Why do things seem to go off the rails at Christmas?

[Alexandra316]

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?

[Ann3]

Amen, sister. I'm sorry that happened to you. I don't know what it is about this time of year, but I finally gave in and blocked dates over Christmas this year after 4 years straight of difficult guests over the holiday. Last year's guests were absolute nightmares, and it took me days to get the cottage put back to rights. The kicker was walking in to a broiling house after they checked out  -- they had the heat set at 85F, all the windows open (it was in the high 60s outside) and they had obviously had the gas fireplaces turned all the way up, to the point where there was a coating of soot inside the fireplaces. Oh, and every surface in the kitchen was covered with a thick layer of grease from all the frying they did on the stove. Yikes. They were also from a country famous for its chain smokers, and I found cigarette butts everywhere on the property (outside, but still). I mean dozens of butts. . . this from people who looked down their noses at everything in our beautiful and historic town.  OH, and the dozens of wine bottles they didn't bother to put in the recycling bin. . . agh. 

[Alexandra316]

@Ann3 That sounds super similar to guests we had last Christmas! Every surface in the kitchen had grease on it. I'm not even sure how they managed to leave such a level of squalor: I've never seen anything like it since. Brutal!

[Emily487]

@Alexandra316 

We never have good luck with Christmas guests, either. I think it's because they are essentially locals (who we don't allow to book) returning home to visit family and they are annoyed, grumpy, and dealing with all sorts of family drama that comes with the holiday season. 

We doubled our pricing and required a minimum of 2 night stay over Christmas....and we did end up getting a booking. But it was an older couple and two adult children. Their children found someplace else to stay (nearby relatives) and so it was just one couple in a 3 bedroom apartment. They gave us 4 stars because "the place was too big and too expensive for two people". 

A few years ago we had a Christmas booking. They came a day late. Their entire local family stayed over night without permission. The bookers brother parked in the middle of the shared drive and the neighbor had it towed on Christmas Eve (it wasn't a booked guest's car and it was assumed it was a drunk/stolen car). They checked out an hour late. A month later we get a message from the brother asking US to pay for his tow and storage fees to the tune of $800. Nope.

[Alexandra316]

@Emily487 We had the same issue last year and the year before with guests bringing over members of their extended family who were locals and not registered as guests. That's unbelievably cheeky that they asked you to pay their fees!

That is infuriating regarding your guests this year.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Alexandra316 @Emily487 @Ann3 we've been lucky but you're right.

The stress, the traffic, the pressure that the holidays are supposed to be an idyllic time...

the other thing that brings out the beast in guests is weddings!

[Alexandra316]

@Mike-And-Helen0 My experience with weddings has actually been way, way better than my experiences with Christmas. I host in wine country, so a lot of people are visiting to attend weddings or to take part in them: we've hosted wedding parties and we've never had a problem with them (except for maybe taking up some extra parking the day of, which hasn't been too much of an issue as we actually have a lot more parking available than is shown on our listing).

[Ann3]

Yes to (most) weddings, although we have had some wonderful guests in town for their -- or someone else's -- wedding. Graduation time is really special, too. Argh. I guess anything that brings dysfunction to the surface is iffy. I had one wedding group that didn't end up staying because someone in the wedding party had rented a huge mansion with many rooms and everyone slept there. They had  the nerve to ask for a refund. No, they didn't sleep in the beds, but they got ready for the wedding in our cottage, took all  the paper towels, soap, dishwasher detergent, etc. and smoked indoors.  Yikes. Nice start to a new life, eh? When they put in their refund request, I put in a resolution request for the supplies that they had stripped out of the house. Neither of us got what we wanted in the end. I ask folks coming for a wedding to confirm in a message that they have read the rules, especially regarding parties, but I still get burned now and again.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Alexandra316 my experience of weddings is that there's always someone who decides its all about them (and they're not the bride or groom) I guess so long as you don't host that person its OK!

[Alexandra316]

@Mike-And-Helen0 There's always one, eh?

We did host one really inconsiderate pair this year actually... they stayed for 2 weeks and it felt like much longer. Again, they had family who lived locally, which seems to be a source of the issues as Christmas as well.

Fingers crossed for no bad wedding guests this year!

[Michelle53]

The complication, for me, when family members get together to attend an event, is that they often come in from multiple locations. There's always someone wanting early entry. Then, I have to make sure everyone reads the house rules, and that they have a key management plan. Often, the first person to arrive is not the booking guest. 

More than once, someone has locked the key inside, so others couldn't get in. 

Usually, though, we can deal with all that in advance. 

[Lisa723]

Yes. Maybe the combination of high holiday expectations and the stress of travelling with/to family, but yes.

[Heather133]

Yes, I think there are a lot of expectations about perfection around the holidays. I find guests make me jump through more hoops. It's our busiest week of the year in a ski town and our resources for cleaners, plumbers, handymen, snow plows etc. are stretched thin. Sigh. Oh well. Survived another one!

[Rowena29]

@Alexandra316 

I've just hosted my very first xmas guests ( last year I had the dates blocked)

They WERE  a bit of an unusual experience - i'll go into a bit of detail as I'd appreciate your - and others - advice on how to review 

The guest was an older man, only used airbnb once before, coming from the other side of the country. He was using my house ( which can sleep up to 9, but advertised as 😎 as a base for his family to get together who were scattered across various states. The booking was for 11 nights, covering Xmas and New Year. He booked several months in advance. It was for a LOT of money, but still quite a lot less than other similar sized homes in the area.   He booked, then  asked me to ring him for a chat - I did because he was older, new and I figured not terribly computer/phone literate.

  After a longish chat I was quite sure he'd be a good guest.  It was clear he'd read the listing carefully and had looked at the house rules.

He rang again a few days before check in. On both occasions I stressed that I didn't mind what time people planned to arrive, so long as I was given a reasonably accurate indication.  He assured me his wife would be there at 2.   During that conversation it also became apparent that there would be an occasional extra guest ( his daughters boyfriend ) turning  up some of the time. He didn't ASK he just told me, but he didn't try to hide it either, and I got the feeling he thought it was all part of the package.  He requested a separate single bed for him - he wasn't using pre existing bedding.  I explained that extra guests costs extra, but said not to amend the booking as it was a little complicated, when the extra guest was only staying SOME of the time.    After a bit of thought I decided not to charge any extra.  I messaged him to inform him of this, telling him to regard it as a Xmas present, but that of course I would still supply all linen etc for the guest I was not charging for.   Given his age and demeanour I expected at the very least "thank you, that's very kind".   No reply or acknowledgement.

On check in day, his  wife rang me at THREE to inform me I handn't provided her with the address. I pointed out that in fact it was her husband who had not forwarded her the relevant info.  She  turned up at 3.10 and during the course of the conversation it became apparent that she'd be shopping prior to arriving. She had been forwarded the check in instructions I'd sent to her husband ( including confirmation of the arrival time) but she stated she hadn't got around to reading them.  I gave her a brief orientation as I always do,. pointing out, in particular the changes of bedding and towels I had left out.  She was pleasant enough, thanked me for the extra effort I had gone to for them, but I didn't like her. (possibly as I was seething about being kept waiting an hour, causing me to run very late for a family committment)

The next day I contacted the guest about a bit of housekeeping and in a diplomatic way let him know that his wife turned up  much later than he had indicated causing me to be late for an appointment. No acknowledgement other than "thanks I found the gas bottle"

Just before the end of their stay, I contacted them and gave them a late checkout of 12 noon.  No reply.  but they checked out on the DOT of noon.

The house was left really very clean considering up to 9 people including a baby had been there for 11 nights. They had cleaned by BBQ THOROUGHLY which no guest before or since has ever done, I was genuinely impressed.

HOWEVER they broke a good many glasses and mugs which is fine, except they didn't tell me, they tried to hide the evidence in boxes in the bin.  AND  the kicker - someone managed to rip on an internal bolt with six screws by pulling on the locked linen cupboard. I can't imagine it could have been achieved by one person pulling. It was an extremely sturdy internal bolt. It can't have been an accident.  They obviously cut themselves doing it as there is a blood staining some of the sheets in the cupboard.  The bolt was hidden amongst the sheets.  However all they removed was 1 towel and 2 face washers ( and there are 6 shelves jam packed with linens - they could have had a field day).  This caused  considerable stress as I had no way of locking the cupboard for the next guests.   My husband, who is generally very laid back,  is incensed about the lock.

The guest did text me 2 hours after departure ( instead of the 10 mins before which I request) to let me know they' d left on time and to thank me for the Xmas cake I supplied.  I haven't responded as yet.  Neither of us have reviewed as yet.

sorry this has been so long winded, but I wanted to give a clear and fair picture.

My summation is, they were considerate on the whole, but there was an element of "we're paying a lot of money for this, suck it up" even though there was nothing directly stated.  

I'm quite cross with them - but they were such a mixed bag.   And I can't  go past how clean they left everything.

People's thoughts? ( sorry @Alexandra316 if I"ve hijacked your original question)

[Jennifer1421]

@Rowena29These are the kinds of reviews I struggle with, simply because it's a mixed bag.

Maybe something along the lines of:

XX and his family of 9 stayed with us 11 days over the holiday. I found XX to be an excellent and pleasant communicator prior to the family's stay. These folks left our space very clean - we were particularly impressed with how well they cleaned our BBQ. There was some unfortunate, unexpected and undisclosed damage and breakage which necessitated extra time (or effort or $, whatever) to rectify.

You can then talk about the linen cupboard in your private feedback for him, telling him how disappointed you were to see that they invaded your locked space (especially when you reviewed it all with his wife), resulting in damage that (was or wasn't?) rectifiable, along with mentioning the broken crockery. You could let him know for future stays that hosts understand that accidents happen, but always would prefer to be kept informed - especially so that you could "replace any broken items for their use during the remainder of the stay".

Stars? Hmm. Comms: 4, Cleanliness: 4(after all, they did leave blood on your linens, in spite of a clean space and BBQ), Rules: 3? 4? Some deduction for breaking into a locked space and for not informing you of breakage. I dunno. I never know how to do stars when there's an issue that isn't truly egregious, but I think if you're clear in your review, then the stars aren't really important.

There are others on the forum who are much more adept than I with wording reviews. @Emilia42 comes to mind...maybe she can help out with this.