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Hi, I had this guest who booked me for 6 nights. She said she’s coming for business. She arrived last night at 8 PM and like 5 min after closing the door of her bedroom she started to cough so badly, like wanting to puke. This like every 5 minutes or so. I was downstairs, watching a movie, she was upstairs in her room. After 2 hours of listening to her and debating what should I do I asked her if she had a test done for the cough. She said yes, that she had 2 negative tests and sends me a pic of a negative PCR result 5 days ago. Meanwhile she continued to cough. She said it’s nothing, it’s bronchitis. Now, I’m not a doctor and I do know there are other illnesses out there besides covid and that bronchitis could be caused by other virus.
All this time she did not wear a mask. I put a mask on and went to bed. She continued to cough badly. At 2 am I went online and I modified her reservation to be 1 night instead of 6. I explained that I wasn’t comfortable with her cough, that the test she submitted me was 5 days old and she might have contracted Covid meanwhile and that in my opinion she should call in sick and stay at home. I told her that at my workplace the policy is for us to stay at home if we are sick.
She accepted the change of the reservation and replied that I should mind my own business and that she’s seen a doctor.
Was I over reacting? My business is that I stay healthy! I since then modified the listing title to say “room for healthy and vaccinated guests”.
If I were in her place I would have never ever dared to go to an owner occupied Airbnb that sick or at least without disclosing that I was sick, the diagnostic etc… What do you think?
I mention that before Covid, in 2019 I did a similar thing when one of the guests coughed badly and you skinned me alive here on this very forum for lack of empathy.
I understand why you would be nervous but you could have possibly stepped over the line. Given COVID though, it’s not unreasonable or you to be concerned.
Personally, if I was doing a home share, I would require a PCR test done 2 days prior before entering along with the vaccination card.
Also, putting the info into your rules is a good thing but be aware that that only applies to new bookings after you made the change.
Meaningless. I tested negative on day 2 of having symptoms, positive on day 3. Any test is a snapshot of the moment you took it, and you can have covid and test negative in the beginning in my experience. I am vaxxed and boosted as well.
LOL, I agree. Even though my STR is on the second floor I share the front door and a hallway. I reopened in September but while I require all to be vaxxed, I assume everyone is infected. I often use my kitchen door instead of the main door when I have guests.
As home-share hosts, we agree. We were open for a few weeks this summer when the daily Covid case numbers in our state were down to the low hundreds. We closed as the numbers started climbing in the fall. We’re still closed. We’re closed to everyone, even friends and family. We don’t go anywhere, except the gas station. And we’re both fully vaxxed. We’re not taking chances, as we both have risk factors.
Sometimes you can’t have it all. You can’t prioritize your health while also hosting strangers, particularly not during this surge. So while I don’t think you overreacted at all in canceling her reservation, it’s irresponsible to home share during this omicron surge.
She isn’t wearing a mask in the common areas? It’s Airbnb policy that you mask and distance when around each other, inside and out. If you’re masking and she’s not then you should have been able to cancel her booking on that basis alone. It pays to know the policies of the platform on which you are booking your property.
Please leave an honest but unemotional review. No one wants to host this wretch aside from a few pro-covid hosts who think this pandemic is no big deal.
Nope. Are you aware of what Airbnb is currently doing if it’s reported to them that a guest or host has or may have Covid?
They immediately suspend the listing for like 2 weeks and cancel all upcoming reservations. They have been doing this even for entire place listings, where the host has a 1 or 2 day buffer between bookings to air the place out and do a thorough cleaning and sterilizing.
Contacting Airbnb about such things these days is risky- it’s much better to deal with things on your own if possible.
That’s typical but ridiculous. OTOH, if they don’t close down the listing then plenty of hosts would just bring in the next guest and wouldn’t bother to quarantine at all.
That hasn’t been previously reported here. In fact in all two years of the pandemic this is the first thread I recall of a host having good reason to believe their guest has covid.
No, you were protecting your health and showing legitimate concern for hers. I 'd worry about someone coughing like that and would ask about seeing a doctor.
Not me. I’m a home share host and I’m not a fan of people coughing and sneezing all over the shared spaced.
I’m hosting but business is slow. Last week I was sick and I canceled my Monday reservation (1 night). I messaged the guest and said “I’m coughing, sneezing, and running a temp. Negative for Covid but not comfortable having you come. Apologies for any inconvenience.” Air canceled the reservation for her and per my request gave a 100% refund. Guest was very happy I cared enough about her to cancel.
Rule 1: Do unto others…
True.
I blocked my calendar for 10 days because after 12 hours Air had not blocked my calendar.
I haven’t seen anyone report it here, probably because most hosts here don’t run to CS much and tend to deal with issues themselves, but lots of hosts have been reporting it on the Airbnb forum.
I wonder if any of them would lie about it. One thing for sure, the right wing extremists in the US have no problem lying about anything and one part of their strategy is to flood forums, reddit, social media with all kinds of disinformation.
The posts I’ve read where this happened to hosts do not in any way raise suspicion that they were lying. These were hosts who were vaxed, and very concerned about spreading Covid and thought they were doing the right thing by reporting that their guests had tested positive for Covid, or that the host or someone in their household did. Some are regular forum contributors, good people, not anyone who would try to flood the forum with false info.
It seems that this is how Airbnb is handling any reports of Covid in a guest or host- they immediately suspend the listing and cancel all upcoming bookings.
It’s something important for hosts to be aware of.
About 4 years ago I went on meds for high blood pressure and this was the first RX. It was spring and sure enough, I had a cough. Of course I thought it was seasonal allergies. First time I mentioned to my Doc he immediately changed the RX to Losartan. Cough went away. I had a cold at xmas and I still have drainage and a tickle in my throat several times a day. So there are certainly plenty of non covid coughs. But I wouldn’t want ANY of them in my part of the home.
