@Kimberly853
I have been hosting in my own home, which was also a big renovation project, since 2016. For the past few years, I have focused almost exclusively on hosting long term guests. There will always be the odd problematic one, but overall, it's gone pretty smoothly. So, take some of my advice or ignore it, up to you.
- Never assume common sense. Never assume what is obvious to you is obvious to others. I have learnt this time and time again while hosting. Certain things need to be spelt out in the house rules, especially if you are not there to check in guests.
No, I don't think you can tell guests to wash their hands (believe me, plenty of people do not do this every time they use the toilet - I can tell by how little hand soap I need to buy), but stating things like the smoking policy, taking out the trash, reporting plumbing or similar issues, is not a bad idea. You need to specify that smoking is not allowed outside, otherwise many guests will assume this just means no smoking indoors. If use of laundry facilities becomes a regular issue, it is worth mentioning also. Bear in mind also that if you do ever need to contact Airbnb about a guest breaking your house rules, those rules need to be spelt out on the listing, otherwise they don't count.
- I absolutely insist that guests read and agree to the house rules before they book. I simply won't let anyone stay without doing this. It's the most important piece of communication that I can get from a guest. That doesn't mean they won't break some rules, but then they will be reminded of what they agreed to. Check in time is also stressed and guests who show up hours early will not be let in. Period. If you allow guests to disrespect your rules in this way, believe me, they are going to keep pushing your limits.
- Vet your guests. This is so important, but even more so with long term guests, and much more so if you're not living there. Never ignore red flags. This was a third party booking, which is against Airbnb policy. It's not just that the guest may have had previous bad reviews that you didn't see, but you are not covered by Airbnb if anything goes wrong. Read up on these policies. Sure, you didn't know that the wife would not be staying until the last minute, but this was cause enough to have Airbnb cancel the booking penalty free. If you didn't want to do that, you should have explained that third party bookings are not allowed on Airbnb and that the wife needed to cancel and the husband book from his own profile. If that meant cancellation policies would apply, again you can get Airbnb to cancel the booking penalty free (they have done this for me with third party bookings several times).
Have a reasonable amount of communication with your guests before accepting them. Don't just check out their reviews, check the reviews they have left for other hosts, as these can be very telling.
- Your listing states, " I will be traveling most of the summer and will not be local." I would remove this, both for security reasons and also to avoid attracting undesirable guests who think they can ignore your house rules, throw parties, whatever. You can communicate this directly with the guests via the messaging system or, if you think it's important to mention this on the listing, there is a section specifically about the host's interaction with guests, which you can fill in.
- I am confused about what is going on with the trash. You are focusing on this guest's behaviour, but said there are three guests staying. Why are none of them putting out the bins for three weeks when they have all been explicitly told to do so?
- You don't think that the advice offered here has been helpful but, by the way you have described this guest and his behaviour, I would also recommend shortening the length of the stay if he will not comply when you try to reason with him and it doesn't sound like he will. It's my experience that guests like this will not change their behaviour. He is already ignoring your requests RE the trash and the AC. If he will not accept the date change, then I would contact Airbnb for a penalty free cancellation. As @Mark116 said, focus on the rule breaking, e.g. the smoking, not taking the trash out for weeks, not whether or not he washes his hands. It's probably too late to use the third party booking as a reason seeing as you went ahead and let him stay knowing about that.
- I understand that you don't want to start off with a bad review, but do you think this guy is going to leave you a good one anyway if you have to confront him about his behaviour? When you do this, the guest is either going to say something negative in their review/rate you down or not leave a review at all (under the false hope that then you won't either).
What you can do if he leaves a bad review is to remove the listing and start over. Because it's your first guest, you have nothing to lose. Sure, his review will still be attached to your profile and affect your overall rating as a host, but it will slip down the list over time and guests are more likely to look at the reviews on the actual listing itself. Relist the room and start over.
