From best to worst guest in less than a month!

I just need to vent. I’ve been on Airbnb for almost 3-years and have been a Super Host ever since I was able to first qualify (Yes, I’ve read that there may be a stigma attached to that, but I am proud to have been a Super Host for so long). I began by renting two rooms and now rent up to 3 rooms in my home, and usually long term - a month or more. For the last two months I have had the 3 best guests ever! They came from different parts of the world, all got along, shared stories, met for drinks, and two of them even went on a road trip over Thanksgiving weekend. They are all gone now - the last of the 3 left 8 days ago. One of them will be returning in January. My best hosting experience thus far was with those three gents.

My worst experience - showed up two days ago and said that he was inviting his 17yo daughter over for dinner and the she was staying the night. Um, it says in my house rules that any visitors must be approved in advance and no overnight visitors. Okay, I swallowed, and accepted that as notice for the visitor part, and informed him that if she was going to be a guest, there was a charge for the extra person. Well, then she probably won’t stay - note the ambiguity in his reply - more later on that one. I found him to be confrontational, less than up front about what his plans were, and I was generally uncomfortable in his presence. HR says no food in guest rooms - he violated that one. His daughter’s visit last night can be described in one word - AWKWARD! They barely spoke - to me (when I was around) or to each other. Later in the evening, I checked in with him and asked if his daughter would be staying and he said, no. But she did stay! They tried to sneak her out at 6 AM. There were some other infractions along the way, which I noted, but pushed past. The daughter staying overnight was the last straw. I had called Airbnb the day before about the other violations, so the process had already been started. I called this morning and said that I was done - find him another place to stay. When the guest finally returned after taking his daughter home, I met him at his car with his belongings. NO WAY was he coming back into my house!

There you have it - best to worst in less than two weeks. sigh

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Hahahaha…good for you! So what did the guest say when you handed him his belongings?

BTW - Is Air going to give you the full payout? You did warn the guest about overnight visitors, and he went ahead and broke the rules anyway.

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Maybe she wasn’t his daughter…

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I’m really interested in the outcome of this situation. Seems to me (from what has been said on this forum and from what I gleaned from Air’s FB page) that all a guest has to do is violate the house rules to the point that they are asked to leave early, and then they don’t have to pay for the rest of the nights. I think this is wrong, of course, because the reservation is kind of like a contract. If the guest (or the host) violates the contract, the party that is in the wrong should not be able to skate freely away. Nor should (I think) Air help them find a new Air place to stay – that’s just foisting this bad guest on another host. My experience is that some people are better suited to hotels (easy enough to “sneak in” the daughter in a hotel), so that is where Air should direct them to go once they’ve been booted.

@katnhat – please let us know.

And, Merry Christmas :slight_smile:

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Me too Sandy2. I also want to know the outcome.

I posted this recently in another thread. But I called Air one time asking if I would be paid out if I made guests leave for breaking house rules. The example I used with the rep. was if guests showed up with too many people.

The rep. said I would first have to tell them that there were too many people and the others would have to find another place to stay. I even pointed out to the rep. that now I would have angry guests staying in the rental. He said I could ask them to leave but then I wouldn’t be paid.

So then I asked what would happen if the other guests returned. He then said if they broke the house rule again, then I would be paid out in full (even if guests were forced to leave).

Of course I would have to call Air and they would speak to the guests.

On Air’s website help page, I typed in “guest violates house rules”, to which this is what came up:

Help Center results for ‘guest violates house rules’
How do I share my House Rules with guests?
Do I have to refund my guests when they make a complaint?
What is a House Manual?
How can I be a considerate guest?
How do I refund my guest?
What is Airbnb’s Guest Refund Policy?
What are Airbnb’s rules about electronic surveillance devices in listings?

In other words – no help at all. I will try to do some more digging to see if Air has posted a policy.

Airbnb handled this as a reservation change. The guest was supposed to check out tomorrow, so they moved the check out date to today (thankfully my check out time is 9 AM - nice and early!).

No, I didn’t get the room fee for tonight’s stay, because Airbnb handled it as a reservation change. It was only one night and I didn’t feel like pressing the issue over $39.

I did get the extra guest fee for one night, however, so the net loss was only $29.

I also have the ability to leave him a review… and visa versa. So, as I have read on this forum, I will be waiting until the last minute to post mine. Or, if he goes ahead and posts before the time is up, I will post mine.

What he said when I gave him is stuff? - When I said that he had his daughter stay without approval, all he said was “Oh, no, no, no, no,” and “You’re a nut lady, I’m going to report you.” He said that he wanted his money back. I told him to call Airbnb, they have been trying to get a hold of him all morning. And he complained about the heat being off at night (which is noted in the listing and rules, he also opted NOT to use the extra blanket provided in the room. He said that it was 40 degrees in the room… um, the thermostat said 62.). I told him that he was welcome to read the house rules - it’s all in there. I recorded the conversation on my phone, which was in my pocket, and if he tried something worse, then I could pull it out.

I do think it was his daughter, because one of them slept on the couch in the den.

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Well gone for staying calm, standing your ground and having the foresight to record the conversation. This man sounds like a piece of work.
Definitely wait until the 14th day to leave a review and remember you can ask Airbnb to remove his if he lies. You’ve got it all documented so should be easy to prove!

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More power to you! You did your part, allowed the guest to follow your rules, you gave him the benefit of the doubt, and when he broke your reasonable doubt, you kicked him out! Star model host!

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Thank you all - for your comments.

What do you think of this as his review…

Who was it that said - You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all the time? I’ve been a Super Host for about 2 years or so and have had the good fortune of receiving many great guests. I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in my own home than when Jerry was my guest. I found him to be confrontational, uncompromising, and disrespectful. I won’t list the various infractions that I experienced during his stay, just the most egregious one of lying about having an extra guest stay over. Upon arrival, Jerry explained that he would be using my house to entertain and have dinner with his 17 y/o daughter, whom he was in town to see and that she would be staying over (which was never communicated or approved prior to his arrival). I explained that there is a fee for an extra guest. Ultimately, he said that she wouldn’t be staying, but then she did, and he took her home at 6 AM the next morning. That was the final straw and called Airbnb and I ended the reservation. (I had already been on the phone with them the day before about the other violations of the House Rules).

Your review is factual and rational… but a bit too wordy and detailed. As an exercise, say the same thing in three sentences.

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@konacoconutz has mentioned in the past that any mention of resolutions with AirBNB will get your review pulled. Perhaps she can weight in on this review before leaving for Prague.

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Okay, how about this review…

I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in my own home than when Jerry was my guest. I found him to be confrontational, uncompromising, and disrespectful. I won’t list the various violations of the house rules, just the most egregious one of lying about having an extra guest stay over. Upon arrival, Jerry mentioned that his daughter 17 y/o daughter would be staying with him. I explained that there is a fee for an extra guest. Ultimately, he said that she wouldn’t be staying, but then she did, and he took her home at 6 AM the next morning. That was the final straw and the third and last night of the reservation was cancelled.

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I think you don’t need any of the bit about his 17 year old daughter. It’s enough to note he had an authorised guest and lied about it.

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I would limit the review to the first two sentences and state he broke house rules without further details. Some people might find it too strict to refuse a man to visit his daughter. I agree he should have been honest, but people don’t always understand why we choose to set our rules.

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I think that instead of listing your guest’s unpleasant qualities you should describe his behavior in a detached manner. One person’s confrontational is another person’s direct, one person’s uncompromising is another person’s standing up for yourself, disrespectful is open to interpretation. I wouldn’t say that he tried to sneak the overnight guest out. It could have been that she needed to leave early. The fact that he lied about having an overnight guest so that he wouldn’t have to pay the extra person fee is factual. Also, instead of describing all the back and forth between you and Jerry, I would just state that he denied denied having an overnight guest when in fact he did.

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Thanks for updating us Katnhat! Is there any reason why Air made the reservation change and didn’t just say you will be paid out in full? I completely understand that you didn’t want the stress of pressing the issue. I cannot blame you. But I am curious as to why Air didn’t just say you would be paid out in full. Did they say anything like “it will be easier if you just…”?

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I would list the infractions or at least the major ones, in the style of a policeman. Just the facts. And leave out the commentary. I think that’s more effective. Say what he did, not what you think of him. Let the reader make up his or her own mind.

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But I think Ellen is saying that we don’t know for sure if the early departure was a bona fide sneak out so we should not make assumptions.

Do not mention Any Air case or actions in a review!

I would make it simple:
Jerry was confrontational, uncompromising, and disrespectful. He ignored several of my house rules as well as a few of Airbnb’s rules. He tried to avoid paying for an additional overnight guest. I do not recommend him.

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