Non acknowledging bad behavior in a review to just be done with it vs respecting the host community and making them aware

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Danny413
Level 2
Key West, FL

Non acknowledging bad behavior in a review to just be done with it vs respecting the host community and making them aware

***I apologize if this has been duplicated, i cant find it posted anywhere on this forum, so thought i would try again.***

My entire property is smoke free ( inside and outside).  There are plenty of private areas to smoke around my house including the lot where the park there car next to my home, its about 5 steps away, grassed and safe, i specify that in the listing. My fenced in area is mostly deck, but i do have a small area of astro turf for pups, so my biggest concern with smoking is the turf catching fire.

 

So i had a guest express that her husband was requesting to smoke cigars, that they are older and were coming into to town mostly to be at the beach and unwind on our deck in the evening (hence the cigar). I expressed my hesitation and but ultimately said he could smoke only cigars, in an ash tray away from the grass. She happily agreed. After the reservation was complete i had almost 0 communication with them as they just didn't respond to any messages, i don't find this that unusual as most people get there reservation and respond occasionally. So check out comes and they request an additional couple of hours, our cleaning staff wasn't coming till the next day, so i agreed. No thank you or any acknowledgment of the late check out. Come the allotted time, they were still loading there car and weren't out of the house till 30 min after the late checkout. They responded with a simple thanks and that was it.

 

I went into the house to find it very clean, the checkout instructions followed to the letter, but also found the ash tray that i went out hours before there check in to buy specifically for them, unused in the same spot. I investigated further and found pot remnants on the couch and a joint on my outside window sill.  So other than them being intentionally disrespectful and manipulative of my rules, the laws and my kindness, they house was in great shape.

 

So do i leave a one sentence review about cleanliness and address it privately? Do i deduct a star with potential backlash? I just dont want to mislead the host community with a 5 star rating, when they intentionally manipulated me to break the rules, but in the grand scheme of things no harm was done.

1 Best Answer

@Danny413  Would you be held responsible, legally, if a guest was caught smoking pot outside? When you hadn't approved that? I would think it would be the person caught with pot who would be, but I don't know how the law reads in your state.

 

I think we've pretty much all done things at some point in our lives which were technically illegal, (maybe you haven't) even if it was just sneaking a drink from our parent's liquor cabinet when we were teenagers, so speaking from my own personal viewpoint,  just because something is illegal, if it seems harmless to me, I really don't care. But of course, we all have our own take on these things and you certainly wouldn't want something going on in your listing that you could be held legally responsible for. 

 

What you might do, if you really feel it needs to be addressed, is send the guest a private message letting her know that they were good guests, but that you didn't like finding the remains of the joint, as it is illegal in your state, and you wouldn't want any trouble with the law and suggesting that she not try to circumvent house rules in the future for such a purpose, as another host could very well leave her a bad review for it. Pot smokers aren't going to stop smoking pot, but they may then make sure to leave the property to do so in future stays.

 

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17 Replies 17
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Fred13  I've heard several people in my age group (let's just say over 60) complain that their adult children are "just too straight for me" 🙂

Me too! The 'sons & daughters' of the 60's are just plain cool. 

Melodie-And-John0
Level 10
Munnsville, NY

@Danny413 , I think it would be fine to put your neg comments in the private section, maybe even go a 4*on communications.  Stay well, JR