My husband and I decided in May to offer 6 month bookings …we immediately got a booking for 6 months in May and we are almost finished. We offer our lower level walkout apartment for Airbnb.
Here are my experiences , would appreciate some constructive feedback as this is our first longer term booking. Older man, in the area for a job contract.
-had a complaint of the air conditioning being too cold, since the thermostat is up stairs and he has no access to it, so I sent my husband down to close the duct vents.
- “stole” our Amazon package, it was delivered to the door to the apartment, CLEARLY had our name and correct address on it. Not only did he take the package , but opened it, put all the contents away in apartment , I found the box after the fact and called him out on it.
-He left our LED TV on 24/7 whether he is there or not, it eventually had screen defects and went to a red tone. Have had to replace the TV and toss the other.
-Brought a guest and had her inside even though it clearly states no guests .
-Then we try to get away for a vacation for a couple weeks as we live on a farm with horses and it is not easy to slip away with out doing a lot of logistics. Which a friend was looking after things ie. horses and would be on call for the guest. Well, we were not gone for 48 hours and he locked his apartment key and car keys inside the apartment. We have now found a solution to this however, never happened before in 5 months he has been on site.
- He approached us to stay on another 2 months as his contract apparently got extended, so my husband and I discuss as this was prior to the guest showing up and the locking of the keys, and agree and I told him I will open the window to allow him to extend his stay and to complete the booking immediately so no one else books. Well meanwhile we get 2 more bookings for November and December so I had to tell him sorry…but if I am honest I will be happy for him to leave next week, so I still need to see how he has left our apartment.
Well, am I petty ? I am feeling the longer he stayed the more complacent he has gotten and feels he is above the house rules of the booking.
I have already lost our super host status due to the longer term booking, not that I am really that concerned about that as I don’t feel we get much for it.
Sincerely,
Kelly
My thoughts on your points:
- It seems like he thought the Amazon package contained supplies for his apartment. Odd that he wouldn’t ask you, but it doesn’t seem like theft.
- Leaving the TV on wastes electricity, but it really shouldn’t have caused damage to the TV unless it already had a defect. At worst, it caused an existing defect to be exposed sooner, but probably not as much as you think. I have known many people that left their TV’s on 24/7. They were all older people. If it bothers you as a host, put it in your house rules.
- Bringing an additional guest without permission is a very valid complaint if it was stated in your house rules, and you should mention this in the review. Did it only happen once in 6 months?
- I totally blame hosts for having a door that allows guests to lock themselves out. Hotels can get away with it because they have someone on duty 24/7. You said that you have a solution now. Lesson learned.
A while back somebody posted a link on this forum to an article of the psychology of this where people start to get comfortable and change their behaviors after only 10 days. Still, if the points you make are the worst of it, then you did quite well. Hopefully, the apartment isn’t a mess/wreck.
I have no doubt you got more income from a 6-month booking than the additional income Superhost status would’ve helped you earn.
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Hmmm…well my first thought is a 6 month booking is not a STR but a LTR and having guests over as it would be considered his home with that length of stay would be considered normal. I can not imagine living somewhere for 6 months where I couldn’t have guests. People lock themselves out all the time, (shoot I did it the other day, thankfully son had a spare). The taking of the package…that is questionable, TV’s break had an LED that worked fine one day then broke the next without reason. Your review be honest but be fair also…I would suggest not doing an LTR in the future.
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I agree with Brian’s assessment on each point.
In particular, lockouts can happen to anyone. It’s good you have a backup plan now.
The only thing I might mention in review is the extra guest thing. But I also think Cindy is right - this is a little heavy-handed for a long term stay, especially if it’s a separate unit.
Is it possible this guy just wore out his welcome with you? My tourist season lasts as long as you hosted this guy. By the end of it, I’m kind of burnt out and feel nit-picky about guests. Is it possible you have the same feeling, just all focused on this one guy?
In that case, what I do is look at my savings account balance. That helps me forget the small annoyances of hosting. 
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Thank you everyone for your feed back, I really do appreciate it as it does bring things into light. Just for reference sake, the reason we don’t allow visiting guests is that we have rescue dogs and horses which share the property , of course for liability reasons I need to be able to ensure people ( guests and visitors) do not feel compelled to try and interact with them and I Work all day , hence we have gates to help ensure no horses get loose as a loose horse has flight instinct and could be very dangerous. People seem to love to attempt to pay attention to our animals however we always ask them not to as our dogs can knock someone over and a kick from a horse is life threatening . Unfortunately it’s not a petting zoo.
Great feedback…thank you!
