well said, @Wilburforce
LOL. No nespresso here and there never will be. They are expensive and an environmental disaster. I leave Folgers in a glass jar labeled coffee, so they can like it or lump it.
Makes me wonder if the previous hosts left an āhonest reviewā!
I donāt think it should matter how much a guest is paying for the room, as a host, I would want to know if the guest is clueless and/or disrespectful. [quote=āamfm, post:1, topic:8202ā]
Come on guy! This isnāt a hotel, this is our home!
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Exactly! Is this how to treat your momās house, or a friendās? Because we are strangers, does that mean you are allowed to treat me badly and disrespect my home? I donāt believe in appealing to the lowest common denominator either. I have nice things and I am happy to share them. That doesnāt give a guest the right to damage them!
He made a deal when he booked your place. He broke the contract by leaving it the way he did.
That saidā¦ Red flag #1 should have also been #2 AND #3, but I get that it is hard to say noā¦ and with the good reviews from other hosts, one would hardly have expected Flag 3 and 4.
I agree @Helsi !
But its a fact that things get damaged. Some people are slobs. I had 250 guests in my house, i cant expect all of them to have the same standards of behavour as me. Thats why if i have expensive piece of furniture i find ways to protect it, not to hope that my guests will protect it.
This is why guests canāt have nice things, LOL. I think putting nice (meaning expensive to replace) furniture in a vacation rental is a complete set-up for anxious and unhappy hosting. With the amount of people coming in and out of our units, I think we have to expect some hard wear and tear and factor it into the cost of business.
Most tourists and travelers arenāt living in a space like regular people. Every single day, they are hauling around coolers and beach chairs or muddy hiking boots and sometimes huge suitcases and they arenāt accustomed to doing ANY of these things regularly so they can be pretty clueless. (Donāt bring an un-rinsed cooler into the apt & then place it on a bench or counter so that the sandy bottom scratches everything in sight.) Iām not a beach location and Iāve had great guests but I canāt believe how thrashed my walls and baseboards are due to just suitcases being moved in and out. Thereās a small rip in the leather couch due to someone putting their huge, heavy suitcase on it. Is it worth $1500-1800/month to deal with this? For me, the answer is yes!
If I donāt want to deal with these types of hassles (coffee consumption, check-ins, laundry, wear and tear on my furniture, etc.) then long-term renting is my alternative.
I had a beautiful vanity desk from the 1930ās - burl wood, fancy carvings, spindly legs. When we started putting together the guest room it was in there, and I thought, āall it takes is one person who gives it a good kick or puts down a wet glass and this is ruined.ā I hated to see that gorgeous piece go but I had no place to put it. So I found an acquaintance who wanted a vanity and she was thrilled, the furniture is preserved and I made a couple hundred dollars. Everyone was happy.
This is a really good point and one that Iāve often wondered. And which I have to confess Iām guilty of doing - not leaving a truly honest reply.
My last guest asked twice for late check-out. I told her āNo, sorry, guests coming in today but I can mind your luggage.ā At 10.15 am (my check-out time is 10am) she sent me a text saying āWeāre being picked up at 11.30 - hope thatās okay.ā I told her I could give her to 11am at the latest. This entitled blithe behaviour genuinely pissed me off, but in the end they were gone by 10.45 and I just let it go, so didnāt mention it. She left a nice but slightly picky review and gave me only 4 stars. Sometimes I decide itās just easier to move on to the next booking as I hate unpleasantness and confrontation - and this girl was nothing if not confident and confrontational.
So, Iām sorry, but I have been guilty of leaving less than honest reviews and why we sometimes end up with guests with no manners. But I have IB so I donāt pick and choose anyway.
. This guest PUSHED her late check out on you. And I would say so in the review, it could be one line. She caused you stress and stayed beyond the time she paid for. Just no.
You know when she asked you should have been much more firm.
no, sorry, I wish I could. Have another guest coming and the cleaning crew will be here at 10. I really canāt accommodTe late check out. Wish I could.
See what I meanā¦ You do a guest like that a favor just becUse they are pushy and they reward you how? Nit picky review. This is why I donāt generally offer it unless I really like the guest and want to help them out. Not because they act pushy and entitled. Generally that will not end well for you.
Guests. Your time is over, so you need to do the right thing and leave.
And donāt forget the hormone-interrupting plastic compounds that are absorbed by the coffee and then absorbed by your body.
Yes I know, I know. You are right. Sheād been a little demanding throughout the stay and I worried if I didnāt accommodate her this little bit sheād ping me in the review - I wanted to appear accommodating right up until she hauled her princess ass out of my place. But youāre right. I should have called her on it.
new host, agonized over same questionā¦
If he didnāt break any of your house rules, youāre being too picky. Iād leave no reviewā¦ unless he leaves you a scathing one. It has been live and learn here I find guess need really clear guidelines.
We have āmust read Manualā as part of house rulesā¦ if any probes, they had to agree to read them. Saved my butt once.
J
You should give youku honest review because he will not give you good review.he is greedy.if he doesnāt get enough extra profit he will give you bad review cozy he felt his money not worth, you earned his money.his aim is that you can not earn one cent,you should lose but he win,then he will give you 5 stars.many of my guests are so.
Youāre on these forums enough to know that someone drinking a lot of coffee, not following check-out instructions about taking out trash etc. and not saying āthank youā is far from a terrible guest. What about those people who smoked and smoked and smoked, leading to HOA fines and lots of smoke-smelling damage, and didnāt check out on time? Those were terrible guests. Iāve had to pick up (presumably) used condoms after guests left them on the floor. Those were terrible guests.
Personally, I would leave this review:
XGuestX was a pretty good guest, but unfortunately he didnāt follow check-out procedures, meaning we had to scramble to get the place ready for our next guests. I hope he is a little more thoughtful in his future stays.
That way, future hosts know that they need to be a little wary and perhaps very specific about their house rules.
It would be nice to know that this guest pushed check-out time. That can be a huge problem if youāre scheduling a cleaner or preparing for the next guests. You have nothing to lose by being honest, but polite, in the review. Nothing.
As far as long term renting goes, to maximize profit and have less damage on property every host should avoid 1-2 days stays. This is what was happening to me when i had 1-2 day guests.
My weekend were all booked, leaving weekdays empty. During season my weekends were booked few weeks into the fututre. I was not showing up in search for those who wanted to stay 4-5-7 days or longer.
Last minute bookings drove me nuts. I always needed to have a room ready. Lagguage in and out at any time of the day. These people were vacationers. It means they went to the beach, and brought home a bunch of sand, wet towels, sunburns that kept them next day all day in a house.
I never knew their schedule. i never knew if they were in a house behind those closed doors if they did not have a car. I had to be quiet all day because of that. Everyone had their habits, and mannerism. Noone read rules, and i was asked about kitchen, laundry non stop, and had to say no often.
And laundry, o that laundry. How many beds i changedā¦
Longer terms, 2 weeks plus are much less work and more money. These are working people. Working people are mostly here on a project, their days are long. Usually its 1 person, i prefer that to a couple. When a person works many hours, all he/she wants to do is rest at night. Workers dont bother with kitchen, they have no time for this. They dont make mess, because they are never home. These are the best guests.
I know some people dont want to give weekly discount . They would rather charge more and have less days occupied. Simple calculation. I thought i would switch to 1-2-3 days stays again when season comes here, but now after i tried longer stays i dont think i will ever go back to that non stop laundry and cleaning routine again.
Please do not recommend this person. I have toyed on and off with instant book - if you recommend them they can automatically book. Personally Iāve stopped instant book again as I donāt feel I have enough control but as I understand it anyone with a recommendation can automatically book so writing a review that warns us what to be careful about is no good.
Oh and in case you are in any doubt - my opinion of your description of the experience is that he was a user.
My thoughts exactly. He can easily see that Iāve been open since May and left a review for nearly every guest. Hopefully she gets the message. Did not leave a review. The thing is if I did leave a review I would leave an honest review, but since he didnāt break any rules technically I would still reccommend them, only with a slight caviet which would be my review letting future hosts know how to deal with him because despite the fact that he was a pain, he wasnāt a horrible person, I feel like she would be the type of person able to learn from their mistakes. Plus we learned some things and thatās probably the most valuable aspect of this entire situation.
First off, if you have wood furniture, protect it. If you care for your coffee table, make sure you reiterate to guests that it is not a work station. Secondly, you are correct and Iām going to update my house rules to say the same thing, also we have started to remind every guest the day before they check out of the check out instructions. Thirdly, and this is probably the hardest thing to do, learn to say no.
Bottom line he wasnāt a horrible person and everyone deserves an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Either way, eventully Iāll have 100 reviews instead of 22 and will be able to say whatever I want to guestsā¦within reason of course.
By the way thanks for the feedback everyone. Thing is guest did not technically break any of our house rules so believe it or not we decided it was not ALL their fault.
Here are our steps moving forward.
Change house rules to require they read the manual and to also let guests know that if they damage anything, they will be expected to pay for it. I know this should go without saying but guests need to know. We will also inform them that we take a video recording of all furniture and items within our property before they check-in. Also we are going to reiterate that our dining room table is not a work station.
Classic case of moving forward @amfm . You ask yourself how can I improve my presentation or offering so annoying things do not tend to happen again, and then execute the changes. I just went through a long list of these little tweaks the last 2 weeks (place was closed for improvements).
Exactly. Iām really thankful for the hosts forum as well. When in the service industry, youāre going to run in to some difficult clients.