Horrible Amatuer Hour/ROOKIE mistakes

Hi guys i wanna hear your feedback. I just had to have a very akward conversation with my current guests(young people there under-25, there 23). There from Europe English not very good but the Airbnb Ads were in there chosen European language. Basically there first time doing Airbnb, only other time they did was for 1 night briefly as they came out to Australia on there first night.
They were breaking my house rules and didn’t even realize it and I’ll tell you how!

I had to go over the house rules with them, they were nervous there to, I was it was very horribly akward.
But they told me as the chat calmed down, they DID NOT read my Ad’s house rules/and they did not read the Airbnb terms and conditions.

There booking they said in there words “they just look for price/location/and nice photos”. There young and seemed to have no concept or awareness that there making a Legally binding agreement in a “legally regulated environment, just like booking a hotel”. These young people are so casual, it’s so annoying. I read terms and conditions in any thing i buy or purchase or if I stay at a hotel.

In there broken English they just say to me “PRICE/Location PRICE/LOCATION”, in such a young lack of life experience way. The level of legal awareness wasn’t exactly that of a Harvard Law Professor. It was so uneducated and casual, they there treating Airbnb as if it’s like a holiday camp there booking in where they can have fun “young and fun”, as opposed to being in a regulated environment with RULES.
Airbnb spend millions on there legal framework, and have very serious approach to there business.

But these young “ROOKIE guests” with very little experience in the Airbnb circuit, did not even bother read the Airbnb terms and conditions or the Ad’s HOUSE RULES, they just look at “price/location”.
There now today have had a change of mindset towards me, there behaviour has changed and there now aware there in a regulated legally controlled environment(my place) like a hotel and my home is not a place for them to treat like a holiday camp or a fun park. There aware there now under legal scrutiny and in a contract situation with Airbnb, and have slowly adjusted there behaviour accordingly to a regulated outlook, the free sprit casual manner they had, has dropped a lot today(they have a long 3-month booking with me).
And this is what I want, an increased professional attitude in my guests behaviour and the amateur hour attitude like there in a holiday camp or at spring break dropped.

-But the poinf oy my post is, I could not believe these young people could be so CASUAL and not even read the terms and conditions of something that there making a legally binding agreement with. So casual and they didn’t even read my Ad properly. Just “price location” price location" in there broken english european voice.

Have you had guests as casual as this and rookie mistakes as this. Boy it annoyed me, and if they were not so casual i wouldn’t have had to of had a very akward conversation. Sometimes I’ve had to have akward chats with guests about there behaviour(and no not just noise complaints" other stuff to, but they were experienced and savvy enough and mature, and they would say things like “sorry yes we read your house rules at the time of the booking” and we read the Aribnb terms before we booked “sorry”.

These rookie guests, were so casual and unregulated. “Price location, price location they’d say in a classic Italian accent(broken english)” is all my current guests"young people under-25 looked at. “Price location price location”

I’d be careful here not to read too much into their poor communication skill. What house rules did they break? What damage was done? I get a lot of young people due to my location, and by agreeing to book, they are in a legal and binding relationship whether they understand it or not. Many, many times I am asked questions about things that are clear on my information, and I just answer them. You seem very upset about this transaction, and I am not sure how you hoped this interaction would go, given their language skills.

2 Likes

I think you forgot to tell us how they broke your house rules.

6 Likes

I OPENED ANOTHER TOPIC ON THIS QUESTION

In my 30 years of traveling in hotels en other places to stay, I have never read any rules before making a booking. Hotel, motels, hospedajes, even B&B’s, to my knowledge never make you read and accept their rules in advance. I sometimes read the rules when being in the hotel, but the rules were never that exceptional or strange as to surprise me. They tend to be common sense, and as I am well behaved I never needed to adjust my behavior.

So now my question is: Why do we all consider it SO normal that people are reading all the rules in advance?

I do not consider it that normal. I DO consider it normal that people should accept and respect the rules when arriving if they are common sense.
And if there are any really specific rules, I believe it to be the hosts responsibility to do everything to actively communicate these very specific rules with the guests beforehand.

Yes, I know that I will get LOADS of bad reactions to this post: I CONSIDER MYSELF AN EXEMPLARY GUEST, and apart from one time having a discussion*** with a hotel owner I am very sure to be welcomed with open arms at every hotel, B&B, place I have ever stayed at (rough estimate 300+). And all this without ever reading rules in advance.

*** The discussion was about them, on arriving, first wanting to only put me down for 1 night in their books, me insisting that I would stay for 2 nights, but half an hour later changing my mind. I changed my mind because I found out there was an option of doing a tour and leaving on public transport afterwards. So they wanted me to pay, because in the half hour that I was changing my mind, they had gotten a reservation request for specifically my room, that they had to deny. All other rooms were empty.

2 Likes

Oh, Steve. Here you are again with guests who don’t read your house rules. The thing is though that most guests don’t read the house rules. We all have that, I think.

Let’s look at this another way - you set your house rules and guests don’t read them, so you have to look for another way to communicate with them. I realise that the guests you posted about are Italian speakers but a good solution would be to get a translation app on your phone. I have an excellent one and use it often with guests. (And it’s free).

Then look at your house rules and make sure that they’re not too severe. When people are paying good money for accommodation, they don’t want to feel as though they’re in jail or at a strict boarding school.

Imagine that you’re renting a place in Italy. Then you’ll be able to put yourself in your guests’ shoes. They are in a strange country where they don’t speak the language. There’s a strong possibility that Airbnb’s advertising led them to believe that they’d find a friendly and welcoming host who would help them acclimatise to their new surroundings. But in fact, they get a bloke who insists on repeating the house rules and being more confrontational than welcoming and helpful. (And remember that we have spoken before about your people skills :slight_smile: )

I know that you can be a charming and delightful host - even if it’s just for a few minutes - so why not try approaching them in that mode? It might work wonders.

4 Likes

Thanks for the warning guthend. A bad guest is one that does not read what is important to the host; does not consider that the house rules are specific to that particular house, and that issues like noise, access, or usage of space are not always ‘understood’ or even ‘common sense’; arrogantly decides that the house rules are to be followed only if the guest likes them.

The fact that in order to book your stay means you have entered into an agreement that you have read and will follow the house rules means that your binding contract can be terminated at any time by the host. Of course, the arrogance of deciding that not reading the rules means that you are exempt from them might mean getting you and your SO thrown out at 1am means that you will impact not only the hosts but also your SO.

I think you are the same person who was breaking the law repeatedly at a traffic intersection, and then told us that you argued with the police about it when caught? The attitude of ‘above the law’ to me means a criminal mind.

2 Likes

That was Sweet Dreams - another poster.

1 Like

I missed that. Sweet Dreams argued with the cops?

I too would like to know which house rules the guests were breaking?

We all have our own issues that bother us as hosts, but sometimes you have to let things go.

For example my two big rules that I prefer guests follow is don’t wear shoes in the house or don’t smoke on the property. I had a one month booking and guests smoked in the yard butting their cigarette butts in a beer bottle. My pool is adjacent to the area they designated as a smoking area for themselves and since I am not a smoker I was uncomfortable with ashes possibly going in pool. BUT… They were good guests otherwise so I just asked them to use a proper disposal method. I don’t stay at the property so it is not as big a deal for me to let “some things go”. I don’t personally think I could host the house share way as I would be pretty anal about somethings and I know many guest habits would bother me if I was to be in the same house as them.

I guess I must be talking Chinese to get this kind of reaction.

What I wanted to point out is that in the classic hospitality business (hotels, B&B’s,…) no-one has ever made me read and sign an agreement where I specificaly accept the house rules. And therefor I have never read the house rules of any place I have stayed at in advance. (I have read them multiple times in my life, e.a. at the back of the door to my room.) Thinking of this fact, and in reaction to quiet a lot of hosts here complaining about guests not reading the house rules in advance, I wondered “Why do hosts expect this?” while in the hospitality business, to my knowledge, it is absolutely not common to have to read house rules and sign a legal agreement before making a reservation.

I never ever said that anyone is exempt from following the house rules. I consider it normal that when staying at someone’s house (hotel, business) you respect there rules. Even if they are somewhat unexpected.
At the same time, when those rules could be conceived as extra-ordinary, I believe that it’s up to the host to actively communicate these rules with his guest, and that hosts shouldn’t complain saying “It was in the small print of the legal contract, why don’t guests read it?”. When I am traveling I am mostly on vacation, and I’m really not going to lose my time reading everyone’s fine print. I am a normal good respectful human being with good intentions, and if that shouldn’t be sufficient for your rulebook, !!!YES!!! you will have to take your time and talk to me about your rules. Don’t be lazy, I paid for your service, you didn’t pay for mine.
Of course I agree that if people, even after being talked to, still don’t respect the house rules, it is normal that they get removed from the premises.

That is my point of view, and I just wanted to see what other people think about this. I did not want to be put away as a bad guest or a criminal mind. But thanks anyway :joy:.

Note: No, I am not that criminal mind that you are talking about. But yes, I will also talk to the police if there is room for interpretation in a traffic situation, which due to bad law making and bad design of public spaces isn’t that uncommon. And even then, the police does not have the ultimate say. One can always take it to a judge. That is my full democratic right and it doesn’t make me a criminal mind.

Doesn’t receiving the house rules, and agreeing to them before booking, somehow mean that you have already been ‘presented’ with them? And by falsifying the agreement by saying you have read and agreeing to them when you have not, make you liable for the consequences?

Sorry, telling me ‘don’t be lazy’ when in fact you are the lazy and irresponsible one for not reading a short list (and by the way, some of these rules are check boxes that hosts are given to make the process easier) and assuming you somehow ‘know’ what the host needs from his guests?

Sigh really totally over the top @Rolf. Not reading the house rules in advance is irritating for a host but your language…mentioning criminality and falsifying information? O.T.T. Wind the dial back and get some perspective.

How many times have I been presented with reams of information from apple asking me to read and agree before downloading the software? And how many times have I actually read it? Fact is we’re all guilty of skimming information at times.

7 Likes

@Zandra Thank you for your input. Me and Rolf are clearly getting lost in translation.

@Rolf, maybe you should calm down, read and try and understand what I wrote. I agree that if someone does not respect house rules, that there can be consequences. I AGREE WITH YOU !

I never said you are lazy, I think that all hosts that refuse to communicate to a guest about extra-ordinary rules and refuse to talk to a guest when not complying are lazy. If you think you fit the bill, so be it. If I pay someone for a service, my life should get easier and not more complicated. You are offering a service and getting paid for it, your guests aren’t offering you a service and are not getting paid. I do NOT accept the fact that someone paying for a service, should end up in a police state where the most important words are: legal agreement, liability, consequences. OMG !

1 Like

Jacquo

Ha Ha, yes I am capable of being a nice person sometimes it’s rare and can be akward but I can do it, lolz if money is involved. Your point with how your communicating your message I know we have been over this, and I have now after this booking change how I word the house rules. I have worded it in a more “CLEAR MANNER” so any potential interested guest making a booking, will see how my House operate(or military dictatorship Regime lol).
But jokes aside I take some responsibility, and recognize I have to communicate to a better standard in My written Ad and have made some adjustments.
I have clarified the Noise issue was a problem, with the doors as there big fire safety doors all front doors in my apartment, and there loud and I don’t like it, nor do my neighbours who have in past complained about me slamming doors(so I had to fix up my behaviour to). It was just very nervous I suppose being critical to young people(e.g. the language barrier/the foreign country stuff as you pointed out/the age difference/the experience with Airbnb).
Thankfully now we have communicated better in despite there limited english, humans can get an understanding, we communicate beyond words. And anyway the ad is translated to so many languages, so they could see it Italian and I was able to go over the rules.
So the heart attack energy has got downgraded, and they have relaxed and have opened up to me more about there life in Italy and me sharing with them more about my life in Australia. And I think as I brought up in the “horribly akward conversation” stuff like Airbnb terms and conditions. I think they have since read them, as they have dropped subtle hints about insurance stuff with Airbnb and a few general terms, so there now much more aware that Airbnb is a regulated environment. They were rookies as I said and under-25’s, so youth is and lack of experience is some valid defences to them.
But they are here for a long stay and we have smoothed over a lot of the the awkwardness and both parties are now getting a nice rythym. Wer’e not best friends one doesn’t have to be but we both are getting a nice rytyhm going and long term bookings, if you can tolerate each other can be a very effecient way to run your Airbnb set up as it saves time on cleaning+plus cleaning costs.

So fingers cross things work out, but I think there more aware now that there not on a holiday camp or spending time and Grandma’s spoiling them how Italians love to do.

1 Like

Noise issues, I said in my Ad DO NOT slam doors and they were. They didn’t realize they were.

@steve5500 Is English your first language?

4 Likes

I was very upset by this portlandgirl. As they seemed so casual and didn’t read properly my Ad or my house rules. So when I had to have a chat with them about house rules, they seemed so perplexed and casual or confused why I was tense and upset, so the whole thing made me nervous and uncomfortable having to assert my rules, as they seemed to have such a casual and have fun whatever attitude they didn’t realize that my rules were serious or that they were in a regulated environment. Now they are much more aware and are obeying my house rule with noise. They are nice and now we are getting on. I will be re wording my ad to which I’ve now done so people are better aware of my house rules.

Yes it is of course it is.

I’m guessing that what smtucker was referring to was your use of English. Particularly “there”. It is used incorrectly in a significant number of places in your original post. It is possible, therefore, that the communication you consider clear is not so clear to people whose first language is not English.

6 Likes

Wow Steve, you don’t seem to like:

  1. Italians
  2. Those with limited English
  3. Holiday-makers
  4. Young people
  5. First-timers

That’s concerning in this business. I go to great lengths with all of the above to be extra kind, friendly & welcoming. Then they are much more likely to respond quickly and positively to any feedback on my house rules or expectations.

6 Likes