hi everyone, I am seeking your advice: I just had two guests here who rented a room in our flat for two weeks. I had asked them before approving whether they are here for work or as tourists. They said “job search” - it turns out that the girl was not looking for a job at all and the guy left the house two times for an interview - the rest of the time they spent in the flat 24/7 - besides of occasional trips to the super market as they were of course cooking all their food at the place. They were clean and brought away garbage etc. but I honestly do not know what kinda review I should give: I feel they were good guests, but I also dont find it fair not to be transparent that they will just take over your place and stay in over weeks. They plan to spend several months here looking for a job and have given their own flat up. any experiences / tips? thank you
Your aren’t just offering a bed to sleep and be out all day - they rented a place to stay. What they do with the space is up to them and you say they were good guests…?
No, that’s not good, it’s a private room, not a whole place deal. If you’re staying in someone else’s home you don’t expect to hang out like you would at your own place, unless the host clearly wants the company. They misrepresented themselves by saying they were on a job searh then hardly doing any job hunting! Yes they are entitled to have their private room 24/7 if need be, but have you considered alloting guests kitchen times so they’re not hanging out all the time? There is a very worrying trend of guests being too tight to pay for a self catering place because they cost more, and pushing hosts out of their own space! I even had a **** of a guest once who thought it was appropriate to host an extended dinner party for my lodger, without even asking or inviting me or my family, when he was on a strictly ‘light cooking only’ deal. The tightwad was too mean to take the girl to dinner, and too mean to pay for self catering. Hosts end up subsidising guests’ next round of travels! Just be factual in your review, ‘They said they were on a jobhunting trip, but were in my flat 80% of the time’.
I agree with debthecat if you don’t have limits in your listing. Many hosts say things like no kitchen or laundry, or light cooking only. I now have a separate entrance and no access to the rest of my house but when they got access to the whole house I sometimes had people in space all day and I didn’t like it at all. But if they aren’t violating rules they deserve a good review.
However Jess is right that they misrepresented themselves. An honest review is fair. Just as I often say guests were things like “self-sufficient,” “checked out early in the morning before I got up,” “were out and about” to let other hosts know this about the guest. If it were applicable I also had ways of letting them know they were around a lot. “After 2 hours I had to cut our chat over breakfast short,” or “Dan was considerate in using headphones while on his computer during the day in my living space” “stayed all day in the room so quietly I wasn’t sure if they were even here.” Most hosts would not be looking for this kind of guest and an honest review will help these guests and hosts find a suitable match for their situation.
Sorry – I have to disagree with @Jess1. Once I rent a place – whether a stand-alone place, a whole home, or the bedroom down the hall – what I do there (as long as it isn’t illegal) is none of the hosts business. If I choose to stay in all day, that’s fine. If I choose to spend the whole day out and about, that’s fine too. As long as I respect the hosts space.
I do agree that guests just taking over kitchen space, food, household entertainment area (TV, computer, etc.) is not OK and guests need to be told so. However it’s up to the host to set limits for things in the house Rules, and then enforce them stringently. “Guest kitchen time 8-9AM and 4-5pm” or whatever.
Thank you very much for your well balanced comment and the suggestions on how this can be added into a review. This seems like a good & fair solution.
I just feel that in this case, renting a studio or entire flat on airbnb would be more appropriate than a room in someone’s apartment. But as it was pointed out by others - this is of course more expensive than just taking the room and using the host’s kitchen etc.
It is of course not against the policies to stay in the flat 24/7 - but unusual and this is why I ask for advise here.
A job search in today’s day and age means sitting at a desk and searching the internet for job openings. And then, again, using the computer to send out resumes. I would not assume that a job search meant leaving the apartment. In fact, quite the opposite. Only reason to leave the apartment during a job search is if you actually get an interview.
Unless you state in your listing that guests are expected to be out and about during the most of the day [a requirements of some hosts on this forum] then staying in just doesn’t seem that unreasonable. That doesn’t mean that you like it, of course, but it doesn’t make them bad guests.
What nerve. Rented a room then used the room they rented.
I was talking about hanging out in the host’s kitchen/living room, not the room they rented. I also suggested kitchen times.
I have seen listings which state, we expect guests to go out after breakfast and not return until the evening time. In BnB’s in Ireland, it was expected years ago that you had to be out all day, and not permitted to return until the evening time.
I had a guy coming to meet friends and catch up, he only left the room to pee. I had another woman who was visiting her son, he spent most the week with us as well and she never went out. She was looking to come back in January but I declined her. She wanted her son to come on play dates every week while she was back in her native country.
You will get people telling you one thing and then another. The only reason I like a guest to pop out for a bit is that I clean their bathroom and hoover around the house every day. But they are entitled to do with the room as they wish.
My 8 year old was downstairs and said rather loudly," is he home or out ?" the guest heard him and answered I am home, child has no tact
I’m now unsure what they did. They rented a room, but stayed in the rest of the building? When you say flat, they were in your living room, or still in their room?
rented a room and were around 24/7 meaning: living room, kitchen, terrace (smokers)… they used the flat like a home, not in a disrespectful way, but still, I feel that as a host it is a huuge difference if you have guests that are in and out the flat (like myself) or if you have 2 strangers permanently in your home.
I guess they said “job search” as they were just trying to label their trip for you as opposed to “holiday” or “visiting relatives” or “business trip” etc. Unless they said: “and so we will be out most of the time so you won;t see us during the day” then I don’t think they were misrepresenting the situation, more of a misunderstanding, Maybe he hoped to get more interviews but 2 was all he managed to line up. If it was me and having people hanging out 24/7 bothered me, which it would, I would check upfront that you all understood that you expected them out of the place most of the time. So no I would not mention it in the review just chalk it up to experience.
Never mind what they do there unless you have anything to point out. They might be genuine people. So its better not to misunderstand them.
It’s unlikely you’ll get many guests in the future hanging out all the time. However I think kitchen etc. times would really help you. Also do you really want to allow smoking? If they didn’t have free run of your terrace that would be a reason for them to go out! It’s really important you don’t feel like a stranger in your own home. Of course even with kitchen boundaries they can stay in their room all they want, but that wouldn’t be such a bother and they would likely get bored and go out anyway.
Early on in my hosting days I had a young woman spend all day on my back patio smoking and reading and waiting for her friend to drive from out of town to pick her up. I was still working full time and when I came home I could smell cigs in my house. I’m sure she respected the request to smoke outside but with opening the door to come in, or perhaps leaving the door open all day, and then walking through the house with the smell clinging to her, it still poisoned my air.
yeh i had one of those - the flat is no smoking - the guest seemed to think sitting on the balcony all day smoking spliff was ok for 2 weeks - while she waiting to start her job - etc - it happens -
We had a group of 4 who started cooking stew at 10:00 at night, the smell of onions was really strong . I spoke to them the next day and asked them not to be cooking late in the evening. They spent the day baking cakes. I have added a note to my listing that the kitchen may be used to prepare light snacks, and it is not suitable for cooking family dinners, as the kitchen is required for our own family
Had a chinese doctor once, at midnight he would sneak into the kitchen and pop some type of fish dish into the microwave. The house sank every night, we found it funny. If he would have asked to use the microwave i would have, i allow guests to use it now. His nose must be so used to the smell, it never registered, the incense sticks were needed each day as the kitchen still smelt fishy at breakfast