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I thought so too until recently when I discovered that my homes in NC (3 different but all within 13 miles of each other in 2 different counties) all have ADDITIONAL main service breakers outside AS WELL. I was told by a fireman I work with on the horse ambulance that they are so the fire department can cut off service to the house to help prevent further damage and/or loss of life should there be a fire or electrical hazard.
Sometimes they will have a tiny thin wire and plastic tag to “lock” them. All it is is a way to ensure that it has not been tampered with. It is a one time use thing so if you do open it as the home owner you just get a new one.
Yes, the main electrical meter that I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot poll… Because reconnecting it improperly can short out everything in home, happened to me by an inexperienced electric company employee. Plus the cost of having the power company come out and refit is expensive and my account would be flagged.
A breaker switch is a breaker switch I would think but ok. I understand everyone has different comfort levels, especially with electricity. That’s probably a good thing to not touch things if you are not knowledgeable and comfortable.
I’m glad this worked out for you. I’d like to hope that it would work out for all hosts who properly followed protocol. I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have been as kind and patient as you were after being expressly lied to by this group.
Ick. No flies there but plenty of bears? I’d have my video cam set up so I could post the video to youtube and make $$ on the viral video should things go wrong.
Again, I appreciate your kindness but I have to state my objection to this. You are not responsible for someone’s wedding day unless they hired you to be their event planner. As long as the bad behavior is accommodated it will continue.
Yes, it is, I agree. However, on the other hand, if a host is always expecting bad behaviour from their guests, if they assume that some day they are going to encounter every conceivable problem with guests, then they are not doing themselves any favours regarding their own mental health and peace of mind.
In addition, there is the danger that this suspicious attitude towards guests will be picked up by the guests themselves resulting in a bad stay.
We talk about guests having unrealistic expectations. Hosts must guard against it too. Don’t expect guests to be some sort of perfect superguest, trained to perfection by Airbnb but by the same token, don’t expect guests to be evil and intent on mayhem either. Guests are just people.
For the benefit of new hosts - or potential hosts who read this forum - I’m pretty sure that I’m in no way the only long time host here who has never had any problems. Problems that you read here represent a minute number of stays in the overall STR picture.
It’s up to the host to manage their guests and their property. Noise and loud parties aren’t a given.
We buy insurance against potential damage and loss. We write strong agreements against potential guest malbehaviour, we try to screen to keep out some potential bad guests, we try to prevent those bringing in extra guests/ animals with security cameras.
We know that 1-5% of guests can cause issues and get hundreds of them a year.
My properties are in a dense neighborhorhood with people not happy with being a tourist town.
I worry about it. I don’t want police visits or neighbors calling up the zoning board to get my STR in hot water.
Anyone trying to host major events or make a ruckus will get holy terror from me. I am not waiting overnight until vrbo/Airbnb tries their ineffective sweet talking to abusers to play nice.
I’d be concerned about someone getting injured if I suddenly turned off the lights on them. It’s one thing if an unavoidable power outage causes someone to trip on the stairs or fall in a dark shower, but an intentional, avoidable one could lead to additional liability issues.
Hi everyone. I am on here obviously because i was researching what is the right way of evicting guests that is currently at my ABB breaking house rules. I have contacted ABB and the guest. ABB have not replied and it’s been two days. Guest said he promises no trouble but he’s still having parties and no respect for my property. I live 9hrs away and I also work. What does everyone recommend I do? They have until Friday to check out.
That’s why people who dare to remote host have local co-hosts.
Did you call Airbnb? They supposedly are quite sensitive to parties being held now. So call and call again. Go to Twitter and post to @Airbnbhelp. Call the local non emergency police number and see if they will help. In some places they do, in some they don’t.
I don’t have a co-host but my brother live 30 minutes in town. I also have a really nice neighbor/cleaning person that do a lot for me also. Should I have him go over and make guests leave or have him knock and give them a warning? I feel like i have given them plenty of warnings already when I have been messaging him thru ABB app
Some guests don’t have the app on their phone or they don’t have notifications on. It’s advised to keep all communications on the app but if he’s not responding then text him in case he doesn’t know you’re trying to reach him.
You didn’t answer about if you have called Airbnb.
If I was dealing with nightly parties I’d want to end the reservation. So you need to call Airbnb to do that.
I have not called ABB. I was in touched with them through the ABB online chat. Seems like they are no help.
The guest have been messaging me back and forth assuring that he’ll respect my property and follow house rules. I called the police after I have posted on here and the police said they can not knock on the door to tell them that they cannot have a party. I ended up calling my neighbor to tell them that they aren’t allow to have parties and other people over that isnt on the guest list. Guest response is that he’s not having a party because if he was, there will be bunch of cars. His visitors walked! And if he looked up the definition of party then he would know what he is doing is a party.
You need to call and the fact that you haven’t means you aren’t trying very hard.
Airbnb can’t do anything other than cancel the reservation and refuse to refund. They have no way to remove the guest. If they will cancel then the guest is trespassing and you can maybe get police help, maybe not. Maybe your brother can take a group of insistent looking folks with him.
I know I’d be tempted tell him his reservation is cancelled then turn off the power and water. But then you run the risk of retaliation and bad review. So the reality is that I’d grit my teeth until check out. Then I’d go in with a camera and document every bit of damage and submit a claim to Airbnb. Then wait 14 days to review him unless he reviews you first and give him 1 star in every category, would not host again and a scathing written review.
Because reconnecting it improperly can short out everything in home, happened to me by an inexperienced electric company employee. Plus the cost of having the power company come out and refit is expensive and my account would be flagged.