AirBNB - A hotel or a private house!

Just to be sure, call the Air rep and get the exact, exact expiration time in the guest time zone. That’s what you need to do the sneak attack. Note that their deadline might be before yours. So the sneak attack may or may not work depending on time zones.

The blood thing; for those of us who are unlucky in this area it can come out of nowhere and be horribly messy. You wake up and oh no, what happened?!? Too late by then of course.

Of course the guest should have told you but was probably embarrassed. I have dealt with some major blood incidents; a soak in cold water and then a cold wash always gets it out.

I know it’s unpleasant, in your shoes I would be irritated but I probably wouldn’t assume it was on purpose. And rather than say ‘they left the sheets unclean’ (which too me sounds like it could be any number of body fluids) I’d probably cut the guest a bit of slack and say: there were some guest related cleanliness issues that I would have liked the guest to notify me of before checkout.

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Thanks Konacocunutz,

Your wording is also very good…
I have decided that I will write an honest, review. I am just cooling my heels a bit so my emotions do not get the best of me.
Thanks!

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Hi Sandy. I’m not sure why she felt justified to ask for a $75/night refund? What was her reasoning?

In my description, I state that my nightly rates run $200-$350/night depending on the season and that the university’s graduation week is more. Her rate was $275/night, which is discounted off the summer rates. She said that she should only be charged $200/night because September is “off-season” (she booked in early August). I replied that, no, September is already discounted a bit, and September and October are still a busy months here in Boulder because of the University’s football games and the great weather. September was over 2/3’s booked (summer is almost 100% booked). Like I said, had she asked for a discount up front, I would have denied her inquiry all together. So far, she has not left me a review …

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Sandy,

I think the issue is you gave her a reason that you weren’t offering a discount. And the reason wasn’t valid while SHE was in the unit. I think, it makes more sense to skip the reason, and just say no. I don’t offer a discount. You kind of gave her a loophole to try again. And anyone who asks once, is going to ask again if they think they see sunlight.

We don’t actually owe these strangers a reason for anything. Hard to remember sometimes.

Just tonight I broke one of my own rules. NEVER suggest just ONE place for dinner. And I did. And then I spent the early evening anxious that my suggestion would in some way not meet expectations. DUMB DUMB DUMB. Except that they loved the simple family fish spot that I sent them to and thanked me profusely.

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You’re absolutely right because she pointed out that during the weekend they stayed, the CU Buffs were playing an away game! Hopefully, next time I won’t elaborate …

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I am of the camp that says: if you have non-bed-mess issues then yes, leave a negative review. So if they left makeup on towels, mud on the floor, etc, say so.

But I would not mention the bed unless it was chocolate, or orange juice etc. The reason is that pretty much every person in the world has had a bed-staining accent or ten in their lives and it’s unpleasant to think about either our own, or other people’s bed-staining accidents. Now we do not care about this guest’s feelings - after all they are not coming back to you and it won’t change anything - but reviews are for OTHER people not for the guest & host from this stay. You do not want others seeing this and thinking you pry into people’s sex lives, and you don’t want to look petty.

We live and learn… one of the lessons is that people on holidays do things in the bed that we’d rather not think about, but what they do in the bed (sleeping well, plus other things) are actually the main things that will make for a happy guest. Bed sheet messes are something that we just have to deal with. Arm yourself with bleach and stick to white sheets. :slight_smile:

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Thanks Eliel,
So much good advice, still not sure what to do…

This might be TMI, but I have red sheets that go along with my decor, so if I have had this problem I wouldn’t know it!

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Update: So my guest who asked for a discount AFTER she booked left me a review (nice enough review), so I left her one – explaining that she asked for a post-booking discount and that I was afraid that she would mark me down for “value”. Sure enough, she left me fewer than five stars for overall experience, value, and location. She also said that I need to provide a recyclables bin – which I have already (on the front porch and listed in the welcome email). That’s ok – I gave her a thumbs down because of the body oil she spread all over the bathroom, the dirty pan put back in the cupboard, and the earlier than agreed upon arrival.

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yup, because she was such a cheapskate, she ruined her chances that hosts in the future will rent to her. As it should be!

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Ha! I recently recommended our favorite Chinese place to a guest. It is 3 miles away - a total of 3 turns. He drove around for over an hour and never found it - came back with McDonalds. I was mortified. Thankfully, he did not blame me for it.

Yay for you! Hosts everywhere thank you!

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However – I tried to find information on whether the thumbs down means anything and I don’t think it does. I think IB is based on “stars” – especially cleanliness and communication. Does anyone know if this is true?

Today I posted my review of these guests, I left it simple at:
" “X” his girlfriend were pleasant. Unfortunately there were some guest related cleanliness issues that I would have liked the guest to notify me of before checkout. "
I also gave them low stars for communication and a hands down as in truth I would not want these guests again.

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Nicely done Judy. I am a fan of very short reviews, especially negative ones, for one reason - it is my nature not to dwell on the negative. Yes, yes, it is so much easier to take this vein if the guests are open and honest about their screw ups. If an inquisitive host wants to know more in detail, be happy to oblige them.

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the official word from airbnb is that the 2 weeks ends at the time of your checkout - so if checkout is at 10am on tuesday morning, in 2 weeks (next tuesday) at 10am is the cutoff point. YOUR time zone. The idea of midnight of the day is an urban legend and is disproved.

Not an urban legend… because I had an Air rep tell me midnight, I tired it and it proved true.

Remember Rolf… you hear a different story from every Air rep you talk to!!! Some of which say anything to end the call.

That is the only thing proven true here. :smiley:

i agree lol. However, this was from the tweet people, so i hope it turns out to be definitive here in the lower 48 at least …