Hi fellow hosts. What are your thoughts on this situation…
We have rooms in our house for STR on Airbnb. Our guests are a single mum and her 21mth old child. They checked in yesterday and they seem to be very nice. Last evening she informed us she will be at a conference all the following day and will have a babysitter coming in to look after her child. This morning 2 people show up at 7.45am to mind the child. So now we have 2 people we don’t know hanging around our house for the day.
I’m not sure I like it. What are your thoughts?
Inconsiderate not to ask first.
She can’t take the baby to the conference.
Was the baby a free stay due to the age and Airbnbs free for infants under 2 ?
Are the sitters relatives to the family?
Would you have offered to help?
What are your house rules for visitors?
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They’re unregistered guests and you have every right to be annoyed. She should have communicated with you prior to booking. I would give her a one star for communication and another one star for observance of house rules.
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Thanks for the feedback. She didn’t ask - she told us someone would be looking after her child while she was at the conference. She didn’t say they would doing so at our house.
Yes the baby is a freeby.
I dont know who the people are but they’re not relatives of hers.
I wouldn’t have offered to babysit as I am busy with other things today.
Our rules for visitors are: they must leave by 10pm.
The sitters may be back again tomorrow as the guest and her child are staying 2 nights.
Definately 1 star for communication but not sure about house rules as she hasn’t actually broken any yet.
Time to add
No unregistered visitors to your home to the house rules!
Where do you stand for your insurance if something dreadful happens?
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She certainly should have asked first. However, as she is gone all day while a babysitter is there, it’s not like there is an extra person using up amenities. However, if you charge extra for more than one person, then that 2 people showed up to babysit is a different story.
As far as having unknown people, yes, that is why she should have asked, and she should have introduced you. But as she is someone attending a conference, she probably isn’t some lowlife who would have lowlifes looking after her child, in that respect you probably don’t have much to worry about as far as them causing any damage.
I would definitely let her know that she should have asked, that it isn’t okay to have someone else over without clearing it with the host.
I have no idea what happens if (God forbid) something happens. If they are running a babysitting business then their insurance should cover it. If they are unpaid friends of the guest then the guest should cover it.
I don’t think we can charge extra as they’re not sleeping over.
We have a pin code for our front door (unique for each guest) I suspect she will have given hers to the sitters. That surely breaches the Airbnb ToS ?
Er, no, I do not see any reason to equate this. Attending a conference? All that takes is money or a job connection. Bad parenting can be done by a conference goer.
“Lowlifes” are what exactly?
The guest could have had the babysitters babysit the kid in their own home (for example). The bad parenting is leaving a kid with locals in an airbnb.
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Your home insurance covers specific things; I reaaaaaallly doubt that injury or death would be covered by insurance of anyones at this point - the babysitters are not guests at your airbnb (not in the itinerary). I can imagine airbnb denying any responsibility for 2 non guests causing damage or injury. And certainly not your home if they burn it down accidentally. Your homeowner’s insurance probably will fight a claim too.
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The guest is running a display stand of some sort at the conference. She seems like a sensible, organised, caring parent. I don’t think she knew the sitters very well as I saw her let them in the front door and they didn’t greet eachother like friends.
In NZ injury and death are not dealt with under inurance, we have a whole different system for that called the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) Our home insurance would cover a fire or significant damage.
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Maybe it’s a miscommunication? That statement sounds like it would be at your house, otherwise, why mention it to you? I bet that she thinks she told you.
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I admit that was a bit of an assumption on my part. It just seemed like someone who made a special trip to attend a conference would not likely be the type to hire the kind of people to babysit who end up going to prison for sitting around doing drugs and drinking all day while the child is locked in the closet.
And no, when I was a parent of young children, I would not leave them in someone’s home that I wasn’t familiar with. That would be bad parenting. It would be much safer to have them stay where I was staying, where I was aware of, or had had a chance to check out any hazards that might exist for the child.
Where I live, which is a tourist town, there are people who run babysitting services for tourists, and yes, they come to the rental. But of course, that should be something the guest clears with the host beforehand, not just presume that it will be okay.
She is starting to come across as the entitled parent at its best.
She paid for 1 yet there are 4 persons using the share home and 2 sleeping there.
My day would be mucked up, because I couldn’t leave 2 unknown people in my home, let alone minding an unknown to me baby.
I am starting to get cranky on your behalf!
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She did say she would be leaving the car seat and buggy for the babysitter so my presumption (wrongly) was that the sitter would be taking the child away for the day.
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Poor communication obviously. My policy says no guests without permission and none overnight. She may have assumed that telling you that someone would be watching the child was notice that someone would be there. Stupid, but possible. We don’t take children under 6 and they cannot be left alone under 16. Your story leads me to change my wording to say that the guest must be with the child! At the very minimum I would insist on the IDs of these people and ask her how she found them. I would also go over any house rules with the sitters. Follow your gut!
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Thanks everybody for your feedback. I will be changing my house rules and reviewing her accordingly. I am suprised she thought that it would be acceptable.
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I’m not at all surprised she thought it would be acceptable and I can’t believe how harsh everyone is being about this.
There are many perfectly nice, respectful guests who simply don’t realize they can’t have other people over. A young working mom with a baby hires a babysitter so she can work- she didn’t invite 10 people over and have a party.
And in fact she did inform the host of her intentions, she wasn’t trying to hide anything. And when she mentioned the plan, that was the time for the host to ask some questions, not simply assume the child would be taken elsewhere. But the host didn’t speak up about it at all.
If it were me, I would give this woman the benefit of the doubt, that she simply didn’t realize it wouldn’t be okay. I would privately let her know that it actually isn’t okay, that a host would not be covered if something happened concerning a non-registered person on the house. That she should always discuss such things with a host ahead of time in the future. And I would not leave any negative comment about it in the review.
If I were to tell a host that I was getting a babysitter, and the host made no comment about it at the time, and instead of educating me that it wasn’t okay to do that at the house, slammed me for it in the review, I would find that quite strange, rude and unfair.
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I will speak to her when she returns this evening. She did give the impression the sitter would be collecting the child from here in the morning and not spending the day here. She told me it was one person when it is infact 2 people. I won’t be ‘slamming’ her in my review but wanted some input from other hosts before I write it. If they are eating all the breakfast supplies I have left for the guest then she will be hungry tomorrow. There hasn’t been any issues with them so far and I dont know whether or not she gave them the door code as they haven’t left the house. It is a situation I haven’t faced before so just wanted some input. Which I got. Thanks everyone 
Well that’s a little bit harsh. she might be a single mum, working hard and without a lot of choices, and doing the best she can for herself and her child. For all we know those babysitters are from an agency and well vetted, and probably costing her too much. AND I’ll bet she does feel guilty for leaving her child alone with strangers while she attends a conference.
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