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I know! I did call air after thinking about it. We’ve been back and fourth (and back and fourth) on whether or not to cancel them. After reading everyone’s replies (thank you!) we decided to call airbnb and alert them that this happened and ask for advice. They said that they could definitely cancel without penalty but they wanted to call to get her side of the story and to let her know that this is not okay (if they use airbnb in the future). I did check their profile which previously had no reviews and it does now have one positive one. They fessed up to it and said that they saw cars in the driveway so figured we were home and wanted to come say hi. Ugh. I really think they are harmless but perhaps high maintenance (which I’m almost used to at this point).
The reason they are in town has something to do with their daughter (granddaughter presuming to older woman) is at a sleep away camp near our home. I’m guessing they are coming down a few times throughout the summer to spend some weekends/nights with her and it’s also just a great place to visit in the summer.
I think it was a case of them wanting to scope the place out and also not having much common sense about the situation.
We decided to keep the reservation. Will let you all know how it goes.
The daughter/granddaughter is at a summer camp near our house and guessing the adults are using it as an excuse to come to Vermont a few times. It is great here in the summer. I don’t blame them!
Okay that’s unnecessary. Sandy is one of our most valued members here and she was commenting on the fact that quite new members often come here, unload a problem, get a bunch of responses and then never come back. As a result we feel like we wasted our time and energy responding. She wondered if that was the case here.
I’m going to remove your remark to Sandy. There’s no need to react that way.
Okay. but that seems like a kind of bizarre censorship to me. Someone giving me attitude for not responding for a few days and I’m explaining why- truthfully . I didn’t respond to a forum for a few days because of real life stuff. And reading that comment made me feel actually bad and unnappreciative. I truly do appreciate all of the feedback everyone gave me. Perhaps asking for an update if you are truly curious would be more appropriate than giving unnecessary sass.
I think I owe you an explanation and apology. I did not expect you to question the intent of my post. My mission was simple and innocent. We hosts were coming to your aid in providing input on how we would handle your situation of the potential guests prowling around the property. I was merely questioning why there was not any feedback from you about our offerings.
As it turned out, I overlooked your clarifying statements that you were only venting and that you did not want to lose the income from those guests. Once I realized your intent, it was an “ah-ha” moment for me and I pointed it out to others who also might not have caught it.
Believe me, had I known you were going ahead with the booking (as you have just verified), my response would have been different…something along the lines of “Good luck.”
As to your question of whether this is “supposed” to be a place to vent, I’m not sure but I know many do. I don’t have any problem with you or anyone else venting, only that it was a revelation to me that you had already decided keep the booking so it was like, what’s the point.
I’m sorry you had such a brutal-sounding weekend and a scary visit to the M.D. I’m also sorry you concluded that I think you are a “terrible” person. All it is, is that I misunderstood your initial post…and you misunderstood mine. Fare thee well.
I would have totally cancelled on them. I wouldn’t mind if someone drove by and looked from the car. But to get out of the car and start walking around the property - that would really freak me out. It’s creepy, it’s criminal and it’s insane! On those grounds, I would have cancelled.
Wanted to update you all! The guests just left yesterday morning. They were actually super easy guests until the last day and left the place really clean.
The one thing that happened toward the end of their stay: We put our trash bins out at the end of the street and the next day when we were bringing them in we noticed two of those folding camping chairs next to the bin. We brought our trash bins up from the street. Weren’t sure if the camping chairs were there to dry out but it seemed like someone was trying to get the trash to pick them up and didn’t realize trash had already come?
A few hours later the daughter texted me and basically told me she was leaving camping chairs that were in usable condition and we were welcome to keep them and that they “didn’t have room for them”. We have one small garbage bin that gets picked up once every two weeks, which is sufficient for us, but the camping chairs would take up half of it and not to mention they were perfectly good chairs, but we don’t need more chairs. I kindly wrote back and said that we didn’t need them and we don’t have room in our small trash that gets picked up every two weeks and suggested she drop them off at goodwill on her way out of town. I never heard back but she did end up taking the chairs with her. Honestly, if she had asked me rather than tell me I probably would have offered to drop them off at goodwill for her on my next trip. But the fact that she left them on our road next to our garbage bins after garbage was already taken feels again disrespectful and a in line with how her and her mom just dropped by our house at 8pm the one night.
Throughout her stay everything else she’s said was complimentary.
Would love advice on two things:
What would you say in a review? How many stars would you leave?
Should I have just dealt with the chairs and chalked it up to cost of doing business? Is that my responsibility? Please answer honestly, I want to know if I was just being a stickler.
Thanks
You are going to reduce her stars because she doesn’t understand your viewpoints on trash and didn’t know that the trash had already been collected? I wouldn’t mention something like this at all. It isn’t my definition of disrespectful at all. She wanted to leave some chairs. You didn’t want her to leave some chairs. This just seems like such a non-event in the grand scheme of hosting on AirBNB.
Forget the chairs it was a nice gesture and people leave stuff behind all the time hence my collection of chargers no one wanted returned. Just leave a review about how they behaved as guests. If you would have them back give them 5 stars. You “might” mention in private feedback about the problem with the surprise visit before their stay.
Ok, cool. I was not sure if we were being too petty. Honestly, if the thing hadn’t happened where they poked around our yard I felt like we wouldn’t have been as annoyed at the chairs situation. I need the voice of reason to help me. Thank yoU!
I don’t follow this. If she was leaving the chairs then why didn’t she leave them at the rental? IF you are leaving something, you don’t take it off to the trash pick up area? Was it that she realized the trash had already come, and now was offering to leave them because she didn’t want to take them off?
I probably wouldn’t even leave these guests a review at all. They were oddballs showing up, they were great for 19 days, and then oddballs leaving. I wouldn’t even stress over deciding what to say.
I would have just said “oh, I don’t need them, but the next time we go into town and pass by Goodwill we will drop them off for you.” That way she knows you are doing her a favor and going out of your way.
I wouldn’t disregard your feelings about sensing they were being disrespectful. Only you know this because you are there and experienced how they behaved initially. It sounds like she had no intention of even offering you the chairs, but because the trash already came she decided to now offer. Weird…
We probably should have done this but we asked her to drop them off on her way out of town. I feel like it was pretty petty on my part to not offer and wish I did but oh well. She left us a review so we left her one. Waiting to get the notification that I can read her review. So anxious.
She was leaving them by the trash, which, is annoying because if they were in perfectly good condition why throw them away? The throw away society we have annoys me personally. When she saw that we brought our trash bins back up to the house from the road, but left the chairs there, she decided to then tell us she was leaving them. We thought it was rude to tell us and not ask, as it’s an extra chore for us to do which is why we then told her kindly that we didn’t want them and we hope someone can use them again and suggested dropping them off at goodwill.
First inpressions go both ways - your first impression of them wasn’t good, so it colored your later interactions.
Congratulations, you’re human!
…fwiw, in our neighbourhood people put “too good to throw away, but too big to haul to the thrift store” stuff out on the street either a day before garbage is collected or right after the truck goes by. My family calls it “neighborhood recycling”… I don’t know how common this practice is, but that is a plausible explanation.
It was incredulous to me that you had such a reaction to the guests leaving the good chairs by the trash rather than taking them directly to Goodwill. They were giving you the opportunity to keep them for yourselves or to pass them on.
They were not leaving you unwieldy junk to dispose of but items of value. I think it was a kind and generous gesture to leave you the option of disposing of them if you so chose. It was not showing you disrespect. In fact, that you called and asked them to return and remove their “gift” of the chairs from your property was what I would consider embarrassingly rude and disrespectful. You should have given the chairs to a neighbor or whomever. Sorry, that’s just how I see it.
