Chinese guests emptying apartment

Hi.

I just had a couple from China staying at my apartment. I have had Chinese guests staying here before, and this never happened.
A couple from Hong Kong who stayed here, told me that why are NOT Chinese. And that there is a big difference between Chinese and Hong Kong people.
Well, as I said I had this couple staying. And I had supplied the apartment with beer, wine, sweets, frozen pizza with more.
Other guests I have had before, drank some and ate some of the things I had provided. And one couple told me the Airbnb way is to supply back the food and drinks you have consumed.
But this couple ate and drank absolutely everything! Nothing was left.
They also left the apartment in a greater mess than other guests ever have done.
So is it true that Chinese guests are like this? Do they empty everything because its “free”?
What is your experience with Chinese guests?

Is this a shared apartment, or a whole apartment they rented? If it’s a whole apartment, did they know that you specifically purchased the beer, food in the fridge, etc?

Yeah, it must be true. Racism lives on.

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I suggest you put a House Rules up. “NO dogs or Chinese”

I have not had any Chinese guests and the stories on this forum about the endless cooking, bathroom water splashing, and general messiness are not making me want to have any.

I’m Chinese so I have to put up with it. However I prefer honest, sloppy, sober Asians to drunken, drug-addicted Americans and Europeans any day of the week.

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Then again, maybe you hosts who hate Sloppy Chinese people should take your head out of your ass and learn a little about the condition of the countries foreigners immigrate from and why… Try to understand what would make people act that way.

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Actually cs2015 - I would love for you to tell me why there are so many stories on here about how messy they are. I have been curious for some time.

When I stayed in Spain my host mom said Americans and British have the messiest beds. She could never understand it.

No one here is being racist. Haven’t you read many posts about hosts not wanting to rent to older guests because of their attitude? I hardly think that means that they dislike older people. No, they just prefer not to rent to them because they cannot meet their expectations.

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Why did you buy all of it? For guests?

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So true Cabinhost! I hate renting to older people (and Chinese, sorry cs2015), but absolutely love older people when I am not hosting them with their set ways and high expectations. I also lived in Singapore for two years, have travelled to Hong Kong, and China for various length trips, and enjoy much about the culture. Discussing who makes good and bad guests (due to personal opinion and experience) is not racism or ageism. It is discussing the factors involved in hosting different guests.

The original poster is baffled by an unpleasant experience with guests who broke the code of trust we invest in our guests. We don’t expect to be treated like hotels and cleaned out entirely. It is natural that he thought that culture was what may have been the reason for this bad behavior and lack of manners having never experienced it before. When something like this happens, you start grasping for reasons believing it is not normal to just essentially steal everything in the apartment (if not eaten that is, and I assume things may have been tucked in bags for ‘later’). This is not really a race issue, but an issue of lack of consideration for the host. Is it possible some cultures are less considerate of others? i believe the answer is yes, and it is worthwhile for hosts to discuss to make good choices on who to host.

As far as the onus being on hosts to try to understand what kind of background a person may have had that may be contributing to their bad behavior, I think that is a bit of a stretch. It doesn’t sound like you have made much of an inroad into understanding what drives substance abuse in this country (as if you don’t have sloppy drunks and drug addicts in China! Lol).

I think it depends on the person and not the country of origin. I had people from different countries take everything I offer. Weird but I provide it and they consume it. I on the other hand LOVE grandparents. They’re quiet, happy (from seeing their grandchildren) and clean. We all have our audience.

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Same here Evelyn. I had young American girls take all my pretty display soaps home. They even giggled about it and admitted it while leaving - one elbowed the other to shut up. I was shocked. It seemed pretty obvious to me that they were for display, as soap was available at the basin and shower. Nonetheless I had one of my worst experiences ever with Chinese guests, not that I would expect everyone to be as bad. My Chinese guests also lied about being Chinese.

It is absolutely true that everyone enjoys different guests, just like people in real life! Also our particular rooms/homes attract certain guests, and even promote different expectations and behaviors.

And I am so curious to know how much beer, wine, sweets, and food was provided. I’m picturing one of those refrigerators in a man cave stocked to the brim. Did they stay long enough to consume all of the items? Or did they load up their car to take it all to the next Airbnb? Such a shame when you try to be hospitable, only to have someone take full advantage.

You don’t think they thought previous guests left it behind do you? I mean…it was obvious it was provided by the host - correct?

Nonetheless, would it be for them to take the last guests food for themselves (if they weren’t there long enough to eat it all), or to leave for the owner/host? Personally I would not be comfortable at all cleaning someone’s home out of every scrap of foods provided whether it looked like it was left by former guests or put there for convenience by the host.

It doesn’t sound like a fridge full of food to me that the OP meant, more a couple of pizzas, and a few beers and welcoming candy bowl. Obviously if they stayed the one night and ate all the food, drank all the beers and put the candy into a bag ‘for the road’, then this is not doing things in the spirit of Airbnb, and treating your host as you would hope to be treated if someone came to stay in your apartment.

This is the real problem with Airbnb. Guests that are selfish, clueless, and don’t even care about anyone except themselves and what they can ‘get out of it’. This is why we have to make clear house rules and treat everyone like little children. If you don’t, someone like this will come along and act like the food you left ‘just in case’ are all ‘freebies’ that they paid for. It’s very frustrating. You will need to add to your house rules that food and drink items are for convenience and will need to be replaced or paid for.

First, I am NOT a racist. One of my ex girlfriends is from Hong Kong. (Moved to Europe when she was three, so more a westernern.)
The apartment is a brand new place downstairs from ours. (Whole apartment.) It was finished renovated in September.
It is not a big deal that they cleaned the apartment with stuff I had provided. I am actually more glad they did, because some guests did not take anything, which was kind of sad.
The reason I ask, is because this never happened with other guests I had before. (Even from Hong Kong.)
One previous guest from Hong Kong actually warned me about Chinese guests, and that they would empty everything. Even take stuff with them home.
These guests stayed for three nights.
What I had provided was a couple cans of beers and coke, two half bottles of red and white wine, some small bottles of spirits, chocolate, beef turkey and some other local sweats. It was pretty much.
Also had a couple of frozen pizzas in the freezer in case late arrivals was hungry. I always also have eggs, bacon, bread, milk and juice if they wish to make breakfast before they head out to do some shopping of their own.
So why did I do this?
I am not planning continuing doing this. It is too expensive to have this standard, but for building up good reviews, I thought this (and experienced) was a good idea.
And for those of you who rise the racist flag right away, shame on you.

Bjorn
Norway

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I have had only good experiences with Chinese guest so far.

I really think you are providing to much. And as long you are doing this you will risk that everything will been consumed.

Susanne (also from Norway)

Wow, that’s a lot of food. How long did they stay? Norway is not a cheap country, may be knowing that your guests just took it all with them. I know especially alcogol is very expensive in Norway.
Next time don’t buy any food. My extras that I did I a beginning didnt prompt any good reviews . There was no difference in reviews wheni stopped doing extras.

Just to add: I have a friend from Latvia. Though she is one of my very good friends, everywhere she goes she takes everything she thinks she can use.
Ina spa she literally emptied all the containers with teas, little jars with honey, jam, crackers,and spices.
I can just see how she would act the same as your Chinese guest.

Sober Asians??? Now you make me laugh. Ever saw any Koreans drinking?
I met this girl in Ireland who asked me if I like to drink. And then she said: we Koreans always get drunk, if we start drinking we never stop. …And she never stopped that night until we were escorted from on place as she couldn’t stay on her feet.
And I know few Chinese who can drink like there is no tomorrow!!

Bjorn,

Thanks for the update. I remember in the beginning I got the email that said to stock the fridge with breakfast items, and then I called my partner to purchase some breakfast items because I wasn’t sure if guests were expecting it. He purchased cream cheese, the good bakery bagels, eggs, sausage links, and hash brown patties. It’s kind of funny because the bagels came in a large paper bag and I individually portioned a half dozen in ziplocs. There were 5 guests staying. They ate the hashbrowns and the sausage, but didn’t touch the eggs or bagels. I never read about the thank you in a review. I think they maybe didn’t want to eat the bagels because another hand touched them…lol

Another guest was all of a sudden arriving after midnight by herself. My partner went out and purchased items for her since the store would be closed when she arrived. She barely touched them. She was very nice and can’t even remember if she left any review at all. But now I am so thankful no one has left any of that in a review…I would not want them to expect such generosity now…lol.

I moved to only providing instant oatmeal and cheese grits packets as far as food. They are still there after a year. Sometimes I provide a jar full of granola bars or fruit bars. But that is only if I can get them at the discount grocery store for extremely cheap. They are usually close to the expiration date. And they get coffee, creamer, herbal tea, sugar.

I now only provide things that a guest will “value.” I have a theater room and there is a popcorn machine with all the popcorn they can eat. I also provide complimentary movie theater box candy (I place it on the seats). It only costs me $1 each box at Walmart. But hopefully some of my guests think it costs me the same expensive price in the theater. But I have received two comments in reviews about how nice it was to feel like they were in a real movie theater stocked with popcorn and candy.

But I recently switched to better popcorn for the machine. It makes a mess in the machine and I asked my partner why no one has touched it. I also provide microwave popcorn. He tells the guests that they will need to clean the machine after use. It just goes back to what guests “value.” If they are too lazy to clean the machine, then they don’t really value the complimentary movie tasting popcorn. And that is perfectly fine with me, as it saves time with turning the rental over. The machine is a total PITA to clean if not done right away.

At first I felt kind of bad that guests didn’t want to make popcorn anymore because of cleaning the machine. But what is really weird is they used to use the popcorn machine when it was the other kind of popcorn. My partner must really be describing the mess in some terms that scares them now. I told him “Good Job” - whatever your are now saying is working!

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