New host, incident

[Mauricia2]

New to hosting. 

I need some advice, I hosted a guest couple days ago. Her stay was for two nights. The guest herself Obeyed my house rules. However, An incident occurred in the early hours on the day of her checking out. This is where I need your views on how to go about this without prejudice. She has given me a review, and as we are aware to see the review I need to give her a review. I wanted to check with others who may have had incidents with individual guests and how they went about it .

At the time I was hosting herself and another guest both independently no relationship to each other. She was checking out the following day but in the very early hours approximately 4 AM there was very loud knocking on my bedroom door. I was awoken by a male voice. Bearing in mind both entrance doors to my house had been securely locked for the night and both my guest were females. Well you can imagine my shock. I rushed out, by then the voices had moved to one of the guest bedroom.

On my way to find out what's going on, the other guest popped her head out of her bedroom to advice me quickly, she was also awoken by loud banging on the front entrance door and when she looked out of her bedroom window, there were police officers querying about my second guest and to allow them in. She threw the keys out of the window to them and they let themselves in. I am now freaking out. I knocked and was let in by the police officers. The guests at the time was saying to the police officers “I’m fine, honest I'm ok”

The officers was also saying to her “we just wants to make sure that you are okay, we had a telephone call regarding concerns for your welfare”. After few exchanges of words and the police officers were satisfied she was fine, they left her and exited her bedroom. I followed them downstairs because they were leaving without even going to give an explanation. I advised them I'm the owner. They told me, they had a call from the guest mother Reporting concerns.(the guest is a middle 30ish adult just to give you'll an idea of her age)

However, they were satisfied that she was okay and they have no cause for concern. Now this is where I need your thoughts. Clearly this lady has problems. However as I’ve already mentioned her stay was going perfectly until then.

1: How do I write a review for this guest without  or don’t write a review.

2: Should she be alerted to Airbnb as a warning to other host in the case of similar incidents and safety. I dread to believe what would have happened to my front door had the other guest we're not awoken then or I didn’t have another guest present because I heard nothing prior. Would they have kicked my door in to gain entrance and what would be the repercussion . Very frightening I must add.

3:I have spoken to Airbnb by phone of the incident and written a feedback to Airbnb regarding to review their features but not a report. In my feedback I advised encouraging guests when making reservations to include their reason for wanting to share a host’s house also City, town, they are coming from. We are not hotels it’s our homes we are sharing. Also I’ve already mentioned safety.

4: Guests only stating on their profiles Live in UK is not enough. This guest, that's all she had on her profile. However only to find out she and her entire family lives in my neighbourhood. This does not necessarily mean I would have declined her reservation but I would have some familiarisation pre her visit. She’s not the first. I had another guest stayed, profile only stated lived in UK and this guest was the only one that did not give a review 😂.

4: thoughts and ideas from other hosts please.
5: forgot to mention her review came in late last night after 11pm.

Airbnb is sync with my email also and therefore I’m alerted . I always read emails first before  I go into my Airb inbox. After  I checked the email, I don’t know why I had this intuition to peep out of my window and her car was outside parked up on the kerb Infront of mine. It remained there for a considerable length of time before disappearing. I’m not sure what's in her review because I've not opened it. But when she was checking out she did say to me she had nowhere to go.

From her conversation it appeared there’s, domestic problems, she mentioned of her partner and mother wants to get her sectioned because they’ve gotten her sectioned before. She’s got 3 young children. She also stated to me no one nor professionals are listening to her. Before, she left i said to her I don't know you but clearly you need support and help and as much as you are saying no one is listening in this case go to a natural person, eg: her local MP. However I don't know how far that would get her. Because if she’s in the system already probably “labelled” mental anyone she goes to will point her to the same people she is saying that's not listening. need to stop here but it’s a Very sad situation.

And by the way I lost £600+ due to this situation. Immediately after she left I blocked the 3 days on my calendar on both my rooms to recollect myself from the incident. During that time 3 guests booked and withdrew.?????.

[Brian2036]

@Mauricia2 

Unless you want to run a homeless shelter or mental hospital, I suggest that you be more careful about who you rent to.

 I think you should also consider raising your prices. Is it possible to find a decent hotel room in your area for $35? I doubt it.

If you’re the cheapest option around you’re going to get some very odd guests.

 You definitely need to write a review and write it very carefully.

 You might say something like, “Guest or someone related to her provoked a frightening incident that resulted in police invading my home at 4 AM.

Unfortunately I am unable to host this guest again.”

Someone from your neighborhood booking a room is a big red flag.

Possibly someone booked it for her, which is a violation of airbnb policy and you should report that.

[Elena87]

@Mauricia2 

It's unlikely you can get to the bottom of the story what triggered the police to arrive, whether the guest indicated signals that had genuine cause for concern or an overreaction from her family.

In all likelihood, this experience will in all probability be a one off hosting occurrence.

To screen guests, I doubt if airbnb will take note of your suggestions, but you could disable instant booking (if you do indeed use it), set a few days of preparation time to stop last minute bookings and correspond in depth with potential guests prior to confirming, will give yourself a little more control.

As far as the review goes, I mean perhaps the guest was reasonable in a way. She didn't directly call the police or knowingly bring them to your door, or cause concern and it appears your other guest threw them the keys. Without new facts emerging, I'd be inclined to let it go.

With a guests' personal dilemma, there is only so much you can do superficially without being sucked all in into the drama.

I'm pretty sure you know what price point sells your place at and in a major sized city, in my experience locals might book your place under good reason. Look out for advice based on urban myths presented as gospel.

[Sarah977]

@Mauricia2  Aside from your issue, which I tend to agree with Elena on, you seem unclear about how reviews work. 

You can't "open" a guests review and read it before writing yours - reviews are blind and can only be read once they are published. And once they are published, the review period is over, it's too late for either party to submit a review if they haven't yet.

[Linda108]

@Mauricia2   All three hosts, @Sarah977 @Elena87 and @Brian2036  have given you sound advice and I hope you are inclined to take it.  When you allow strangers to come into your home while you remain in the home, you will need to take careful vetting steps to feel comfortable and safe.  I surmise from your post you are still experiencing the emotional upheaval of the event.  In that case, do not write the review until you are calmer and can gain some perspective.  It is very good that you have blocked days on your calendar.  Your sense of safety is way more important than money. For the review, using the old host comment, "better suited to a hotel rather than a shared home" will alert other hosts without specifically impuning the guest will avoid the possibility of Air BNB removing it.

[Brian2036]

@Linda108 @Mauricia2 @Sarah977 @Elena87 

Regardless of the compassion one should have for people who have mental, emotional or physical challenges, unless one is one of the blessed saints who have committed their lives to relieving the suffering of others, one must first consider the safety of other guests, their homes, and themselves.

 I have let compassion overrule common sense several times in the past and I have paid a high price for it every time. EVERY TIME.

 If someone brought the police to my house for any reason I would surely click the “would not host again” box.

If you are inclined to make excuses for this unfortunate person, think about the trauma suffered by the innocent guest, not to mention the host.

Think also about what might have happened if the police felt threatened.

 I understand British police are probably less violent than Americans, but here they would likely have kicked the door down without knocking first and rushed in screaming threats with weapons drawn, itching to shoot first and ask questions later.

We don’t know what information the police were given. If they were told that the guest’s life was in danger they would have to be extremely aggressive.

Other hosts should know that at best this person is a magnet for trouble, and be allowed to make an informed decision.

[Mauricia2]

Hello 👋

[Mauricia2]

I've read and taken a lot of suggestions from everyone. Thank you all. For taking the time to respond. Brian, the very thought came into my mind about our police officers in the UK they do not carry guns. To be honest it took awhile before I woke from my sleep. It cross my mind today, what if I was in America how would this scenario have pan out.  I've also had thoughts to what others said as well. The guest did not call the police.  So I thought of both scenarios concerning this. I'm looking at my listings again regarding removing instant booking. The hotel prices in my area   more upmarket than my place and their nightly price is just a bit more than my price. I have week price and  weekend  price however it looks like Airbnb are using the week price for all nights. Thanks  guys.

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@Mauricia2  As a fellow home-share host, I would definitely advise you to turn off Instant Booking. You need to be really vigilant about vetting guests who are going to be sharing your home. 

When you get a booking request, check out the guest's reviews, if they have any, and communicate with them through messaging. If you get a weird feeling, or obvious red flags, ask more questions or simply decline the booking.

It doesn't sound like there would have been any need for bursting in by the police with guns drawn, even in the US. What it sounds like to me from what you were told, is that this guest is either mentally imbalanced and the family is concerned about her, or the family is nuts and trying to interfere in her life, which also sometimes happens.

In any case, you are a host, not a therapist, or care giver, and a guest's personal issues shouldn't be something you are subject to dealing with.

[Monique829]

Thank you for all these tips. I'm brand new. First guest is coming over in Oct. I wonder what yo watch out for.

[Sarah977]

@Monique829  I have to say I find your listings confusing. The first 3 all seem to be the same place. One says 2 guests in a private room, the others say 1 guest. If you are renting out more than 1 bedroom, you need to make it clear in your listing info that guests will be sharing the home with you, as well as other guests. Guests can get legitimately upset to find out that it is a hostel-type situation when they weren't advised of that.

Your 3rd listing has description at all.

And while you say on your first listing that there are photos to come, none of your listings show the bedrooms, bathroom, or any other indoor spaces, which is quite odd. And the last listing has a photo gallery that just looks like someone's travel photos. 

Guests want to see where they will sleep, eat, etc, not look at photos of the host and her friends. A couple of those is fine, but you have not shown guests what to expect when they book your listing.