3:00 AM Sneaking in another guest

This is true! (20 Characters)

When I was 16 (lo these 40 years ago!), I heard the word “prophylactic” in a song (“On the Amazon, the prophylactics prowl” was the exact phrase). I asked my mother what the word meant, and she turned all shades of red and told me to look it up in the dictionary. I did, and the definition was a “protective covering that creates a barrier, such as a surgical glove for a doctor”. I was in college before I figured out why my mother was embarrassed! Ah, how times have changed.

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(Say what?..you were in college?!) :yum:

No, not funny at all. Do you think the abusiveness has got worse in the last decade? It is particularly dreadful in the south of France.

I think it’s always been around, to be honest. A cousin of mine was bullied mercilessly at school over 40 years ago. She was the real deal: masses of curly red hair, loads of freckles and a snub nose. She had a fiery temper too so got into a lot of fights… it didn’t end well. There’s a lot more publicity about the issue nowadays, though, with several teenage suicides due to bullying over red hair and also Prince Harry highlighting it. Luckily my own son got through it due to a sharp wit and a resilient character but it’s a serious and sad problem for many. Maybe Sam Heughan from Outlander will turn the tide! (Even though he’s not a natural red-head grrhh).

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Huh? When did I say that?

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Update:
Airbnb ended up compensating me fully for the 1st night. They actually offered to pay for both, however the cancellation was processed with enough time for the room to be booked for the second night, so I told them that the one night would be fine. Also, this was what they call and administrative cancellation, so it does’t show up as a negative for the guest or me and we were both allowed to complete reviews (both negative, of course).

Further comments for this conversation:
I don’t believe that bad behavior should be rewarded. This guest was only asked to leave when he persisted with his request to have the girl stay. How many times does it take before no, means no? I found where my limit was and I accept that for others it may be different.

Here are some “what ifs” to consider:
What if…

  • there was an earthquake (I’m in California);
  • there was a fire (you may have heard about the fires recently - some far enough, but not to far from my home);
  • she fell down the stairs;
  • broke a window,
    Would Airbnb be any help dealing with this person?
    She’s not registered through the site, in fact, I don’t even know her name.

Sometimes I think hosts forget and some guests don’t understand that this is a home-sharing community built on trust and communication and not a faceless hotel. When that trust is violated, there are consequences. If a mistake is made and called out - own it and fix it. That isn’t what this guest offered to do. Instead, he insisted that he be allow to continue with his error and that I should go along with it.

These people are in a room in my home and it was the middle of the night. We all have more clarity when we have time to read a blog and think about how to respond. Upon reflection, time and considering other factors, I might not handle this the same way if it happened again.

Feedback from other guests:
A day or so later, I apologized to one of the other guests in the house - if he had been awakened in the middle of the night. In our conversation, he expressed that he was thankful that I had asked the violator to leave and that he would not have felt safe if the violator had been allowed to stay. He approved of my choice with the given circumstances.

@Robert_Olinger - Some thoughts I had while considering your comments… I’ve love homesharing and the many interesting people that I have met from around the world - some of whom were relocating to the area and are now friends and neighbors. I started in February of 2014 (nearly 4-years ago) and most of that time have been a Superhost with 80-90% room occupancy. So, my opinion of your statements is that they are unfounded. I don’t think that I’ll quit because of this one idiot guest.

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I’d like to like the post 10x (as someone posted to me earlier today). You rock and I wish more hosts were like you.

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