Gave him an inch, so he took two

1

Gah. It had to be on the last stay of the season, right? I feel like I’m in for a bad review on this one and it’s going to stay front and center until spring :frowning:

Over the weekend “4 doctors coming into town to teach a continuing education course down the road” stayed in my upstairs suite. The booking guest has 12 glowing reviews. They arrived around 11pm on Friday, using self-check in (we’d gone to bed). They sounded like a big group so I checked the security cam and they’d arrived with 5.

My listing has a max of four and I have a house rule about no unregistered guests.

I sent the guest a message saying “I noticed you’re a group of 5. To stay compliant with insurance, I need the correct count on the reservation”. I ended up calling CS since I couldn’t make a change to the in-progress reservation myself. CS and the guest got it sorted.

Then the second night, Saturday, they brought a SIXTH person home for the night!!
They also ignored quiet hours, moved lots of things around the suite and left a wine stain on a coffee table. That kind of stuff doesn’t normally bug me, but with everything else I’m just irritated with this group.

I just sent a resolution center request for the 6th person’s fee (with photos from the Ring doorbell - boy has that been helpful!) So we’ll see how that goes.

Whew. Thanks for listening to the vent…here are my questions:

Should I review them after the resolution center claim plays out? Or do the last-minute thing in the hopes he forgets to review me?

Is it just me, or was this super disrespectful? He confirmed with customer service the 5-person count and payment, then hours later brings another unregistered person home? :rage:

Secondly, could you all help me wordsmith my review and make sure I’m not violating content rules? I don’t want this removed on a technicality.

Unfortunately I’m unable to recommend Alan. He booked for four guests which is the max for my listing, but five stayed the first night. We made an exception and updated the reservation, letting Alan know our insurance requires us to keep an accurate guest count. On the second night a SIXTH person stayed without notice or payment, which, given that we’d already extended a kindness with the first exception, felt very disrespectful. They didn’t abide by quiet hours and left an indelible wine stain on the coffee table. I wouldn’t host this group again.

I stripped all the beds, turned the music up LOUD, and poured myself a big glass of wine. I’m looking forward to some downtime with no guests. :sunglasses:

10 Likes
2

Perhaps you might ask them for a prescription for Xanax.

11 Likes
3

Personally when he bought the 6th person in, I would have asked Airbnb to cancel the booking. As we say in the UK ‘your guests were taking the piss’.

I think your review is fine as it is. Clear and to the point.

8 Likes
4

Don’t review until you get payment. If he pays up with no question then that changes the tone. He may have thought after one extra, no big deal, bring another. Saying “I need…to stay compliant” is a different message than “You are in violation of my house rules…” Move things around to fit in 6 I guess. And a stain? Annoying but it happens. BTW, since there is already a stain I would make some attempt to see if you can get it out but dabbing on some oxyclean just in the stained area and drying right away. If it leaves a water stain you can use the steam iron technique to get that out.

And yes, disrespectful. Count the money…

1 Like
5

Ha ha. Or some of that MJ they just legalized in Michigan…

2 Likes
6

Yes, count the money and relax. Forget about it all and enjoy excellent mental health … although wine will help considerably… :wine_glass: :wine_glass: :wine_glass:

2 Likes
7

I hate it for you. Of my list of 5 worst guests EVER: 1 was a Doctor (excuse me Surgeon as he corrected me) and 1 was a final year med student doing medical rotations.

The both behaved badly and treated my unit & me very disrespectfully. Not all Doctors are that arrogant but I tend to have my radar go up when I realize I’m getting a booking request from a Doctor.

2 Likes
8

Yeah, I totally agree. Fool me once…(how does the George W version go? :laughing:) I won’t be fooled again!

I wasn’t on guard since we’re a destination area; the few times I’ve had “extra” guests it’s happened the first night and I thought this would be the same. Their group came back late Saturday night and left quite early Sunday, so it was only when I reviewed the video to see if they’d checked out that I saw the 6th.

2 Likes
9

Your review is good, but a bit too “emotional”. Keep to just the facts>

"Cannot recommend Guest. He booked for 4 but arrived with 5 (which we accommodated after discussion), The second night, a 6th person appeared, even though Guest had acknowledged the house rule about ‘no unregistered guests’. They also ignored house rules about quiet hours, re-arranged things in the suite, and left an indelible wine stain on the coffee table. "

5 Likes
10

Hmmm…well, he accepted the extra person charge, but then I got an e-mail saying they’re having trouble collecting the payment. I haven’t dealt with this before - will Air follow up with him? Suggestions?

He left me a review already. :thinking:

11

Oh no @Allison_H

Airbnb will either continue to try and collect the payment or may pay it themselves.

I have also heard of cases where Airbnb will just say they can’t collect and the host is left out of pocket.

I would get on the phone to them and ask what they are going to do if the guest fails to pay out having accepted the charge and push for them to pay out if they can’t collect.

12

We left each other reviews. His wasn’t as bad as it could have been; he gave me 3-stars with 3’s in communication and value…
“Great location. Clean spot. Being watched through video cameras was a little creepy.”

I know we debate leaving a response. I think I’d like to. Feedback, please?
“Alan is a little sore because the outdoor video doorbell caught him bringing two unregistered guests to my home. We like to provide all our guests the flexibility of arriving on their own schedule, but when we are unable to meet in person we DO check to make sure the guest count is accurate and that the booking guest is part of the party. Alan’s is only the third group out of 194 stays we wouldn’t welcome back.”

He left some other comments that got my dander up, but weren’t public:
Communication feedback:
Breaker was popped with half the power not working to unit for Saturday. Host watches you enter/exit through cameras around the house/on the front porch which is a little invasive

Do you think extra guests added to the electrical load?:laughing: He let me know at 6:32, I replied a minute later, and had the breaker reset 13 minutes after his message…

Value feedback:
Charged $50 additional per person even though those folks shared beds and used no additional materials.

Which is funny, because he only paid for one of the two extras (Air covered the other).
Thankfully they did each use their own towels. haha

13

I probably would not leave feedback. If anything his reviews let future guests know that yes, you use the cameras just like you say you will! Assuming you left him his well deserved thumbs down and told future hosts he likes to sneak people in then there is nothing to be gained by a reply.

1 Like
14

I would respond. I think what you wrote is perfect.

2 Likes
15

I try to leave feelings out of it. Simply stated House rules were violated by brining in a 5 and 6th person. Or though we made an exception to our 4 person limit 2 additional persons stayed without notice.
However I can see how since you already softened the tone directly with him over the 5th person and it got sorted, he felt the same result may happen with a 6th. Definite boundary buster. Not cool. If it had happened to me, I would have said your extra guest can go or you can all go, its up to you.

16

I’m one of the few hosts here who thinks we should respond to unfair comments and I like your response.

2 Likes
17

I’m wishy-washy on responding, but in this case, I would. He doesn’t clarify where he was being watched and why so his review makes your place seem a little questionable. Your response is good in that it neutralizes his. It shows that you only view a guest, for a reason, outside - and it paints him (kindly) as the whiney little opportunist he is.

5 Likes
18

I would see if Air could have his comment deleted since he violated your rules.

1 Like
19

I did leave a response because I thought his comment was super vague and could be interpreted as me watching them while inside the suite.

I considered asking to remove his review but I think in that case they usually take both of ours down, right? It didn’t affect my overall 5.0 average (although I was bummed about the extra hit to my value rating). I like knowing he’ll no longer be able to Insta-Book (thumbs down) and he’ll have my crap review at the top of his profile.

In his reply to my review he insinuated it didn’t matter how many people he brought since they only used the provided beds/linens. Would any of you host a guy with that defense? :rofl: Between my review and that response I doubt many hosts will accept his request.

6 Likes
20

I wouldn’t accept him. His review shows him to be a liar, and then his response shows that he can’t take responsibility for his bulllshit. Too many people like that in the world … Don’t want them in my house. (Granted, I’m sure we all get them, but …)

Glad you’ll see only the back of him from now on … have a glass of :wine_glass:!!