Chinese guests emptying apartment

No no no no no. Can I say it again? No, my friend - I’ve had many groups of Chinese guests, and they have all be LOVELY people to have in our home. Also have hosted two different University students in our home, long term.

Like the sweet grandma who took my hands in hers and with so much joy in her eyes said a lot to me in Chinese. And the couple that made me promise to visit them when I’m in their town. Etc.

Oh, wait, I did have 4 Chinese students who met at our home for a reunion. They were super loud even though they came in at midnight, and left trash everywhere, and spoke VERY loudly at breakfast. We were not sorry to see them go.

But other than that, my experience has been great!!

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Bjorn,

You state you’ve had Chinese guests before without issue. You also state you’ve had a HK-born girlfriend who i assume didn’t clean out your fridge after every date. So when a set of Chinese guests consume all the food & drink during your stay, why would you ask if this is because they’re Chinese? Were all your previous Chinese guests from Hong Kong & you’re trying to figure out if there is a HK vs Chinese mainland distniction? (The emergence of a touristic middle-class from mainland China is a very recent phenomenon & they are less acclimated to intl social norms. HK Chinese tend to be very elitist in their perspective on mainland Chinese who they regard as less “modern” & who they try to differentiate themselves from as a “better” & more refined class of Chinese.)

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I have had both mainland and Hong Kong Chinese. They all have been delightful and careful with the house and its amenities. The last couple and I enjoyed my wine one evening and the one beer I had and the next day they bought replacements and a full six pack. Three sets of folks in the last few months and I would welcome them back anytime.

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My favorite guests have been Chinese and my worst was a compatriot who brought her screaming toddler, and I clearly state that this is not a good place for children under six, not even safe. The next day her boyfriend arrived and didn’t pay the extra fee.

My next worst guests may be from the Anarctic. Does it really matter who they are? People are people and you need to take the bad with the good. It’s a crap shoot anyway. What are you going to say? No Irish need apply?
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…but I will say that once, while living in North Carolina, I had dinner with a friend and her (obese) parents. They cleaned out everything on the table - the sugars, the jellys, everything and took it all home in their doggy bag. They were TOTALLY white.

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You need to take the good with the bad. It’s a crap shoot anyway…

This is indeed the problem with hosting on Airbnb. Many guests don’t have the same values and manners we might, and therefore the hosting may not be fun. Personally I don’t like having ‘bad’ people staying under my roof, sleeping in my beds and eating at my table, and no matter how I try to keep them out, they keep coming the longer I host on Airbnb. It’s a total crapshoot. You can’t get unpleasant people to be pleasant, they just aren’t. Being as sensitive as I am, I feel it when people are selfish and inconsiderate which is why I’ve realized that hosting on Airbnb is not really for me. Not until hosts are protected by Airbnb enough so that they are comfortable writing honest reviews about guests. Until then, it will remain a big crapshoot, and there will be no way to weed out the ‘good’ from the ‘bad’.

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That they leave the toilet FULL of balled up toilet paper - not sure what they are using it for? makeup? toilet seat protector? …

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Yana, I agree!!! Adding extras did not improve reviews. I’ll never see these people again with the exception of one nice couple (from Norway I might add–they are begging me to come stay with them as their guest in Norway!) so I find zero incentive to provide a single thing. If you leave food out people will naturally think everything there comes with the price of their room and is theirs for the taking!!! It’s human nature. I’ve just concluded that providing extras aside from very cheap coffee and salt and pepper gives me no benefit and does not affect reviews. So I don’t do it.

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I had the exact same experience. Left our suite in the most disgusting state. Good and garbage literally thrown on the floor. Used every last ounce of anything we had left in the suite. They even used our baking soda from under the sink that I use to clean to cook with- then threw the empty box on the floor. So sad.

Oh my vgoutsos. Are you saying you had Chinese guests that did this? Although people don’t like to discuss the different cultural tendencies of guests that travel, it is actually an important topic to be aware of, and no different than brushing up on knowing what to expect culturally when traveling to a particular country on your travels. Is it racist to learn about the different habits of the Chinese before visiting China? No, and so is it not racist to learn about their habits before you have some Chinese guests in your home. What better place to learn and share experiences than here, amongst other hosts who are hosting guests from around the world.

I’m very sorry you had such a terrible experience with guests staying in your home or apartment Vgoutsos. No matter what cultural background they are from, it feels like you have been violated when you open your home to guests in a caring, generous way and they choose to abuse your trust by treating your home like a dump. Emotionally it is hard to grasp how or why anyone could behave this way and not be ashamed of themselves. Unfortunately for some people this kind of behavior is totally normal.

cs2015 sounded like she might have some explanation for the kind of behavior we keep seeing from the Chinese, and I’m certainly very interested in hearing some ideas on why they seem to believe it is ok to treat people and their property this way. It won’t make them any better guests for anyone, but it may help us have some empathy about the reasons they are behaving in such an inappropriate manner. Perhaps there is a way to provide Chinese instructions about what kind of behavior is expected in an Airbnb? There does seem to be a serious disconnect.

Personally I had a terrible experience with Chinese guests that I would never want to repeat. I have had awful experiences with non-Chinese guests too, but the Chinese guests sit up there in our minds as by far the most disrespectful guests we have ever hosted. Not only did they treat us appallingly during their stay, these self professed Christians lied shamelessly also. Obviously this is not the norm, but I would never expose ourselves to any of the dynamic that this couple felt was ok to treat others like, and if not hosting Chinese people again is a way to avoid another experience like that one then that’s what we’ve chosen, knowing that some wonderful people will be missed along the way.

I don’t just feel that it is only the Chinese who take advantage of others and are disrespectful btw, but due to my experience living in that part of the world for some time and also my experience thus far hosting Chinese, it is the best choice for me, as I do believe that many Chinese do not get the concept of peer to peer communities, and see using Airbnb as simply a cheaper accommodation alternative. These are not the guests I hope to attract as guests in my home, even though this is not enough to explain the behavior as many are now using Airbnb because it’s ‘cheaper’.

My time in Singapore and traveling around Hong Kong/China was one where I experienced horrible racism as a young Australian woman. I could never find any help when I asked, and even shop assistants wouldn’t tell me where the bathrooms were and would lie and say they didn’t know, only for me to turn the corner and see it was right there. Bits of nastiness like that day after day will wear you down. In the two years of loneliness I sought to make friends, it was impossible. I could make friends only with other expats. It was depressing for a friendly and outgoing person such as I was in my 20’s. I had never experienced racism, and coming from such a multicultural country, I was shocked. I believe the racism doesn’t stay at home. If you have trouble respecting other cultures and races, you are not going to respect their home and things. I truly believe this lies at the heart of some of the problems (it certainly seemed to be an issue with our worst guest). Here’s an article on what the racism issue is like there: http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/singapores-foreigner-problem/2/

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Nope, not had a problem. I had a few stay with me and they all were lovely, my parents always have two Chinese students living with them, too. They prefer Chinese because they had trouble with other nationalities. My only complaint would be, in regards to their current students, the time they spend in the bathroom. HOURS! I am not even exaggerating. The girl was in there for at least 2 hours (3 Law & Order episodes for me, waiting for the loo).

I am new to the forum and have been hosting for about 2 months. I usually just lurk here but wanted to make a quick comment.

People come to this forum for advice and help that they really can’t find anywhere else due to the uniqueness of being an AirBnB host. OP has a valid question and it’s really unfair to call him racist or to shame him for asking such a question. It’s a serious question and not meant for anyone to take personal.

This is a place to share our experiences, concerns and ideas. I’ve really learned a lot from reading the forums here. Different cultures behave in certain ways and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to know more about them. Disprove OPs characterization if you feel necessary, but don’t shame and attack him for using this forum for what it’s meant.

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welcome carmen315!

this post must be 20 characters

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Thank you! I’m looking forward to learning and contributing more!

That’s an incredibly racist post! You yourself had mentioned there are other chinese guest who has stayed before w/o any problems.
Let me clue you in on one thing as someone who has traveled to 4 continents and over 30 countries. Bad manners, jerks and rude people comes in all shape, sizes and RACE!

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If you notice though the OP’s previous guests from Hong Kong actually warned him that a future Chinese guest would most likely wipe him out and take every bit home with them - and then their warning came to fruition!

So the OP’'s question about if Chinese guests are like this is very valid. Of course 100% of Chinese guests are not going to do this. As in every culture, not every single American is an ignorant, demanding, loud, obnoxious person. Yet, there are enough Americans who behave this way that people tend to stereotype and some want to steer clear.

Some people choose not to rent their home to a group of singles…they prefer people who are related. Why? Because groups of singles tend to party and not act responsibly. Will every group of singles party and destroy things? No. But if there is a tendency for that to happen then people have the right to not rent to certain groups. This is nothing about being racist. If the OP was racist he wouldn’t have even renting to them in the first place.

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Carmen, I agree with you. I am sure if someone from tthe West came to China, and acted “weird” for them, a Chinese host would put here an question about an American, who was loud, ate with his hands, and dressed in pigamas all day long.
My daughter’s boyfriend is Chinese but came in US as a toddler. Now he is of course all American.
They went to China couple years ago with his parents, and met his enormous extended family of 80 people.
30 of them traveled with them to Tibet in a private bus:). So , my daughter could experience chinese culture first hand and as close as it can get.,
Being raised In US she is always a fighter for the right thing. There is not a gramm of rasism In her.
When she came home she told stories after stories how it is in China. She said she loved it and will go there again, but there are things that made it exausting for her to be there and at one point kids just locked themselves in a hotel room to get some rest from the outside world for couple of days.
She said Chinese are very hospitable and cheerfull people but pushy to no limit, service is hotrrible, they give no personal space, walk right into you, push you physically on a street and other things that are too long to mention.
These are just the traits that Chinese have in common, it has nothing to do with rasism.

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I think what’s happening here, is, we all want to know, want to be ASSURED that we know who will be good guests and who will cause some kind of damage - financial or emotional or both. This is why we have the thread that started with someone saying they don’t like renting to older people.

I don’t know if Bjorn’s post was racism as much as trying to figure out why he was cleaned out. He was asking “Is this the cultural norm of Chinese people?”.

My roommate, who is Chinese, borrowed something from me, and instead of returning it, put it in a cabinet to which I had access but I had no idea where the item is. The question came to me “Is this Chinese culture, to borrow and then not return it?” That question is not racist - it’s just exploring in my mind if this rudeness could be cultural or is she just rude? (Pretty sure it’s that latter, lol).

We’re all bumping into different cultures and personalities and it will take some time for all of us to chill out. Like my first guests from Eastern Europe that I KNEW were going to give me my first bad review, because they never smiled - but they gave me a glowing review, told me I don’t charge enough, and are still friends. The second group from Eastern Europe didn’t rattle me as much - I’d learned a bit.

So let’s all relax, let people make mistakes and say things wrong, assume the best of them, that they, like all of us, are just trying to figure this all out. They COULD have just decided that Chinese people ARE like that and not agreed to accept anymore Chinese guests. As it was he decided to come to this forum and just…ask…a…question. Feel free to respond with your opinion out casting slurs or assuming you know his heart.

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So in a little self-disclosure, I am a cognitive psychologist. I think bias, stereotypes and racism are really interesting. By nature, everyone categorizes and files their experiences and then code them for easy access later. So if someone says, “Chinese people are really messy” and I have no other information to counteract that, I’m going to file that in my “All about Chinese” filing cabinet in my brain (that doesn’t exist, it just sounded funny to me).

Later on, when I need to remember what I know about Chinese, I go back to that filing cabinet and that’s what I’ve stored. And if Chinese guests actually reinforce that early filed thought, it basically just pushes the thought upfront of the filing cabinet where it’s easily accessible. We all do it and don’t even realize it. It’s because our brains are lazy and don’t want to spend a lot of time trying to remember everything there is to know about the Chinese.

So, anyway. We’re all biased. But questioning your bias and confronting it is the best way to learn and change if needed. I have some major bias to get over after my last Bulgarian guest, omg. I won’t even get started on how he felt about anyone other than white people. And now that’s my only experience with Bulgarians! Oh, AirBnB.

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