Are there any hosts who have NEVER had major problems with guests?

Are there any hosts here who have never really had any major problems with guests?
No messes, disrespect or non-adherence to house rules, no breakage or damages, no hostile guests?

I think it all boils down to what you classify as major. Iā€™ve certainly had irritating guests, but I donā€™t see any of the problems Iā€™ve had with them as major. To me, major would be burning down the house, causing the police to come, causing expensive damage and refusing to pay for the repair/replacement.

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Me. Well, sort of. I wouldnā€™t say that any guests have been terrible, just one or two who have been a bit annoying and have required a little extra cleaning. Iā€™ve only given one guest a thumbs down.

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Have only been at this 1-1/2 years (80 reviews) and the only ā€˜negativeā€™ or bad thing weā€™ve had is a couple guests who just didnā€™t leave reviews. Nothings lost or stolen or broken; no dramas or traumas; nada. There was the Incident of The Traveling Nightlight, but that was just too funny!

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Only one caused serious damage. My party thrasher and her unauthorized party crasher. :frowning:

If you do it long enough you will eventually get at least one. :frowning:

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Not yet. I have had guests that I simply didnā€™t like, but that is not a ā€œmajor problem.ā€ I live here too which changes the chances of real damage. Shared spaces and stand alone are really two different beasts.

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Me. The worst non-adherance to rules has been people who donā€™t park in the right spot in the driveway and block my garage instead. It annoys me for a couple of reasons but itā€™s very minor. Everyone ranges from okay to fantastic. Even my 3 star review people had a point of view I could easily understand. The Italians who thought they get a whole house for $50 a night gave a 5 star review. No complaints here.

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Me tooā€¦We have only been hosting for 1 year but have been lucky enough to have excellent guests!.. Every time a new guest arrives we canā€™t help thinking ā€œthis will be the difficult one!ā€ but we have been proved wrong so farā€¦We have no doubt that the odds of having a problem guest are increasing with each booking but, at this time its all good :relaxed:

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In terms of damage and rules broken; Iā€™ve had guests smoking in the bedroom, a chipped sink, and a burnt carpet from hair straighteners. Clearly, looking at everyone elseā€™s responses Iā€™ve been unlucky ā€¦

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Only one issue. A Russian guy who was too big to get through the door of the flat comfortably. Agreed a cancellation there and then.

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Weā€™ve only been hosting just shy of a year, rent separate bedroom/private baths in our owner occupied home. Around 60 reservations so far.

Only one has caused problems beyond minor annoyances, and that was the first long term guest.

  • Her dog was not as she described. She was lackadaisical when it proceeded to pee and poop in 5 different rooms in my house. And it chased and terrorized my animals after she assured me it got along well with cats.

  • Despite being asked not to, she kept the heat in her room on while simultaneously leaving a window open in the dead of winter.

Those are the two major points, but there were many other ā€œlittleā€ disrespectful behaviors.

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I feel like I have been (generally) lucky. 99+% of our guests are just fine. I did give a guest a thumbs down this spring. She was a problem the entire time, but Iā€™m still conflicted as to whether it was because she was clueless or a jerk, although I tend to think the latter. The day before she got here, she announced her arrival time to me (3 hours BEFORE the previous guestsā€™ checkout). When she left she left a mess, the smell of scorched food in the house, all the windows open with the a/c set very cold. She left me a nice review, but I was unable to do the same.

Some of the most problematic guests have made for the best stories, however. I still laugh when I think of the woman I encountered as she was loading her car, along with the giant package of paper towel rolls AND all of the TP that I had stashed away ā€œout of reachā€ of guests. Her poor daughter stood on the sidewalk turning red as a beet. They were more than an hour past their checkout, to boot. Embarrassing, but I laugh about it now and make sure extra supplies are not accessible. Yes, she tossed the paper products in the front door as she left.

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I had a fellow stay during ski season, it was -20 outside and snowing, Jan . I could feel the freezing cold air coming from under the door and went in to see what was going on. His window was fully open (he had also popped the screen out into the snow) so the window sill had snow on it and some was drifting into the bedroom. The smell in the room was beyond descriptionā€¦He was peeing out the windowā€¦we realized later. I threw the mattress and duvet and pillows away after I asked him to leave

The room was damp, freezing, with snow drifting in and hot air being cranked through an electric heater that was not provided when he checked in.
He had actually purchased the electric heater without asking me and he was gone and it was cranked and the window was wide open? I cant imagine what MAY have happened had it not been my day offā€¦so I dodged a bullet being a shared home host thankfully I was here.

I have many stories. Hereā€™s one from today actually
: "My wife and I will be in your area for a funeral. I wish to check with you that our two small dogs are OK with you. Also you have cats that could be a problem because they have never seen cats, and I am allergic to cats.

Hmmmm maybe being allergic to CATS, you might not enjoy your stay here. No you may not bring two dogs, I allow one dog but only after a whole new strictly enforced set of agreed house rules particularly that you never leave your one dog unattended in my home and it must be socialized ie: Has seen a cat beforeā€¦and the biggest one, YOU ARE NOT ALLERGIC TO DOGS OR CATS

I just snoozed my listings. Taking a lil break and enjoying my entire house and garden this summer with family and friends only

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I have been hosting for six years, and only one bd guest who left kitty litter all over the apartmwent. I remedied that by no longer allowing pets. I donā€™t converse with folks who want a discount, immediate end of conversation. Majority of guest are parents visiting their children at University, a few honeymooners and several long term people oving to the cityā€¦ I donā€™t bend over for anybody, but am polite and helpful when required.

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Maybe Iā€™m a bit unlucky, I had one terrible guest in my 6 months hosting life. She damaged my property and refused to pay and also lied to escape responsibility, also left me an unfair false review.
But other guests are fine, most are excellent, a few had minor issues but acceptable.
I hope I can avoid horrible guests in the future cause Iā€™ve had one in 6 months time, so maybe zero in the next five years? Hahaā€¦

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Have you posted about that? :slight_smile:

I think that sometimes - although guest expectations are often talked about - some hosts have expectations that are too high. Iā€™ve had situations that for me are relatively normal but that others might see as major problems. Itā€™s all relative. I suppose it depends on each hostā€™s ā€˜nightmare thresholdā€™!

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@jaquo;

A couple weeks after we started the Poolside Cabana with Gourmet Flair, we were gifted by some friends with a really nice tropical-themed nightlight for the cabana (itā€™s really dark out there). A couple guests later, when we went to changeover, we couldnā€™t find the light, which had been plugged into a wall outlet. Looked all over, tore everything apart, no luck. Sent a ā€œdid you accidentally pack the lightā€¦ā€ message to the last guests. No response.

Six months laterā€¦ Thereā€™s a ball of bubble wrap and duct tape nearly a foot in diameter which arrives at the door. Properly addressed but no return address; postmarked where those guest had come from.

Open it up, and sure enough, there was the Travelling Night Light, home safe and sound!

Almost a year after the disappearance, my partner is cleaning out her cellphone and finds a 6 month old message sheā€™d somehow missed, from the guests, explaining that the nightlight had somehow fallen into his ā€˜back up camera bagā€™ that he didnā€™t even open very often; and theyā€™d immediately sent the light back to us!!!

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In 13 months of hosting, havenā€™t had nightmare guests but have been given lower stars than deserved. In most cases it was about the guestā€™s unrealistic expectations.

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Never had anything I would class as major, but after doing this for 3 years now, my skin is much thicker. Very recently I did have a family stay and they managed to break the front door, but unfortunately it was after I took the cottage off Air and put it on a holiday cottage rental place. No damage coveredā€¦

Same hereā€¦one broken glass in 2 years. I have had some strange guests but no one I didnt like well enough. But then I like strangeā€¦2 month stay and no reviewā€¦annoying.