What to do about obese guests?

[Susan21]

To my surprise and horror, for the first time in all these years that I have received Airbnb guests, two obese guests arrived. There was no prior indication from photos et al that they are obese. As my beds and chairs are antiques, I am terrified they will not stand the weight.

What can I do -  prohibit obese guests in my ad? It doesn't sound right but it would be for their safety besides ruining antiques.

[Lisa723]

@Ginny30 yes, we had a bed broken once by a young couple who were not large at all, just very enthusiastic. Hard to imagine how to screen for that.  🙂

[Ginny30]

Same thing here Lisa!  Had to run out & get new legs for the bed frame, but I was laughing the whole time.  Now I keep an extra set just in case:)

[Pat365]

3 women arrived. 2 were 225-300 lbs around 50-60 years old and their mother late 70's, 250 with a bad hip. My description clearly stated 1 queen and a twin trundle. There are also 3 very visible steps up to the door.

They barely made it up, the mom had to be pulled and almost fell.

I understand discrimination and sensitivity, but how about disclosure of disabilities and physical limitations? What about common sense not to book a unit with stairs and a bed you have to pull out from the floor??

They've already reported pulling the towel bar off the wall...

I can't even imagine how uncomfortable the twin beds were and trying to get up.

I reported my concern to Airbnb and was told to basically wait and and see if they fell or broke anything. I could file a claim after the fact.

The largest lady was sitting on the deck rail! There were 2 chairs right below her!

I'm bound to get killed on the review...

I think they should be required to disclose any special needs.

[Sarah977]

@Pat365  I feel for you. Hope they don't end up breaking more stuff.

I noticed, though, that while you mention the stairs to the deck under Health and Safety (which many guests won't bother to click on to actually read), in the main body of your listing desciption under Accessibilty, it says Full Kitchen, then No steps. I think this could be easily misinterpreted by guests and I would reword your description to make it clear that there are steps to the deck and to the front entrance.

[Pat365]

@Sarah977 

Thank you for your observation.

I selected No stairs into Kitchen Only, under a New Ammentities section. It was accompanied by a photo of the transition from the dining area.

I didn't select the entry. Although there aren't steps into the cabin, they are steps up to the deck.

If this is appearing as part of the main body of the listing, rather than the ammentities section, it is something I will report to Airbnb.

As a SuperHost my Goal is always to provide an honest representation of my property.

[Sarah977]

@Pat365  Go to your listing preview page and scroll down. There is a section with the heading Accessibilty and that's where it appears, without guests having to click through to read your amenities description or the Health and Safety section. It's weird to me that Airbnb would put Full Kitchen under Accessibility and then "steps to deck" under it, which would be confusing to guests for sure.

[Pat365]

@Sarah977 

I looked at my listing and agree it's weird. I'm deleting it. Doesn't make much sense anyway.

I talked to Airbnb and explained the possible confusion and also requested a place where a Guest could indicate if they had any special needs or were handicapped.

I feel that information is much more important to the safety and comfort of the Guest, and peace of mind for the Host.

Thanks again for pointing it out.

[Laura2592]

We have had guests of all sizes. We replaced a bed after a metal frame was bent by two larger guests. Of course, they complained that it was the bed that was "cheap." Well, ok. My space is not full of luxury furnishings because I do expect that we will get guests of all stripes who won't treat the items at our cottage carefully.  But it was a lesson to me and I got a bed that was rated to hold 600lbs. (I painted it bright yellow. its cuter than the last one we had.)

The point is, you can't screen that guests are a certain height or weight, or even that they behave in a certain way  you would prefer. I started a debate here ages ago because I was lamenting that some guests just refused to use the dishwasher. I now put it in my house rules and check in notes on site-- we have no disposal, ungunking the pipes from old food is costly, and we want to make sure dishes are sanitized. Just today I had a guest check  out and say she wouldn't use the dishwasher so she hand washed dishes and ate off of paper plates.  Short of creating a police-like atmosphere, there is no way to micromanage your guests.

So what do you do? In this case, a larger couple might call Airbnb and say they felt discriminated against due to a health condition if you were to send them away due to their weight. If they break items treat them just like any other guests and claim damage. If they don't follow rules, call them on it. I don't think anyone is expecting guests to give their vital stats during booking. Its a guest accommodation, not a personals ad. I mean, if we only booked people we thought were fit, healthy and attractive, we would probably not have very many bookings at all....

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  A friend who hosts in Canada got a booking and when she saw their photo after it was confirmed, and they were both quite obese, she knew they would never fit in the small shower stall in her attached studio.

She happened to have another issue she was having to notify guests about, which was public works digging up the street in front of her house. So without mentioning their weight, but just letting them know that the bathroom and shower stall were quite small, and asking if they had read that part of her ad, as well as making the construction project sound more disruptive than it actually was (it was noisy in the living room of the suite, but not in the bedroom, and wasn't going on every day), she really tried to get them to cancel, with full refund. 

Oh no, they still wanted to keep the booking. So they arrived, red-faced and looking like they were about to have coronaries, having had to park a block away and shlep their luggage due to the construction, came in, took one look at the bathroom and shower, and wanted to cancel. My friend was really irritated, as she foresaw that would happen, but kept her cool and still offered a full refund just to get rid of them quickly.

[Fred13]

Thank God you have to be a bit of an athlete to even get to my place, still we get the occasional 'do-not-fit-type', so when it happens I act stupid and play out the string. Surprisingly, the few have been very grateful for accommodating them as if they appreciated that they came to a place that left them alone. 

[Mari-and-Zach0]

If people were drinking heavily or using drugs and you didn’t want to host them Airbnb would support it 100%. Probably ban them from the community. **

**[Inappropriate content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Laura2592]

@Mari-and-Zach0 Airbnb is typically not supportive of evicting any guests,  be it am alcoholic, drug abuser or an overweight person. Just spend some time here reading the many many threads about hosts who got zero support for ending parties and illegal activities in their space. 

Whatever your personal opinion about weight norms, obesity is classified as a health condition.  There's zero recourse to deny a stay because guests are too big without risking a discrimination complaint. 

[Connie55]

Pottery Barn provides Weight Maximums for furnitureI put guest weight maximums in the listing as a guest safety precaution for furniture and fixtures and I see Potterybarn does as well (image.)