Hey dear Airbnb community ☕️
i have been hosting here since last April. till know everything ok despite some strange interactions from some guests like claims of bed bugs or inconvenient bed which i managed well and found solutions or even put some boundaries for the false claims. But this weekend i had the strangest experience :
Guest send a request last week to stay for a weekend in the room because she is visiting the city for family reunion , i checked her profile: 14 years on Airbnb, 20 trips, 12 5 stars review, family photo.
i immediately approved the request without second thoughts,despite at first i wondered why someone needs Airbnb if they are here for a family reunion.
on the day of check in, guest text me at 6:30 in the morning asking to drop her bag , i agreed and she was supposed to arrive at 9:15. at 9:15 she texts me and say she wont come till the evening. then at 9:30 she texts saying she is standing down stairs .
i was confused because i thought maybe she had a change of mind and decided to come now. i opened the door for her, she takes the lift to the last floor and then the stairs all the way down till i met her at the door of the Appartment. she comes in quickly without introducing herself, she doesnot look like the photo, she put her suitcase in the hallway , take a look quickly at the living room, ignore me while i am telling her that i wont be able to give her the main keys now because a guest still in the room (my guests allowed to check in at 15 pm and out at 11 am) and leave the place quickly.
Then at 5pm the doorbell ring and she is there, i welcomed her again and wanted to introduce her to the place properly , but my gut feelings are telling me there is something wrong about this woman. She came back with some filled cloth bags, my first thoughts were she might be a homeless woman! I tried to ignore my gut feelings and acted quietly . I went out later at night , came back around midnight only to find the main door unlocked and the keys are on the tables next to the door, the room door was closed, so i assumed she might be sleeping in her room.
Next day i woke up, the keys are still on the table, the room door still closed, till almost 15:00 pm, i thought she is in her room or she went out earlier when i was sleeping and decided to leave the keys without informing me. At that point , i ,and for the first time during a guest stay, decided to open the door of the room to check it. Only to be surprised that the room is untouched , no one in it, and no luggage is there. I text my guest and no response from her, till this moment. I reached out for Airbnb telling them about all of what i mentioned above, they try to call her, no response, they speculate that she might went back home for urgent reasons without informing me, i tell them about how I felt around her and that she doesn't look like the photos, they tell me I should not worry and payment is sent out and she doesnot have any violence records.
Honestly, i am not convinced about her leaving for urgent reasons without telling me and i feel like the booking is done through third party . I mean, if she only wanted a place to store her luggage then there are storages and she doesn’t need 4 nights Airbnb for that, i am usually extra careful when i host and ask for guests id etc, in her case she vanished immediately . I know i am getting my payment but honestly i kept overthinking about what if i hosted a person with criminal records or etc etc …
i am curious to know about how would you behave in such a case ? I Mean will you trust your gut feelings or just let it go …
wish you a good Sunday evening …
