The guest with the flu

[Laura2592]

What are your tips for dealing with a guest who "got the flu" during their stay? It is going around and I understand there is a lot of concern about the coronavirus. The guests are an older couple and want to extend their stay because the ill member is "too sick to move." We have back to back bookings and can't accommodate that.  We explained that as gently as we could and the response was not friendly. We have tried our best to help these guests with recommendations to urgent care clinics and dropping off cough drops, extra tissues, etc.  It is an unfortunate circumstance.

My cleaner is recovering from some illness herself and does not want to come into contact with dirty tissues, etc. so we are doing an emergency clean behind the guests. If they leave. I feel for them-- nothing is worse than having to travel when you are ill and just want to be home in your bed. But we just don't have any room on the calendar. 

[Ann3]

Yikes! What an awful situation. I would want plenty of time between the folks who are sick and your next set of guests so every surface gets wiped down and you don't have to rush through the job. Yikes, again.

I had the flu (influenza H1N1) in 2009 and could barely get out of bed. I slept 12 hours at a time.  I had a fever of 103F+ for days, and it would have been really difficult for me to go anywhere (even the doctor's office), let alone pack up and travel. 

So it's possible they really can't leave at the moment. Maybe call Airbnb and see if they can place your next guests elsewhere so the ones in there now don't have to move before they are able? Tell the current guests that you are going to try and be sure to send them a screen cap of your next calendar so that they SEE for themselves that you are already booked, and then try to get help from Airbnb on the next arrivals?

The more transparent you can be with current guests and Airbnb (and newly arriving guests) the better for everyone. Good luck!

[Laura2592]

@Ann3  yes we normally clean and straighten even after our cleaners so I am not so much worried that the next guest will be exposed, but am sure that we will. The healthy member of the couple seems to be eager to get home and understands that we can't allow them to stay indefinitely during recovery. But the ill member of the pair wants to stay put. As I say I certainly feel for them both. But if I am honest they have not been the easiest guests. We prefer that they head home. There are some other red flags. 

[Sean433]

@Laura2592 

What is your objective? Are you trying to figure out how to get them out without them leaving a bad review? Who was the one who booked? The one who is sick or the one who wants to leave on time?

[Laura2592]

@Sean433  my objective is to get them to leave on time. The review will be what it will be. The one who is ill is the one who booked. 

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Laura2592,  It sounds like its time to tell them, "You don't have to go home but you cant stay here" bartenders line.  Your place isn't an infirmary, its an Airbnb rental- if the guest cant move themselves, they make ambulances for just such an occasion!  They literally can't overstay their welcome due to prior commitments regardless of the situation.  Another suggestion- once they are out, get a mask and gloves, go in with the Lysol spray and concentrate and Go Crazy.  Good luck, John

[Kelly149]

@Laura2592 this is one of the pitfalls of booking a 1 room setup (and yes, I know you have more than the one room, but I mean this isn't a hotel where you have extra rooms to put the future guest into...). Yes, it stinks, but yes, they have to go.

STR has a known pros/cons list. They're all part and parcel with each other. The good news is they got an interesting place in a locale that wouldn't have had a hotel. The bad is that they only booked so much time and now it's time to go.

[Mark116]

@Laura2592 I don't think you should feel guilty for expecting people to check out on their check out date because they have the flu. 

We did get one of those sanitizing UVA wands, LOL, and use that on mattresses, remotes, and whatever else we can wand if we have a sense that the guests were sick, we do that first before we start any of the actual cleaning, no idea if it really works but it makes me feel better.

[Kelly149]

@Mark116   Placebo effect perhaps. We keep Lysol spray in the barn and when someone tells me they’ve been sick, I encourage THEM to sanitize behind themselves as they’re leaving. 
we clean but we shouldn’t have to deal with biohazards!