Help!!! I am new to hosting and I have guests breaking every rule

[Sarah4304]

I had a same day check in request from a lady with her 6 year old daughter. She told me she needed the place ASAP. I worked to get the house ready for her but she didn’t show up. She showed up the next day and shortly after another woman with her child joined them without any prior notification to us. The kids were creating a ruckus, we could hear them jumping on the furniture  and running around. The ladies got really drunk, came to our driveway and started harassing my husband to get a TV ASAP as they werw not able to handle their kids. They were very loud. She asked me for extra blankets and when I told her the place is for 2 people and there is enough for 2 she started getting rude saying they are just visiting them. What do I do?

[Huma0]

@Sarah4304 

Sorry this has happened to you so early on in your hosting experience. The guests sound like a nightmare.

What you do depends somewhat on the outcome you want. In either scenario, remain polite and calm, but firm.

1. The guest is not going to be there much longer and you would rather continue with the reservation. In that case, I would remind her that the place is for maximum two people, and overnight visitors are not allowed as clearly stated on your listing. Give her a time that the visitors must leave by in order for her to not be charged for the additional people. I would remind her also that the listing clearly states there is no TV and sorry, but you can't provide one. 

2. The guest has booked a longer stay/you just want her and her entourage gone. In this case, I would do the same as above but tell her that you cannot have additional guests staying, so her visitors must either leave by X time, or she will need to find another place to stay. 

If she refuses, call Airbnb and tell them there are unauthorised guests in your listing and they are refusing to leave. Ask Airbnb to relocate them and do a neutral cancellation (i.e. with no penalty to you) as your house rules are being broken, the guests appear to be drunk and belligerent etc. This has worked for me in the past, but I did offer to refund any unspent nights, so that probably helped.

Make sure in either case to put this to the guest in writing via the Airbnb messaging thread. The guest might not respond, but you need to keep a record on there as Airbnb CS will almost always check this before they do anything.

Either way, you are quite likely to get a bad review as a result, but don't let yourself be held hostage over bad reviews as you will make yourself miserable that way. You will also have the chance to respond to the review.

Make sure you leave an honest review and low star ratings + No, I would not host this guest again but wait until the guest has left their review first. Or, if she doesn't leave a review, wait until right before the review deadline to leave yours so it doesn't prompt her to do so.

In future, I would consider:

1. Requiring at least one day's notice for bookings. I have never taken same day bookings, but many hosts have reported here on the CC that they are are a recipe for disaster and attract the wrong kinds of guests.

2. Use this as a learning experience and add any relevant points to your house rules. For example, I would add something about no visitors (or no visitors without prior permission), keeping noise levels down, guests being liable for any damage to the listing and it's contents, etc. etc. I also always ask guests to confirm they have read the full house rules (in writing on the Airbnb message thread) and I won't accept a booking until they have done so.

I am sure others here will have useful advice for you. 

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Sarah4304]

Thank you so much. Your advice is very useful. They have 2 more nights. I think I will tough it out.

[Mark116]

@Sarah4304   People like that, who are demanding, always say no to them, politely but firmly.  'No, we don't offer a TV, it's unfortunate if you didn't notice that in the amenities section'.  'No, our listing is for 2 people, and we don't have linen for any extras'.  

If people are nice and seem appreciative, you can feel free to go above and beyond.

I agree that doing same day reservations is challenging and you might want to turn off that possibility unless you're able to scramble to get your place ready on short notice.

[Sarah4304]

Thanks for your advise, I did the same. I also will go above and beyond if people are nice.

[Sarah977]

@Sarah4304  People who book last-minute seem to fall into 2 categories. One is those who have found themselves in a unforeseen or desperate situation- they had an overbooked, cancelled or delayed flight, their car broke down on a road trip, the place they had booked to stay turned out to be a filthy dump, they had a medical emergency that required travel to a hospital outside their own area, etc. 

The second category are those whose last minute need for housing is their own doing- they are poor planners, they are disorganized, they got booted out of the place they were staying for unacceptable behavior,  they have a Tinder date who says "let's get an Airbnb", because they both live with roommates, they decided to throw a party, and so on.

The first type are usually hassle-free guests, appreciative that you were willing to accommodate them on short notice, and for some hosts, like those who live near an airport or an interstate, or a hospital, those last minute bookings are their bread and butter.

But it seems that the second category make up the bulk of last-minute str bookings, and tend to be problematic guests, so it's probably best to set your availability settings to 1 or 2 days advance notice. 

There can also be payment issues with last-minute bookings. The guest may check-in, only to have Airbnb send the host a message saying, sorry, the guest's payment didn't go through, you should tell them to leave. Which of course is a situation no host wants to have to deal with.

[Sarah4304]

Thankyou, I will definitely keep that in mind next time.

[Sarah4304]

Thankyou for your advice. I will stay away from same day bookings 

[Sarah4304]

Update: the guests left today without informing us. Their checkout is tomorrow. We saw them leaving in the CCTV footage. I asked them on airbnb messaging thread but no response. I texted her and she has left and the key is in the kitchen. I wrote a polite reply telling her that I would have loved to meet her and know more about her stay but no response  came from her. This is only my second guest through airbnb and I am scared for my future bookings.

the place is really dirty, looks like they had a party which is against the rules. They broke a shelf in my closet. Left  a lot of trash.

[Mark116]

@Sarah4304  Go back through all of your initial communications with her and see if there were red flags that you missed.  I find that most of the time, not always, but usually guests who are poor communicators are poor guests.  They can't be bothered to read the listing or answer host messages=can't be bothered to follow the rules either.

Take a look at your house rules and if need be, tighten them up, especially on not allowing 'visitors' outside of registered guests unless hosts are notified and agree.

We massively over communicate, it is probably somewhat annoying to some guests, but since we don't meet guests for check in post covid, it is the only/best way to protect ourselves and the property.

In our first message we remind guests to read the listing, rules, etc.  We highlight that we are living in the same house and so are 'always available to help'.  If we already have a bad feeling, we ask guests to write back and confirm that they've reviewed the listing and the house rules and are okay with them.  If we have a worse feeling, we will call out that no visitors are allowed in the apartment.  

We send a 'thanks for staying here is the check out procedure...XXX' the night before, this re enforces the check out time but in a nice way, and reminds them of where to leave keys, trash, etc.  We found we have fewer problems now that we started doing that.

Lastly, always trust your instincts.  You will not be right 100% of the time, but probably 85% if you have a bad feeling about a guest, they will be bad.

Since you have cameras you might also want to remind guests of this in a greeting message so it reduces their ability to later claim any privacy invasions.

Good luck, don't give up yet.

[Scott57]

I would also set up a security deposit for guests that may then be used to cover any damages incurred by them. I set mine for $150. 

[Sarah977]

@Scott57  Airbnb doesn't actually collect or hold the security deposit. It's only a "you could be charged up to $150".

But the guest has to agree to pay- Airbnb doesn't force them to.

I see your listing is a private studio in your house. I am also a home-share host. We don't have to worry much about guests causing damage in our type of listings. It's not like they can sneak a bunch of extra people in and throw a party.  And the amount of damage they could cause is relatively small. A guest might agree to pay $150 for something they damaged in your studio, but when hosts get the kind of guests who disrespectfully trash out an entire home, they aren't the kind of people who are going to agree to pay thousands of dollars to repair the damage. 

Hosts who have entire place rentals and don't live on the property themselves need to have their own short term rental insurance. It would be foolish for them to rely on the bogus Airbnb security deposit or equally bogus host guarantee.

[Sarah977]

@Mark116 @Sarah4304  And that's one of the problems if a host accepts a same-day booking, isn't it? There isn't enough time to exchange messages and have possible red flags show up at some point.

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  Oh yeah, I forgot this was a same day booking.  Those would make me nuts.