Guest broke a rule. How do I approach this with airbnb

[Andre43]

Good day fellow host!

I have an issue with my last guest. As per my description, it says to turn off the aircondition before checking out.

Before accepting his booking request i told him to double check everything before I accept his request. I told him it helps because it manages the expectation of guest and at the same time it states the house rule of the host.

The guest checked out around 10am. As a busy host i only got to check our home around 9pm. They left the AC running and lights ON. I would like to charge the guest a penalty for this but reading previous stories here in the community i see that most of the time, if not all, host dont get anything.

Ive been a host since 2016 and I only encountered this. Also the guest is a first time Airbnb user.

Please help me approach this correctly.

Thank you fellow host!

[Marit-Anne0]

@Andre43

For a claim against the security deposit, there must be an actual damage and a receipt for the repair. 

Asking for extra funds through the resolution center would most likely result in a bad review.  Just mention in your review that the guest did not follow house rules.

[Andre43]

Thank you for the heads up and help. You are correct and he might probably leave me a bad review. Its just disappointing even if you guide the guest through out their stay they tend to just ignore it all.

[Marit-Anne0]

 @Andre43

I think you will find that the majority of your guests will be respectful.  Maybe they overslept and were in a hurry in the morning and simply forgot. My guests once left a heap of dirty dishes because they overslept and had to rush.  I think in their case it would have been approprate to leave a tip. They did not, and they did not explain until after I had left a review they did not like.

[Marian65]

I think you should remind your guest of that rule the last day because it is easy to forget. 

[Fred13]

@Andre43Suggestion - instead worrying so much IF they followed the 'House Rules', just make sure they ~actually did~.  Perhaps have someone check that the guests did indeed shut it off if you are away. Besides, trying to get Airbnb to get them to pay for forgetting to shut off the AC for 11 hours is probably not going to happen.

[Andre43]

Yeah just what I thought. Thank you @Fred13 for the input!

[Fred13]

If only guests were consistently thoughtful, imagine how much easier our job would be.

[David126]

I have found that it is best to automate the system as far as problem, so if this is an issue to you then have a system you can control remotely if you can not be there.

Will save a lot of frustration as no doubt it will happen again. There some thing like lights where the cost of changing things just does not make it worthwhile so just live with it when it happens.

[Andre43]

Thank you @David126. I already changed the lights to LIFX and automated the door. Im was contemplating about the automation of our AC but after this incident, I will definitely buy nest. 

Thank you all for the help and guidance! This is also my first time posting in the community center! Glad everyone helped in some way. 

[Dassi0]

@Andre43  I have posted the rules prominently in our rooms & near the outside door. This seems to be helping (have seen guests stop & read, then change the direction they were walking... I presume they were about to break a rule until the reminder)

[Andre43]

Yes! That could help! Thank you! It's those little things! I will definitely print out a guide for guests to see! 

[Sarah977]

I should think a sign on the inside of the front door- " Dear Guest, when you are leaving house, please check- AC and lights OFF. Thank you."

[Carl-and-Elodie0]

Hi Andre,

Sorry you had to suffer that. We had a similar issue when we check out guests for our entire home. We states in our house rules to "switch everything off when going out" however when we did check out the guest the thermostat was set around 30 degres with all the radiator at the maximum and all the windows and balconies doors were open. I dont know if you can charge them as they were no physical damages but you can still mention it in the review for their futute host.