I really like this as a process. I wish I’d known/thought of it when I had to close in August when the kittens were found to have Campylobactor, although I wouldn’t have been able to accept any bookings for the two months to sort it out. But my bookings going forward, even over slow winter, were affected badly.
Under opportunities then superhost, it will show you your review average for the last year that is going to be the assessment for Jan 1 Superho. You’ll only need to add in any from guests who are staying through the end of the year.
I can’t imagine you getting a 1-star for this, that would be over the top. If they do that, then I think you can have some solace that it was them and not you and that it was coming no matter what.
I am having a weird run of odd guests, too. The last one experienced an interruption in Internet service (directly from Spectrum my neighbors confirmed) but took it upon themselves to reset my modem and routers to fix it. They wiped out my whole WiFi network. Which is hard to do, frankly. I had to drive four hours round trip the next morning to set up a whole new network. Mind you, they only had one more night in their stay, but I still have two more back-to-back guests to go. I was lucky it didn’t happen during the upcoming ice storm or high holiday travel day.
And to literally add insult to injury they were not that gracious or appreciative. The guests were out when I arrived. It took me 40 minutes to reset up and test everything and I also brought more supplies with me including fire starter logs. I texted them to say everything was set and I brought them more fire starter logs and the response was “great thank you” — It didn’t even rate any punctuation. They knew I traveled two hours to get there. They responded to almost no communications, left me hanging on confirming that they understood checkout time
and had to be shooed out the door.
It must be all that Capricorn energy in the new moon. 
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I love surface conduit and 120 year old houses. I really need to come stay. I think it would be a blast.
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I do too! I think it’s because I’ve always liked old European apartments, especially places like Berlin that weren’t updated as much. When looking at them, I always loved the walls of conduit painted over as well as even the weird bathtub sinks and stuff. I like character. I’ve just painted over the surface conduit with my favorite white paint and I like the texture it creates. We also have some old gas sconces on the wall with beautiful engraving that look great painted over. Now, if I only had the parquet floors…
At this point we now have an awesome electrician who is constantly wanting to replace the surface conduit and my husband has gotten great at plastering but I’ve decided to leave it there.
That would be awesome! Anytime!
Good advice. I’m on holiday right now, but finding with a nursing newborn and a preschooler, it is hard to get the turnover done in the 4-hour window. It used to only take me 1 hour unless the guests were exceptionally messy!
Excellent idea. I raised my rates by $5-10 a night but maybe I ought to be doubling them to keep the calendar open.
It does list 4.8 under opportunities but I’m not sure where I’m closer to 4.80 or 4.89. I suppose I’ll find out soon enough.
Putting myself in the guest’s shoes, I can see leaving one star after daily issues culminate in a move to a hotel on my own dollar. Though I wager AirBnB ended up paying for the hotel. They did say they thought the bed was comfortable, so maybe I’ll get a 2-star review instead.
Then again, the guest messaged me this morning to inquire about a few clothing items they left here during their rush to check out. I was able to find these items, but haven’t messaged the guest back yet to ask how they’d like to retrieve their clothes. I’m putting off replying because I am dreading talking to these guests again, even though I know returning their forgotten items is the right thing to do. If it were me, I’d be kind of sheepish to ask for my stuff back after I’d left a scathing review.
This is really awful! I shouldn’t complain about guests needing me to come push a button when I’m a 1 hour drive away.
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Oh geez, yeah, that’s a nail-biter. Well, I’m rooting for you!
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Again, maybe I’m in the minority and maybe I’m biased because I know you from your years here on the forum but I say “F them.”
Being in a rush because they are hapless doesn’t make their left items your problem. Has it been 48 hours since they left their review? If so they can’t edit it. I’d be really tempted to post my review and see what they said (I read your argument for waiting until the end of the two weeks but this supercedes that) and then assess my response to their request for getting their stuff back. With most people I offer to send it to them for just the cost of postage. I don’t even ask to be paid for my time even though going to the PO can be a real PITA. But if these guests gave me 1 or 2 stars overall they would get a terse message saying “I’ve put your stuff in plastic bag and left it in a box by the front door.”
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Or “I put your stuff in a plastic bag with X stars on it and donated it.”
But I don’t know if I could be quite that snarky. Sounds fun, though.
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We must think alike because I had this whole chain of thoughts: why is this my problem? Well maybe they’ll edit the review if I agree to return the stuff since it has not been 48 hours since they left their review. Maybe I should review them now and see what they wrote and then decide. I over-analyze everything!
I’ve only ever mailed something back once (a sentimental item) for the cost of postage rather than my time. Of course, it was a perfectly easy-going guest and we’d both had a great experience. Now, going to the post office now with a newborn and waiting in line with everyone doing their holiday returns does not sound pleasant.
I think I’ll tell them I’ll take a look when I do my next turnover (they won’t know when that is) to stall until the 48 hour window is closed. What is the likelihood they know you can edit reviews? They are frequent AirBnB guests and have their own listing, but no reviews as hosts.
Good you recognize that on your own 
I was gonna say that while we can often anticipate what might happen, we really can’t second guess what virtual strangers are going to do. I’ve read host posts where the host was totally expecting a bad review and then was floored when the guests left a nice 2 line review and a good star rating. Of course, it’s probably the opposite more of the time- guests say everything was great before they leave, then slam the host in the review.
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You very easily could be away from home with family. So I say answer them kindly, professionally and noncommittally for now.
FYI, you can get a flat rate box without standing in line. Put their stuff in it and then make a request online at USPS for pickup. You pay for the postage online and then the postal service will pick up. I’ve even just asked my letter carrier if they could take it for me even though I hadn’t arranged in advance for pick up. Or you can also just drop it back off at the post office. No need to wait in line. But the flat rate boxes are limited in size.
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I think I would review now to decide how much effort/time I would be willing to put into getting their stuff to them. For every action there is a opposite and equal reaction.
RR
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Yeah it is best to make the decision after knowing if they blasted you or not.
Assuming they’ve already reviewed, I’d give them a short factual review that starts with “Would Not Host Again”.
Considering that there is at least some fault on your side, 4 stars would be fair. But if they blasted you with 1-2 stars and now want something from you … too F bad.
Also, your time is worth something - to package up, go to the post office, wait in line, etc. Call it $50 for handling, plus shipping charges.
Good luck!
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I do not think we have any obligation to ship things back to a guest. I did once and I charged $10 on top of the actual cost of shipping and the guest had the gall to question why I charged her $18 when the shipping was only $8 . I asked her what she thought my time was worth to go wait in line at the post office for her, I told her it was worth far more than that but I was doing her a favor.
I would wait and see the review and if its less than 4 stars tell the guests you are donating the stuff unless they pick it up in 48 hours.
RR
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Please never send these guests my way. Sounds like to me:
- They can’t figure out how to latch a door.
- They don’t know to close the garage door. Who leaves that open at night???
- They don’t listen. You told them not to run the microwave and heater together.
- They can’t even figure out how to switch a breaker.
- They expect a space heater to heat up instantly.
These are guests from hell IMO, and reminds me of some of the guests I’ve had.
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These guests sound like my average guest. Admittedly, I’m on VRBO, but perhaps Airbnb guests are held to a higher standard.
I think on any other week of the year Xena would have made these guests thrilled to be there. She could pop in after work and give them the cheery five minute tutorial on where to plug the heater in and how reset the breaker. Explaining the door to the garage is the front door could be charming in person, but sounds weird in text. Because of life issues she just had a really off week that wasn’t up to her own standards. Happens to everyone.
However, when the guests couldn’t get back into their unit, that is huge. Airbnb drums into both sides to keep all communication on the platform. Expecting that the host is home when the house is dark after the host told them they would be an hour away for Christmas, isn’t just a common sense thing.
Now these guests checked into a hotel with none of their things, got up and had to get back to the place that they aren’t sure they can get back into and pack up before checkout time. I’m not surprised they missed a few things.
I am disappointed by the responses of many hosts on this forum. Xena gets that she has some responsibility in how this particular stay turned out. She can see it from her guests point of view. No, they were not the most wonderful guests ever. And we don’t know their side of the story. Maybe they too were having a particularly bad holiday that had nothing to do with their lodging.
If it were me I’d send back their stuff for free. I’d feel partly responsible, and for $20 I’m willing to help them out. As someone above mention, don’t stand in line. Pick up the priority box, use the self serve machine to get the label, and take it home and pack it, the drop it off at any postal place on your other errands.
As for the review, it is what it is. I’m sure the good reviews out weigh the bad.
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I had some guests from Tel Aviv who left a bag of National Trust gifts behind. I alerted them approximately 15 minute after they left but they couldn’t be bothered to come back. They told me to post them on; yes, to Israel, sending me their address.
The National Trust receipt was stapled to the bag; £27.60. The cost of international postage, plus my time getting to the nearest Post Office etc etc, was over £60.
'Nuff said.
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When I CANNOT accept the booking, i would raise it 10 times instead of 2…
I told the guests when I’d be back, which about five hours before the time they were locked out.
The CS agent, the guests, and I all discussed how the guests would like to return for their things. The guest messaged me in the morning (I’m paraphrasing), “Yes AirBnB has been in touch. I see checkout is at X. We’ll be back before then to get our things.”