What are the red flags of a high maintenance guest and how to warn future hosts...

[Ashley197]

Hello fellow hosts, 

What is the wording you fellow hosts use in reviews to subtly "warn" other hosts about high-maintenance guests? A follow-up question would be this: what steps do you take to detract such high-maintenance guests from your listings, set boundaries politely with them, or just let-go of the fear of the bad review they might leave if you, say, direct them to the closest grocery store rather than buy them $10 worth of bratwurst per day because your listing says "lite breakfast snacks included"?  

To be clear, I'm not referring to a guest that asks for something once or twice as high-maintenance (I appreciate guests that communicate how we can best add o the comfort of their stay). Far and away, we have had wonderful low-maintenance or average-maintenance guests. I'm also not venting about the regular, reasonable host jobs that take time and effort, like spending time chatting and suggesting fun sites to visit, or checking-in a couple times a day to ensure things are clean, well-stocked, dishes washed and available, etc. 

 I'm speaking of the very occasiona guest that throws a kink in every routine we have. You know the ones I'm referring to (you might have some funny stories of your own!)... guests that might do any of the following (which I know might read like "you might be a long-time host if... you've had this happen..."): a guest 

 - knocks on your door in the early morning with no notice expecting to check into their room not only before the announced check-in time but before the previous guest has even woke up. (with no notice),

- expects you do 4 loads of laundry for them the day before they leave when they've only stayed a couple days,

- expects you go shopping for exactly every ingredient they need,

- somehow, in a 24-hour period eats all of the bagels, toast, yogurt, eggs, milk and cereal that was set out for guests of 3 rooms to eat at their convenience (such that the other guests message you asking where the lite breakfast snacks promised are)

- takes hours in a shared bathroom, or leave a trail of nasty mess in their wake, or that sneaks extra guests in to their booking for 1 person,  etc...

Though the above is said in humor and with a laugh, any serious (or humorous) suggestions are truly solicited and most welcome! 😉 

Thanks for any and all thoughts! 

[Mandi-S-Just-Business-Ro0]

This is a late contribution, but I am flummoxed on how to review this guest. 

We are pretty laid back and generous here. We have a beautifully decorated room that has no window. We specified men only - they seem to be more tolerant - and asked for guests that would be out a lot. 

What we got was a female booking for 2 months who was thankful for this because it was such a good savings ($23 a night).

She arrived 5 hours early (overnight flight) and hardly went out in her first month. This meant she was taking little initiative to learn about the area, despite a driven tour, a trip to the uni, and so forth. Read: constantly around, asking for rides, advice, etc.

I offer fruit and the odd meal and you guessed; she glommed on to it.

I texted her once to ask if she needed anything and she said pick me up such and such. It was $5.50.Apparently she got the wrong receipt from me (correction!!!) and on getting the right one and said, I will give you $5 now and .50 later.  Well I am not coming after anyone for .50 so please pay me in full when you get the chance.....

We took her to the Salvation Army with a $10 off coupon and she kept us waiting 15 minutes while she got maximum value out of it. I missed a meeting. 

She would interrupt me nearly at midnight and ask for something or other. If she saw me preparing food she would say, "Oooh! Chicken!" - we don't provide food. It's a gesture of good wiill. 

Today summed it up beautifully. I moved her our best room (no extra charge) for 3 weeks. Then I gave her an extra night free. She texts me to say that her bag is too heavy to lift now, could she cut through another guest's room to get to their door? Hey, this is somebody else's room!

Oh yes, she left 5 hours late.

She has had 5 x 5 star reviews. What do you call this, and how would you review her?

[Rebecca181]

@Ashley197 I was always hesitant to give a guest anything less than 5 stars for various reasons, but just this week I had a very unpleasant experience with a guest that was emotionally aggressive, manipulative, and demanding (I will spare you the details), and I decided to rate her honestly with the star system, and also used a short statement that centered on the fact that the guest was insisting she had reserved two nights with us when she knew darn well she had only reserved one (we already had a guest booked for the following night).

When I read her review, it was obvious that it was a malicious, retaliatory review (she gave us 3 stars for Overall). Although I have read in these forums often that Airbnb will not support hosts in these matters and will not take down such a retaliatory review from a guest, I decided to call Customer Service anyway, and was so fortunate to get an excellent case manager. She researched the case and may have spoken to her manager, not sure, but she actually removed the review (3 stars - I have never had a 3 star review and we are not a 3 star place by any stretch of the imagination). 

I am certain that if I had not made my own review on this guest and also given her the 'thumbs down', my request that the review be removed might not have carried much weight. So this was an important lesson for me.

It is indeed rare for a guest review to be removed, and I know I was fortunate and it may not ever happen again, but I do think it is important we leave a short, factual statement as to the core behavior of the guest that we were not comfortable with. For me, just saying 'better suited to a hotel' may be okay in regard to warning other hosts, but I am not sure it would count as good enough documentation / evidence of what the actual problems were with the guest for Airbnb. 

Guests are blatantly 'honest' about us hosts, saying all kinds of things, with little thought to how it may impact us and our business. Yet, we hosts fear speaking up for reasons I understand, but which I now question, given what just happened to me.

We are encouraged to leave honest reviews, just like the guests are. Finding a way to do so fairly, briefly, succinctly, and hopefully diplomatically will be the true challenge here. 

[Ashley197]

You raise so many good points. Thank you for being straightforward in your review so as to give a heads up to the rest of us!  I am so glad to hear that AirBnB supported you and your tip is really helpful. 

This is something that is such a conundrum:  "Guests are blatantly 'honest' about us hosts, saying all kinds of things, with little thought to how it may impact us and our business. Yet, we hosts fear speaking up for reasons I understand, but which I now question, given what just happened to me."  One of the biggest "argh" and ???? moments for me is when guests simply don't leave a review at all - when we go out of our way, provide tons of extra amenities, check-in, have everything polished and fluffed and what not ... and they say it's great and then never leave a review, despite a polite reminder.  I've even gotten this from *fellow hosts* and long-time AirBnB customers, as well as return-customers. I'm perplexed. 

[Sarah977]

@Ashley197  How about a sign in the bathroom- Guests- as you were aware when you booked my place, this is a shared bathroom. Please respect that other guests need to use it- be as brief in the bathroom as possible, thank you.

Also Ashley, what I have found to be true is that disrepectful, self-centered people do not not deserve to be dealt with diplomaticly or nicely, and it does not alter their behavior. They basically need to be read the riot act, that is the only thing they respond to. I'm not saying you should yell at them, but in the case of a guest hogging the bathroom and ignoring other guests politely letting them know that they need to use it, if it were me, I'd knock firmly on the door, saying "Excuse me, XXX, other guests have been patiently waiting to use the bathroom. Your time in there is up."

[Ashley197]

@Sarah977, excellent idea! I like the wording too: to the point, yet not abrasive. I envision it in sweet cursive writing (boutique-ish) that gives off a good vibe. Thanks for the idea! I've thought before about even adding a "sign up" of hours throughout the day, or particularly in the popular night or morning times, so guests can coordinate with each other.... I don't know if that might be too school marm-ish, though. I'd love anyone's thoughts on this! 🙂  

And you do have a good point about directness with those who don't have respect for boundaries. I have noticed (thankfully not a ton in AirBnB, but in other locales), that some people read diplomacy or "nice" as a target for a push-over. Most people don't, but those who tend not to respect boundaries anyway, see it as a place where they can get some leeway. The reviews set-up doesn't help with that, since everyone knows that, by-and-large, the damage of a bad review is much greater for the host than for the guest.  

Thanks so much for your thoughtful response! 🙂 

[Sarah977]

@Ashley197  A friend of mine even bought some nice little picture frames that she put the "bathroom instructions" in and hung it on the wall, as well as the instructions in other places for other things.

[Dawn171]

Hi,

I am currently experiencing for the first time during my hosting a guest who is manipulating me and showed up with 10 guests to my home that is a four bedroom home that on Airbnb has s maximum of 8 guests allowed. She did not want to pay extra for the guests and she threatened me with a bad review. This should not be accepted behavior but Air bnb lets it happen.

[Fred13]

 <moved my post>

[Matthew285]

@Dawn171, 

taking the attitude that "Air bnb lets it happen" is exactly why guests feel they can get away with things like this. You are acting like AirBnB is the one who is supposed to make everything right. They are not. *You* are the one who is supposed to make things right. Honestly, you are the *only* one with the power to make things right.

Dawn, AirBnb gets you reservations, but *you* run your listing. No one else.

Don't look to AirBnB to run your listing for you, and don't blame them for bad guest behavior.

AirBnB didn't cause 10 people to show up: the guest caused 10 people to show up.

Put the blame where it belongs: the guest is to blame.

And put the power back where it belongs: in your hands.

How many guests were on the reservation? And how many fit in your house?

You tell the guest: you made a reservation for 8 people, and 8 people are the most allowed to stay in the house. Anyone over 8 are going to be asked to leave, since they are not registered guests and are trespassing.

If they threaten to leave a bad review, then tell them: "I can't tell you what to write in your review. What you decide to write is up to you. But only 8 people are staying here tonight."

If they say the 2 people have nowhere to go, tell them that is unfortunate, but it isn't your problem. If their group needed accommodations for 10, they could have arranged accommodations for 10. The guest caused the problem, not you.

You contact AirBnB and tell AirBnB support that you as a host are concerned because you have a guest that is attempting to have people stay on the property that are both unregistered and over capacity. Mention that the guest has threatened you with a bad review unless you allow the unregistered and over capacity guests to stay. (AirBnB does not look kindly on threats of extortion, and will remove reviews motivated by extortion.)

Be prepared to call the police if the extra people refuse to leave. And do call them if the 2 extra people refuse to go.

You are the boss of your listing. You are the one with the power. Use it.

[Dawn171]

Thank you for your well written reply, I appreciate you taking the time to reply. 

This circumstance has never happen to me before so I did not know what my rights were I thought I had to call Air bnb for their rules and what I could or could not do, 

[Matthew285]

@Dawn171 you have *all* the rights. This is your property.

You can tell the guests to get lost if you want.

You can tell *AirBnB* to get lost if you want.

Just because a bully acts like they are the boss of you doesn't make them the boss of you.

It makes sense to follow AirBnB guidelines (if you want to keep working with them),

but you are the enforcer.

By the way, your place looks like an *amazing* place to stay and have fun. No wonder people want to cram as many as they can in there. My place is very small, and inside my house, so our challenges are different.

However, there are a bunch of hosts with more similar properties (big, beautiful houses with pools and grounds and lots of fun things to do). The experienced hosts with big fun houses have probably learned from experience how to deal with groups like this. Maybe if you post a question along the lines of "I have a house that attracts a lot of big groups. How I do keep control?" the experienced "big house" hosts can outline the procedure they follow to keep thing running smoothly.

[Dawn171]

Thank you , I appreciate you taking your time to reply to me., your suggestions are great and very much appreciated.

[Ashley197]

@Dawn171, I'm so sorry you're dealing with this! I'm nervous about this very situation too for my 3-bedroom option (incidentally, if you get a minute I'd love to get your thoughts/feedback on my listing since you have a similar many-bedroom option). I have a line I put in my listing that is my somewhat bumbling attempt to deal with this (I'd love anyone's opinions on it or how to improve it): 

 " This is an apartment with many flexible options that can accommodate a large group, medium/small group, or even a single traveler who appreciates a full private apartment for a reasonable price per night.  For guests of 1, 1 bedroom will be made available, with the queen bed made up. For guests of 2, both bedrooms and queen beds will be made available. For guests of 3-6, all 3 bedrooms and queen beds will be made available.  For each additional guest, a trundle bed will be made available (all 3 trundles), then the sofa bed and air mattress. This will be the host's plan for preparing rooms and bedding unless otherwise arranged with the host at the time of booking. For additional guests, bedding will be provided for the pull-out couch and/or air mattress. "

My hope was that it would push people to actually reflect their accurate group numbers, so that with each group member listed it would "open" the additional bedrooms and beds to be made-up.  

I'd love to hear how other hosts deal with this situation.  🙂 

[Sarah977]

@Dawn171    It is also a good idea in messaging with guests at the time they book to reinterate some of the salient points in your listing that guests are wont to ignore, like number of guests, acceptable check-in times, etc. Ask them to acknowledge that they have read this and agree to it. Then you have back-up thru airbnb messaging system if they ignore your listing rules.

[Dawn171]

Thank you for your reply your suggestions are great .

Thank you,

Dawn