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Superhost with a 4.9 rating, been on Air since May 2018, and our 1st real nightmare of a guest. We are in a beach community that was damaged during Florence and have hosted a couple different groups of contractors in town doing storm damage repairs, and never really had an issue until now.
Going through the resolution center now, we estimated damages at $2700 and are still researching. Guests had been there 4 weeks. Broken dishwasher that was new in 2018, broke the dining room table, chair legs off 2 living room chairs, broke 2 drawers on a dresser, broke another drawer on a nightstand, cig butts on the floor, dog pee and poop stains all over the carpet and rugs, (we do allow pets, maybe no longer), broken window blinds, more than a dozen towels missing, shower curtains trashed, bathmats stained beyond 2 washings, stains and scuffs on the walls, beer cans and broken bottles in the yard… Ugh.
We host by remote and checked in with the neighbors who reported the group seemed fine and were friendly, not too loud or creating issues for them.
Still just processing it all. We’ll be there Friday, and thankfully we don’t have anymore guests booked for a while til we can recover.
We were happy to have anyone rent in January, completely off season for us. In the future, we will probably limit stays or require at least weekly cleanings from our housekeeper so we can keep better tabs on things.
There are many reasons not to allow month long bookings, the nightmare you just went through is one example, if a guest overstays and refuses to leave in most states after 30 days they would have to be evicted. Google Palm Springs AirBnb squatter and see if you still want to do month long bookings after that…
Again, sorry this happened I am not blaming you, just pointing out my reasons for not allowing longer bookings. After too long people get TOO comfortable for my taste.
@Eberhard_Blocher once said something that has held true, at least for our home. It was along the lines of with stays over 4 days, guests start to act like they own the place. And then my Mother always said company and fish are similar, in that they start to smell over three days old. LOL.
I get nervous with 2 day reservations, because I worry that we have a party group. Anything close to a week seems sketchy too … maybe because we market to families and parents and kids are getting on each others nerves after 4 days or so? I like the long weekend Thr-Mon stays the best!
I would be very uncomfortable with a month long stay because that is a long time for someone to get comfy and for me not to have an update on my property. I am sorry that this happened to you @KevinA and I like your idea of limiting stays or at least having weekly cleanings to get an idea how things are going.
I hope this works out in your favor and ABB helps you!
So sorry to hear of the terrible damage. Your property is beautiful. I just can’t understand the mentality of the people who would just trash such a lovely home.
I hope Air does right for you.
I hate you had so much damage. I’m sure it is disappointing and hurtful. The following is in the spirit of trying to be helpful. Use what you wish.
It sounds like they leaned back in the chairs. I had guests do the same. I found small L-brackets in the furniture hardware section of Lowe’s home improvement to provide the needed support
Costco in Wilmington had a nice selection of bath mats for less than $15 for a set of 2 about 3 weeks ago—I don’t know if Costco still has them do you may wish to check the website.
To clean up rugs from dog urine & poop stains; oxyfresh carpet cleaning service did a great job on my wool rugs. (I have a puppy that has been difficult to house train-but is doing very well now) I think they service your area too.
I routinely have renters for more than 30 days. Most of the time it goes very well. I had guests from September to the end of December who were displaced because of Florence. They were delightful.
Currently I’ve got snowbirds from NY renting one of my condos for 60 days. They were loving the temps on the 70’s today but had a major freak out over finding a palmetto bug enjoying hanging out in the bathroom sink. I digress—you can decide if 30 day or more rentals are for you. In the off season, they keep my rental condos paying the bills.
Thanks for the tips all! Our initial response from Air was not helpful. They required more receipts, estimates, documentation, etc. Makes sense in some respects, but they won’t even collect the deposit until we do so.
I alerted the FB locals page to let others know if the same folks are renting their place, it is getting destroyed as well. These people have been spotted locally, so they have moved elsewhere close by. Several have now reported seeing the same vehicle descriptions in the area driving like asses and attracting attention. We just hope to alert who they may be renting from or working for locally and shut them down and they can go back to Ohio or what ever corner of hell they came from.
I do long term 30 days regularly- love them in the off season. Have never had a problem. Don’t let one rotten group spoil your mindset. I have had BIG messes with 2 day stays and don’t allow one day stays and so far blessed to not have any major damage and hope the good karma continues. Good luck with your repairs and recovery of damages.
I agree. Long-term guests need not be the problem ones. I had a single elderly gentleman - a world traveler from England, who stayed a month and there was no problem with that. When asked if he needed a cleaner to be sent in weekly, he thanked politely, saying that he can manage on his own. And indeed, after he left, the place was in best order, linens and towels laundered, fridge empty and clean, no garbage left. The only work that I had was finding all small objects that he stored away in most unusual places (e.g. radio in a desk drawer etc.) because he wanted to avoid distraction when meditating. He also disconnected all electrical gadgets for the same reason. But otherwise, Mike was a super guest!
wait till you have been hosting for 9 years - but as your not site living hosts its harder to control unless you employ a managing agent or co host that can do all the bookings meeting guests pop in to check up on guests etc
I host workers for.3 years now and they are my favourite guests. Ussulay they don’t break anything as they depend heavy on reviews since they move around often. They don’t really leave house very clean but this is what I have my cleaner for.
I don’t agree with statement that longer stays are not good. I wish I had all longer stays. It’s so much easier and more profitable .
Workers are not going to squat. They have no reason to.
Have a weekly cleaner is good idea. I check on my workers but someone is around if not me. I tell.them right away that I will be checking house .
Hope you will get compensated
I also have a 14 day max as well as a 2-day minimum. The 2-day minimum is simply because I don’t want to have to clean so often. The 14-day maximum is because I had experience with longer stays before joining Airbnb and found that some renters don’t clean anything at all during their stay. I thought about requiring a weekly cleanings or “freshening”, but decided against it due to difficulty in scheduling a time that works for both myself and guests and also knowing some guests would consider it intrusive. I may revisit that idea in the future.
Ironically, the only damage to my listing so far happened during a 3-day rental where the guests covertly had a party on their last night. I do my own cleaning and repairs, so the main cost was my time and it wasn’t worth getting Airbnb involved, especially given what hosts say about trying to collect from Airbnb’s Host Guarantee.
