Guest didn't mention he works from home

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I’ve got a guest who is a nice person, we’ve had a great couple of conversations, some mutual interests, and he seems to be a good, hard-working person.

This is his third day of six (his 2nd full day), and it seems as if he plans on working from the house all day for the remainder of his stay. So far, he makes sales calls all day on my back porch, chain smoking, and he has a deep voice, which is fairly audible. As I write this, it is 8:30pm and he is hosting a sales conference call on my back porch, talking pretty loudly, instructing the people on the call about sales techniques. I am inside an adjacent room, and can hear his entire call.

I’m planning on asking him to find a workspace and to smoke a little further from the door, the house is now starting to smell like smoke, although I don’t ban smokers. I simply ask that they “smoke outside”. I want to see if anyone has any advice or experience to share, and make sure I’m not overlooking anything. I basically feel like he was expecting a place to work and stay, but he didn’t make that clear. I don’t mind that he spends the whole day here, I work from home too, but he’s being a little distracting - and frankly, his cold calling is audible and annoying…

Any feedback would be welcome. I’ll be talking to him in about 30 minutes.

Thanks everyone!

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There’s not much you can do but say something to him. Perhaps you should put in your listing you don’t want guests working from your home.

What was the outcome of your chat?

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If the smoke is coming into your house, then tell him. The purpose of not smoking in a house so the house doesnt smell like smoke, if its still smells like it then its the same as a guest is smoking inside.
Also, if he is disturbing your piece and quiet by his loud talk, tell him. He can stay inside as much as he wants but be quiet.

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I let him know that when we booked the room there was no mention that he’d be working from home, and I asked him to find a place to work from for the remainder of his stay. I told him I wanted him to feel comfortable here and enjoy the amenities, but that it’s not a workspace.
I also asked him to smoke a little further from the back door and make sure it stays closed.
I was sure to give positive reinforcement too, so he wouldn’t feel like he wasn’t welcome or wasn’t liked, etc… I’m not sure he got it. We’ll see what his attitude is today.

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I think one of the secrets to being a good host is good communication, and being as kind and friendly as possible. I set the tone by not letting any animosity hang in the air or anything of the sort. The next time I saw him, I was friendly and engaging, and didn’t mention it again.
Everything was fine and he took it well. He worked away from the house most of the day, but still did an hour or two of work in the living room, which is fine by me. Much different than setting up a mobile office all day…

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Very well handled. .

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Glad it worked out. I think that’s something we can all learn as hosts - though the behavior may offend us it isn’t often actually offensive - the distinction is important. We don’t have to get all excited when a guest does something we don’t like or asks for something we can’t accommodate - we just unemotionally give them feedback to get them in the right direction.

I am working on learning this; it doesn’t come naturally to me. My husband would choose just to let them have their way, I can get up-in-arms - but we are both learning.

Thanks for letting us know what happened.

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