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Why am I struggling with this? I am so angry, with myself and with this guest. I think that some of what happened was not intentional, on her part, but it got out of control and she did not know how to handle it. Why am I making excuses for her? I don’t know. I don’t know. She has no previous reviews although she has been a member for a couple of years. She has already posted her review and I’m pretty sure it will be good. Here is what I want to say:
The guest booked for an annual family sleepover “with games, etc.” for her and her six adult sisters and some friends. She later added three day visitors as I emphasized that all visitors to the property must be pre-registered. About twice that many showed up over a period of two days. The guest was apologetic but did not aleviate the problem of unregistered day and overnight guests. The nature of this booking was completely misrepresented. It is stated in the first paragraph of the listing that events and large parties are not allowed. House rule prohibiting the use of open flame was disregarded as cans of sterno were found amongst banquet sized food trays. I do not recommend this guest.
I am sorry you had such an awful guest, but as hosts it is our responsibility to make it clear to guests who break our house rules that if they continue to break them they leave.
I am wondering why did you let her have an additional nine guests stay as day guests or overnight visitors @momovich? -
And why did you accept her breaking other house rules.
It was your responsibility to make it clear to the guest that all unbooked guests leave immediately or the booking would be cancelled.
I find it takes some seasoning as a host to figure out how to handle a situation in some cases. I let stuff slide and then realize “holy crap I should have been more aggressive and stood my ground” So much hind site. I didn’t handle my recent guests the way I should have but will conduct myself with confidence when unauthorized guests happen again, and they will…
Suggestion for review. Short and succint.
Guest broke House Rules. “Insert guest first name here” hosted several unregistered guests throughout the stay and had open flames which are not permitted on premise. I would not host again.
@Helsi You are absolutely correct. Up until this point, and in my neophyte career as a host, I thought I would be able to do this. I found myself completely at a loss. Mouth wide open. Stunned disbelief. Naive and gullible. I thought that the problem would go away and not be repeated the next day. I texted the guest and asked her to ask the guests to leave and she made excuses and told me she didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t either. I did not see the cans of Sterno until the party was well over and guests long gone.
We had one of those recently. Played Cards Against Humanity, had to fire across the road to the tabanco to replenish the Oloroso and Fino supplies and at half five in the morning those that couldn’t walk straight were allowed to “sleepover”.
Hi @momovich What you can do for next time is when your guest said she didn’t know what to do, simply reply ‘As I have asked you to do, if you want to keep your reservation. The additional guests need to leave within the next hour and if I see any return I will ask Airbnb to immediately cancel your booking’.
Sadly this guest saw you coming -never heard such a pathetic excuse ‘I don’t know what to do’ What she actually meant was ’ I invited nine additional guests in your home, who I invited in to stay, knowing I wasn’t allowed to and without paying for them, Even though you told me not to invite any more - because I have no respect for you and your rules . I also intend to break further rules and put your property at risk’
@MaryJO I agree. I have learned something. Being former military I am going to put together an After Action Report about it with some problem/solution paragraphs to refer to. The thing is, it happened gradually, with people trickling in, so that I really couldn’t tell what was what, even though I have cameras at the entrance. They kept coming and going, getting cakes and casseroles (mostly middle aged women wearing black leggings and loose, blousy things or jackets). I appreciate your review. Much less personal and emotional.
Ours involve copious amounts of Prosecco, a visit to see a live local band, drunken flirting, awful mum dancing, amazing food, setting the world to rights, chocolate, lots more Prosecco and shots, more chocolate, wandering down to the harbourside to watch the sun rise…with you’ve guessed it …more Prosecco.
@JohnF Actually, we have hosted a fair number of these. That is why I went with it because we have not had a bad experience, thus far. Believe it or not, we have even had young adult males have this type of weekend (sans alcohol…usually a sports team) and they have been wonderful. The worst that has happened was when ladies want to have a bonding experience with glitter based crafts. That is banned. Totally banned.
Had a couple of school teachers from Granada stay for one night. Feck knows what fantasy they were acting out but it involved copious amounts of strawberry gin (yugh) and glitter.
Still coming across bits of it almost a month later.
Thanks glad it was useful. These sort of guests really annoy me with their passive aggressive, poor me I don’t know what to do, when they deliberately created the situation in the first place.
By the way I am booked to go on a Paddy’s Day outing to Murcia when I come over with about ten of my mad Dub cousins…Murcia is never going to be the same… @JohnF
Enjoy! St Paddies day is a complete non event here, however we make up for that on a private level
Only two places that serve draught Guinness, but to be honest its not a hot weather drink and I reckon we’ll be well into the twenties by then, during the day.
I would just change a couple of things. I would add the number of additional guests she had stay without booking and paying 9 is an outrageous number. Several sounds like one or two. I would also confirm that she did this despite agreeing not to.
Cannot recommend Guest. She completely misrepresented the nature of the booking, and broke house rules about numbers of registered/unregistered guests (9!), holding parties, and open flames in the listing.
Sounds like she had a big party! Unfortunately, guests will do that often with no regards to house rules. Did she leave the place clean? If so you can write something short but direct, “Guest left home tidy but disregarded house rules and had a party.” I would give her a 5 for cleanliness and ones for all other categories.
