Another guest who didn't read the instructions I sent

[Felicia48]

Hello All,  I really need everyone’s help. I’ve looked everywhere on the hosting platform for a solution to my problem, with no luck.  

I have had to cancel my last 2 reservations because guests don’t care to read my house rules. This is before they actually check-in.  My mantra on this is:  “If they don’t follow the rules now, what’s going to happen when they get inside”!

Reservation 1. Guests wanted  to leave their dog alone in the house so they can “explore“ for 2 days! Also wanted me to dog sit or find a local sitter. Immediately cancelled, they received full refund no penalty. Although I lost money, I was happy about this cancellation because after reading her reviews,  I realized that I dodged a bullet. She was so rude and entitled telling me how she’s from La Jolla and that she has a big house on the beach blah blah blah 

Reservation 2 

This was a local guest,  I like to vet as much as possible upfront.   I felt comfortable with her responses and accepted her request.  Turns out just two days before her arrival the truth comes out.  She was really planning a full on event with 20 people including kids.  Huge no no.  

Told her she was violating major house and city ordinances and needed her to cancel.    We went back and forth because she had huge plans, people coming into town (I’m near Palm Spring’s),  staying at hotels and everyone was going to gather at my home.  they received full refund no penalty. I wasn’t happy about this one.  I did everything in my powers to keep this booking but because she was local I didn’t feel comfortable that she or someone she knew would come by my home at a later time.  So I felt it was best to just cancel.  Don’t even entertain the drama for my sanity.  Lost a lot of money that weekend didn’t get another booking. 

Reservation 3.  After dealing with guest 1 and the dog situation, we decided on a No pets policy.  We have two dogs ourselves.  This guest a week before her arrival tells us that she will be bringing her two 90lb Golden doodles, plus 6 guests.  Huh?  It clearly says no pets.  Why didn’t you mention this in your inquiry.  What do I do?  Cancel yet another booking because people don’t read?  Why should I lose out for people not understanding basic human functions such as reading and comprehension.  If she had mentioned back in September when she booked I would not have accepted her booking.   We are strict on the no pets policy.  

I feel if I make a mistake...I will take the consequences. But if they make a mistake then why am I losing out? 

I also do let them know at the time of booking that I will be sending them detailed check-in instructions a week before their stay via Airbnb messaging  

[Ruth406]

I hear you.  I have a policy of now same day reservations, yesterday 2 people asked about booking,  one sent a message at 10:23pm asking if he could have a late check in!  I also have a policy of no visitors unless the guest informs me first with the name of the person.  Had 2 different young ladies bring male friends without informing me.  I mentioned that in one of the gals review, was nice about it.  She ended up writing me a terrible review, said I had bed bugs and she got several bites.  Interestingly she left without saying anything to eithe me or my husband,  just left when we were busy doing other things.  Did not know she even left.  

I feel like adding to my listing to please read all house rules before booking.

[Felicia48]

@Ruth0.  But you may still have problems like me. 

I wonder what other hosts do because I am canceling the bookings before they show, therefore no money.  Empty house.  

[Sandra856]

Hi @Ruth406 🙂

I also have same day reservations as you but noone can book or request to book after 8 PM. 

If you want to you can choose a "cut off time" (I'm sorry I don't know how to explain it the correct way) under settings. If you do that you won't get messages or requests. I just wanted to tell you in case you didn't know 🙂

[Ruth406]

I just have a room and private bath.  I have only been a host since Sept 2018.  So far so good except for the 2 young gals.  One thing I noticed is both were new to Airbnb.  I am leary of accepting bookings from newbies.  

[Kath9]

@Felicia48, are you cancelling the bookings yourself? You should never do that because the dates will remain blocked on your calendar and you will be penalised as a host after a certain number of cancellations. Always ask the guest to cancel or get Airbnb involved. As for people reading the listing/house rules....sigh...I honestly don't know how to get them to read the them first. Basic human functions as you say 🙂

When people send me a booking request, I send them all this saved message:

Hi xxx and thanks for your request! I'm very happy to accept your booking. To ensure you are fully satisfied with your stay, please spend a moment reading the listing details and house rules carefully - if you feel they might not be a good fit for you, I do have a flexible cancellation policy. Otherwise, I look forward to welcoming you into my home and I'll send you some arrival details closer to the time.

Of course this doesn't guarantee that they will actually read them but it maybe helps a bit...?

[Felicia48]

Hi @Kath9.  Thank you for your response.

I actually do get ABB involved and they cancel the reservation without penalty.

I also send them a similar message in the beginning of the inquiry.   I ask what is the reason for visiting ( especially if they’re local), if the person booking is over age 25 and a few other important questions. 

However lately, right before they’re supposed to arrive they want to change the booking.  How would you deal with this? 

Would you cancel and be thankful 

cross your fingers, pray and give in to them? 

Thank you again

[Kath9]

@Felicia48, it would entirely depend on the details of the requested change. If they are clearly breaching house rules (e.g. extra people, pets, etc.), I would say no and ask them to cancel (or involve Airbnb if they won't). Just count yourself lucky that you've found out about the changes BEFORE they arrive!

[Felicia48]

@Kath0 You are so right...I should be counting my blessings that I am finding things out beforehand.   Thank you.  

[David1747]

We have two guestrooms and do about 40 room nights a month on average. Out of those we always get one or two per month who don't follow the house rules. The house rules most often broken are 'No Parties', 'No Noise after 10pm' and 'No Pets'. The other problem we have is people turning up with an extra person (or two or three kids) when our listing clearly states maximum occupancy per room is 3. When  point this out to them they always brush it off saying "Don't worry we will just share the beds". It's usually these groups that cause the noise problems.

It's hard to cancel when the guests have already arrived with their pets ("Oh I couldn't leave our darling fur babies at home") or extra persons in tow, and I feel if I make a big fuss about whether they read the house rules or not, I will invariably end up with a bad review. So I just grin and bear it and hope they don't make too much of a mess.

But the point of making my comment here is to pass on my observation that invariably these guests who don't read (or ignore) the house rules are guests who are new to Airbnb (i.e. have no previous guest reviews). This suggests they don't really understand how Airbnb works. They are treating an Airbnb booking like a motel booking. Therefore the lesson I am learning is to be much more choosy about accepting bookings from guests who don't have previous positive guest reviews. I know we were always a newbie to Airbnb at some point, but it seems to me that it's essential to ask them if they understand the house rules if they've not used Airbnb before.

[Linda108]

Hello @Felicia48.  I am also here in the desert and have a couple of observations.  First of all, your home is beautiful!  Great value as well. Your description is so welcoming but I wonder if you could insert some of your expectations of how you want the home to be used in the beginning of your description.  For example, "not a party house but families and small gatherings of friends are welcome"  or "a pet free home, I am happy to refer you to local pet care if you are traveling with your pet" Additionally,  there are many posts about local bookings, I wonder if you would want to avoid local bookings. 

Sometimes you refer to your location as Palm Springs and sometime Cathedral City.  Has this been confusing to guests?

I also have recently had a guest that did not read the first paragraph of my listing and was outraged at check in when they could not have 2 rooms for the price of one room.  However, their misunderstanding did prompt me to make tweaks in my listing description to hopefully add clarity.  

[John1080]

@Felicia48, I assume that when someone makes a booking inquiry or request, you send them a detailed bullet-pointed list of the rules and policies and ask them to agree to each?  This is what I do and so far have had no issues with my 42 trips that I have hosted. If they do not agree to each point, I do not approve them.

[Felicia48]

Hi @John1080 and good morning.  Yes. I ask them questions before I accept and also ask them if they have read the house rules which are in my listing.  They all reply, “we would love to stay in your lovely home and yes we have read the house rules.”   Then when I send them the house rules again, prior to their arrival, that’s when I get, “oh by the way, I will be bringing two huge dogs and throwing a party for 20”!  

@Linda108  Hi Linda!  I think I’ve spoken to you before. Thank you for responding.  I can definitely add the part about this not being a party home.  But I am not getting involved with helping people find pet care.  If something happens to their dog, they will hold me responsible.  Also one lady wanted me to allow a stranger (Like River), to come to my home and stay with her dog...No! No! No! Give them an inch.... 

Never had problems or confusion with location.  I get 5 stars for location   Where does it say I am in Palm Springs. 

So is my listing is not clear that this is a pet free home?  If so I will tweak it.  

[Ange2]

@Felicia48     I always reiterate deal-breakers in each message I send to them bullet points and all, e.g.  No pets, no parties, no meetings, no events, etc. You cannot trust them to read the rules, description or amenities, and  if they do  you cannot trust them not gloss over what they don't want to know or think they are an exception to your rules.  

I had a guest who said he had read rules, description, amenities and had no questions  – all great.  He arrived and was annoyed there is no elevator.  I said it is in the description and there is an image,  he replied, " Oh! I never read anything,  I just wanted somewhere cheap to stay"!

[Kelly149]

yep, we're all guilty of signing our lives away on those legal/internet forms that say we've read the ToS when really we haven't. (probably 99% of hosts haven't read the ABB ToS, but it's not as if ABB lets us out of host penalties when there is a problem bc we didn't read/understand what we agreed to...)

The difference with this ABB situation is that ABB doesn't have our backs in enforcing some sort of penalty when we or guests no longer want to honor a reservation AFTER a guest has said they agree and then it becomes apparent that they have no intention of acting as they said they would.

None of us would care in the least that these folks really don't read anything if they were the ones bearing the financial hit of their not reading, but it isn't them, it's us and that's what's busted about this situation.