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So I’m an Airbnb host and I’m having trouble with wording a review.
Our recent guest (who booked a private room but actually had the house to herself) ordered items and sent them to our house and ended up needing to tell us because they were going to arrive before we left on our trip and we’d receive them instead of her. Then part way through her stay she ordered another item and it was put in our mailbox (these were scrub tops). Without confirming with us first, she checked our mail and saw there was nothing there. Then she proceeded to let us know she checked our mail and wanted to know which neighbor picked up our mail so she could go knock on their door.
Her taking the liberty to mail stuff to our house and checking our mail makes me uncomfortable. How would you word her guest review?
She also left the house mildly dirty (bunch of leaves like from wilting flowers on the counter, etc.).
Betty ordered items and sent them to our house without getting our permission This resulted in her checking our mail to find her package and bothering the neighbor checking out mail for us while we were out of town. Taking the liberty to mail stuff to our house and checking our mail made me uncomfortable.
Mildly dirty isn’t worth mentioning in a review but I might deduct a star.
Thanks K9KarmaCasa. I wasn’t sure, after seeing so many posts of “Oh that’s not worth mentioning in a review” whether any negative aspects should be mentioned (or how severe they’d have to be to mention them).
Don’t worry about what other people put in their reviews. Unless they know you, your listing and have hosted your guest, their advice (and mine) is of limited worth. Some hosts would be greatly bothered, some wouldn’t. The review is mostly for the next host and a little for the guest to learn what hosts did and didn’t like. It’s your review describing your experience with this guest.
I sometimes say things like “this guest did xxx, it didn’t bother me but future hosts might want to discuss this with xxx if it would be an issue for them.” So you could add that.
Hi, @SamanthaStarns, did the guest ask if it was ok to have things delivered?
If yes and you agreed, I’m not seeing the problem? How else was she supposed to get her package? She didn’t actually open your mail, just check the mailbox? I have no idea what is a ‘scrub top’ .
If no, that’s very presumptious. But…but… you already knew she’d done this before you left for your trip and you didn’t say anything?
As in, it is not acceptable to use our address for mail, please don’t do it again?
I do understand how annoyed you are, but look at it from the guest’s pov - how were they to know it wasn’t ok? And if you leave them a bad review because of it, that’s the equivalent of a guest complaining in a review about something you could have fixed if they’d only told you at the time.
Thanks for responding. The guest did not ask permission, and only messaged me because the packages would be there before she arrived and she didn’t want us returning them to sender or anything - she thought they would arrive after we had left. I didn’t even think to ask my husband whether they were left on the porch or in the mail. I had already left on business and my husband was there for the remaining days before her arrival.
It was my, albeit bad, assumption that she wouldn’t mail something else to herself during her stay, so I didn’t see a need to bring it up and cause tension (I’ve brought items like this up in the past and it has resulted in negative reviews). A scrub top, by the way, is a top/piece of clothing that nurses, surgeons, and other medical professionals wear.
That’s not good. Nobody should presume that it’s ok to do that. But they do sometimes and it doesn’t mean they;re bad or anything - they just thought hey, it’s just airbnb so it’s cool!
This is the grey line that Air treads all the time. We’re not hotels, we’re not big businesses with all kinds of legal back-up, we’re just people renting out our spare room and/or our house when we’re away,
There is a horrible story right now on the airbnb community forum where a guest seems to be establishing tenancy rights by getting mail delivered to the host’s address. Laws vary across countries and across individual US states but it is something to be vigilant about.
These days, assuming that you can use someone’s address without permission shows a dire lack of judgement.
I used to be quite laid-back about it but have since stopped. You absolutely DO NOT get to use my address to establish residency - any mail from banks etc will be marked ‘unknown’ and sent back.
On the other hand, if you message me and ask if it’s ok to use my address to send flowers to your girlfriend for your anniversary - that’s ok!
So funny! I was thinking it was some kind of special American mailbox…!!
it is ALWAYS wrong to order things mailed to any place you will be staying – without asking permission first – Marriott or MyHouse, it makes no difference!
“Guest was nice enough, but presumptuous – without asking, she ordered things mailed to our house that would arrive before she did. Then ordered more, and checked our mailbox as well as harassing a neighbor who was picking up our mail while we were out of town.”
Thumbs down for this guest. I have ‘ask before using my address for mail or parcels’ in my house rules. I had a similar problem to yourself once when my work was interrupted and neighbours bothered by a guest ordering loads of stuff, never again! Checking your mail is out of order. Why the hell didn’t she get the scrubs delivered to her hospital?
I have a very strict ‘no parcels/mail/address use’ house rule. I had Air cancel a guest who messaged me to say his parcel from Amsterdam (hmm…) would be arriving a day before did, he never asked if he could send it. I also use a non existent address that’s one street away and only give the guest my real address two days before their arrival. Got to be careful!
Guests are not permitted to use the house address as a mailing or shipping address, or to sign up for any type of account. Any items sent to guests will be returned to sender unless a prior arrangement has been made with the homeowner.
So far, it hasn’t been a huge issue, one guest broke this rule (which I mentioned in my review), and one guest tried to get a library card.
