Guest yells and swears at her children.

[Carl6254]

I have a two-level Airbnb. I live upstairs and the unit is downstairs with its own private entrance. I just had a guest check in for a two-month stay. She brought two school-age children with her (ages unknown). Today is her second day and I can distinctly hear her yelling and swearing profusely at her children for, well, being children. I can hear her through the floor no matter what room she was in.

I gather from her loud 'conversations' with them that she is working and they are going to school while they are here, so it seems that my unit is an alternative to long-term housing. I don't want to throw them into the street, but this is not how I would like to spend the next two months. Nor is it how I want those children to spend the next two months (or, likely, the rest of their childhood). 

What formal recourse is there through Airbnb? Would you approach her informally? Would you get any third (or fourth) parties involved? What are the levels of escalation that you would consider?

[Anonymous]

@Carl6254   If you've witnessed what one might characterize as child abuse, your first port of call should be the local authorities that deal with that. Here is the first resource I can find for Idaho; they might be able to make a child-welfare check while protecting your anonymity:  https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/services-programs/children-families/child-protection-and-foster-c...

As far as Airbnb is concerned, there's no specific formal protocol for this situation. If you were able to get through to Airbnb reporting a problem with your guest, the one thing customer support would be able to do is terminate the booking and refund the guest for the unused portion of the stay.  Their operators are not trained specialists with any capacity to calmly analyze the situation and mediate on your behalf - that's not a service Airbnb does these days. This would leave you with the task of throwing your guests into the street, as it would no longer have any protections against damage etc. This is undoubtedly the worst outcome from a child-welfare perspective, as it only increases the stress and destabilization they're already experiencing.

If for any reason you feel the stay is not working out and you'd like to end it early, this is something you can try to work out one-on-one with the guest - generally you'd want to offer a fair notice period and refund at least the unused portion of the stay. If you reach an agreement, you can formalize it by sending the guest a booking alteration request with the new checkout date and price, which becomes final if and when the guest accepts it. This step allows you to bypass the byzantine customer service process altogether. But knowing that your guest might have anger-management issues, you'd have to approach it very delicately without expressing any opinions on her parenting techniques in order to get a peaceful resolution. While there may be child abuse going on here, you don't know the whole background of what happened in her life and why she's resorted to temporary housing - maybe she's just going through a really hard time in life and needs someone to talk to that's not a child.

[Mark116]

@Carl6254  Unless you suspect abuse, I wouldn't get into any communication with the mother over how she speaks to her children.  I would rather say it in terms that it is a shared property and not fully sound proofed so you would appreciate it if she can keep that in mind.  Although, usually people who yell all the time can't stop themselves, but at least this would be a beginning of getting a record about poor behavior in a non judgmental way if you decide you want to cancel. 

[M199]

@Carl6254 , @Anonymous 

Truly a situation I would not want to experience.  I believe that the situation as described above is well beyond a host's responsiblity.  However,  I do believe that we, all, humanity, need to look out for each other.  My take,  I  would at minimum seek advice from local authorities for guidance.  I would not want to live with my conscience if something goes bad.  Is this an opportunity to change a life in a positive manner? Just my opinion.