My guest just asked me for painkillers...

[Sara-and-Brian0]

They haven't been out of their room and are local and now just asked me for painkillers. I called airbnb support and they said there's nothing I should do. Thoughts?

[Sara-and-Brian0]

I need your advice on cancelling ugly reservations - I'll try to get more in touch with my intuition! 🙂

[Fred13]

Not all have the same rights (or merit the same consideration) by virtue of their behavior, in ~your~ home Sara. Now feel better? 🙂

[Sara-and-Brian0]

Thanks, Fred! Yes, I do!

[Lawrene0]

How much longer until checkout, @Sara-and-Brian0?

[Sara-and-Brian0]

@Lawrene0 only one hour and forty three minutes...

[Sarah977]

To me there's a line between being a respectful host, ie not invading your guests' privacy by not entering their space without prior notice or permission, and being a home owner who has reason to believe that something unacceptable is going on in one's home. Food garbage all over the room is an invitation to rats and cockroaches to move on in, not to mention smelling up a bedroom space. To my way of thinking, that's where "home owner" rights supercede proper host behavior. 

Mutual respect is assumed at the outset, however when one party abuses that respect, all bets are off.

[Pete28]

This is a great example of where the Airbnb relationship breaks down. If you have a photo of property damage, unsafe conditions etc you should 

- be able to easily contact Airbnb and cancel with the photo as evidence

- asks the guests to leave now, not later. Airbnb should deal with the consequences

- they should not be allowed to review etc since they broke the rules

Sadly all of the above is unlikely to happen. You can't contact Airbnb, they don't care, they will let the crazy people leave a review, and you will be out of pocket for any damage.

Final thought - make sure they don't have extra key or have made copy of key etc.

[Sara-and-Brian0]

Hey Pete,

Seriously! I called Airbnb a total of three times with this guest and they didn't seem to care. This was only our 7th guest, too. 

They left and fortunately there weren't many stains. I'm trying to get them out now and they seem to be coming out. He asked for garbage bags an hour before they left and asked me where to put them. He filled two huge garbage bags and put them outside. 

I definitely want to write them a poor review, but have decided not to (sorry, community), because I feel he'd leave a poor one for me out of spite. 

I was worried they'd make a copy, but I don't think they did. They returned the key. Phew. 

Thanks everyone for the support and advice. Sending love!

[Pete28]

I have found if you ask the guest to leave (with or without Airbnb - in my case often without since it's not a tenancy and they have no rights once you refund) they will generally follow the rules - finding somewhere else at short notice is more expensive and difficult, and Airbnb is equally unhelpful I imagine.

But yeah, is it worth it ?

We have a separate basement MIL with plenty of sound proofing and locked doors between us, but the guests still smoke everywhere, invite extra people over, leave trash piled up etc etc. And this is when I'm really clear we are upstairs, and I make sure to drop by and introduce myself etc. They still bring in extra people and stink of weed.

I think you need a long term plan for what you will do with the extra money and how you will escape from Airbnb at some point. Minimally I'd build a backyard unit for some separation..

[Kelly149]

@sara doesn’t matter what you write. They don’t see it until after they’ve posted or time has run out. Read a few threads about how reviews work. 

Please write the review. 

@Sara-and-Brian0

[Lawrene0]

As @Kelly149 says, @Sara-and-Brian0, do write the review. It is double-blind, so to speak. But I will add a word of caution since you say they are local. I have been in that situation, and it adds a dimension, but you will know best, having met them. Don't worry about docking stars and hitting thumbs down, since (so far) guests don't see that, but word the review carefully. Look for the good, and couch the bad in terms that won't make them lash out if you think they might. You have to live there and we don't. Hope that helps a little. 

[Kelly149]

yes, good catch @Lawrene0, the 'read a few threads about reviews' hopefully will direct @Sara-and-Brian0 to saying enough without saying too much. One of my most unpleasant reviews simply said "3 day IB reservation" and then the thumbs and the stars told the story. 

better suited to hotel is one that is oft used

Sara, if you read enough posts about how reviews work and what strategies hosts use for unpleasant review then I'm confident you can convey the message and CYA.

Also, you can immediately go in and report/block this guest from your message thread. That will make you invisible to them when they are logged in to the ABB system. I always do so after an unsavory guest/bad review.

[Sara-and-Brian0]

Hey Sarah,

I definitely agree. Thanks for putting this so eloquently! 

[Tammy91]

@Sara-and-Brian0, well, I have to admit, I've been concerned before about the well being of a guest. I knocked on their door. no answer. I opened the door to make sure there wasn't a dead body in there. LOL. It does feel strange, tho.

The bigger question is: They could afford to buy pizza and soda but asked you for "painkillers".......no logic in that

[Lisa723]

There's a possibility they were using your place to try to detox.