Current guest smoking in non smoking home

[Caitlin260]

Hi!

My property states very clearly in many places it is non-smoking in or around. I currently have 3 guest that have broken my rules. My Ring camera outside detected motion when they arrived early and sent me a notification. I never bother to look at the camera, but this time I did as they showed up super early to only see they were all smoking! I have followed up on the camera to see if the smoking continued and they smoke almost every hour! It appears they are hopefully doing all the smoking outside, however I do not allow smoking whatsoever! They have also had multiple people come by that also have been smoking. They are booked for five nights, and I simply can not have them smoking especially for that long! What steps are there for a rule violation charge or communicating with them about the issue (not wanting them to know by watching on the camera?) 

I have thought about messaging them regarding if they went over the house rules, as its now their first day. But what is there to do about the damage of the smell they've already created and nasty butts all around the house?! 

[Anonymous]

@Caitlin260  It's hard enough to claim for any kind of compensation when guests smoke indoors. The odds of getting anything out of Airbnb if guests only smoke outdoors are basically zero, and there's no such thing as a "rule violation charge." 

You're entitled to your rules, so if it's important to you that people don't smoke on the grounds of your property, you may contact your guests to ask that they walk across the street whenever they want a cigarette. What will that accomplish? Well, maybe the discarded butts will be slightly farther from your doorstep. That communication will be the thing the guests remember most about their experience, and when it comes time to leave a review, they'll find nothing but faults. Five stars? Forget about it. I'm not saying you always need to feel held hostage by fear of bad reviews, but the fact that your listing only has 1 review so far means you don't exactly have a firewall. You have to ask yourself if this is the hill you want to die on.

Catering exclusively to non-smokers isn't a realistic option, so no matter what your rules are, dealing with your guests' residual smelliness is going to be a part of your normal cleaning tasks sometimes. You might be able to reduce the litter somewhat by designating an outdoor smoking area with an ashtray, but if that's completely out of the question for you, I'm not sure short-term rentals are going to be in your comfort zone.

[Russell288]

In my view it's kind of unrealistic to ban smoking outdoors.  We've found it better to designate a smoking area outside complete with table and ash tray.  How does smoking outdoors negatively affect your property?