Guests booking for dubious reasons

Loretta55
Level 2
Cape Town, South Africa

Guests booking for dubious reasons

Hi

 

I host in Cape Town, South Africa. I have been hosting for just over a year now and I am a super host. We are well placed in terms distance to conference and wedding venues, having a facility that offers 1 night stays has been good for us as mostly people going to a wedding or a function only want a one night stay. Overeall our guests are great and would be happy to host many again. 

I have learnt very quickly that Airbnb has given many people an opportunity to have access to rooms and places that are not as expensive as hotels which is a great thing. However the downside is that it has opened up opportunities for what is obviously a " hook up". My husband and I now joke as we to wait to see what the excuse will be in order for people to leave earlier than the check out time. (signal comes from guests arriving without luggage) Having said that it is something that is off putting. I clean up myself and all too often it is not a pleasant job. I would like to be able to warn other hosts about such guests but there is no way of doing this through the review system. What do you as hosts do when you get a sense about a booking  esp if you have instant booking?        

2 Replies 2
Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

@Loretta55 do you find this occurs mostly with locals? Local bookings are a bit of a red flag for hosts. You could turn IB off if it's happening a lot or you can contact Airbnb to cancel bookings that you're uncomfortable with. For your review, you could mention something about cleanliness if they leave an 'unpleasant' mess for you to clean up. 

@Loretta55  This is a very easy one to solve. All you need is a minimum stay of 2 nights or more. Nobody wants to pay for two nights just for a one-night stand.

 

Those who are particularly squeamish about evidence of sexual activity can also choose to rent solely to solo travelers, although of course there are plenty of ways a solo guest can also leave unwelcome evidence.

 

There's no reason that "hook-up" guests can't leave the room in an acceptable state. A waterproof mattress protector, a prominently placed, lined wastebasket with a lid, and good ventilation should be enough to make this a normal cleaning job. 

 

I personally don't think there's anything wrong with an early checkout, if the booking is paid in full. And I consider consensual sex between adults to be a normal and legitimate use of a private bedroom, as long as all participants are registered guests. Your intuition is correct that it's not acceptable to mention it in a review. However,  hook-up guests should be held to the same standards as any others: they should be honest about their party size, follow all the House Rules, treat the host and home considerately, and leave the property reasonably tidy. When they fail on any of those counts, it's OK to mention that in a review without exposing private details.