Help! guest throwing a party!

[Marissa160]

I need advice please! Had a guest with a reservation for 5 people. I have a 10 person max and no parties on my listing. My cleaning crew told me earlier in the day they thought way more than 10 people came to check in. I sent a reminder to the guest about the max number of people allowed in the home. A neighbor called at 11 pm tonight to say there is a huge party going on, with at least 30 people and they were going to call the police.  I talked to the guest and asked them to send people home and turn down the music or we would call the cops. Question for the community: would you ask them to leave in the morning? Or let them stay for one more night on the reservation in the hopes they will not trash the property? 

[Laura2592]

@Marissa160I would have asked them to leave as soon as we got a complaint about noise. ABB has a strict "no party" rule. Not only are you annoying your neighbors you are putting your property at risk. Call ABB immediately and eject the guests in the meantime. No ifs, ands or buts.

Why are you a 10 person  capacity? You seem to have beds for 6. The more people you allow to cram into your lovely space the more likely a party will happen. Consider lowering your guest counts and making it very clear that you take that seriously (we say it in our rules, or check in message, and in our house guide plus we ask that question before booking if we get an inquiry or after someone has IB'ed that we need to verify the number of people staying. And pets too for that matter.)

Other tips:

no single night bookings

no last minute bookings

raise your nightly price

[Marissa160]

@Laura2592 I will definitely lower the guest count now. But obviously people are still going to lie like these people did. I am so heartbroken. I wanted to cancel the reservation and have them leave today, but my husband didn’t want to risk them trashing the property. He thought there might be a chance they will clean up since they were caught. 

[Laura2592]

@Marissa160 your husband is incorrect. 

Hosts are not allowed to permit parties.  They need to be reported and the guests removed.  There is a ban on parties that ABB had just extended.  You don't want your listing shut down  

Call the line to report the party. Remove the guests immediately.

More information on the party ban:

https://news.airbnb.com/airbnb-announces-extension-of-party-ban-through-end-of-summer/

I would send the guests this message through ABB:

Hello:

As you admitted and neighbors reported that an unauthorized party had taken place at our premises we are forced to terminate your reservation effective immediately.  Airbnb does not allow parties and hosts can be delisted if they seemingly condone them. Please leave our listing by X time today. Thank you."

[Marissa160]

@Laura2592  I am definitely leaning toward canceling the reservation today. I did call Airbnb immediately last night and let them know what was going on. I guess I am too nice. It was 11 pm, almost midnight and I didn’t want to kick them out because I figured they would have no place to go. 

[Laura2592]

@Marissa160 definitely too nice. 

This is your investment.  Your home. What is worth more to you...a bunch of liars being inconvenienced because of their own actions or your investment being trashed,  destroyed or unavailable to the next group of nice guests because of extensive repairs and cleanup? Feelings of empathy are great when people deserve your empathy.  Boundaries are better. 

I'm not sure why you think they didn't already trash the place and will only do so if you cut the reservation short....in my experience the damage happens when the 30 people are there, not during the next day hangover. 

[Marissa160]

@Laura2592 hi! Thought you might want an update that I sent your message you suggested to the guest and they left pretty willingly. We went to check on it and there were some minor issues but nothing major. They definitely had way too many guests for my home and I’m so glad I made them leave. Thanks again for the great advice. 

[Laura2592]

@Marissa160oh I am so glad nothing major happened.

Now for the review. Its important that you warn other hosts. Be prepared for this guest to leave a bad review as they got caught. They may not, but be ready for them to do so. Wait until the last possible day of the review period to leave yours. It should say something like:

So and so was a friendly guest. They did not respect house rules and threw an authorized party in our space which was reported by the neighbors who were disturbed by the noise. Extra clean up was needed and communication was impacted as the guest did not reveal the actual number of people he/she was bringing to the space. Overall this is not a guest we can recommend to other hosts or have back. We wish him/her the best. We do appreciate that they left our home when asked to do so."

And rate below 3 stars in all categories with "would not host again." This will prevent this individual from using Instant Book and he/she will need to communicate with hosts if they want to book again.

I would also take your neighbors a bottle of wine/send them a Starbucks card with an apology. Its SUPER important to have neighbors who will look out for your space if you aren't there all the time. Apologize for the noise and tell them how much you appreciate them alerting you to the problem.

[Marissa160]

@Laura2592  Thank you for the guidance on the review, I was wondering what I should do there. If they leave me a bad review, do I respond to that all or leave it alone? 

also, we personally spoke to our neighbor and he is amazing. He always watches the house for us and he said everyone else that has stayed has been no problem. That’s one of the reasons I wanted the guests to leave, so that they didn’t disturb him any more and so that he could see we cared about his safety and comfort. Hopefully that goes a long way too! 

[Sarah977]

@Marissa160  Whether to leave a review response or not depends on the review the guests leave. Sometimes hosts fully expect a bad review, only to be surprised that the guests left a nice one.

Sometimes the guest's bad review is so off-the-wall and such an obvious outlier among all your good reviews, that it doesn't even bear responding to- the guests come across looking like crazy ranters, and no one will take the review seriously.

Other times it feels necessary to correct lies and misinformation for the benefit of future guests. Keep in mind that responses appear on your profile, not the guest's, so they shouldn't be used to speak directly to the bad guest, but only clarify misinformation. They should be brief and non-emotional. Also never mention anything in a response that the guest said to you privately or in a private message. Only address what is stated in the review itself.

If you are ever unsure what kind of review or response to leave, you can ask other hosts here for feedback on a draft (or just say "Hey guys and gals, could you take a look at the review from XX on my profile, and tell me how you would respond") , but just make sure to post it in the "Host Circle" section of this forum (not the "Hosting" section), as only hosts have access to that section. The Hosting and Help sections are open to both hosts and guests and even someone who just joined today. 

[Mark116]

@Marissa160  How did they react when they were caught about the party?  Do  you reinforce w/guests that only the registered guests are allowed?  Are you able to go there yourself to see if there has been any damage from last night?  Depending on the answers I might let them stay the 2nd night but you are well within your rights to cancel them and make them leave.  You should be ready for a bad review as well, as you will find that bad guests who are caught doing bad things will often lash out.

[Marissa160]

@Mark116 @Hi! I called them and they answered immediately. They more or less admitted to having a party and said it would only be a couple more hours. I firmly told them to wrap it up and have the extra guests leave. We have a cop in the neighborhood and I told them I would call them. Our neighbors that complained  didn’t call me back so assuming they did what I asked. We are remote but I can get out there to check things out. We were more or less worried about retaliation to our home if we can ask them to leave, then show up a couple hours later to investigate. 

[Mark116]

@Marissa160  People are really unbelievable.  'Hey, yes, I'm having an illegal party at your house, but we'll be done with it in a couple of hours, so no worries'  That alone makes me lean toward cancelling them.  Airbnb is at the moment, pretty lenient on canceling w/firm evidence of a party, but they will still be able to leave a review.  I'd go with your gut. If you think they're just clueless a8888 who didn't read the rules, let them stay.  If you sense they will harm the property because they were caught having an illegal party, then I would probably have Airbnb cancel them and if at all possible go there to be on site them checking out.  Your place is really lovely by the way.

I also agree that 10 guests seems too many and is inviting damage.  10 people is already a party if you know what I mean

[Marissa160]

@Mark116  Thank you so much! We love the cabin and I guess that’s why we are so hurt people would do this. I know I need to have a thick skin. I changed the max guest count immediately. I am leaning toward asking them to leave today. 

[Sarah977]

@Marissa160  Hurt? Guests aren't your friends or family. They don't care about you. You are running a business- keep that in mind, and act accordingly. Nothing wrong with having a soft heart but save that for those who deserve it. 

It shouldn't be your concern that guests who disrespect you and your home by throwing a party have "nowhere to go" if you kick them out. They can go sleep in their car if need be or get a motel room.