Guests treating my home like hotel

[Diego85]

I currently have 5 young guests staying in my apartment (one guest was added last minute despite original booking was for 4),  3 men and 2 women for 4 nights (thankfully a short stay).

I have two identical listings to accomodate different types of travelers at significanltly different rates with different guest/host expectations (my place is listed as both whole home, and private room).

These guests booked the private room for the lower rate, but because of the size of their group I allowed them to also make use of the living room - so essentially they are getting away with renting my entire home for the private room rate which is very annoying.

They're basically treating my entire home like their private hotel room - they even seemed to have a difficult time obliging when I welcomed them and politely informed them NO outside shoes in the Apt. Their crap is EVERYWHERE (some of it dangerously close to delicate collectables in the living room), there are cups with liquid/liquor all over the house, empty AND full bottles of liquor every where, theres an empty cigarrette carton in the bathroom and it smells like tobacco so Im almost certain they are in violation of my no smoking policy. My trash/recycling recepticles are all properly labeled and I find it so disrespectful that they threw glass beer and liquor bottles in the regular trash bin (with a sign saying NO BOTTLES on the lid). THEY ARE DISRESPECTFUL SLOBS. 

I havent been able to stay in my own house! Ive relocated to my GF's house until they leave - I cant stand to be there with them. Maybe this is just my fault for allowing them to book? There was no way to predict this would happen as the only other review from last year suggested they were good guests - probably one of my worst hosting situation in the years i've been doing this. 

I want them OUT already so I can have my place back and CLEAN. Only one more night, so I can wait it out, but I feel shorted on the payment. Had they booked whole home, it would be a different story (improper trash/recycling and smoking issues aside).

Do I have any recourse, or am I just going to have to take a hit on this round and burn them on the review?

[Karsten0]

@Diego85 Hey Diego, I can fully understand your anger as I would feel exactly the same. Your house rules are pretty clear and I think they are clearly violating them. But this type of guests does not respect anything no matter how explicit the house rules are.

The question is if you want to confront them or not for the remaining period they are staying at your place. I am pretty sure that they already sense that you are not happy with them and the fact that they are not changing their behaviour could mean trouble when confronting them. Unless they are of the insensitive type that live in their own egocentric world. If I were in your situation I would probably confront them because I just cannot lay back in such situations and need to voice my anger. But I am not sure if it is a good idea since you would either have to evict them or run the risk of them causing a lot more trouble (damage, very dirty apartment or even worse...).

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

You certainly have a mess on your hands.  So sorry these guests are being so thoughtless.  You're place looks special and you have some very nice reviews.  It's no doubt they wanted to stay there.  

You let them coerce you into taking up more space than they booked - that's totally on you since you said they could spill over and, presumably, sleep, in the LR.  You also let them add another person without  saying "no" so now you have another guest that is not paying.  Both of these things should have been met with stern and vigourus NO on your part.  But that time has passed... a lesson for the next time.  Assuming that you have let them have the entire apartment for $65/night, you can at least charge $15 for the extra guest.  Use the Resolution Center to get these funds.  

You need to talk to them about the cleanliness and following the rules. Move back into your apartment immediately, don't let them force you out because you will be cleaning up this mess after they leave if you don't tell them to clean it up now. If you are not there, the speculation of "if" they are violating your rules is just that and you will not have recourse for getting the place cleaned and santized.  

You also need to make your listings seem very, very different.  The accomodations are the same at both prices, even the pictures are the same, so why would anyone take the more expensive one? Personally I would make the $65/night for the extra beds only - no access to the sofa bed and no extra guests permitted (so max 3 people).  But hey, that's just me.

If they depart and leave the place in a state or actually damage your collections, take pictures, lots of pictures.  Get quotes to have it cleaned and present all of this on the Resolution Center within 24 hours or BEFORE THE NEXT GUEST CHECKS IN (whichever is sooner) to open a claim. It appears from your calendar that you might have back-to-back guests. You do not request a security deposit (which I would also recommend you add to your listing) so getting the guest to pay for this may require Airbnb's assistance.  

The key here for a successful turn over is to go back and be firm about boundaries and cleanliness.  It's your home, be firm but polite. And charge them for the extra person at a minimum. 

Then, please, give them a thumbs down review and stick to just facts, keep it short, and say "XX and his friends would be more suited for a hotel" somewhere in your review - probably in the first or last sentance.  

Good Luck. 

[Murry-And-Andrea0]

This just happened to us. It's not complicated...you stated your house rules and they agreed to them when they reserved your place. They're breaking the agreement, so you have every right to ask them to leave. If you're like us, and hope to do this for years to come, trying to make it work with absurdly disrespectful guests is going to ruin the experience, and even worse, the rental space. Do yourself a favor and let these guests know it's time to go.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Unfortunately you accepted the booking at that rate - if they were good guests you probably would not be complaining about the cost. So try to ignore that.

Just leave an honest review about how they treated your home - but keep it very brief and high level. Don't, for example go into detail about items in the wrong recycling bin - it's not a crime and will make you seem to be the one with the problem. Clearly there are lots of issues so just sum it up to say you were not happy with how guests treated your personal space. Don't mention the rate etc as you agreed to it. Good luck - one night to go!

[Karsten0]

@Diego0I saw your review and think you did a great job to the community by warning future hosts about these guests! And I also think you did great for finding the courage to voice your opinion despite the risk of a bad review (which fortunately, they did not leave). If all hosts did like you the guest reviews would be a reliable tool for hosts to decide if a request should be accepted or rather declined.

[Robert343]

I recently had a guest try to do that. Rent out 2 private rooms (we live in a third bedroom) and then ask to sleep on the sleeper sofa in the commom area which includes the kitchen. So I just decided the sleeper sofa is not available at all. If we rented out the whole house which we never do, I would offer it for an extra fee. People are always asking to squeeze in extra guests so it could be done on a special offer. It's not worth the money to have your home invaded.

[Russell49]

This is a problem with Air BnB guests. Some of them have the mind set that they are staying in a hotel and not someone's house. If I was you I wouldn't relocate, because this is them on their "good behavior" knowing you are around, so imagine how they will be if they know you are gone!

Some guests seem to think that they are entitled to treat your place like THEIR home, and not YOUR home-this is wrong. Guests get better deals and often many complimentary things that hotels do not offer, so you would think that would be enough to satisfy them...not exactly. Never do our guests thank us for free things that we really do not have to provide (snacks, coffee pods, tea varieties, drinks, free wifi, free netflix, streaming movies, records, etc etc) yet they have no problem utilizing them.

We also realise that these items are part of an attraction to our place (along with it's contemporary setting) but the guests need to understand that Air BnB is NOT a hotel and they are getting special deals and savings that in many ways a hotel would not offer. Manners is not asking for too much. I would kick them out personally if they were partying in my home.

[Ann-and-Tim0]

WOW, this just happened to me, sans liquor.  They were college students, running from the hurricane in Fl..  They booked two rooms, and when they showed up, expected to use the couch too, 4 nights total.  I have always had this to be request only on this option, and I changed it because of the calendar function now works with all three options together.  I have never had people take over my house like this group.  On my WIFI playing games, watching UTube videos.  took up all the living room space.  My dining room became their computer lab.  I just kept saying, its only 4 days.  I list spaces as shared, but there was no room for us.  I may even take this option down.  In a year, I've only had four bookings on this option. 

[Kendra114]

I’m sorry this happened, and I realize this is a very old post, but this holds true whenever this happened.

You have to have rules and boundaries. Part of the problem I see with Airbnb is that some hosts don’t follow their own rules and expectations of guests. Have boundaries, have rules, and stick to them. It helps all of us!

Not only is this a lesson to learn as an Airbnb host, this is a lesson to learn in life with people in general.