Neighbour Crisis

[Angelica364]

Hi Guys,

Our home is situated in a lovely family residential area just behind all the hustle and bustle of holidaymakers. The group we had the weekend just gone said they were here to venture Blackpool and Lytham St Annes with surrounding areas. We clearly state no party’s.

As out home was ready a day early, I even gave them a free night. They spent the three nights touring no further than the front door and had party’s going on until the early hours. This disrupted, disturbed and angered many of our neighbours, who only reported to us yesterday when we went to do the changeover of the hell they had.

Two of our neighbours have our phone numbers for emergencies, but neither called in fear of intimidation from the guests. Some further down the road have said they’re reporting us and going to close us down.

How can we compensate our neighbours? One couldn’t go into work as he was too exhausted. One neighbour has just lost his young wife a few days before, so didn’t need this.

What would you do?

[Laura2592]

@Angelica364 I have a lot of questions.

Did you confront the guests about their rule breaking?

Did you evict the guests?

Did you call the police because of the noise?

Did you call ABB to report the party (which is against their terms of use and not legal to the platform)?

Did you sustain damage? Are you planning to do a claim?

What kind of review are you leaving for these people?

Why did you reward bad guests with a free night?

Why aren't your house rules more detailed? What can a guest expect to happen when they violate them?

As for your neighbors, its not their responsibility to call you when your guests act up. Its wonderful if they do, but its not their job. They aren't getting paid for the stay. You need to have a close eye on your listing at all times and immediately call out guests who don't follow your rules/evict them. If you aren't ready for that, maybe take a pause before hosting more people and read through the forums for a bit. Lots of great advice here. 

Your neighbors aren't due compensation but a heartfelt apology and gift basket with goodies/wine/Amazon gift card would be a nice touch. 

[Helen3 · Accepted solution]

I'm sorry this happened. @Angelica364 

What I would do is personally visit your neighbours with a gift and apologise. And let them know what you are doing to minimise the risk of this happening again.

If you are going to host remotely, particularly as you have a larger listing,  it's really up to you to put systems in place to monitor your property so that you don't have unruly guests who disturb and upset your neighbours. I agree with @Laura2592  you shouldn't be relying on neighbours to alert you to your guests creating a nuisance. 

As a minimum have ;

1. CCTV or a video door bell - monitor your place around check in 

2. Noise monitor at the listing

3. Vet your guests carefully 

4. Strict house rules not just about no parties, around no late night noise, no additional guests on the property etc (nowhere do you mention on your listing your place is not suitable for guests wanting to party (apart from a single standard house rule saying no parties)

5. A listing that only accepts guests with positive reviews

Blackpool as you know is a party town so you need to be especially vigilant.

Do make sure you leave them an honest review to alert other hosts who they might approach for bookings.

[Ryan2352]

New host here, how do you properly vet someone?  Would  a questionnaire (purpose of the trip, number of vehicles, stuff like that) help?  Nothing that could be discriminatory, just more along the lines of making sure the house isn't abused and anything that might allow us to provide better service (extra welcome gift stuff for birthdays/anniversaries, personalized recommendations of activities, stuff like that). Plus some form of "acknowledge that this is in a residential neighborhood and that you've read the house rules" kind of thing.

Right now all we're doing is looking at reviews & length of stay and requiring identity verification.

[Colleen253]

@Ryan2352  Make sure your listing details everything guests need to know, but is concise enough that they will read it. Be sure you make good use of your house rules and that guests actually read them. Don't rely on good reviews (hosts often are not honest) or Airbnb identity verification. To "provide better service", for those personal touches, ask any questions you like, such as 'who is joining you and what is the purpose of your trip?

Here is an great post for you on guest red flags. It turns things around and is more about the questions that guests ask that indicate you may want to think twice about accepting them.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Red-Flag-Questions/td-p/1452356

[Ryan2352]

Thank you @Colleen253  and @Helen3 that is a huge help!

What are your views on rental agreements?  Do you use them?  I know AB&B and the "the other one" seem to both push them, but don't recall ever signing one on the AB&Bs I've rented as a guest before.  None of the platforms seem to have a rental agreement where you can use date and name placeholders though, which makes it kinda useless.

Thanks,

Ryan

[Helen3]

The best thing you can do to mitigate risks of guests partying is @Ryan2352 

1. Vet your guests and turn down bookings with red flags.

2. Use CCTV (and monitor it) and a noise machine

3. Have a local co-host who meets guests on arrival and is on hand to evict them should they break your house rules around noise/partying

4. Have house rules you can use around no additional guests/quiet hours/no partying 

[Ryan2352]

Thank you.  I was doing contactless check-in, but will be switching to a meet & greet from here on out.  Luckily I'm within 15 minutes of each property, so that shouldn't be a problem.

[Helen3]

I ask all guests @Ryan2352 

1. who is coming with you

2. what brings you to my 

4. for a clear profile photo of themselves 

5. what made you choose my listing 

6. what time are they planning to check in 

[Linda108]

You have a lovely home and generally great reviews.  It is obvious that your listing is meant for larger groups that are in the mood to celebrate.  Apparently, most of your guest celebrations have been well behaved however, I think it is the obligation of the host of larger listings to be especially vigilant for parties that might get out of hand and negatively impact neighbors.  I gather you have communicated with your neigbors before about your listing since they had your phone number.

Unfortunately, your neighbors' negative experiences  eventually contribute to a community backlash to short term rentals.  Then there is pressure on cities and towns to limit or eliminate short term rentals.  

It is very good that you care about the quality of life of your neighbors, so a single apology will not be sufficient.  You must take recommended steps to mitigate the problem.  simply stating no parties is NOT enough. You should always have a local contact if you are remote.  Yes, all this will eat into your profit but long term, it is more important to be a responsible host when you basically have a potential party house.