I find that every year, Christmas hosting seems to bring a unique set of challenges that I don't have at other times of the year. I'm not sure what it is - guests being stressed, or people travelling who don't usually travel or what - but every year there are issues. So far this year, these are the issues I've dealt with:
- A guest booked 3 nights with me for her, her fiancé and their dog. She was staying with family locally and needed a break from them (more likely they needed a break from her, based on her behavior). She had one review from another local host and although the wording seemed pleasant, she had given her 3 stars for cleanliness: that should have been a massive red flag, in retrospect. It was clear that the guest hadn't read any information they were provided when they arrived at 12 noon on the check in date and parked in a no-parking zone. It just got worse from there. They were loud and they left a huge mess, along with a bunch of personal stuff that should have left with them. I got them all their stuff back and I thought all was well. A few days later, she asked if I had found her stethoscope (!) as she may have left it in the closet. Nope. She left me a 4-star review after all that.
- A guest booked one night for her family of four, then immediately started complaining about price after completing the booking. I should have cancelled her there and then. The cost of staying with us is approximately $120 for 4 people to stay: the cheapest motel-style room in our area is about $150 and it would come with crispy carpets and no kitchen, only 2 double beds rather than a bed for each person in their group, etc. Their reason for visiting was that they were having dinner at a restaurant that's a minimum of $800 for 4 people to have dinner at, so they were probably trying to save themselves some money elsewhere. As soon as they arrived, the questions started - even though everything they asked about had been laid out for them in my welcome message that I send a few days before arrival. I answered all the questions within a minute of getting them, even though I was at my work Christmas party at the time. Finally, all went quiet, and I didn't hear from them for the rest of the evening. A week and a half later, I heard from Airbnb, because the guest was requesting a refund on the basis that the heating system made noise (it's a hot water boiler, which by its nature does make a bit of noise, but it's a modern unit that's serviced regularly and the noise is minimal). I politely but firmly explained that I wasn't interested in giving a refund, and laid out why. Airbnb actually backed me up and denied the refund, but what a headache that guest was. I left an honest review of my experience with them. They gave me 4 stars.
- I had a lady book a one-night stay for her and her mom. The reservation was booked for last night, and as usual I sent them their welcome message a few days ago laying out all the basics they need to know, including check in and out times with the specific days of their reservation listed. It was 9:30 pm last night and there was still no sign of them, but that happens: I offer self-check-in, and some people arrive quite late, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. Then I got an email from her asking if it's okay for them to check in early today. Obviously she had booked the wrong date and had somehow missed that in all the communication. Luckily for her, tonight was also available, but I had to scramble to contact Airbnb to get the reservation changed and organize it with my cleaner and she has blocked my calendar for 2 nights but is only paying for 1. My choice to allow the change, but under the circumstances it felt like a jerky move not to.
Have you had any bad experiences hosting over the Christmas season? Is it just me who has issues?
