Is there a cat in my not-pet-friendly house??

[Kia272]

HELP! Need your thoughts please.....

Here's the situation: 

Got a reservation request about 7 weeks ago. It seemed to be from an enthusiastic young man who wanted to come to my area for a weekend getaway with his girlfriend to explore the area. I approved it. His initial correspondence was pleasant and enthusiastic. He is brand new to AirBnB. 

The day of his reservations- Friday, December 20th, he messages me in the early morning hours to ask if they can bring their "well behaved kitty." I am not listed as pet friendly, and I say no, with an excuse about future guests and allergies. They show up Friday night. I let them in and spend a minute or two explaining the heat, etc. and then leave them alone.

The next day, Saturday, I notice that all of the curtains are drawn as tight as can be. My spidey sense is on alert. You don't come to the country and make a cabin as dark as possible for no apparent reason. I would never enter the cabin without guest permission during a stay, so I haven't....but they did go out yesterday and I made my best attempt to peer in the cabin. I cannot see a thing. Those curtains remain pulled as tightly as possible. So of course I'm thinking that they brought the cat. What are your thoughts and what can I do?

I Obviously can't outright accuse them...but I'm highly suspicious. I am debating going in if they go out today. If I found a cat I would ask them to leave immediately. 

HELP!!

[Laura2592]

@Kia272  theres really no need to be nasty.  You said your host was a young man and has a girlfriend,  the day he checked in and the days they were set to check out. You dont have dozens of reservations. It would be easy for a guest to say "oh my gosh I can't believe it but I think she's talking about me!" People do forward these threads...a friends us s host in New Orleans who had rhat happen to her. Calling guests "idiots" (see your message earlier in this reply to Emilia) is also telling.  We all get upset when guests act out.  Theres a place to do that where your guests won't find it accidentally. 

I'm sorry if you feel that im not being helpful. Just trying to share information that you might not know so that you avoid further issues.  Sometimes you will find when you post here not everyone agrees with your approach to a problem.  That's what makes it s great community...you can learn from others who have different experiences. Have a happy holiday. 

[Piotr48]

I can't wait to see how it ends! lol

[Elena2698]

If I were you I would be also paranoid. It would be autragious if they had a cat without my previous concent. Having animals in your apartment can affect your future guests as you said. However, it could be just people who like the cabin that way. I would just go over there with cookies  or any other excuse to peak over and see. Something not very fancy but better than having those kind of doubts. You can also  ask them directly about that.

Wish you all the best and I hope it is just sheer paranoia!

[Laura2592]

No reply from this host on whether or not there was actually a cat but she came back respond to other things.....so im guessing there was no cat 

[Suzanne302]

"No reply from this host on whether or not there was actually a cat but she came back respond to other things.....so im guessing there was no cat"

@Laura2592  that reply was not necessary. It's the type of reply me and other hosts are referring to when we say there's no need to be snarky. It comes off as quite catty, no pun intended. I hope that's not the image you want to project, and I hope that's not the type of person you are.

[Laura2592]

@Suzanne302  with all due respect,  my response was meant as a factual comment on the current state of the thread. Others have asked "cat or no cat" as well. Sometimes its difficult to discern tone in written comments. I'm apparently not doing a good job at conveying my intent 🙂 I do think that many want to know whether or not this hosts suspicious are founded.  Thanks for your feedback and I'll be more careful to choose my words in the future! Happy holidays to all!

[Piotr48]

So cat or no cat @Kia272 ?

[John1080]

I think everyone is dying to know!

[Kia272]

@Piotr48 

So sorry...I still don't have an answer!  My neighbor has not been able to check, and I'm still away at work.

I'm actually going to leave the thread because one particular poster has been kind of nasty, and made the whole experience kind of yucky.

I say thank you to all of you who showed a genuine interest and offered sage advice. I've seen similar (not nice) people on the ebay forums, and they kind of ruin things for everybody else. 

Cheers, and happy holidays to all...

[John1080]

@Kia272, I hope it all turns out well! 

I must say, I took an extended leave from the forum and have just returned myself. In a forum, where we're supposed to help each other, give advice and ask for it, it's a shame that often, it seems to turn into a pissing contest, where people use this as an outlet to massage their egos and verbally abuse others. I've seen people attacked for asking an honest question - what a shame. 

Happy hosting 2020! 

[Laura2592]

@John1080  aw geez, she's mad at me for not agreeing with her  stance. I was certainly not trying to attack her and it seems that because I didn't validate her POV we will now never know if her guest had a secret cat or not. My apologies to those who wanted an answer 😉  I will certainly be more careful not to offend this host in the future.  Happy holidays and hope everyone takes some time out to enjoy friends and family.  Life is too short! Wishing all the best for a healthy and happy new year.

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592 I agree we should try not to be nasty, but people who can't handle anyone disagreeing with them really shouldn't participate in forums. I assume that when someone posts looking for advice, that there will be all kinds of different viewpoints and people have varying writing styles, some of which might be perceiced as not nice, but public forums and being thin-skinned don't jive very well.

Happy Holidays.

[John1080]

@Laura2592, Merry Christmas to you and yours!

[Ute42]

.

@Kia272

This thread of Yours is very interesting.

You have a cat related question and You get a couple of answers You like. The people who wrote these answers are now Your friends.

But You get one „nasty“ answer from @Laura2592 , Laura is now Your enemy.

Out of retaliation to Laura You now leave Your thread and don't tell her if there was a cat or not. But along with punishing Laura You now punish all Your friends as well bc none uf us will now ever know if there was a cat.

Who's to blame? Laura of course. Had she not written her nasty answer, we would  all know the outcome of the story. But we don't, we will now all have sleepless nights around the globe.

That's an interesting world You live in.

@John1080, @Sarah977 , @Colleen253 ,

.

[Ann783]

The host asked for advice about a possible cat in her rental. Somehow the conversation derailed into one about if people or animals cause more damage. I have a cat and a dog. I love animals. But I don't want to deal with guests who want to bring their pets.