Define 'Private Room' and Host accessibility thereto

[Ken28]

As a part of hosting, I take it upon myself to do a quick walk-through every couple days. I've been doing this since day one. First, I check that they're not home (car isn't in garage or driveway), and then I knock on the door, and then I let myself in when I verify that they're not present.

I take a quick look around, make sure the trash can isn't full, tissues are stocked, and then inspect to verify that towels are in their proper locations (the bathroom, and not hanging in the bedroom), food is not being stored or disposed of in the rooms, and that they are taking good care of my personal property. (Those are all things that they agreed to in the rules.)

I just had a long term guest leave a week early. She requested a refund of her unused days via the resolution center. Her reason was listed as "uncomfortable" with the host entering the room without permission.

Airbnb reached out to me, and I confirmed that yes, I access my guests rooms without their consent or even notice. Their response said:
"I do truly understand that you would just like to protect your home from damages, and I get that with guests in the past, this has become your primary goal. However, like I said, this is absolutely not something you are allowed to do on our platform. If a guest books your listing as a "private room" they are not expected to share their living quarters, which means this is only for the guest that had booked. By going into this guests listing without her permission, this makes for an uncomfortable and potentially inappropriate situation between you and your guest, and this is something we always would like to avoid."

"With that being said, per our Terms of Service, Section 9 paragraph 5 & 6, I will be proceeding with refunding your guest for the nights she did not stay in your listing. This will amount to a total of $[xxx]. At this time, because you have already received this payout you will be seeing an adjustment to your account for this total. This adjustment will be due to come out of your future payouts."

Nowhere in my reading of the Terms of Service does it say that a Private Room is not accessible to the Host. I've challenged the Manager, but haven't gotten a response back yet.

[Farah1]

I also get a better feeling/understanding of the guests usually. If they feel that finding a code is too hard or they do not want to spend the 1min reading the rules, then I take it as we are not a good fit.

[Ken28]

@Farah1,

I think that @Todd-and-Reese0's approach will work better for me. I'm of the opinion that guests need to read the house rules *before* they inquire, not after.

I'll see how this works in the future. And if they don't start out their conversation by including with the codeword, I'd remind them to re-read the rules and get back to me within a reasonable time.

But I would like to note that I don't plan to advertise the 'code' at the beginning of the rules. They need to find it without me asking. Otherwise, they're not worth my time.

[Farah1]

@Ken28 of course I want guests to read the rules before sending an inquiry or the request and many of them do, but some don't. I am doing this on purpose for them to re-read it, to read it again.

[Ken28]

@Farah1

Yeah, the more often they read the rules, the better. I'll give you that.

[Farah1]

@Ken28 I was just wanting to help as I do not want to just making comments without helping with solution, but your last post seem a bit condescending. Anyway, if my idea was helpful then great, if not then leave it. I want to contribute to the community/forum in a positive way. Good luck with your hosting!

[Ken28]

@Farah1, that wasn't meant at all to be condescending.  I liked your idea of adding the code. I appreciate it, but I don't care the the approach of sending it only in the messages. I think a blend of @Todd-and-Reese0's and your methods will work best for me.

[Todd-and-Reese0]

I just started doing that based on other hosts ideas. If someone instant books without that message, I thank them for the booking and let them know that I need them to provide the information requested in the house rules. I suppose I could put a time limit on that if I was really worried, but if their reviews are okay, I hope for the best. I will always put it into their feedback if they never gave me that code message, for future hosts to note, even if their other feedback is positive.

So far I have had one person get back to me with it and apologized for not catching it before. Another person is from Europe with English problems, so I'm still waiting to hear from her on that. It might be lost in translation. I did cancel one under "not safe". I listed that they did not read the house rules and did not meet my booking requirements. Full disclosure, there were other reasons, too, as in it was a solo dude which we don't allow. I did not hear from him. I guess he then went back through the house rules and figured it out.

And note that you can only cancel instant bookings without penalty. If you pre-approve someone, you cannot cancel.

[Ken28]

@Todd-and-Reese0, so you do accept them, even without the code?

[Todd-and-Reese0]

I explained that a bit in the post above, but if I add some more detail...

If they IB without the hidden phrase, I give them a chance (if their reviews are good) to go back and read them and see if they do. If they still don't, I'll keep the booking (I'm in this for the money just like everyone else), but it will be mentioned in their review along the lines of "did not follow pre-booking instructions". I'm not going to be an arsehat about the phrase before their stay and risk a bad review. They'll never know I'm upset until after they've left a review and then I'll give them feedback.

If they are not a good fit, I decline or cancel under "not safe" because they obviously didn't read the rules. I might give them another chance to go back and actually read the rules if their pre-booking message is pleasant.

Oh! And I am including in every message to guests a few days before they arrive that AirBnB just updated their Terms of Service and that we had to change some things in the listing and our house rules since they booked so they need to go back through the listing details and rules and make sure they are still okay with staying with us. Puts it back on them. If they never read this info in the first place, they won't know what changed, if anything. If they did, and have a problem with anything, they can cancel.

It's still a recent thing, so I only have a few examples. Check back with me in a few months.

[Ken28]

Thanks, @Todd-and-Reese0 for the detailed explanation. I apprectaite you sharing this and I'm sure many others will benefit from it. 

I'm curious to see to what level these small adjustments in our presentation of the rules will help in future experiences. Keep us posted if you find other things that have a positive impact in getting rule-following guests.  😄

[Ken28]

On a related note (and this may be appropriate for whole other Topic)...

If the house rules change after someone books, I would assume that the guest only has to follow the rules from the date that they booked?

For example, let's say that I decide that I need more freezer space and I don't want my guests using the freezer.  I want to modify my rules that says that fridge use is allowable, but freezer space is at a premium and may not be used. 

As a Host or Guest, the idea that rules could change mid-stay would bother me. I've made sure not to implement new rules mid-stay, since my recent guest have had a hard enough time following the rules that they agreed to up front, let alone any new ones. I think if the House Rules changed mid-stay, I would have to give them an opportunity to decline the new rules and get a refund on the remaining nights.

If I didn't have a freezer to begin with, I could see adding that rule when I get the freezer with no problems. But if I try to limit thier access to the freezer during their stay (even though I never specifically granted them access to the freezer), I feel like that opens up a can of worms that I can't easily close.

Might we get by that by saying that "House Rules are subject to change. Host will provide updates as they occur"?

[Allison2]

The rules they accepted at the time of booking are what Airbnb will enforce. If you click on the guest's reservation confirmation, it'll have the house rules as they were written when booked.

In a contract addendums would need to be signed off by both parties, not implemented unilaterally by one, so "House rules are subject to change" seems iffy. Most guests are reasonable enough to be fine with small changes, but we should be prepared to host them as our listings described at the time of booking. If the guest perceives a value shift, you'd need to be prepared to reimburse them - (eg. a popsicle afficionado who booked your house because of the freezer space offered would either get exception to your new rule, or need to be compensated because your value proposition changed)

If "House rules are subject to change" is allowed I'm going to start adding things off my to-do list post-booking. "Guest agrees to weeding yard and re-sealing deck" has a nice ring to it 😉

[Ken28]

@Allison2

That's the way I understood it as well. I asked because @Todd-and-Reese0 mentioned that he sends guests a message before they arrive that the rules have changed, in order to get them to re-read the rules. That feels like it would open up this very discussion from the guest's perspective. And as a guest, I would find that a concerning to think that the rules might be in flux during the booking.

[Farah1]

@Todd-and-Reese0 when you cancel IB under "not safe", do you do it yourself through the site/app, or do you contact airbnb first? For listing with active IB feature, host can cancel if the guest does not agree with house rules and other reasons that allowed by airbnb without penalty and there is no cancellation limitation # on this, am I correct? Have you done cancelling IB confirmed reservation under "not safe" because the person does not send the code or does not agree with your house rules? How did it go?

I am currently only have IB active on the entire unit that I rent out. I have been thinking to activate IB on the private room that is available in my house too. However, I am nervous as I share common spaces with guests in the private room, I am afraid that having IB activated will not work well because people do not read, do not want to follow house rules, there is no prior discussion, etc.

[David126]

Hmmmm

Must walk the dog for at least an hour?