Windows wide open in the middle of winter

[Emilia42]

I just had a couple check out and I’m somewhat venting and somewhat buying some time before I write my review.

Guests were a younger couple; kind of a last-minute 3 night booking (4 days before) for my biggest apartment. They checked out with one bedroom window wide open and the other cracked. They took my window fan out of the closet and put it in the window. The room was freezing (probably in the ’40s!) It is 2 degrees Fahrenheit where I live right now (-16 degrees Celsius.) The only thermostat in the place was set at 70 degrees (where I originally set it.) But every single blanket available to them (all throws and extra blankets in storage draws) was put on the bed.

It’s like they thought they were camping and wanted to be super cold but nice and toasty under the covers. I can’t fathom the logic behind this.

The only saving grace, and what is keeping me sane, is that this bedroom doesn’t actually have a heat source so they didn’t burn through as much heating oil as one would think. But still, the guest doesn’t know that!

[Ann3]

It drives me NUTS when guests run heat or air with open windows. I even have a little sign by the thermostats that says, "The windows are shut, right?" and I mention it on the walk through, in the house manual online and in the little binder in the cottage. The worst was guests at Christmas last year who had the heat at 82F, windows open, AND the gas fireplaces on full blast. Oh, and it was 68F outside! Idiots.

After that I don't let the  guests use the fireplaces after that.

Even with all of the above attempts, people still open the house up with the system running. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Emilia42 @Ann3 

We have the same problems... Heat on, Fire On, doors and windows open.

Also, outside lights left on all night as well as inside lights during the day even when nobody is in.

No amount of explaining or signs work.

Removal of controls and fans is perhaps one solution - as to lights.. maybe automatic switching in some instances?

I think the worst culprits might be the Air Conditioner users as they use an vast amount of energy.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Emilia42 

I do wonder whether the fan was used  and directed to bring cold air in or instead to send foul air out?

[Emilia42]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 I thought about this but there was no evidence of any scent or anything that could have made a smell (smoking, etc.) If the guest was trying to be sneaky why wouldn't they have closed the window at check out? I think they were totally clueless. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

we had a group last year in early April. The heating was still on because the weather was unstable. The guest called me and asked for A/C remote. I said we don't provide A/C until summer and told her to lower the heating thermostat and open the windows if they feel hot. Her answer was: Really? We can do that?

They were from Singapore ... or Hong kong..  I am not sure, but maybe they live in one of those skyscrapers where you can't open the windows and you have to vent the place through the ventilation only...? Who knows...

[Gordon0]

We've got a couple of girls coming today for the weekend.

Here in the UK at uni but on a trip to London.

I'll be hiding the Dyson heater (something we keep in the room for when it gets really cold) or it'll be every window open and all heating on full blast (towels dumped on floor, natch). 

[Sarah977]

@Gordon0 Count yourself lucky if it's only towels on the floor, rather than make-up wipes and tampons clogging the toilet and glitter make-up everywhere 🙂

[Kelly149]

@Emilia42  “This guest is better suited to open air camping”

maybe lawrene would like to have them. 

[Helen350]

@Lawrene0 !!!

[Lawrene0]

Ha, @Helen350 and @Kelly149 , yes, that works. The guest is better suited to me. 

I tell my campers to use the windows to regulate the heat, that they are not "wasting" anything that way, but working with the weather to keep the treehouse comfortable. How to adjust things depends on wind direction, whether it is snowing, etc.

I'm not letting you down, @Emilia42 . I do say that stoking a woodstove and opening windows is a bad thing in most places, just not here. 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Emilia42  Did the guests happen to be visiting from somewhere with a warmer climate?

A lot of people consider it polite to air out a room when they depart, because human beings happen to be very smelly. They might not understand how reducing their room to freezing temperatures will impact the whole home and the energy costs, but most of the world's population lives in places much warmer than Maine.

[Emilia42]

@Anonymous 

Sadly no, they were from the next state over which can be just as cold. Considering that every single blanket was on the bed and the temperature of the room, I dare say these windows had been open for a good portion of their 3-night stay.

[Ange2]

@Emilia42    Maybe they were on a fresh air diet:)

[Laura2592]

@Emilia42 we have similar problems, most of the time with younger guests who are likely not home owners. They just don't get the connection between bills and running the heating/cooling at the highest level with windows open. My husband says he wants to put locks on the windows 🙂 We have not yet gone that far. Our biggest offender is the fireplace flue-- people have ZERO clue how to open and close it, even with a video, instructions and pics. They leave it open and it sucks up the heat, then then complain that they are cold. (Note to self-- next Airbnb space will NOT have a wood burning fireplace. Seriously. People do not have any idea how to use them even with an in person demo.) 

I would just say that the guests were good at yadda yadda but they seemed not to understand the relationship between open windows and running the heat in winter. It would be something that I as a host would want to know so that I could be on my Ps and Qs to give them extra help. My hubs is from San Diego and honest to goodness it took him several winters before he truly understood how heating and cooling worked-- he didn't have either growing up in the way we do in the northeast. But these people just sound young and clueless.