Guests debating house rules. No pets or children.

Bret17
Level 3
Bend, TX

Guests debating house rules. No pets or children.

Every week I have multiple people who message and call my other business asking if they can be allowed to bring their kids or pets even though it is against our rules.  This week I had a lady that sent me texts till 3am debating the reasons for the policy.

I have reasons for the rules and each week I have to explain to 4 or five people that they may not bring their kids or children.  Some people book anyway and tie up my reservations.  

My listing is polite and says that we can't host pets or children.  Many, many people think the rules should not apply to them.

Can't AirBnB tell customers not to contact us asking to break out rules.  

58 Replies 58
Tueykay0
Level 10
Santa Monica, CA

Sorry this is happening to you.

Just a suggestion, how about during the message/dialogue phase:

repeat the no children or pet rule and say that if they book AND they break the house rules, they need to vacate the premises immediately without a refund. Since it's them thats breaking the contract, they lose out on a beautiful place to stay and their monies.

Maybe you will get a more honest set of appreciative guests.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Thank you for considering my post.  I do make it clear is the message phase.  It is just very time consuming to have people message me multiple times to say that their pet or child is special and should not be subjected to rules.

This last Sat. a lady kept sending me messages demanding to know why.  My cabins are next to my country store so people find the number and call the store often.  

At Bret  

Since I haven't looked at your listing, how did the potential guest know how to find your number? It sounds like you let people know where you work? If that is on your listing, consider removing that a.s.a.p.

If a potential guest found my number and texted me into the wee hours, I would have 1) tell guest he/she is harrassing me 2) block the number & 3) contact Airbnb immediately about a guest that found my number and is bothering me. I wouldn't host that person anyways.

It sounds like you need to find your voice on bothersome guests. Practice telling them no and if they call you at odd hours-it's a form of harrassment and tell them that.

Hope that helps and good luck

I have a country general store next to the cabins.  This makes it easy for them to get the number and call me.

How they know you have a country store if you do not tell them? dont give this information out.

hi Tueykay ... I was under the impression that what you say is true (about kicking out guests who don't care about House Rules) and I remember reading that on Airbnb site, but I can't find it now and Airbnb will not provide me with that information.  Now I'm being told:

 

"Regarding your inquiry about Airbnb policy that says a host can ask guests to leave, the only policy we have is if guest missed their check out date or stayed more than the nights they've booked, that is the time that the host is entitled to ask the guest to leave the listing. You may check this link airbnb.ie/terms it is under 8.2 Booking Accommodations" - Joel

 

UGH.  I can't send the message I wanted because I got this error message:

"Your post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied."  It's the Airbnb "Terms" site.  Stupid censor.

At Margo:

As of now, I can only find this about house rules. You are correct that long time ago, I remember ABB saying that hosts can ask guests to leave if they break a house rule. Now I can't find it either. I'll keep looking.

 
What are the requirements to book on Airbnb?

We ask everyone who uses Airbnb for a few pieces of information before they travel on Airbnb. Guests need to have this info completely filled out before they can make a reservation request. This info helps make sure hosts know who to expect, and how to contact the guest.

Airbnb’s requirements for guests include:

  • Full name
  • Email address
  • Confirmed phone number
  • Introductory message
  • Agreement to house rules
  • Payment information

Guests are expected, but not required, to have a profile picture. Hosts won’t see guest’s real email addresses, even after they book. Instead, hosts will see a temporary Airbnb email address that forwards their messages to the guest.

Some hosts may also ask guests to provide ID before booking their space.

 

I don't care what ABB "policy" says. I host a private room in my home. If I am uncomfortable with a guests behavior once they arrive, no one can force me to let the guest stay. Thankfully, I've never encountered this, but if I did, I would not hesitate to kick the guest out.

Alas,  if you do so,  you can also be penalized by ABB;  in any case,  they certainly won't back you up on "no refund."

Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

Sorry to say what you don't want to hear.

You don't have a "NO CHILDREN" rule.

You have a "Not suitable for children" suggestion.

These two are not the same thing.

 

You are also getting arguments for prospective guests because "No children" is illegal in the United States.

It goes against U.S. fair housing laws. 

"Not suitable for children" may even being pushing the law, but it's better than "No Children"

 

Hi Paul,

My guess here without lobbing the question at an expert,  is that nothing prevents a private party in a short-term rental situation such as a shared home or apartment,  from not hosting children.

OTOH,  this host appears essentially to be a hotel operator on ABB.   I would think that a wide variety of Federal and state hospitality and public accomodations law applies,  and indeed,  make refusing children problematic at best.

Certainly private resorts and other environments can exclude children,  so I think I'd need to hear more about why they are "discouraged" here.

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

Hi Bret, I looked at one of your listings and I think you need to stress multiple times about the no children and no pets. Put it in the opening paragraph, the other things to note section, and reiterate it again in your house rules; actually write it out and say NO exceptions. I am not really getting a sense of the seriousness of the no pet/no children rule. I know that is no excuse and people should respect your house rules regardless but you know how some people are … they think what’s the big deal…

Thank you! You are right!

Lawrene0
Level 10
Florence, Canada

Airbnb could tell people not to call your country store to argue, Bret, but people will listen to that about as well as they listen to you. 

 

I get the same sorts of arguments here, and the same sorts of workarounds for contact. Tedious, but you just have to be firm. Nice, but firm. 

More to the point with your listing, are you planning on supplying bedsheets by the July 1 deadline? Are you getting warnings about providing essentials? How are you dealing with that?