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There are some guests who are just bad …and there is nothing we as hosts can do to correct the situation …the faster we recognize " trouble" …the easier our lives as hosts will be .
This post is of course for those members who had their share of bad guests …not those who " never" experienced anything but perfect
As mentioned before in my other posts in current market and low season I use Craigslist to host a minimum one week guests and saving Air for high traffic winter month s hopefully .
All went terrific with Craigslist guests for few month since June until 2 days ago .
A middle-aged pretty woman rented a room for " at least a month". She check-in , likes the room and paid . All went well for a whole …2 hours . And then it started for the next 48 hours. First she notices an ant . That’s fine .my husband immediately pulled out his spaying machine and walked in to so the job.
She almost screamed when she saw him. No no she has bad allergies to all chemicals and if we have teatree oil.
Lucky me I had it and she proceeded on wiping all surfaces with my organic not that cheap oil.
Next followed question if we have any chemicals open as she started to feel headache . No we reassured her …we hardly use any cleaning supplies …mostly baking soda and vinegar .
An hour later : window AC is bothering me …it blows to my face . I asked her to be closer and see for herself that AC only blows up .
Another hour later: do we have any other room at the house as she doesn’t like the room she rented . I told her that all rooms are occupied and the only room available is at the other house with twin beds that just became available . Ok…she says …can I go see another room?
I explain to her that the room she is in is MUCH better that twin room in another house
It’s much nicer house too . Also she will be sharing bath with 2 young men …though surprisingly clean .
She said she has to think about .
A day progresses and when we were on our date night with my husband listening to jazz and having amazing dinner at our favourite restaurant …the woman started calling …
She said she developed allergies from dust in my house and called her doctor who prescribed her claritin for 35$ and I have to pay her .
She said that she had to rewash floors as they were filthy . Mind you I washed it 3 times with soap as previous guest spilled juice there, right before she arrived.
I asked her to leave .at that point I understood she is lost case . She demanded full refund even for days stayed and 35$ on top for meds.
I told her to leave before I wake up for her own sake and refunded here for 5 left days she didn’t stay .
Early in a morning she disappeared from my house and my life forever .
Have to warn others …the woman has some background in legal field and she uses often frazes like “breach of contract” or verbal agreement" etc. In combination with her " not all there* personality that could be another squatter story. She is also strained with finances according to her . So a nut case with knowledge of law. no money and no certain place to live could be squatter case for sure
You really should mention this prior to booking. Asking a host to change their laundry and cleaning routine is quite the imposition, especially 1 week out. It feels manipulative do to it after you’ve already booked. Some hosts could easily (and gladly) accommodate this but some really couldn’t (or wouldn’t care to) so why not make sure they can and will before you book with them?
I wouldn’t mind if you asked before booking (I’ve had a couple ask similar and told them what we use and let them decide if it would work for them) but would be really peeved if you dropped it on me a week before you arrived. If it’s important than it should be established that it can be accommodated beforehand. Otherwise, you are setting up both yourself and the host for a possible fail. And, just FYI, I would definitely mention it in your review.
I think it would be beneficial for both host and guest to know before booking about special conditions .
If someone told me about special requirements I would say No .
I don’t mind holding luggage or early late check-ins but to buy specifically some cleaning products I wouldn’t do. I have too many people to deal with on regular basis …and it will cost me money and extra work …so I would decline the request .
The whole situation with this woman was bizarre. She was supposed to move in on certain day and she arrives to town 2 days earlier. She asked me 6 times if I have a room for her that day . I answered 6 times that no. All is occupied . I even asked her if she realizes it’s a private house …not a hotel .
I smelled trouble to be honest from the very begining
The woman was allergic to dust too…is there such a thing ? I asked if she has asthma and she said …No it’s alergy to dust.
I am actually very health oriented and don’t really use any chemicals unless other nature products don’t help …
I’d you just told me to not deodorise room I wouldn’t decline you
Signed up to that for a look, horrible toxic group. Hosts can pretty much post anything they like and are not allowed to be criticised in any follow ups, in their rules they atually have “The host is king”.
The first post I came across was a host who was given 3 stars because he only gives one hand and one bath towel regardless of the length of stay and when the guest asked for another towel after 4 days the host refused and told him to launder the orignal himself. Plenty of responses trying to educate the host that he was a bit out of order & admins jumping all over them saying subscribers are only allowed to post positive comments about hosts. What a waste of time that group is.
I understand it may be hard to travel with so many allergies but it is manipulative to tell the host once you are already booked. You’ve admitted it by saying you are afraid you will get cancelled. I, personally, would find a way to cancel you purely because of the manipulative way it is handled - too many bad vibes for me. However, I may be able to accommodate your needs if you reached out ahead of time and gave me an option.
A room deodorizer is easy, it can be removed (which I don’t use anyways).
But you also mentioned cleaning products which would be difficult for many hosts. We use natural stuff anyways so you’d be in the clear at my place but if someone has been using something that you are allergic to, I can’t see them either buying all new stuff or that them using it just one time just for your would alleviate the allergy issues (surely there’s a build-up of it in their space).
And then you mentioned the linens. If you wanted to bring your own linens and make-up your own bed, I could accommodate that. However, we send our linens out and they use Tide so that may not work for you. We have a washer and dryer but I am not letting guests wash my linens nor am I washing the linens in my washer and dryer. So, it would be a problem, but if you offered to bring your own linens, then it could work. But only if we discussed it ahead of time, otherwise I wouldn’t want you to come based purely on the manipulation.
Discrimination is a real issue in the world. I work daily with people with disabilities, helping them to become more independent. I would never advise they book an airbnb listing that is not accessible for them - e.g. let the host know one week prior to stay that they can’t climb stairs or step into a bathtub. That wouldn’t make them more independent, it would make them SOL.
I had a peek into that group too! Oh my, what a mess. There were a lot of petty hosts and there were also a lot of photos of damage and stories about nightmarish guests and if you look at it too long…well, it’s outright scary. Toxic is the best word @Snowdon!
But look at this forum … we have here self proclaimed leaders who tell everyone that we shouldn’t be posting " another bad story" and the reason why we have bad guests is because we are hostile and got what we deserved .
Or something like that.
How absurd is this?
Now apparently it’s not even a support forum …if it was not for support here I wouldn’t be a host 4.5 years later . I came here as my last resort and had the support I needed .
And about towels … if I was offered to use laundry machines by my host I would just do that …even better than asking host for new towels every day
Granted but I was under the impression this was a discussion forum more so than a support forum, am I wrong?
The main point being made in the thread was that it made more sense in many ways for the host to just give a guest an extra towel (or even have a couple of towels available if needed) rather than be so wasteful for the guest to do a full machine wash & tumble dry for just a single towel. Also many women in the thread quite rightly pointed out that they often need 3 towels (hair, body and to sit on) after a shower anyway, I am sure the ladies here will confirm or not.
Towels are hardly expensive things to supply, around here they cost about £3-£4 from Amazon or a discount store. Rather that than be stingy trying to save pennies and risk getting crappy reviews from guests for it. buuuut this is really a discussion for another thread, maybe we should start/find a towel one for it.
