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.

[David126]

I look it as the same as a Hotel would, if you provide maid service that is of course one thing, most of my stays are short and for the longer ones I do ask if they want sheets changed etc, never had someone ask me to do this. I do have a spare key of course but would only use it in an emergency.

Private, means private.

You obviously have some issues, and certainly doing this is something most people do not do, do not want to do, easiest thing would be to not do it, problem solved.

[Ken28]

Yep, @David126 It's easy to let a guest free in your house, until they start damaging it. Then you're stuck making repairs between guests and risking losing business in the downtime, as well as getting crummy reviews when another guest across the hall also notices that I'm not managing the situation.

I don't wish these situations on anyone, but someday, you'll have a crummy guest and you'll realize there is more benefit to quietly monitoring situations and doing inconspicuous disaster recovery instead of letting them run their course and cleaning up the damage afterwards.

[Ken28]

"Private means private...."

and yet, we have no definition in the Terms of Service.

THAT is my entire gripe here. Airbnb alludes to some things (mainly that a Guest sleeps in a separate room). Nowhere does it say that a Host cannot enter, which is what Airbnb is offering my guest a refund for.

[Amy38]

Under Tennesse rental laws, a tenant can not deny the landlord reasonable access to inspect or repair the property with advance notice.  Advance notice. Enough said on that subject.

Your intent to control every minute of your guest's experience is a bit over the top.  Perhaps a sign of your youth and a bit of ocd thrown in...a normal trait in an engineer and a good thing in that profession. You seem to be making yourself miserable over nothing and at the same time driving off guests.

But seriously...no movement after 9pm?  I am 70 and dont go to bed until later than that. Also, I would have to visit the shared bathroom 1-3 times during the night...what then.?

  Try to relax and enjoy the extra income and tax breaks of renting.

[Ken28]

@Amy0, You also probably don't get up for work at 5:00am every morning either. I need 10 hours of sleep to operate efficiently (writing PLC code for automated machinery). Maybe someday when I retire, I can move into a house with soundproofed walls and fool-proof finishes that are resilient to abusive guests, but in the meantime, I work with what I have and can afford.

And all those Rules are all PUBLICLY listed. So you know what you're getting into before you book. No griping allowed if you booked and failed to read the rules.

My first 14 guests went well, with with only minor issues. But these last few have just been entitled and don't care about the rules... which is why I check up on them frequently to make sure nothing is damaged.

Maybe, I should just kick all my guests out at the first sign of trouble? And then what would I have? No reviews, no income, and angry guests.

[Colleen47]

@Ken28 trouble isn't crumbs on the dresser or unfilled tissue box. 

[Zoe34]

@Ken28 - I DO get up for work every day at 5am, and I am an Airbnb host.  Is it annoying if I get woken up by a guest's footsteps or shower while I'm trying to sleep (and I'm also a *super* light sleeper, btw)?  Yes.  But is that guest paying to stay in my place?  Yes.  You are making money off of them...the least you can let them do is walk around whenever they want to.  I can understand quiet hours, but still/silent/not moving hours?  It just seems a little excessive.  

[Ken28]

again. STOP PUTTING WORDS IN MY MOUTH! @Zoe34

No one ever requested perfect silence, nor absolute still.

[Zoe34]

@Ken28 I didn't mean to "put words in your mouth"...  Below is your quote on house rules.  Essentially, no talking/phone calls, no TV, no footsteps, no use of kitchen, etc.  After looking at your rules directly, what noises do you allow, since you are stating that you don't request perfect silence?

"Limit noise (phone calls, tv, kitchen use, showering, heavy footsteps, etc.). I'd recommend bringing headphones if you like to watch movies or listen to music late."

[David126]

@Zoe34

Breathing?

Maybe

[Ken28]

Twisting the rules that you read and rephrasing it as something diffferent is the defition of "putting words in someones mouth". It's manipulative, slanderous, defamatory... and I'm quite tired of the personal attacks here.

[Vikki1]

I am a host and I dont go in my guests 'private' space.  

I agree with others, if you are insistent on going in, then at least offer a maid service to clean the room, change bedding etc.

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

@Amy38,

I'm 57.

And I pee after 9 PM.

😛

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

I state very clearly that as a host I will occasionally have to enter the PRIVATE guest room and bath when the guest is out - multiple times in the description and house rules.

I also state in my description that I do not touch or disturb the guest's personal items and I have a safe in the room that the guest can use to store any valuables or cash.

The reason I enter the guest room is more or less same as @Ken28 - in that I like to keep an eye on the place, maybe ever 3~4 days? I do trust my guests - I let them into my home, and share my space with them! It does not mean I should not and cannot enter the guest room which is a part of the home I own! 

Every couple days I also do a quick vaccum of the floors and under the bed, and like to air the room so it doesn't get too stuffy while the guest is out. (My place is a new construction so the smell of new furniture and paint still lingers if the door and window is kept closed all day) I also either make the bed and check to see if bedding needs to be changed.

I collect used towels and also check if the guest has run out of kleenex, TP, and empty the trash.  Also in Seoul we have serious air polution problems with yesllow dust. If the window is open on days when the air quality is bad, the room will be covered with layer of yellow dust within a couple hours - just as bad as an open window during a rain storm!!!

Hotels have housekeeping. If the listing is a private room where the host also resides and there are shared common areas, and if the host has made it clear that they may have to occationally  enter the room and explain the purpose of entering the room when the guest is out, I honestly don't see why this would be a problem. 

I once found a bag with what used to be a couple oranges covered in fungus with some of the spores escaping the bag and getting on the floor and furniture when I entered my guest room to vaccum once. I took a picture and sent my guest a message that I would be cleaning this up and disinfecting the room and changing all.the bedding to make sure all the fungus spores are gone. My guest thanked me for cleaning it up and appologized that she totally forgot the oranges were there. 

If any potential guest is not comfortable with me entering the room to do some basic housekeeping, then that means they are not a good fit with my hosting style, and should have read my description carefully instead of complaining about something that is clearly stated. I have a long description and make it very very clear to the guest what they can expect if they reserve a room with me.

I honestly don't think Airbnb has the right to dictate whether hosts should be allowed to enter guest rooms or not. It is up to the host to determine their hosting style - and if hosts are honest and clear about these conditions to guests, Airbnb does not have the right to say otherwise!

[Ken28]

@Jessica-and-Henry0

THANK YOU for your input. It's refreshing to know that I'm not the only paranoid Host that has had a bad experience with this.

I have now put this in my listing description, but I don't think it was necessary. When the guest called me out on it the first time, and I told her that I will continue those inspections, that was her opportunity to cancel. Waiting another month until you're done with the place and leave is NOT the time to ask for a refund of that nature.