Hi AirBNB hosts,
I'm relatively new to AirBNB-- we usually rent our place on alternate platforms. We do 30+ day bookings because of permitting in our city. We've had three AirBNB families stay with us so far. The first was strange-- they negotiated for a discount, they moved our furniture and items all over our house, took some of our new sheets and towels home with them, and ran over our neighbor's fence. They also tried to move 'off the platform'. Nonetheless, there was no major deliberate damage (it was labor rather than expense to repair our neighbor's gate and move our furniture back into place), no complaints from our neighbors, and they were polite, so I left them 5 star reviews. For whatever reason, they did not leave me a review.
The second family was an absolute joy to host. They were new to AirBNB but were so nice, honored house rules, politely messaged me through the app to let me know when there was an issue (and they were issues I absolutely wanted to know about-- the icemaker was leaking water at one point, and the top rack of the dishwasher came off track and they couldn't fix it themselves). Though my housekeeper complained the place was messy when she went in to clean it, they left the place in a very reasonable state when they checked out, so I was very happy to give them a 5 star rating.
Our third guests.... holy moly... they asked for a discount before check-in and I complied because they had 4 and 5 star ratings from many previous hosts. I like to meet people at check-in to show them around because it's a whole house, with appliances, etc., and I like to head off any questions. This wasn't possible because they wouldn't tell me what time they were arriving, just that they would likely come sometime in the morning or afternoon. I messaged them a few times during the day and provided my phone number and detailed directions in case they couldn't find the place. They called at 11:30PM because they couldn't figure out how to find the place and had finally arrived. Got them in and settled and finally went to sleep myself, but past midnight I got a series of text messages accusing me of having dirty sheets that had been slept in and asking me to clean them. Told them where additional supplies of clean sheets were so they could change the linens, assured them that the sheets had been laundered before their stay and no one had slept on them, but it was upsetting because I knew it was untrue, and it's also disturbing to be texted past midnight for non-emergency issues. Checked in with my housekeeper during appropriate business hours the next day and she verified that the beds were all 'very neat and tidy'-- she had made the beds with the sheets I'd laundered the night before my guests were due to arrive.
The next night, around 11PM, I got a text that they wanted me to change the light bulbs in the kitchen overhead light because they were 'too dim'. I explained they were at the maximum allowable wattage for the fixture and increasing this would cause a fire hazard (we have overhead lighting as well as under-counter lighting in our kitchen). I also asked them to move all communication to the app, and to not use my cell except for emergencies going forward. I also offered a refund if they wanted to move out.
The next day, the issue was that one of our outdoor garbage can lids had gone missing. That was actually helpful to know so I sent a replacement-- but I think what was so upsetting is that each of these complaints was framed by a string of insults. For instance, the missing garbage can lid is a reasonable ask, but they accused me of having a missing outdoor garbage can lid that caused an unclean environment that led them to think we had a rodent infestation.
It just kept going from there. Two weeks into their 30 day stay they wanted to move out, so I refunded them (GLADLY) for their unused nights and am so happy they are gone and I can block their numbers and not ever speak to them again. They've left the place a MESS-- the kitchen is so coated in grease, I don't know how I'll clean it, for example. Dishes weren't done, linens ruined, etc. Wouldn't be that big of a deal if they hadn't been so incredibly insulting about my really clean home when they moved in.
I delisted my property from AirBNB. We've only ever had reasonable, normal human renters from other platforms so I'm done with the stress of rude, insulting, entitled people who think they're royalty and hosts are servants-- and I'm hearing from so many others online and in my community that this is the new norm, and there isn't a lot hosts can do about it. From this guests' 4- and 5-star rating from previous hosts it seems like this is the case, for sure.
For the sake of future hosts, I'd like to leave an honest, bad rating for this family. However for the sake of my own mental health I just want to close the door on this chapter and don't want to engage with this really rude, aggressive, entitled, insulting family again for a review that will just be removed anyway.
I know this is very wordy-- I think in part I needed to get the stress of the last two weeks off my chest-- but also I've been a guest on AirBNB basically since it's founding. I've been able to travel all over, to places I couldn't afford if it weren't for AirBNB, and met some really fantastic hosts. So I guess I care about the platform itself somewhat, and I'm just sad that this is what it is turning into.
If you've read this far along, I'd appreciate advice on how to appropriately review this guest, or whether to even do so. Maybe this is the norm and I was expecting too much from AirBNB guests?
