Hello Community,
After a year of hosting off and on, so many wonderful guests, and only good experiences, I welcomed my last airbnb guest into my home last weekend. My partner is moving in next week, so this will be the end of hosting for me.
Of course, my last guest has been a nightmare. Just needed to vent, as I think it's something only other hosts can truly understand!
The woman began her reservation request, months ago, by saying her and her husband were travelling and needed a place to stay. We had some conversation back and forth and I eventually accepted the booking. She seemed a bit high difficult, but I thought it was maybe just the language barrier making her messages seem a bit off. A few weeks before she was scheduled to arrive, she messages me to say her husband is no longer coming and she will be travelling with her daughter. I think she means her adult daughter as my profile clearly states that the listing is not suitable for children. A few messages later she says her daughter will be attending day camp - so I ask how old her daughter is. She says 7. I tell her I do not usually allow children in the home, and that she should find somewhere else to stay. She was in such a panic about accommodations, so she begged me to continue the reservation. This was my mistake - I should have just gone through airbnb and cancelled the reservation as a violation of my house rules. But she promised her daughter was well behaved and quiet, that they would be out of the house most of the time anyways, etc. I considered it and eventually told her it was alright. I'm really kicking myself now!
They checked in on Sunday after attempting to change their dates twice (I had to say no both times, I am fully booked). The daughter has been a terror. She runs after my cat and goes into my bedroom without asking. I've had to tell her multiple times to stop, she doesn't. It's at the point where I've had to move my cat's litter box and food into my bedroom and lock the door when I leave the house to go to work, because she is stressing out my poor cat so much.
Last night I returned from a day at work, only to find that the mother is hosting a DINNER PARTY with guests. My house rules state that no guests are allowed, and the few times a guest has asked to have a friend over they have always asked in advance and I have said that was fine - as long as I know about it. This guest did not ask. I was clearly surprised by the gathering - which included other children - and was not impressed. The mother could see that, and so she asked if it was okay that she had people over - in front of all the guests. I told her I would have appreciated if she had asked, but now they were already here.
And on top of all of this, there are many little things - they wear their shoes in the house, even though I asked that they leave them at the door, the breakfast dishes are always left dirty in the sink, they have rearranged my entire refrigerator to put their groceries in - even though I left part of a shelf empty for them - they have complained about the lack of air conditioning during Toronto's recent heat wave, even though it's clearly set out on my profile that I do not have AC, only fans, and then this morning I woke up to find all the radiators on, as they had turned up the HEAT full blast (WHY??!), the bathroom is left a mess after every use. I could go on and on.
Anyways, I'm not so much looking for advice - even with the breaking of house rules, I've decided I'm just going to let this go as it's my last guest, they're only here until Sunday, and to try and go through Airbnb to have them moved out seems like too much of a hassle. Just looking to commiserate!
