could he do? I'm sure he would have been deeply embarrassed about the situation. However, I agree that this guest should be booking a private hotel room (and hopefully will do in the future). As hosts, I guess we need to expect all kinds of situations and they're not all going to smell like roses!