Nice guests or scavengers, it's a lucky dip!

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

Nice guests or scavengers, it's a lucky dip!

I know I am a slow learner, but in reality I never seem to learn my lesson!

 

I have always said I pick guests pretty well, and on a surface level I do seem to have a good relationship with my guests.

But when I look back on it, a substantial percentage either break something, waste it, or take it with them when they go!

 

1/.....About 6 weeks ago a guest came to the door looking for a band-aid strip, she had cut her finger. I told her there was a variety of strips in the medicine cabinet. She said she looked there and it was empty, nothing in it! I checked and sure enough, everything had gone, even the scissors and needle and thread. I don't know who was responsible because, they all smiled sweetly and thanked me so much for a lovely stay when they left.

 

2/..... I have a reasonably good bed, it is electric, and one guest tried to put the head end of the bed up with the massage function going.....burnt out the motor. Guest said it was unfair they were not warned they could not perform multiple functions at the same time. I learned a lesson there!

 

3/.....I have a quite nice Norwegian tea set! Doing the dusting I noticed one of the cups turned around and when I went to re-adjust it, there was no handle on it. Once again I could not pin it to a specific guest. I could narrow it down to one of three, but you can't just follow up on something like that.....obviously if I queried it, it would not be one of those three....... it would have been 'the hand of God'!

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4/.....Recently a guest came up to me and told me my crockery had come to life and attacked her from the cupboard. My fault, my crockery and problem! Unfortunately it was two plates that were broken, not the one claimed,  so it made the 4 place set unusable as a whole so I had to replace the whole set!

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5/..... My restock cupboard is frequently raided.....soap, juices, even toilet paper until I got around to putting a lock on it.

But, I trust people, they are all nice people! I inadvertently forgot to lock the restock cupboard recently and as luck would have it, amongst the other consumables, I had 24 blocks of chocolate in there....... I put a block out for each new arrival. On the next service my 24 blocks had become 15!!!

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I do want to give my guests the best experience I can, and none of these 'events' are worth making a 'song and dance' about to Airbnb or the guest.....it wouldn't get me anywhere and all it would do is make myself look a brittle host.

 

As much as I claim to have a magic formula to handle situations, the reality is, you guys are right, and I am just making excuses for some sketchy individuals!

 

Guests or scavengers .....I don't know....but I will still keep accepting them, the good outweighs the bad!

 

Cheers.......Rob

 

 

24 Replies 24
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Robin4 

yes, but the substantial percentage will leave something in return: underpants, half used toiletries, phone chargers, adapters, half used packages of food, old sneakers, used hotel slippers.... even lunch in a microwave :))))

 

I remember good old days in the former Yugoslavia. The hotel room didn't have any electrical sockets so I had to go in the hallway to plug in my hairdryer, sit on the floor and use a powder mirror to make my hair. There was no hairdryer anywhere in the hotel, only at the pool, 100 m away. You got 1 small soap per day per room and the only decoration was 1 picture screwed on the wall (not just hanging on the nail) Nightstands and lamps were also screwed on the wall.  If you needed an extra blanket you had to go to the reception and ask for it and would be happy if you get an old and shabby one. The room key had a gigantic key chain which forced you to leave it on the reception. The only TV was in the common room in the lobby .... and A/C ... what is it??

It was impossible to waste or steal anything :)))

@Branka-and-Silvia0 

Tell me Branka, was that before the Second World War, or the First! hahaha ;-))

 

I do actually remember not having electricity Branka! My parents had a mixed farming property of 2,000 acres, and after the second world war petrol and kerosene were rationed. The power plant for the homestead was a 32 volt engine driven generator that ran on kerosene, and my uncle owned the local fuel distributorship. He came out to my father one day and said....

"Lance, the government are bringing in fuel rationing and I suggest your lay aside a few 44 gallon drums to get you by"! 

Dad followed through on that and the day these drums arrived at the loading bay Dad said to one of the workmen pointing at the drums....

"I want you to take those out in the paddock and bury them, I don't want the locals getting wind of this" because, obviously uncle George had done Dad a favour.

 

Dad came down to town for the day and when he returned, the drums were still sitting there on the loading dock! He said to the workman....

"I thought I told you to take those out in the paddock and bury them?"The workman said....

"I did, I thought it was an odd thing to do but I was doing what you told me"!

What he did he took the drums out in the paddock, dug a hole, opened the bungs on the drums and tipped the contents into the hole!

 

For a month or two we had to get by on a few lamps , could not even run the fridge! Fortunately we did have enough firewood to keep ourselves warm and have hot water.

So Branka, I do actually know what it is like to live in a 3rd world country!

 

Cheers......Rob

oh @Robin4  you are full of funny stories 😄

 

But, my point is - everything was so basic that it was impossible to waste or to steal anything :)))

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Robin4, come on! I was taught that nice people don't steal or break things without making it right. . . . 

I am a very trusting individual but I know that most people cannot be trusted. Looks like you need to "guest proof" your guest house!

Susie111
Level 10
Tasmania, Australia

@Robin4 @Branka-and-Silvia0 

It's always a pleasure to read your threads and posts!

 

I just thought to share my way of how I somehow managed so far to dodge the 

scavengers. So far so good...

I happen to have a very long listing description, in the beginnings I didn't, it just evolved.

In other things to note and house rules I set a very polite but firm expectation on what I expect of my guests. And just hope that the guest actually read it. If they missed it I always remind them in my welcome and check in instruction in Airbnb message.

I believe I have Olga from Ukraine to thank her for giving me the idea!

Where is our Olga?

 

 

 

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Susie111  olga was inspecting a toilet with a flashlight today 🙂 

Thomas1033
Level 10
North Tonawanda, NY

@Robin4  Tom and I supply a nice clean place to stay but not much else in the way of extras.  We have to date had only one booking that took all 4 tooth brushes I left in the cabinet as well as a newly purchased pack of full size bar soaps.  They gave us a nice review and seemed like great guests...I did not review them and as they have zero reviews I felt that was punishment enough. I now hide extra soap in the linens and no more tooth brushes.  I’m a quick learner.  Yvonna.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Thomas1033 

Yeah Yvonna, I don't want to see the downside of human nature but, I am regularly confronted with it.

 

When Ade was diagnosed with MS in 1994 I gradually wound my business down and we started travelling. I have absolutely lost count of the number of beds we have spent the night in around the world since then, and when the opportunity to host came along I wanted to set my property up as, a piece of home....something that was warm and welcoming....something we would have wanted to walk into when away from home.

On the wall to one side of the cottage bed is a picture of my mum.....

 

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It's one of only two that remain of her!

She thought she was unattractive and destroyed every adult photo she could find of herself. I got his one from her sister before she died about 8 years ago!

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It seems a stupid thing to put into a rental property, but like everything else in there, it is like we are inviting our guests into a little part of our lives.

Sure, I can just rent out a bed and 4 walls but I feel my guests are worth a bit more than that. 

 

And Yvonna most of them are, it is just that there will always be that guest that will pop up every now and then that will leave their morality at home when they travel. I have never stolen something from someone else and I just assume everyone else is going to be like me.

 

But Branka did put it into perspective, more guests leave something behind, than take something away! /-((

 

Cheers......Rob 

 

Venice2
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

I recently opened my two bed home to airbnb guests and received a very unsavory review from a guest who left the house in a shocking condition. both bathrooms looked like an animal or animals had used it and there was toilet paper everywhere! I left two very large packs of 24 rolls in each bathroom. when I returned to clean up after these guest left I was surprised to say the least. their review was almost malicious. Even though i had asked for an upfront and honest review. The guest said the house needed cleaning from top to bottom and the bed had hair and other stains on it - this was after the cleaner and I had cleaned the house from top to bottom, I had the sheets washed and pressed and made the beds myself! there was no hair or stains on the beds I made, I know because I made them. It galled me when I read the review especially after the disgraceful and disrespectful way they left the house. I did respond to the review saying that we would attend to the areas they high lighted and wished them all the best in their endeavors. I asked them privately why they had used up half the packet of BOTH packs of 24 rolls of toilet paper. They did not respond. I like you Yvonna am a quick learner. Venice.  

Kira32
Level 10
Canary Islands, Spain

Hola @Robin4

 

I'm always buying things for the house that won't break very easily. I just want to say, keep it simple. I don't have a lot of stuff in  the house so when something goes missing it's very obvious that it's not there ananymore.

 

Kira♡ 

@Robin4 @Branka-and-Silvia0 

You guys have the BEST stories....... I can't stop laughing~~~~~ 

 

Judy477
Level 1
Salt Lake City, UT

I have just decided to Host.  Last year we stayed at a couple of airb&b's and were underwhelmed.  As I read through the comments above I'm moved to say, this is Airb&b.  If one wants the full-on Bed and Breakfast experience then they pay three to four times more.  I intend to be cordial and welcoming but don't intend to provide a $200 experience for $35.  Neat, clean, and comfortable room to go along with limited conversation about this wonderful area.  I am rather chatty so I don't know if I can keep to the "limited."  Looking forward to having a good experience with Airb&b.

Melanie275
Level 2
Ben Lomond, CA

I have many horror stories myself!

I took over this account that was closed, for poor performance and tripled revenue with same number of bookings in first 3 months, got SuperHost and kept it my first year, rare find and all that. 

This was supposed to be my year, as price tips we’re recommending I charge $250-$350/ night. 

Then I went onsite and was besides myself to learn the guests had destroyed the place. They destroyed my home, stole, and would bring up to 30 guests or 8 dogs, when my capacity is 12 guests, and always lie about it. It seems no matter what limit I start charging for extra guests, they almost always claim they only brought that limit then complain on reviews that I don’t have extra sleeping arrangements I provide on request?!? 

I realized then I needed to get tougher on my guests so I started using resolution center to rectify these issues. Every time I did, the guest always denied it, doesn’t have to pay it in that case, nor does Airbnb Host guarantee most the time. What happens instead, is the guest always retaliates with a really bad review Airbnb refuses to remove. 

Now Ive lost Super Host and all my stats and price tips has dropped from $250-$350/night to $76/night during Peak season?!? 

My advice, if you want Super Host, is to “grab your ankles” and take it up the *%#. The issue with that is it ruins it for future guests. Can’t win! Reviews have got to stop being a form of manipulation created by Airbnb’s reporting policy before review period has ended. 

Melanie275
Level 2
Ben Lomond, CA

I’ve discovered there are guests, particularly bargain shoppers, that will go to great lengths to scam for free stays. One guest unplugged my router and plugged theirs in, making it impossible to communicate with them or my onsite care remotely and then made complaints, threatened a bad review to get their stay free and there were many more guests that pull this scam. Be aware!