We recently had an extremely frustrating experience as a Hos...
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We recently had an extremely frustrating experience as a Host and I'd love to know if anyone thinks we have grounds to challe...
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I have a spare room and bath in my own home on Airbnb. My currents guests (M28 F24) are on day 12 of a 31 day stay, and I am not comfortable with them here. I have been told I can end their reservation early, though I can't find anything about this on Airbnb.com. Has anyone had to do this? Was it scary??
Thanks!
You can shorten the reservation ("change" option), if your guest agree with it, it is not scary.
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/50/as-a-host-how-do-i-make-a-change-to-a-confirmed-reservation
So this is the only option? I was hoping for something more from Airbnb, like a list of acceptable reasons for ending a reservation early.
I am the only permanent resident in this home. Without some support from Airbnb, as least some policies to refer to, I would be afraid to change this reservation to end their stay early. What if they refuse? What if they retaliate? They are already sketchy and make me uncomfortable as it is.
You can also contact Airbnb to cancel the reservation, but you must have a good reason for it, for example guests severely breaking your houserules or violating the terms. You are not mentioning such reasons, only "feel uncomfortable". If you cancel the reservation yourself, you will be punished by Airbnb.
Maybe explain first what issues do you experience with these guest, then the community can advise better.
I happen to see this thread as I searched for local guest issues, and I want to tell you, Chey, you need to follow your gut instinct and ask these people to leave. You may be penalized if you do not have a good reason for canceling. However, they booked your place for 31 days. That is precisely one day more required for these guests to claim tenancy in California. At this point, you have to choose do you want a tenant in your house against your wishes and not pay a dime after 31 days because due to COVID 19 there is a moratorium in an eviction? I went through this issue with Airbnb, and they WILL NOT ADVISE or HELP you. It is against their policy.
Even myself, I am not a lawyer, but I have been a landlord. Get a book on Tenant and Landlord relationship for California at Nolo Press. Be informed. Best, call a lawyer. I have to tell you, you can be in a worse situation than losing your super host status.
Good luck.
you raise a very very good point! i checked the reservation and it is for 30 nights, but i am still going to make sure to have them out by night 29, if not sooner. i just need to figure out how to do it where i feel the least unsafe. thank you for checking on this for me!!
What is it that the guests have done that make you want to end their stay? Have they broken your house rules? Are they not abiding by social distancing? Or something else?
If you have very clear and obvious proof (photos and Airbnb messages) that your current guests have broken one or more house rules AND you've already approached them about your concerns, asked them nicely and politely to do better, given them a chance, but there hasn't been improvement....... then, with the understanding that unstayed nights will be refunded, if you contact Airbnb CS they will assist with cancelling the remainder of the booking and issuing the refund back to the guest (basically, just the admin part). It is up to you (as the host) to communicate that you want the guests to leave early, notify/agree on a date, and actually get them to leave. During your communication, you should also make it clear it is up to the guests to find a new place to stay - and maybe also mention, (as an option) they can contact Airbnb directly and ask for support to be RE-HOMED (this is not your problem...... focus on getting them to leave quietly.)
You may want to have a friend (who looks like someone you don't want to mess with) hang around with you the last few days the guests are allowed to stay and especially on the day they are supposed to leave.
I think these posts might help.
https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Kicking-out-a-current-guest-earlier/m-p/777490
Thanks for the advice and links!
@Chey1 In the worst case scenario, the most that Airbnb could do for you is cancel the reservation on your behalf and send the guests a message asking them to leave. There's not really a way they can intervene any further - it's you who is in charge of the home, not Airbnb. @Jessica-and-Henry0 has some good suggestions there.
There are some guidelines that Airbnb displays to guests, but they don't really help you out much here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/695/how-can-i-be-a-considerate-guest
For the most part, the list of acceptable reasons to terminate a booking early exists in the form of your own House Rules. Section 14 of the Terms of Service lists prohibited activities, but most of these don't refer specifically to in-home conduct: https://www.airbnb.com/terms#sec201910_14
It would help if we knew a bit more about why you're uncomfortable - it matters somewhat whether it's a safety issue or a personality issue.
The guest that booked did not have any reviews. Before I accepted, I asked the purpose of their stay. He told me they were moving to the area because he had a new job at a bank, and the GF was transferring retail stores. Supposedly, he was doing remote training for a week, and he would start at the bank on his first Monday here (Sept 7). As of yet, he has not gone to any job. He is never gone for more than an hour or two, always in shorts and tank top. That alone makes me uneasy. First, in my experience, that sort of lie is meant to cover up something nefarious more often than not. Second, I approved the reservation assuming I would have privacy during the day. (She started at her new store this past Monday but has only worked two days this week.) I don’t like that I approved the reservation under false pretenses. I don’t like it at all.
They are both in and out all day long, even during the wee hours. At least once a day, he goes to the grocery store. (I am down to one shelf in my refrigerator for my groceries, but that is another story.) At least 5x times (on a slow day) a day, they both go out to the parking lot and then come back in five/ten minutes later. On Sunday, they were in and out over 30 times. When I asked how much longer that was going to go on, I was told that was the last time. It turned out it wasn’t the last time, they just stopped closing the door when they left. I can’t see the front door, but I have a motion sensor. This in and out also happens at least a couple of times between 3 AM and 6 AM most nights, and it is preceded by a lot of back and forth between the bedroom and bathroom. I thought they were smoking at first, which is a big no no for me, but I don’t see them with cigarettes when I happen to drive by when they are at their car. I have seen other cars pull up in the same area a couple of times while they were out there, though there was no way to discretely see if there was interaction. And one time he was walking away from the car, she was in it, when I pulled in. He walked past my building and ignored me when I called out a hello. Even if they are not selling illegal subs, one neighbor has already noticed and asked me about all this activity. Luckily, she is the nice neighbor, but others are not. I am worried about someone complaining to management. I posted this to Reddit and was told I am paranoid. I am laid off and absolutely cannot afford to lose this place because of them.
They are super messy, take over the kitchen for hours each day, and don’t clean up after themselves. This stuff I could easily handle, if it wasn’t for the other behavior. Honestly, I am afraid of them. I live alone, all of my friends have moved away, and I don’t have any support here. My neighbors are friendly, but not friends, and none would be willing to get involved. I was hoping Airbnb would have something more stringent I could use, other than just asking them to leave.
Thank you all for your help and advice!
This is a tricky one as you have no proof that the guests are doing anything untoward at all, although I would also be a bit concerned about the constant in and out of the front door, especially between 3 and 6AM.
I have only once asked a guest to leave (facilitated by Airbnb) and another time called Airbnb asking them to relocate guests who kept violating house rules, but after Airbnb told them they needed to follow my rules or leave, the guests started to behave better so I let them stay.
In both cases, I found a couple of things to be really important:
1. The guests are doing something that is clearly in breach of the house rules stated on the listing at the time they booked.
2. You have brought up this issue with the guests, in writing on the Airbnb system. There is some acknowledgement, maybe even an apology, from the guests that they broke those rules, but they continue to break them.
In my limited experience, Airbnb had my back when I reported any issues with guests breaking rules, but the first thing the rep did was check the correspondence and my listing/rules.
If you suspect the guests are doing something but can't categorically say it is true, if that thing is not prohibited in your house rules, if you have not approached the guests about the issue... Well, I am not 100% sure how much Airbnb will help you.
Therein lies the rub - no specific proof of what is going on outside. I have discretely asked a couple of times about all the in and out (is everything ok? do you need anything? sort of asking), and I get mumbled answers as they walk down the hall. If it was innocent, wouldn't they explain, or at least say "everything is ducky" without mumbling? My motion sensor snaps a timestamped pic when it is activated, so I have that information if it is needed.
Do you think I could ask them to limit how much they come and go? Of course, that was not something I had put in my listing, though I might now!
I did have to send them some cleaning tips and I used Airbnb for that. They did not respond, but I can tell they are trying to make an effort. But, dam, they are just sticky people!
Thanks for the advice!
Like I said, very tricky. If you had no limitations stated on the listing about when guests could come and go, it's a bit difficult to start imposing restrictions after the fact, but it's maybe a good learning for the future.
A lot of hosts specify a 'quiet time' in their house rules. I specifically ask guests to keep noise down after 11pm and before 7am. I don't say anything about comings and goings, but if they are making noise doing it, neighbours are complaining etc. I would be within my rights to bring it up.
Your guests do sound potentially sketchy, but you haven't actually caught them out doing anything illegal. I don't know what to suggest other than keep a very close eye on the situation.
Did they instant book, by the way? In theory, you can cancel an IB guest penalty free if you feel 'uncomfortable' with the booking or feel that they are breaking/will break your house rules, but I'm guessing you need something concrete to back this up.