How to deal with unexpected situations?

[Stephanie]

Hello everyone,

From time to time, unexpected situations are always going to crop up, such as your washing machine taking one look at the huge pile of washing and deciding to give up the go or your guests arriving much later than expected! You can’t prevent these from happening entirely, but there are some things you can put in place to minimise the risk of them happening and ways to help deal with them if they do.  

Things like great communication and doing regular home maintenance, along with some handy lists of emergency support numbers for local repair companies or plumbers are just a few examples. 

What things do you have in place to help you deal with unexpected situations?

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Stephanie

[Michelle1834]

Hi everybody, am wondering what other people do in this situation...we have a large property and several times we have become aware after guests have left that they have had some kind of party. All the linens and towels used, rubbish everywhere etc. I don't want to bring it up with them-even though it costs me a lot in extra cleaning and laundry etc, because I don't want a bad review from someone who is angry about being asked to pay extra for mess they have caused! Seems like there is no way around this!??

[Ann72]

@Michelle1834 I looked at your charming listing, and I would suggest adding an extra-person fee.  You can accommodate up to 17 people and that many people will always take longer to clean up after.  My listing that sleeps 10 has a fee of $50 per-person per night over 6 people.  Just assume that when you list for accommodation up to 16 people you're going to get a party or at least a large group having a very high time and the extra-person fee helps cover the extra cleaning costs.

[Valerie454]

The power went out (later discovered a transformer on a pole burnt out) and my guests were returning from dinner.   I lined the stairs with battery candles, put some in the bathroom and bedroom.  They thought it quite romantic. But I had to scramble to put all the batteries in them before they returned.   The power came on just a few minutes before they came down for coffee.  Traveling is an adventure.   Battery operated candles, a must have.  

[Lizzie]

This does sounds rather romantic @Valerie454, what a creative idea and one I sure your guests will remember fondly about there trip. I think this is a great example of managing to sort an unexpected situation into a positive one. 🙂 

[Tulin1]

@Valerie454 what a good idea to have some battery operated candles. The first thing that I will buy Monday morning. Thanks for the great tip. 

[Tulin1]

Can anyone give me some examples of a hard guest, I mean complaining all the time!! Whatever you do you just cant make them happy and they donot appreciate whatever you do 😞 I had over 100 guests staying at my flats and never had a problem. This is the first time I am having problems and do not know how to deal with them. Thanks in advance.

[Ange2]

@Tulin1   For me a hard guest is someone who arrives, has not read the description/amenities, has an overwhelming attitude of entitlement, and expectations that are completely unrealistic, and they decide it is all your fault and lash out, such as writing a dishonest nasty review with a low star rating.

You do not say what they are complaining about and whether it is valid but out of your control, so it's rather difficult to give any advice.  In general, I would suggest, do not take it personally, and if you have done what you can do within reason (if you can do anything) and they persist (and their stay is longer than a few days) finding them somewhere else to stay that suits their needs may be the best option.

To protect yourself against Airbnb refunding them, make sure all they have said and all you have done to address their complaints is documented in messages on Airbnb.

Good luck!

[Phillip352]

Stop taking there money 

[William1349]

Does anyone know if airbnb filterout smokers from seeing non-smoking rooms/homes?

[Phillip352]

No you need to put that in the house rules and put a sign on door in room. I put in my rules if smoke is detected a $200 clean charge will be assessed airb&b will help with that as long as you put it in rules of house any anywhere else it will stick out even on your front page Put prefect place to stay but smokers stay away  

[Peter2907]

So, our guest called and messaged us about a mouse that appeared in the master bathroom. She said she was so scared that she could not turn off the shower because she was so scared. We don't live near the Airbnb and don't have anyone to go out to take care of said rodent. We tried calling our pest control service as well as several other 24/7 pest control places and nothing. At this point I'm waiting to hear back from someone from a local neighborhood Facebook group. Fingers crossed that he will be able to make it out. If not, then the guest will have to live with the mouse until tomorrow or Monday or can either find somewhere else to stay. Thankfully for the guest, there is another full bathroom. I hate we can't do anything yet.

[Helen427]

@Peter2907 

Was your wee mouse issue resolved?
I bet the mouse was just as terrified of your Guest as the Guest was of the mouse...life for us all is a two way relationship between Humans and Animals...

I wonder who in the world first decided to be scared of a wee mouse????

There must be a story passed on through the generations of someone's family about mice.

@Liv @Katie @Nick @Quincy @Stephanie5 @Brian @Catherine-Powell @Anna @Francesca @Noriko @Sergi @Lizzie  and other ABB Admins, now that could be a good Promotions Project??

How many Mouse Houses are on Airbnb???

There must be a Mickey Mouse, Mini Mouse and other Mouse named and designed properties, are there?

@Onmouseover-0 @Mice0 @Belmice0 @Romicedes0

[Deanne45]

Has anyone ever encountered a guest that finds the most important thing in an entire house is the use of a dishwasher?

My vacation rental is in a remote area of my state with very few repair people. Our house cleaner arrived to clean between guests one day only to find the dishwasher leaking on our hardwood floors. It was easy to determine it was in need of a new seal. The only local plumber that does not have a several months long waiting list does not repair, only installs dishwashers. We were able to locate the part needed and quickly ordered it. In the meantime, we received a request for a month long reservation. I never anticipated that the dishwasher would not be up and running by the time the guest arrived 2 weeks later. As it become a couple of days prior to the guest arrival and still the part had not arrived but we did receive other extra parts for the same dishwasher from the same parts company. It turned out that part was on order. I immediately informed the guest of the situation and our intent to fix the dishwasher as soon as the part arrived. Two weeks later we still did not have the part. Due to COVID there were part orders delay, shipping delays and so on every where around us. During this time we also sought local dishwasher and repair dealers in the area of our residence, 2 hours south of the vacation rental. The part was unobtainable anywhere. The guest had been becoming increasingly upset that she had to hand wash dishes after every meal. Now I'm somewhat understandable about the situation. There are 3 other adults also staying with the renter. The communication became rather demanding, as if I were not telling the truth about the part on backorder. I went to the extent of sending the guest a screen shot of the email I received after having to email the company as they were not accepting calls. The email I sent my guest showed that the part was ordered and was being shipped. Then to add to the delay, we live in the northeast. Fedex was having some delays due to weather conditions. My guest has not kindly demanded a partial refund for not having use of a dishwasher. Here is now where I am having a bigger dilema. I provided a 47% discount off of our nightly rate for a monthly discount. This brought the nightly rate down to $106 a night for a 3 bedroom 2 bath 2400 sq. ft. fully stocked home. I was willing to give her 5% of the already reduced nightly rate as a refund. This is not acceptable to her. She wants 15% which totals the cost of a high tech brand new dishwasher. While I definitely do not want to risk a very negative review, which I feel she will give anyway, and have it effect my Super Host Status that I have maintained for the full 2 years we have owned and rented our vacation rental, I also feel like her demand is eroneous. Does anyone have feedback?

[Phillip352]

Stop accepting payments 

[Jane2672]

@Stephanie  - it appears the guest who checked into our AirBnB cottage (directly behind our home) has a second person staying with her without my knowledge. I do charge a second person fee, it is in the listing and in our text conversations, she was made aware of this. My issue isn't about the fee, but rather that nothing was said, I wasn't asked or informed, which speaks to honesty and trust. I don't want to create a confrontational situation, but I am not happy that she didn't speak to me about it.