Guest from Hell

[Toni225]

So I had this young couple checkin on 6/8/19 for two nights, the female who made the booking asked if  I would do an early check-in, that they would be arriving at 9:00AM. I had a one night booking for 6/7/19 and was not sure how early I could check them in ,so I offered to allow them to drop off their luggage. My booking for 6/7/19 cancelled so I message the female and said my booking cancelled so I can do the early check-in, then I get a request for a one night booking again for 6/7/19 which I declined.

So the couple arrives at 10:30AM and I checked them in going through the apartment with them and going over the house rules with them verbally again.  So I was  at a loss for words when I return home from dinner that night to find my entrance door wide open. that was 11:08 PM, I  then heard the male  come in about 20 mins., later and again reminded him to please close  the entrance door when entering and leaving the home. He was very nice and said he was sorry and will make sure to close the door when leaving or entering. 

     On Saturday night 6/ 9/19  around 12:15AM they both left out of the home, now remember I had gone over the house rules with them, So on Sunday morning at around 9:30 AM I notice that the utilities had not been turned off like I have in my house rules and I also went over verbally with them. So I sent her a message over Airbnb at 11:13 AM.   I got no response back from her so at 12:18 PM I called Airbnb who reached out to her at 1:07 PM the male calls and said I could go and turn the utilities off, so I go up and walk right into a mess., they had eaten and placed all the garbage in a bag and left the bag in the middle of the kitchen floor, mind you there is a brand new stainless steel garbage can right there in the kitchen, a bottle with unfinsh smoothie in the middle of the living room , a plate with pizza on the sofa and two pillows from the bedroom also on the sofa, on the sofa was also a wet bath towel.

Their dirty clothes were thrown over the back of the dining room chairs  and all the kitchen , dining room and bathroom lights were left on. You could also see that one of them had been sleeping on the sofa because the room smelled of body odor. At this time I also on the phone with Jason from Airbnb and he is telling me thanks for reaching out to Airbnb support team he has forward my inquiry to a member of his team so they can help me better.

   Today at 11: 15 AM,  I go up to let them know its time to check out only to find out that she has already checked out and leaves  him there, he told me she told him checkout was 12:00 Noon  I pulled up my listing and showed him its 11:00  AM . I then called Airbnb and as always its have you reach out to the guest, now remember some one was to get back to me.  So at 7:01 PM tonight I get a request from Emily over Airnb requesting a full refund stating that her stuff was tampered with and being locked out the apartment upon return, plus a review based with lies. I find it horrendous that Airbnb has yet to return a call to me since  I made the first call to them yesterday , allow this person to ask for a refund based on lies when a member from the Airbnb support team was with me on the phone at 12:00PM when her male friend was checking out .

It is my honest opinion that Airbnb cares nothing about its host and thats why guest does the things they do.  I am interesd to see if any other host has ever had ths same problem, I am considering delisting my home again from Airbnb  and going back to 9Flats .

[Toni225]

@Sandra856  I knew you were replying to @Andrew1406,  and about entering a pivate space, I just wanted to explain that I did reach out to the guest who never replied and thats  when I called Airbnb, some folks jusk keep stressing the point  about  rented space . They tend to forget this is my home I am sharing which I clearly listed that some spaces will be shared. I have yet to hear wow they left you entrance door open. Like you stated its not possible to prevent things  like thses from happening even with house rules

[Anonymous]

@Sandra856  Fortunately you don't need to take guesses at what I "seem to think," since actually I was excruciatingly explicit about it. 

I'm totally with you on hosts not entering the area designated as guests' private space without sufficient reason and notice. But privacy has other dimensions too. Even if the Private Room host doesn't enter your room, they still have expectations of how you treat the common areas. They know when you come and go, they can hear you arguing or having loud sex or playing death metal at 4 AM, they notice if a foul stench emanates from your room, their own comfort is affected if you leave the heater on all day when you go out. Guests who choose a private room in a shared home usually know that their privacy has these limitations, and adjust their behavior accordingly. 

Every host can make their own choices about how heavily they want to regulate guests' behavior in their households, as long as the listings are explicit about it. I doubt Copenhagen has severe water shortages, and perhaps home break-ins less common there than in other places, but these are both real issues that people deal with in much of the world, so spare a thought for the hosts who have to set appropriate rules for them.

[Sarah977]

@Sandra856  I agree with you, but I don't get the impression that @Anonymous would be entering his guest's private space without a darn good reason. 

I do think the vast majority of guests would not feel okay about the host entering their space without good reason and without prior notice, but I did have a guest, a middle-aged woman, who, when I mentioned that I would never enter the guest bedroom/bathroom unless they ask me to for some reason, or unless there was an emergency situation, said " Well, it's your home, I think that that if you needed to go in for some reason, you shouldn't feel that's wrong- I certainly wouldn't mind." It surprised me, but also told me that not everyone takes offense at such things.

[Toni225]

@David6  Sorry to hear that your placed was trashed and your property stolen . I just don’t understand how others do these type of things .

Yes I would agree that my issue is minor compared to many others .

How ever I live in New York , where Airbnb hosting is hated by the City and most neighbors, so I tend to keep within the laws .

Had the utilities been on only a couple of hours , I would not care that happens, at the time I notice the light on from the Saturday night when I returned home and I said nothing . I IMO the guest at 11:22 AM on Sunday when I notice it was still on she never replied and that’s when I called Airbnb and they reached out to her , she still did not reply it was the male who text me and ask me if I could turn them out . Emily herself said she was sorry when she replied hours later , it was when I ask her why she would leave the entrance door open . In Emily’s IMO to me she said she was sorry , it was when she checked out that she made the false allegations. Like I said all the warnings signs were there when she IMO  about the property and if I live there , I don’t believe she read the listing because she text me asking if I had WiFi and what was the password , which is all provided in my listing for confirmed reservations .

I also do not enter my guest space , I always wait for them to reach out to me . Example a previous guest who lives in New York rented my place as 1 person , their apartment had a flood and was unlivable for a week. On check-in I was asked if they partner could sleep over at times and I said no problem , I was then asked if I could let the partner in since the would arrived back late that evening .

If a guest communicates with me I have no problem accommodating them if I can 

Airbnb can see all IMO between the guest and I they will see her replies and I also have a security camera at the entrance so they will see when she entered and exit .

Again thank you for your well wishes and input,  knowledge is the key to success and I learn from what others have to say , so I am never offended by  any one’s opinions .

I have taken steps to make sure this never happens again.

[David6]

Thank you for your gracious reply @Toni225 . London is about to suffer major hosting restrictions. New ‘regulations’ - no one has the details yet - but all hosts will be required to ‘register’. No mention yet of costs or if a license is needed ? And already we are limited to 90 days  per year when listing a ‘whole property.’ #goodtimes

🙂 

I do hope you are supported by Airbnb as you are hoping,  and this horrible stressful period is soon over for you. Good luck 

[David6]

@Anonymous 

My partner is messiest person I know. I dread when we stay in Airbnb’s as he will leave wet towels on the bed and splatter tomato  sauce up the tiles whilst cooking. I just say ‘ you pay any deposit claim, ok’ and get  on with my day. Checkout morning, he’s huffing on the bathroom  mirror to get rid of any toothpaste splashes. He’s already scrubbed the kitchen tiles clean. We always get 5* reviews. 

Life is too short to worry about such small issue as a light being left on. I know it’s a waste of resources.  

Most communal doors/ apartment doors self close, and if not get the management/yourself to fit one. A fire office actually told me it’s a legal requirement in London. I don’t know about NY. 

I just see horrendous carnage and malicious damage on these threads . Had it happen myself. And  not to be dismissive but this ‘guest from hell’ could have been a millions times worse. *Note* there is no mention of any damage post checkout. To me, THIS is why Airbnb are killing hosts with restrictive policies at the moment! Ok, I’ll move on and be quiet with my opinion... 🙂 

[Anonymous]

@David6  How are you able to see the star ratings you receive as a guest?

[David6]

@Anonymous 

A rep in customer services told me this. Not sure how accurate, but she said: ‘yes, I can see you 5* ratings follows through as a guest too.’  

But who knows  with this company? 

[Jen307]

Sounds too much like trying to micro-manage the guests. Try furnishing it with things that don't damage easily and if there's a wet towel or a bag of trash on the floor nothing will be damaged. People want to be left alone when they vacation. Never have I gone anywhere that I wanted to see the hotel manager every day or even have them contact me.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Jen307 

Never have I gone anywhere that I wanted to see the hotel manager every day or even have them contact me.

Maybe not Jen, but whilst you're out the house staff will be in your room and removing your wet towel from the bed or the polished tops and any mess from the tables. If you wanted to treat accomodation in that way then a hotel would probably be a better place to do it, but not in somebody's shared or private home space.

Who knows whether the wet towel was wet with hair bleach and the trash on the floor might attract vermin... Imagine the self inflicted complaint from the guest then... "I came back to the apartment to find rats running around all over"  and the host left with a vermin problem.

[Toni225]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 , @Mike1034 @Sarah977 @Robin4 , @Sarah977 , @Anonymous , a whi

 Its been a while , just wanted to bring you all up to date and thank all of you once again for all the advice you gave me. Airbnb took awhile to get back to me but found in favor of me saying that I did not break any of their rules, they did not refund the guest like she was asking them to do. They were very diplomatic in letting her know that they knew the truth from the security video, she was never locked out and all the other stuff she claimed thank God for security cameras. She also stayed at another Host in Spain a few weeks later and left that Host place in a mess. I believe in Karma and one day she will get hers. I have a wonderful young coupe from France staying until December , so all is well on my end. Wishing all of you well and once again thank you 

[Anonymous]

@Jen307  I agree that a certain amount of "guest-proofing" is very helpful for reducing the amount of hand-wringing hosts feel the need to do over their rental properties. But I'd also say that guests who expect the type of privacy hotels offer (a carefully crafted illusion) are not a good fit for shared homes. I've worked in a hotel before - in my experience, guests are under constant surveilance, their rooms inspected and their belongings "tampered" on a daily basis, their exploits privately documented , but unless a problem comes up this is all gently obscured from the guest. Private residences don't have security and cleaning staff, multiple layers of insurance coverage, and immersive CCTV - they have to construct a different illusion of privacy, if any at all. People who want to be left alone can have many options at their disposal, if they're willing and able to pay for them. They don't need to stay in a stranger's house.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

I see nothing wrong in entering any part of my house which I am renting out if I feel the need to. I point out in my house rules that I will do so if guests go out leaving lights on. Leaving them burning all day when nobody is in is just disrespectful and wasteful, especially the outside lights!

Despite pointing this out in the house rules, specifically pointing it out on arrival, pointing out the light switches and where they are - theres still the few who are oblivious and leave them blazing.

[Sarah977]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  I had some house sitters one summer- they were a nice couple, who had been travelling around Mexico for a year, housesitting and renting. I found them on a house-sitter site. They had great reviews. They kept the place clean, didn't damage anything. As I said, nice people. But they hadn't researched the weather in this part of the country in the summer, which is hot and humid with torrential rains (I don't feel like I have to hold people's hands, they need to be responsible for something). When I got back, to hear them talk, you'd think they had barely survived a near-death experience in the depths of the Amazon jungle.

And the electric bill I got after they left was 3 times my normal electric bill, even when I have guests. I can't imagine what they did to incur that many KWHs usage. They must have had every light blazing 24/7 and the fans turned on high even when they weren't home. I don't even have AC, which of course could be expensive if people blasted it on high.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Sarah977 

And the electric bill I got after they left was 3 times my normal electric bill

Exactly the reason to turn off all the lighting when guests are out and after they left them blazing. Thats why I list it in my house rules.