Yikes! It’s the photo have on my ABB profile! Will def take care of that this weekend, thanks for the good advice!
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Hi @brook2adks! Interesting, thanks for letting us know. Do you mind sharing the page? I’d like to follow it on FB. Thanks!
It’s the Facebook page for this forum
Hi @cabinhost!
It also looked like someone had slept on the couch and everything was just a mess. Things out of place, crumbs everywhere, heaps of wet towels all over the floors, bathrooms filthy.
I’ve been hosting for 4 years, and have had over 1K guests in my various listings. This was a much bigger clean up job than usual for such a small group.
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I typically don’t meet my guests unless there are some red flags. In this case, the guest had 3 very positive prior reviews.
My listings are both vacation homes. I live close by and can drop in if needed, but usually just go between guests to check on things- again, if I have concerns I will come by on a pretext of getting the mail or tidying up the garden or something.
I value my guests privacy, which is what they are looking for in booking an entire house. I try to respect that, and its usually fine. In 4+ years of hosting, I’ve had only minor issues with guests. Most of my guests are thoughtful, lovely people!
I hope that by leaving a negative review for this guest, I will be doing a small part to weed out the bad eggs from our Airbnb community.
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I have a question regarding reviews. When you host a couple, do you mention the partner by name in your reviews? I never know whether I should. When a couple is obviously long-established or when the partner’s name has been mentioned in their messages then I say ‘We enjoyed having xxx and yyy staying here’ but I never know what to do about the rest.
Is it disrespecting the guest to mention their travelling companion? (I mean, it could be an affair or a short-term fling!) Or would the guest simply think that I had forgotten the companion’s name? Advice please!
Yes I mention the partners name - it shows you took an interest in your guests staying.
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I only mention the partners name if it’s part of their profile.
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They do share some interesting links. But it is a reminder that the forum is public and anyone can read what we are saying. Going to change my profile pic back to something anonymous. 
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C[quote=“jaquo, post:31, topic:4732”]
what to do about the rest.
Is it disrespecting the guest to mention their travelling companion? (I mean, it could be an affair or a short-term fling
[/quote]
I used to say the companion’s name in a review …until one time a guest asked me not to! Probably for the reason stated above! I realized then that we should not mention the name of the person not on the account. That is, after all, who we are reviewing…the person on the account.
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Eberhard,
It really doesn’t matter if the OP did or did not meet the guests. Many people renting an entire space will have a few guests show up first. Then when the greeter leaves…the other guests start rolling in. Unless you have surveillance cameras, you have to rely on your neighbors to be your eyes and ears. And sometimes that is not possible. My rental is secluded from views of any neighbors and there are surveillance cameras for many reasons, not just to see if guests are going over max occupancy.
Well that’s interesting. In my country (Germany) guests would probably balk at you if you had surveillance cameras installed. It’s a no-go and everyone knows that. So if you wanted to make sure everything was all right, you would have to go there, or send someone to take a look.
I guess customs are different where you live.
In the U.S. you will find most would prefer not to have any surveillance if they were given the option. I would guess 95% would prefer there not to be. But will they still rent the place? Mine do. I have only had one guest out of the many many guests I have had who refused to rent because of it. But I had a guest right behind him who booked with no problem. I can’t please them all.
BTW - the entire outside is not under surveillance. In areas where guests are likely to gather outside and eat, cook out, watch the waterfall, etc. - they cannot be seen.
I love to see if guests have arrived or if they have left on time. I asks all guests to text me when they leave. Some forget, so it is helpful to look at the cameras at checkout time. I had one guest outright lie to me and say they were leaving. I looked on camera and they hadn’t even loaded up the car yet. There are many other benefits to having cameras. I finally made a strict house rule that no one under any circumstances is to allow their children or adults to climb the waterfall, nor stand at the top of it. This is extremely dangerous and I just could not believe how many parents just let their children climb things they haven’t even checked out yet. There is a slick coating on those rocks. If I didn’t have cameras I would never have known this was going on.
But to just show up on the property to make sure everything was alright would be very intrusive to U.S guests. That would be considered very rude. Are Germans okay with the owner just showing up unannounced and knocking on the door? What if everyone is taking a nap or a couple is busy in the bedroom?
Hi cabinhost,
I am American and I wouldn’t mind cameras at all. I wouldn’t plan to do anything that shouldn’t be seen if I’m renting someone’s house.
I can easily see why Germans would have a problem with cameras, especially East Germans because of the Stasi.
I find that AirBnb’s reviews are always so bullshit. People should start writing honest experiences or should not write reviews at all.
If this guest got a bad review from you, it’s the guest’s problem. It is only fair that other potential hosts can learn about the reality of this guest. You should just copy/paste what you’ve already written here.
AirBnb hosts need guests but do not need to take a crap from a guest.
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OMG…I had the same thing happen. One of my first guests was a young gay man from China who came to stay with his partner in my guest room. Amazing and wonderful couple who were just a delight to host. When I mentioned their names in the review, he wrote asking if I would mind removing his partners name, because he was not out to his family. I told him that once reviews are public Air generally won’t let you change them, but I understood his concern and said I would give it a shot. Air was very friendly in their response and agreed to remove the name from the posted review, applauding me for being the kind of host who genuinely cares about his guests (well…MOST of the time…hehe).
Needless to say, as a rule, I no longer mention the name of anyone other than the one who booked in reviews. Prolly for the best, because what if they have a nasty break up after their holiday? Lol.
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If you visit London you will see CCTV everywhere! It’s a little disconcerting, and Banksy even addresses the proliferation of CCTV cameras everywhere.
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This is a very interesting question! Generally, I will always mention by name the people that stayed in my house. If the guest who booked is having an affair, well that’s not my problem, a) they’re a dick for doing it and b) an even bigger dick for doing it on Airbnb. On the other hand, it’s always a dilemma when the guest that booked was great but their spouse/partner/friend wasn’t. What to do? It would be unfair to mark down the booking guest because of their companion’s behaviour but if they usually travel together it’s your duty to warn other hosts. You just have to be professional and only rate the guest that booked. But really you want to say s/he was great, just make sure xyz isn’t in tow. I’ve hosted a lot of guests, hundreds, and honestly my worst ones have always been the friends/partners.The booking guest should be responsible for whoever they bring along, yes, but life doesn’t always pan out that way!
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Truth!!!..
Well as I said, I am usually having guests stay in my own flat, so I don’t show up, but rather, I am staying in the same place as guests are. If there is a couple who rented the room with the double bed, they always make sure they lock the door to their room, for obvious reasons.
If I am not around, there is a friend who will let the guests in, but he has an extra key, all the time, so yes, he does sometimes show up unannounced to make sure guests are not ruining the apartment, during their stay.
Generally speaking, I don’t think inside surveillance cameras are legal in Germany. In fact, there was the case of a German lady who rented an Airbnb in California, a couple of months ago, and who then sued the owner because he had a CCTV installed in the living room.