worst guest I have ever had

[Kira32]

This girl books 1 room in my homestay for 28 days and doesn't respect the house rules. I only have a few but still she managed to break them. For instance: She refuses to pay for the kitchen fee. This is stated very clearly under the house rules, if someone wants to use the kitchen. 

My main concern is that she gets picked up in front of my door by different men and comes home drunk asking me to open the door for her after midnight. She would find the keys eventually but last night she was so drunk that she started knocking at the neighbors door at 1:30am. When she finally arrived at my apartment she started knocking again for me to open the door for her. She told me that she was with a friend and maybe he stole her wallet with the keys from the apartment inside of it. She could still remember that she was somewhere buying beer and that she had the keys at that point.  

I become worried because now I need to change the lock in order to feel safe again in my own apartment. She told me that she will go to her friend and find the keys but she haven’t found them. Now she started telling me a different story that she maybe left it in her room.

Today I pointed out that if she wants a new set of keys she needs to pay for it in order for me to make a new one. When I discussed the situation with her to find a solution, she just went to her room in the middle of the conversation. 

After calling her name a couple of times she comes out of her room with her luggage and says that she had a great time and was ready to leave. I told her to keep her luggage here until she pays for the kitchen fee and to look for the keys or pay me the amount of money immediately for new set of keys and a new lock.

She keeps twisting her words each time so I really do not know what to do at this point. She is not responding on my messages anymore and I want her to leave as soon as everything is paid for. I can not trust her alone in the house so for now she takes all my time and energy.

[Emiel1]

@Kira32 

If she is ready to leave, there is still a reservation to cancel.

I would shorten the reservation, change calculated price by adding some money for the keys etc., and let her accept it.

Best regards,,

Emiel

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kira32 Iwouldn't hold her to ransom over the keys and kitchen fee. Let her leave as soon as possible then change the lock and then shorten the reservation and claim for the costs.

Worst case you won't get what she owes you but you and your home will be safe

[Anna9170]

Kira, I'm sorry, I didn't find any information about the extra charge for the kitchen. The fact that your guest gets drunk all the time is a completely different matter, a violation of the rules of the house, etc.
@Kira32 

[Sarah977]

@Kira32  No way I would want this loser in my house another minute and I certainly wouldn't make it contingent on paying for the keys and kitchen fee. I'd just be happy to see the back of her.

I wouldn't bury the kitchen fee under house rules, which doesn't even show up unless the guests click on "Show all". The body of your listing info makes it sound like the kitchen and laundry use is all included, which it isn't. Make the fees prominently clear in the listing info.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Kira32  This guest sure does sound like a handful, I feel for you. But only you can be the boss of your house - you have to enforce your rules, fees, and standards - Airbnb won't do this for you. 

The easiest way out of this predicament is to open the reservation and click "Change Booking," then send a request to advance the checkout date to today's date. Tell the guest that she will have to accept the request if she wants to be refunded for the unused nights, and politely show her to the door. You'll get some drama for this, but clearly you're getting nothing but drama from this guest anyway.

My advice for in-home hosts about setting Maximum Stays - consider what is the longest amount of time you're willing to live with someone you can't stand. 

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  I set a 2 week maximum when I first started hosting and that's worked well for me, although for a lot of home hosts, that might be too long.  It works for me because quite a few guests do book 10 days-2 weeks- it's a real vacation.

And I've been lucky not to get even one guest I couldn't stand, almost all of them I've really enjoyed. I did have one guy who was rather socially inept, really kept to himself, and wasn't capable of easy banter, which makes a home-share easier. So I felt a bit uncomfortable, although he wasn't in any way offensive or creepy, was actually quite nice and polite, and found myself feeling somewhat relieved when his week-long booking came to a end.

[Laura2592]

Oh @Anonymous  I really love reading your pithy posts! 

"...consider what is the longest amount of time you're willing to live with someone you can't stand. "

Which is one of the many reasons why we don't offer long stays. We aren't even on-site and there are some folks it was painful to deal with even for a short period of time. 

(The above quote can also apply to many dating situations. But that's another thread....)

[Huma0]

Personally, I don't think hosting long-term is necessarily the problem. The important thing is to clearly communicate to guests via your listing and messages both what is on offer and the rules they have to follow and ensure that they communicate back to you in a way that makes it clear they have understood all of this and are a good fit for the listing. I've hosted I don't know how many long-term guests and they are rarely a problem, but of course you may get the occasional weirdo.

I've only had one long-term guest that I had to ask to leave. There were red flags after she booked, but they seemed like minor ones so I wasn't expecting her to be such a nightmare. Lesson learnt. I should have paid attention to those red flags. Airbnb told me I didn't have to, but I preferred to refund the rest of her stay so she would leave asap.

Another one left early and that was a relief as she was driving me crazy. No red flags until the day of arrival when she started mucking me around RE check in time. However, I realised as soon as she arrived that she was going to be a nightmare. I agreed to refund the rest of her stay as I just wanted her gone. 

Sometimes it's just not worth battling for the money, even if it seems unfair. The priority, especially as a live in host, is to have a safe and sane home.