Pest control

Brian44
Level 1
Austin, TX

Pest control

A guest contacted me several times in the middle of the night last night about seeing two roaches in the home. The guest is staying in my house for the next month. In the morning I also received a message from AirBnB customer service reporting that they had been contacted as well about the same issue. I called an exterminator as soon as I woke up. It is Monday morning right now. The soonest arrival time for any exterminator I could find is Thursday morning. I made the appointment, paid, and informed my guest. The guest is upset about having to wait until Thursday morning. Is this a reasonable complaint? Opinions? I feel like I responded immediately and I am doing the best I can to address my guest's concerns.

9 Replies 9

My friend is also dealing with similar problem right now.

Maisonn0
Level 1
Seattle, WA

Hey Colleagues,

It is quite annoying to have an uninvited “guests” in our house; for I am on the same predicament right now. Sadly, two of my recent guests have informed me about the issue; I am thankful that the guests I’ve had were kind and considerate for not including them on my public review- which I sincerely praised them, and thankful for their honesty. I hope to you guys will continue posting how you to solve this issue...

 

thank you!

Mason

Recently, I was also in the same circumstances.  

At that time I had immediately called up pest exterminator where they had fully controlled and eliminated the roaches with an Integrated Pest Management program. I know that having cockroaches will highly damage to our reputation and ability to deliver a great guest experience. That is why I would also really thankful that the guests were kind and cooperative for not including any public review. 

Leo192
Level 8
Spartanburg, SC

@Brian44, Sorry to hear about that.  I know how bummer that can be for you and the guests.   Living here in the South we can have roaches visiting inside our homes all the time.  I was having the same issues before I listed my house on ABB.  I tried a few things but I don't it really worked.  Luckily my 3rd guests saw one dead cockroach the day they checked-out.  Instead of calling the pest exterminator I decide to tackle the issues more seriously myself.  After talking to some local professional exterminators and doing some researched online there are 3 products (see photos below - from Amazon) that sucessfully helped clear out my roach problem.  After treating my house inside and out with these products, within 3 days I haven't seen any roaches nor bugs.  I'm impressed that it worked so well and I saved hundreds of dollars.  Anyway, I thought I share this info with you as you may want to pest treat your home yourself and save some $$.  Also instructions on how to used these products properly are available on YouTube.  Good luck!Screen Shot 2019-02-16 at 9.32.14 AM.png

 

As a pest control expert I will say this.  Treating on your own is wonderful  and MAY save you in the short term BUT the piece of mind one gets with a professional exterminator is priceless.  Remember this host's - inn keeping / hospitality is a transient industry.  You can take all the precautions you want but at the end of the day, the pests are coming in with your guests!!  Maintaining a protocol with a professional will eliminate a lot of headaches down the road.

Kathryn281
Level 1
North Little Rock, AR

I have only been hosting a few months. I hired an exterminator before my first guest arrived to insure that no creepy crawlers would scare my guest.  My second guest complained of fleas and I was mortified! Where did they come from?  It was the week between Christmas and New Years and no one would come out! I did have a suggestion that I had never heard before. I set off some foggers. The exterminator suggested I set up fans the next day and let them run. He said the critical part is killing the eggs that hatch later.  The air circulation causes eggs to hatch. After a couple of days, I turned off fans and vaccuumed like crazy! No more fleas! I even had another exterminator come check specificly for fleas. Just one of those things most exterminator won't tell you!  

I work for an exterminator that does a lot of hospitality work and think it would be good practice if host's had a pest control service come in monthly to keep things under control.  The last thing a guest wants to see is a roach or heaven forbid, A BED BUG.  That could be bad for business!!!  Something to consider - 

Fifi16
Level 2
New York, NY

I’m living almost the same situation but worst I got a guest that was supposed to came today at 3pm he call me and asked me nicely if he can came earlier cause they were no guest I agree I came at 6:30 am and asked for parking I told him they were no parking he told me ok but later he contact rbnb to report that when he booked they were parking on the listing I apologize and agree to refund him 66$ later he call for more comforter he explained him to check on my description that it was mentioned that I only provide one conforter and 2 towels but he contacted rbnb again and complained when I was on phone with rbnb he call again and complained this time he says that there were a rate on the appartement but I never saw any rate and none of the previous guest rbnb blocked my account and to open it back I have to contact a pest control inspector to check it and write me a letter and they say if this happens again they may close my account I don’t think I can put rat on my own appartement I think they should try to understand host