Does it ever hurt to ask?

[Inna22]

I have a guest who has been asking for lots of things I don't and can't offer. I hate saying no to guests. It sets off the wrong tone before they even move in. I have offered her full refund since this is clearly not a good match.

She is now on the second round of asking for same things but with a slightly different angle. When I point it out "I know we have gone over this and I am sorry if I did not make it clear..." she replies "I know we did but never hurts to ask". Well, it does hurt! It hurts my brain to come up with endless PC responses, it hurts me emotionally because I am bracing for a negative review and it hurts my hands to keep typing my answers

[Sarah977]

  My dog has never brought back anything alive, except one time when I still had a upholstery shop in town (I work from a little shop building at home now) and used to bring her to work with me. She used to just lie out front or across the street in the shade and wander a bit around the neighborhood. 

One day I was sitting at my sewing machine in the back, working away, when I heard a bunch of squalking and looked over to the front display section of the shop to see my dog lying on the rug with a live chicken, on its back, between her front paws. She had caught it and carried it back, but obviously had no idea what to do with it at that point, because she luckily doesn't have a killing instinct.

She also luckily has what is referred to as a "soft mouth" and carries things without putting even a toothmark in them. So I shooed her away, wrapped the chicken in the rug, and took it back to the house 2 doors up which was the only place on the block with chickens. I opened the rug and the chicken went scurrying off, having had a very exciting experience to tell her sisters all about.

I think you should build a glass-front box to hang on the wall with that nest in it. .

@Robin4

[Robin4]

@Sarah977 

Yes that sounds like a good idea, build a display box around it like I did for all my old mobile phones, thanks for that, consider it done!

Cheers.......Rob

[Cathie19]

@Robin4 

Hi Rob! 

I like @Sarah977 s display box idea, and or maybe make a “little nature” plaque alongside it. Put a page in your book about it being “clean”. 🙂

[Bob297]

@Robin4 

Not all guests understand how the airbnb rating works (or other websites) That's why I   explain every guest how the system works and how important a rating is for us. I also hand them a note in case they forget 🙂
Some guests interpret 3 of 4 stars as a sufficient rating, because they translate that to report marks at school.

[Max144]

@Robin4 Yes the wasp nest is like a work of art and wouldnt bother me in the slightest, but know how picky guests are so would remove it, the think they are staying in 5 star hotel which would be spotless,

youre goodies tray is worth 5 stars for every category alone.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Inna22 ,  It sucks when you can see the train coming and are unable to move your feet like your in a nightmare yet fully awake, things like that tend to move in slow motion as well making it compounding the torture!   Its uncomfortable to be an Inn keeper / mommy at the same time and highly undesirable.  Tough love gets mommy attitude but gets host a bad review.   Not fair, best luck Inna, JR

[Mark116]

@Inna22  I'm curious, what kind of stuff is the guest asking for?  

I often have to stop myself from passive/aggressive responses, but I'd be tempted to tell the guest that it might be less trouble and time for themselves if they re-read the amenities section in the listing for answers to what is/is not provided.

[Inna22]

@Mark116 yes, she has been sent to that section of my listing multiple times now. When she told me that she would rather ask me those questions, I responded that I would rather have her read the entire list because she might not think of asking about something specifically and not realize that it’s not provided. She’s asking for early check in, she’s asking for ways for her mom to come and decorate the place while we’re cleaning. A hard no during Covid. She’s asking for her mom to come after we’re done cleaning but before she’s there to check in with her ID and so on and so forth. She also originally asked for a discount and other little things

[Colleen253]

"She also originally asked for a discount..." This guest is the poster child for 'guests who ask for discounts are always going to be trouble of some sort.'

[Kelly149]

@Inna22 the fight fire with fire tactic is to give them 100 words for every 10...

So, she says "I'd like to have over my sorority sisters, there's only 20 of them, we'll be super tidy, quiet and they'll go home by 9pm."

You "oh that sounds so great!! I loved having my cousin's 3rd birthday with my great Aunt's side of the family, even if they are from Ohio, the last time they came down to stay with us. We got the cake in from the 2nd Street Bakery and Timmy was really into dinosaurs then so they did a really great job with the cake and the big living room at the front of the house is so great for a party! Where did you say you went to school again? Anyway, I know you'd love to see everyone, but my goodness, City Hall has just gone absolutely mad about Covid restrictions. I heard that my neigbor's hairdresser 2 neighborhoods over had a retirement party for her husband and they just had cake and beers and a few friends and they got charged at $4,000 fine. It's really terrible, because he's retired and now she's having to work extra shifts out of their backporch to come up with the money. I'm sure that wouldn't happen to you, but wow, I'd feel so bad to ruin your trip here with such unpleasantness, I'm sure you understand. See you next week!"

In that whole mess of nothing there is absolutely not a single "no" to be found. But even the most clueless should realize that this is a dead-end.

One other option, let's call it the Ritz Carlton option, is to create a very detailed itemized receipt that outlines what purchases, services and staff it would require to create the thing she's asking for and then tell her you're happy to make it happen for $xyz.

And then, after all that, I'm coming around to maybe the best idea, and it is a combo of @ute42 and @mark116 , she asks a question and your response back is "No" followed, if appropriate, with a "quoted" section of your listing text of what the parameters are. Some toddlers take any words offered after as a question as an indication that there is wiggle room, so just No.

Oh, and btw her review should be terrible. We offer what we offer and trying to change the deal after booking is not cool

[Inna22]

@Kelly149 Love it and will use it

[Colleen253]

Yes, sometimes it does hurt to ask. Maybe not once, but over and over and over again? Oh yes. Hopefully she makes that discovery when she reads your review 😉

[Sarah977]

There should be an extra fee for every message a host has to answer when the guest asks for something you clearly don't offer. $5/pop for wasting the host's time.

[Kelly149]

@Robin4 you're clearly keeping the nest there as art... maybe fashion a shadow box frame around it?? Sometimes one questionable thing colors the whole rest of a place's features. And 3*, ridiculous, don't give it too much stock. And you know you shouldn't have called out the 3* in the review response, no one knew that's what the guy said, and it's already diluted and meaningless in your large collection of reviews.

[Robin4]

@Kelly149 

I always look for review responses Kelly because I feel they give a better indication of what the guest was like. So often we see a great host/guest  review followed by a tirade in the review response because the guests review was not as glowing as the hosts!

I didn't cane him, I just said I was a bit surprised at the 3 and would endeavour to pull my sox up and do better next time. I got my point across to other hosts who double check that he could be a bit picky!

Cheers........Rob