How far should a host go to help a guest

[Rachel2991]

I have a handicapped “friendly” AirBnb. A guest booked last minute and had a paralyzed person in a wheelchair accompanying. They had an accompanying aid but couldn’t get him transferred to the bed without help so they called me (at 10:30 pm). I gave them some medical contacts and the number to the fire department to call, which were all unable to assist apparently. I ended up helping to lift and lower him (in the middle of the night) and now they say they can’t leave my rental even though check out was almost two hours ago (I have other guests coming) without my help again. How far should a guest have to go in this situation? I’d love some opinions from other experienced hosts with disability friendly places please. Thanks in advance!

[Inna22]

@Rachel2991 I think anything you do to help in this situation as a host becomes your liability. I would stay away from a physical contact with any guest for any reason (I mean of course if someone is needing CPR or chocking I would step in). Short of that, I would not get involved. I am sorry you were dealing with that.

[Rachel2991]

Thank you for your reply. This is how I felt about the situation but needed confirmation. I’m not certain of what to do when a guest won’t leave because they didn’t prepare in advance and knew that their check out time and day was coming. I felt very “stuck” because of the need for them to go so I could get it ready for the next guest in time.

[Paula]

Hi @Rachel2991 I am tagging @Marie8425, @Jennifer1897 @Robin488  and @Inna22 here so they receive a notification of your message. This way, we increase the chances of them getting back to us.

Quick tip: To tag someone, tap "@" and select the host's username from the dropdown menu 😊

[Marie8425]

@Rachel2991 

I would suggest bif welcoming disabled bthen you have to recognize what yhou are welcoming.

A. Family joke for us but honest quickly is just not available to me anymore.  I needed to squeeze into my doctor's scheduled she could see me at a 7 am appointment to accomplish that I set my alarm for :230 am.

B.  There is a high risk of unexpectant delays.  So far this year at home I fell 8 times. Average person doesn't fall regularly but for the disabled that is part of life.  We have safety devices like my watch that callas my husband and then he and I know our processes.

C.  If a person has a motorized tool for their disability not often but motorized tools break.

D.  Some disabitied like mine are because I have a serious medical condition.  Any medical condition could cause a delay but just like higher risk that I might fall higher risk I nay need medical attention

[Robin488]

I’m assuming you are not a nurse… but really this is a liability,  my hospitality side always wants to help, but I do not touch others, at get involved in bathroom or bedroom stuff at all. I’ll talk to themon the porch,  but I only enter the property with someone with me, and only for property related issues 

[Rachel2991]

Robin, thanks for your reply. Your approach is what I usually adopt, this situation was quite unusual and it threw me. I had another guest due to arrive and they could not leave until he was transferred. 
You are correct, I have no medical training. Their accompanying aid guided us but, oh, was I aware of the liability consequences the whole time while empathizing with their predicament.

[Jennifer1897]

@Rachel2991 While I can empathize with this individual and their party, it is in no way your responsibility to assist them in the transport of the guest from wheelchair to bed or anywhere for that matter. As others have said this could be a liability. What if the individual gets injured in the transfer process and they blame you?

I think providing them numbers for assistance was the best thing you could have done. While there are some things you can't plan for completely, it is the responsibility of the guests, including their aid, to ensure they can manage in the accommodations they selected knowing the limitations of the disabled member in their group. Additionally, knowing this was an issue for them (given the prior night transfer) they should have been more proactive about addressing it in the morning, not throwing their hands in the air and expecting you to assist 2 hours post checkout. 

I would respond with a very polite yet precise message. "Hello xyz, thank you again for choosing to stay with us at our Airbnb. While we empathize with your situation, we are unable to assist with medical care of any kind due to liability issues. To assist you I have provided the contact information of several home care aids and non-emergency first responders." 

[Rachel2991]

Thank you so much for your insightful response! I especially appreciate the guidance that you gave with an example of the message that would be appropriate to send. I am a fairly new (2 years) host and still struggle with knowing how to respond in certain situations. I couldn’t agree more with everything that you said.

[Marie8425]

@Rachel2991 

Speaking as someone in a wheelchair, everyone is right liability.  You do not have any education or experience.  If I go to an X-ray at a m edical facility because of liability I am required  to bring an aide if I need to transfer to an exam table.  I don't require major assistance but impossible for me without 1 person to help.  They can not offer me help.

[Rachel2991]

@Marie8425 Thank you so much for your generous and informative response! I am so happy that you gave me some insight from your prospective. We developed the home the way we did, with accessible features, because we noticed that there seems to be a huge void in the vacation rental realm for those that need this type of accommodation. I envisioned more use from those like you who are accustomed to traveling and come prepared with what they need besides what we provide, which is clearly illustrated in the listing. I believe this group was ill prepared because the paralyzed gentleman was being transported from a nursing home in my state to a home of a relative (who was traveling with him) in another state, an all but the aid had very limited traveling experience. I empathized with them in their struggles and also had another guest due to arrive, despite the awareness of my involvement causing a liability for myself.

I hope you don’t mind if I ask, but I believe that your experience means that you can offer advice from the best perspective, what services would you suggest that I offer the information of to a guest with this particular need in the future? The resources that I provided the contact information to were the local fire department, a home health aid company in the area, and the non-emergency line to our local health network. The relative who was traveling with the gentleman, the booker, said that she called all three and no one could help.

[Marie8425]

@Rachel2991 

Another secret they weren't ill prepared they knew you were not prepared.  All hospitals and any type of residential care employs social workers to assist the patient and care team and the medical insurance pays for the time.  

The Hospital Social Workers were even paid to visit me at home to determine if my home environment was safe for me.

An idea for you that I have mentioned to other Hosts is promoting your space to the Hospital Social Workers because they will help determine who you are safely accessible for and for me in Hawaii they sent me a lot of business.  A lot of people need a place to stay while waiting for travel or a permanent residential place,

[Marie8425]

@Rachel2991 

Also has a disabled person in a crisis situation the fire department does come out to determine if a crisis.  They don't tell me no over the phone.   Again liability the fire dept said no over the phone so we had to call the host for assistance and the disabled person's leg got twisted.  Besides you the disabled person is going to sue the fire dept also.

[Rachel2991]

@Marie8425 This is a scary situation for all involved, I’m sure! What would you do as a host if the guest has overstayed due to this particular difficulty and it is infringing on the impending guests arrival time? We did not have time to prepare for the next arrival and I had to hire additional cleaning help to finish on time, which took all of the profit that I would have made from their reservation.

[Paula]

Hello @Rachel2991,

What an interesting topic you’ve brought to our community.

Many of our experienced hosts have shared their perspectives. Have you had a chance to read their comments?

Please keep us updated.