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Just one more point to make James - I do hope you try and put yourself in her shoes and show her more compassion and kindness during the rest of your stay. Perhaps you can try and think of what you could do, to in some way make up for the distressing arrival.
Flowers, tickets for something, a visit (paid for by you) to something that is typical of your area, that you think she might enjoy
@EllenN
So Airbnb seems to think they can (eventually, somehow) comply with all the 10âs of thousands of governmental taxing agencies all over the world and not even try to comply with the millions of legality and HOA rules. I actually do not blame them, however neither one is achievable.
Thatâs a tough situation @LOST. We think that the guest has all of the info that they need and in the end, your guest needed a bit more hand-holding than anticipated. I donât care about the legalities of your situation, as youâre running your business the way that you decide to.
I do however think itâs very tough to get guests to cover for you and not mention Airbnb. Itâs human nature that if a guest is stuck in a bad situation, they are going to look for help and theyâll probably be so grateful for someone showing them kindness (the hotel staff) that theyâll blurb and blab all of your business. Thatâs the part thatâs tough to control, and what makes your situation more delicate than hosts who have total control over their listing.
I think that youâve now been busted, and youâll most likely be shut down by your landlord. You should start to think about how youâll wind down your business, and maybe if youâre lucky you can find yourself in another place where itâs easier for you to do short term rentals.
Good luck to you.
Aside from the issue if you should be offering your living space on Airnb, your behaviour and attitude are not those of a host. You should have arranged for a person to meet your guest. Flying from the other side of the world, negotiating customs, transport in a strange town only to find that the money-grubbing, insensitive, and selfish individual you trusted to provide you with accommodation is too busy to bother arranging for greeting you, would have me in tears. Expecting her to take a 6 minute walk with luggage to get a key after all her travels is atrocious.
You should be offering at the very least a refund of half of the stay. A bunch of flowers would be a good idea too.
I would suggest that this post be titled, How I totally f,ked up. Your question should have been how can I best redeem my behaviour.
Maybe they donât need to consider that. However, one thing you cannot ignore is that Airbnb has chosen to not make a tax line item for all rentals. They have chosen to put themselves in the middle of making agreements with certain counties/states. There is a reason for that. Every other major site lists a separate tax line item. People are fooling themselves if they donât think there is an ulterior motive. Could it be that they want to make arrangements with states that short term rentals are only legal if they go through Airbnb?? And if a property manager is not in charge then the STR is not legal?
I will admit I once didnât want to wait for a flaky guest and I left the keys for him, texted new info on how to get in, and went home. However, he was from my home country (common language), wasnât answering his messages that day, hadnât shown up, and I sure as heck didnât expect him to lie to people to save my backside.
Itâs fairly clear that your only interest in this lady is the dollar signs. Sure, we all do this job for the dollar signs, but rude awakening time, the only way youâll get the dollar signs is to go about this job as if you care about the guestsâ happiness and feelings.
And you have failed big time here.
I have to assume youâre in the USA? Because here in Europe itâs on its own line. Could it just be that itâs difficult for Air to try and know all the differing tax laws in one countryâs different states and territories?
Yes, I am in USA. For Air to not provide a tax line itemâŚno not difficult.
Air wants to be the middleman. Air does not care about following specific laws. They have created their own âdiscrminatoryâ rules. Itâs all about Air and how much money they can make. It is not normal for such a popular website to not have a separate tax line. There are many reasons for that. But just look at their âfollowing.â
What you posted is horrible. Your guest who is paying you for your service was scared and alone and youâre complaining. Really? Most of us took the time and energy with our designated officials to make sure weâre legal for Airbnb and try and go above and beyond for our guests. Gee, she was stuck in customs? What a freakin surprise. You should have anticipated that, why in the world would you make plans for dinner a half hour away when this poor woman was depending on you to make her at ease upon arrival??
Please, dismiss yourself from Airbnb until you learn what itâs about and can do it respectfully.
You are running a business. You need to plan for the unexpected. You need to look after your guests.
I understand that many break or flout local laws in the same way as Uber drivers did so for quite some time.
Trouble is, a business always needs to be looked at as a long term proposition. To set it up the way you have means you can only ever be expected to make a quick buck before you got found out.
To ask your guests to assist you in flouting the rules is to me your worst error. A bit like asking a taxi driver to be your getaway driver while you go rob a bankâŚ(Okay, silly example@!)
I also do understand you are relatively a new host of just 2.5 months. I donât understand some of the posts here which have really pulled you apart. The idea of the forum is to share ideas and solve problems and I assume this is why you have reached out. Fair enough from my point of view. Just take on board some of the suggestions and perhaps, you will no longer be lostâŚ
I said nothing about him doing anything legally or otherwise, donât give a shit and not my business! I said respectfully. Thatâs it.
But legally is nice, right?
Letâs listen to Clyde. Heâs correct, anyone has the right to say anything, solve problems and ask questions. Letâs just be open mindedâŚ
No, itâs not Robert. And I say that b/c I went through the fire hoops to make sure we were legal. Not against anyone else at all! You asked dear⌠
I, personally, am glad that the forum members are taking âLostâ to task. I had a really bad experience with a horrible host in Italy this summer and I, too, was crying â actually sobbing. The first Airbnb CS rep I got was incompetent. The second one kept âlosing the connectionâ. It wasnât until four hours later that I got a CS rep in Denver who could finally help us. And, that host is STILL on Airbnb! Itâs hosts like the one I had and âLostâ who gives Airbnb, and therefore, those of us who are good hosts a bad reputation. I feel so bad for this woman traveler, for I have been in her shoes. Until Air takes a firm stand against bad hosts, their reputation will continue to flounder. How long has Air been saying they were going to go public? I think Air keeps postponing their IPO for two reasons: they are trying to constantly deal with an increasingly bad customer service and discrimination rap, and they are trying to offset that liability with a bigger (and more lucrative) hosting base. It ceased to be about good hosts giving travelers a unique and more affordable alternative to hotels a long time ago. It is now about getting as much as they can when they go public. Who suffers? The traveler like this poor woman and the good hosts whose reputation is dragged down by really horrible hosts like âLostâ. If Air had standards of basic hosting requirements â and actually banned the hosts that do not adhere to those standards, and basic guest standards and ban bad guests who donât adhere to those standards (and make them pay for a full stay when they break rules, such as having un-allowed parties), then perhaps the Air Facebook page wouldnât be so full of angry hosts and guests. The problem is that Air has sent out the message of, âHey, rent your room or home out and make easy money!â FACT: Itâs not easy â it takes a lot of work to be a good host, and both hosts and guests must have a basic sense of common courtesy and a sense of civic responsibility to make this work. Clearly, that has not occurred to this particular host.
Lost youâve had a bit of a roasting on here, not all of which I think is fair or warranted. I wonder how many hosts on here have informed their mortgage providers that theyâre Airbnb hosts. Here in the UK mortgage providers generally donât allow Airbnb so another example of people ignoring rules to make a buck. I personally find it irritating when people take a holier than thou approach (and yes Iâm aware that Iâll get a roasting too now, câest la vie!)
That said: you really canât expect people to keep secrets for you. And you really should be going out of your way to accommodate your guests as its fairly predictable that every so often problems will arise and people will be delayed.
I donât think you did enough to make sure your guest was aware of the change of plans⌠And you therefore landed yourself in a large pile ofâŚ
Apologies are in order, mostly to your landlord and the management company. If youâre lucky you will be able to stay, if not youâll need to move out. Not the end of the world
Lesson learned the hard way, right ?
Take care.
I get to say what I said because â I own my place outright â no mortgage, thus, no mortgage company. I unlisted my place for two months once my city enacted our STR ordinance (as that is how long it was from the date of my application to receiving my STR license and I would have been in breach to advertise my place before I was issued the license). I am in compliance with my HOA rules and my HOA is in full knowledge of my STR. As are my neighbors, and I check in with them regularly. They are all fine about my STR and would rather be able to get rid of the LTRâs in one unit who are super noisy and leave trash everywhere. So, Zandra, some of us are actually legit.
Good!!
my comment wasnât aimed at anyone in particular; itâs simply something that a lot of homeowners arenât even aware of ⌠And in some cases they are aware but choose to carry on anyway.
another Issue here in the UK is that homeowners are often leaseholders (ie theyâre pretty much renting too, even though yes they pay a mortgage.) itâs a bizzare issue with UK homeownership (you own the home but you rent the land) that goes back to the fact that historically land is owned by landed gentry and often leaseholders donât inform their freeholders either (which they should).
Generally freeholders have also been against Airbnb and I know of lots of examples where leaseholders have been told to stop Airbnb.
Thanks.
My nearest one is around 150 miles away; I wonder if my guests could deal with the minor inconvenience 
Really? Banks inUK have a saying in what an owner can or can not do in their own home?? No, its not like that in US. Mortgage companies have nothing to do with with what homeowner does in his house. If we pay them thats all they care about.
Lost went behind his landlordâs back and started making some nice little profit for himself. Not only that, association in his landlords appartment building doesn allow Airbnbs.
This Lost person has guts not only do this illegal activity but also went out for some fun times knowing that his guest who he wants desperately to hide MIGHT show up during his absence. Not only that he expects this unfortunate guest to keep secrets for him. I used to work for a guy who in similar situations was saying ; People are stupidâŚ