Guest enters Off-Limits area then states it's not clean

[Anthony608]

So, another interesting experience with a guest and one that I don’t believe has happened before. 

I had a pair of women stay at the house for an overnight reservation and, upon arriving, entered into the back of our house, which is designated “off limits” in our house rules.  They then made themselves comfortable in our family living room and also took chairs and a laptop stand out of my office (also off limits), moving my computer in the process.

When I came home, and saw what had happened, they were already upstairs in the room but came down to use the kitchen (open to guests) a while later.  They didn’t attempt to come back into the off limits areas, since I was home, but made a lot of strange remarks about how they didn’t think anyone else would be in the house.  One of the women, to her friend, then said the living room wasn’t that clean (we clean it, but not with our professional housekeeper who cleans the AirBNB rooms).

I have a hunch that I am going tog et a 4 review from these people (if they leave a review) probably with a comment the living room wasn’t clean.  But, with the living room off limits, that doesn’t really apply I believe. 

Has anyone else experienced this before?

[Anonymous]

@Sarah977  You know how Airbnb is constantly sending out those surveys, year after year, with the same 10 leading questions about its "community impact"? I just got one yesterday, I guess millions of other hosts did too - and it's exactly the same one they sent in 2012. They'll fudge the numbers whenever they want anyway, but they really want a data set to whip out of their pants unrequested, to show what a great influence Airbnb properties are in local neighborhoods. And the whole time they're performing this public autofellatio, both the brand and its lived reality has become more and more toxic - now, to the point that what the brand means to people is not a thing I can readily see myself being associated with by my community. 

This is what happens when Valley Boys get rich too quick and have too much power to create feedback loops of their own delusions. How can anyone even still be talking about "belonging" right now, when the brand name has become synonymous with "super spreader event" and "mass shooting"?

[Ann72]

@Anthony608  If they do mention that a clearly-defined off-limits room was unclean, you could have the review removed for lack of relevance.

[Sarah977]

@Anthony608 I guess there's no way you could make your living area inaccessible from the guest area?

Personally, I've never experienced anything like this as a home-share host.

[Anthony608]

@Sarah977I investigated installing a slide door in the corridor which leads to the back of the house, but it would have cost too much and wasn't worth it.  Literally, only about four or five people in two years have ever entered the back of the house out of nearly two hundred stays.

[Lorna170]

@Anthony608 , you might consider installing a pet gate in the hallway leading to the back of the house.  This would not be very expensive, is easy for you to deal with, and would provide a visible STOP to any guest.  You could even hang a "Thank You for respecting my Privacy" sign on the gate.  PetCo sells an extra tall walk through gate for under $100.  

[Sandra126]

Or as simple as a nice rope, like historic house tours. They have to unhook it to get through.

[Anthony608]

@Anonymous @Sarah977 - very ironically, what we have been discussing here actually happened again to me last night.  Two women, who had contacted me earlier that they would be arriving at 3PM, showed up at the house at 11:30 at night.  They had two very small bags and walked in and saw me, briefly said hello, then went upstairs to my room.  Ten minutes later they came back downstairs and without a word went outside.  It was now close to midnight and (here in Washington DC) bitterly cold outside with snow on the ground.

I thought they were going out to their car to get something but there was no car in our driveway.  They apparently had simply walked off down the street into the cold darkness.  They did not come back, although the door was closed as if to give the appearance they were here.  This morning, because the door was cracked, I could clearly see the room was completely undisturbed and the beds had not been slept in.  The vacuum marks were also still on the rug meaning they had not even set foot in the room.

A party gone wrong?  Prostitutes maybe?  Didn't know the house was occupied by me?  I don't know.  Whats crazy is they are now gone and this is a multi-day reservation so I am now getting paid for nothing.

[Anonymous]

@Anthony608  Do they still have your current access codes? Because if the booking is still active, they technically still have the right to return if/when it looks like you're away.

If you haven't already done this, I recommend writing them via Airbnb messenger something like:

"I notice that you did not complete your check-in and left shortly after your 11:30 pm arrival, but have not cancelled your booking. For security reasons, I have changed the door codes. Please contact me if you need to reschedule your arrival time."

They probably won't reply, in which case you get an easy payday. But it comes with an uneasy feeling - if all these weirdos with questionable intentions can just walk right into your house, there might be bigger problems coming down the pipeline. I never found Instant Book a good fit for the homestay setup; I'd rather sacrifice its supposed competitive advantage for the chance to screen guests with some pre-booking dialogue and make sure they (and I) know exactly what they're getting. 

[Anthony608]

@Anonymous- I've had this happen about three times in my entire AirBNB experience.  What I typically do is keep our door code active until the official checkout time and just keep an eye out in case the people return to the room.  The longest stay ever with no one returning was three days.

What makes this current situation interesting is that the people in the case actually returned to the house this morning at 10AM.  Where they were last night I have no idea, especially with no car.