After a run of really great guests, I am dealing with a newbie set to arrive next week who is driving me crazy. I’ve already put my foot down on contacting me off-platform, but the deluge of messages through the system is killing me. I always confirm with guests that they have read the listing – including the rules. When someone is needy I refer them matter of factly back to the listing, with my answers getting shorter as they ask more questions. This guest is coming for a wedding – I get it – and I have reassured her that the cottage is stocked with an iron/ironing board, hair dryers, etc. etc. etc. When she told me she was having friends over the morning of the wedding to get ready at our place and they were having brunch catered, I reminded her that she booked knowing the “no parties/events” rule. She responded by saying the caterer wanted to know where to park his truck. Clueless. So I just responded that as it states in the listing, she can’t have a brunch/party/event AND the listing also states that guests MUST check with me ahead of time on extra guests being there (even if it’s just for the morning). So now it’s time to call Airbnb and ask them to cancel her. Who needs this? I am out of luck either way. If she cancels her brunch and stays here anyway, she will be unhappy. If I let her get away with it, I will be unhappy. It’s pretty clear she doesn’t get it that we live right on the same property. Grrrr…
Yes! Cancel this guest’s stay stat. You can do this penalty free because she wants to break your rules.
As @KKC says why don’t you just call Airbnb to cancel as she wants to break your rules and booked a party event at your listing contrary to your rules
On hold with Airbnb right now…
Thanks for letting me vent.
Use the magic words “The guest is making me feel ‘uncomfortable’”
I wrote to the guest asking her to cancel her reservation – that despite saying she had read the listing/rules she planned an event in violation of those same rules. You never know, it might work.
The Airbnb CS person was not great. She opened a ticket and said host cancellation penalties “may apply.” She agreed the guest has stated that she will be breaking the rules, but said that I should have given her the chance to cancel the brunch and stay anyway. She is leaning toward counting it as a host cancel. I made my case and asked to have her supervisor review the ticket.
She told me the penalty-free host cancellation policy is really for IB (which this was not).
That’s BS, I cannot stand how Air coddles these bad bad guests.
I did say I am uncomfortable with this guest. And she did say that it was an inordinate number of questions, only to be told much later about the brunch plans.
I don’t even want to know. She can’t have a bunch of people over without asking me first, and that horse has left the barn…sigh.
Again we have a guest who should have booked a self contained unit trying to do things on the cheap, pushing a host out of their own space.
I might be wrong but when the OP referred to ‘the cottage’ I imagined that it was a self-contained place?
The trouble is with self-contained places is that guests tend to assume that since they are paying for an entire place, rather than just a room, it’s there for them to do whatever they want to with.
I find too that to say ‘no parties or events’ can be taken by the guest to mean several different things and that guests will interpret it however they want to. If the guest thinks that ‘party’ implies night-time, lots of noise and plenty of drinking, then she won’t see a get-together of ,say, ten people for brunch to be a party. Or an event either, probably.
I find that it’s safer to be as explicit as possible in the listing. We have something like ‘guests are only allowed a maximum number of two visitors and during daylight hours only’.
I would have made it clear to the Guest that they are welcome to stay, others are not and anybody turning up will be asked to leave.
Never involve AirBnb unless you really really have to as you never know what they will say or do.
Sorry I wrongly assumed you had IB turned on. Even so, Airbnb should be cancelling the booking.
I am sorry they aren’t being flexible with you.
It is a self-contained space, but one that shares a common courtyard with the cottage where we live. It’s really clear from the listing, and there is a photo is taken from their porch looking toward our house that does double duty – it’s a really pretty outdoor space, so it’s a selling point AND if the guest looks at the photo, she/he will see how close we are.
My rules explicitly state, “EXTRA GUESTS + SECURITY: As you can see in the listing, the maximum number of guests is 4. When you book your reservation, you need to book for the correct number in your party. Please don’t bring extra guests in overnight, and please check with me before inviting anyone over. If you have questions about this, just ask! Thank you.”
After getting the messages about the brunch and calling Airbnb I asked how many people. 10 people, “but only 6 of them are staying there.” My absolute max is 4. Again, I told her she needs to cancel and referred her to a vacation rental company that lists a lot of larger properties on Airbnb.
I am not hosting this person. She has been ultra-needy from the first message and did not tell me the truth about her intentions OR the number in her party. If I have to cancel, so be it, but I still have a little hope Airbnb would rather intervene now than have to kick them off the property. I know that is giving them too much credit, but it’s worth a try. Again, she stated she had read the rules. The Airbnb rep acknowledged that. We’ll see.
I really hope Airbnb will make her cancel. She really is ridiculous and trying to cram far too many people into a cottage for 4.
It’s lovely…
Thank you! 20 20 20 20
AND SHE CANCELLED! Fantastic! I’ve gotten 3 calls in the last half hour from a different number with the same area code. It was her MOM, and she left a crazy voice mail. ! I’m not answering any of 'em. Cancel cancel cancel – WHOO HOOOO!