Airbnb guests who help themselves to things

I give every guest a tour of the whole house, with the exception of the basement since the stairs are an accident waiting to happen. They are welcome to use almost all the rooms on the first floor, with the exception of the music studio. As we walk through the second floor, I point out each room’s use stating that this is our floor, and then take them to “their” floor. The only person who has tried to get into one of the off-limit rooms was 9 years old and his parents quickly brought him in line. Who knows if it is our house layout, the way I do my tour, or the quality of the guests that I get, but sneaky investigations just haven’t been an issue.

[And to my knowledge no one has climbed out a window, or answered the door.]

I always show the guests the layout…and explain to them that they have full access to the house UPSTAIRS!

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If it was a cutesy dispenser I would react differently. It was one of those two packs that is cellophaned together in a set. Disposable pumps (that I would have probably refilled from the big bottles when they were done - I am big on cutting down on waste)
You are right about the potential of a germaphobe. Will leave it as a mystery.

One thing I will do as mentioned before. Make sure I count the cutlery and remove some of it. I have 16 of everything Henkel set (bought at a garage sale for a screaming deal) - 16 knives, 16 forks etc. I am guessing by the info on the forum and previous posts that these are items that can easily go “missing”,

With that many of any one item, check with replacements.com to see if you will be able to complete the set should a knife walk away with the spoon.

I’ve been a landlord for 25 years (50+ apts) and we’ve stayed at quite a few bnb’s, and I’ve never read the “house rules”. We’ve only had an issue with one host, and I think it was a clashing of personalitys as I thot things were fine until we read our review about how we were the guests from hell! The issues were; my girlfriend asked for a larger coffee mug, my gfriend turned the AC down 2 degrees, the host alleged she turned it down 10 degrees. She said we booked with a fake name… There is some truth as I signed up with my Google+ account, and poof, there was my “name”. I would have certainly given her our names if I knew it was an issue, and ironically, she uses a management company, so it was some unknown distant person who’s name heads her listing. One of her gripes was that we “obviously hadn’t read the house rules”. Please refer to my first sentence. My girlfriend and I are very conservative quiet and we’ll behaved. And that shows in all our other feedback. And I’m perusing Airbnb on our fones, thinking of renting a room while we’re driving on one of our many road trips, reading rules isn’t part of the game plan.

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So you don’t read House Rules and don’t intend to because “reading rules isn’t part of the game plan”.

Sounds like you’re a real sweetheart type of guest we hosts really love…Not!

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So tell me again what it is that makes you so special that you’re the exception to every other guest?

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Sorry, but if you don’t read the house rules you are not good guests. Some hosts have very particular house rules. You need to read them to see if you’re a good match for the listing and so that you won’t cause problems for the host. Many hosts have rules that guests can’t touch the thermostat. If that was one of your host’s house rules you could have been asked to leave the listing and the host would have been paid out according to her cancellation policy.

One of my house rules is don’t let the dogs out the front door or the side gate. If you broke this rule because you can’t be bothered to read house rules and one of my dogs got hit by a car I would never forgive you.

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I am really not sure of your purpose for telling us that you don’t read house rules. Yet, you were surprised a host left you a negative review. When you book a place, there is a section where you agree to following all the house rules before you submit your reservation. You and girlfriend agreed to something you didn’t bother to read. I know…rules always apply to “other” people but not to me…

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Just because I don’t read the rules doesn’t mean I’m a scofflaw. I’ve had dogs and cats, I’ve owned many many apt buildings, and believe me, I know what’s what. To start up by saying “if I let your dog out…” is really being an instigator. I don’t slam doors, I walk quietly, I have a personal radio with headsets, we don’t watch TV, I always remove my shoes or ask if I should, I wipe up the toilet bowl after I P, repleshish the toilet paper if required, leave the bathroom in the same or better condition. Sorry to get hot, but the dog comments really were unwarranted.

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She obviously meant if anyone let the dog out, and you are included in that ‘anyone’. So don’t take it so personally.
Same with the rules, as hosts we have to assume our audience is all the same, we can’t go tailoring our house rules to every single guest in case somebody might be offended by one of them. We don’t know a thing about our guests until they arrive. It’s about protecting our property and our family members

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I behave myself without steppng on toes. I hardly need a rule book to act civilly., And if something’s not in a rule book, do I misbehave? Looking at our reviews, I don’t think we’ve been much of a burden

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Ok so you know how to behave in general, that’s great. But the main thing about Airbnb is staying in other people’s homes, which are not all the same. There could be something in the rules that’s very specific to the house and probably for very good reason. And you deliberately ignore it.

It’s arrogant of you to think that you don’t need to spend an extra 2 minutes reading the house rules because you already believe you’re so perfect.

The rules are not always for rowdy individuals looking to party. Don’t be surprised if one day you get locked out of your place because the front gate gets locked at 10 p.m. Or you are asked to leave immediately because you invited someone over for a quiet dinner…yet no visitors are allowed.

My house notes state that children and adults are not allowed to climb or stand near the top of the waterfall. It is very slick and dangerous. Before I added this parents were letting their children climb all over the slick rocks. It was ridiculous how careless the parents were being. So sometimes rules are about your safety.

The deal with house rules reminds me of when I drive home after midnite from work. The police have stopped me a number of times, and the questioning is always the same. Have you been drinking, are you under the influence of drugs or prescription medication? I’ve even had 3 police cars surround me, and the officer, using his intimidating voice, accuses me of either not coming to a FULL stop, turning into the lane next to the one I should have (the vast majority do this, I went back the next day to observe, including police cars). Just because I state that I don’t read the rules, don’t read this as tho I’m a felon just escaped from prison. I’ve read a few different posts, and the issues I see repeatedly are guests wandering the house, talking loudly on the fone, blaring the TV…

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I don’t think you’re reading these posts either? There’s no logical flow to this conversation. I give up.

I feel you’re looking to hard to “bust” us, or should I say digging for “dirt”. Who said anything about inviting an “unlisted” person over for a quiet dinner? And we always communicate with guests to be sure to arrive before curfew. The direction of this thread reminds me of a saying I saw somewhere "rules and regulations change all the time, honesty and ethics never do"
My girlfriend just walked in the door, and we’re now discussing this, and she told me she DOES read the rules! Silly me, I’m doing the driving, so I don’t pay too much attention, so I’ve just got you folks going for nothing!!!

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I don’t even know what you’re talking about trying too hard to dig for dirt. Did you not read the part where I said rules aren’t always about rowdy guests looking to party? My point is that there can be very important info in the house rules. And by not reading it…it could possibly have a very negative impact on your stay.

You said that you plan to become an Airbnb host. If you do, I bet good money that you’ll be on this forum complaining about guests who didn’t read the rules and broke them and/or inconvenienced themselves or the host. As the house rules are the only section of the listing that the guest agrees to read before booking, that is where hosts put important information: how to enter the house, where to park, etc.

See the bottom of my post #57