Homeless person and now sex worker guest, should I carry on with short term rentals?

21

I started the process of cancelling the booking, and that’s what prompted me to post about my experience here.

First I went to cancel, I was informed there’s a $50 penalty. OK, so I guess I learned something there.

Then I had to write a 250 character explanation to the person I’d cancelled. At that point I started to get a bad feeling about all this.

I’m just trying to cancel a booking I’m uncomfortable with.

So I wrote out my reason in a diplomatic way. Still not 250 characters, so I wrote about the weather… still not 250… wrote a bit more… still not enough.

Then steam started to come out of my ears!

I mean here I am, a guy who takes pride in his family home, and is/has been happy to host over 100 students in the past 12 years. Trying out short term rentals.

A person who I’m 99 percent sure is a sex worker and has 4 faked reviews wants to book my place.

Yet I have to write some kind of 250 word essay and pay a $50 penalty, like some kind of naughty boy, or some petty criminal or something.

At that point I got to thinking “screw you Air Bnb”

So I wrote and very diplomatically explained my reasons for not wanting to host this one. I gave the booking number etc…

Then I got what appears to be a cut and paste reply saying asking ‘Was there any damage, were the police involved’ ???

Involved in what? The stay isn’t until another 3 weeks away, and that was clear in the email I wrote and also the booking reference number I gave to them.

I wrote them back and said, and again very diplomatically that there appears to be some confusion, please let me explain… and went on to explain that the stay hasn’t happened yet, and that I want to cancel the listing, and that can’t think of a 250 word explanation.

Then I got another cookie cutter reply saying something similar about ‘if there was any damage were the police involved’ …and … that they take these things very seriously! But yet the guy doesn’t seem to have even read the email enough to grasp the situation correctly.

That was yesterday and I just wrote to them again a few minutes ago.

I’m new to this, and I’m just taking notes at the moment.

If that’s the level of service I can expect off AirBnb, then **** that! This is my house and home, not some little monopoly house for AirBnb to play around with while I take all the stress.

If I don’t get a satisfactory response from them I’ll be shutting my account down.

22

Something I have to add here;

I took another look at her reviews from previous hosts and I think I’m incorrect to say that they are faked reviews.

They look legitimate.

Ah well, I guess it’s hard to know what the outcome would be if she stayed. Maybe if I hadn’t had the situation before with the lawyer and the homeless person I wouldn’t have got spooked by it all.

23

Why not just relax and move on? Your mounting anxiety and anger does not do you any good when dealing with this - and the valid question about damage or police is there so that your communication can be triaged to the right people. Yes, it might be a bit mis-sent (?) but who cares? Just cancel if you want - and the $50 is a small price to pay for your peace of mind.

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24

Yep, I guess so.

Is it really a valid question to ask if there was any damage when the stay doesn’t happen for another 3 weeks?

To me it seems like slack service, as though someone just skimmed the email and didn’t get it, and to add that they take it very seriously just seems to add to the annoyance.

25

If this was an IB booking, you get 3 free cancellations/year, penalty-free if you state you are uncomfortable with the booking. I never heard of having to write a specific amount of characters. It’s a maximum of characters. Also, CS will send you those kinds of clueless messages if you haven’t stated your case in a simple, easy to read format. Explain in short sentences, bullet point form, not long sentences and paragraphs.

“I need to cancel this future booking as one of my free cancellations without penalties.
This booking makes me extremely uncomfortable because:
A. xxx
B. yyy
C. zzz
Thank you for your time and attention.”

Short and simple.

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26

Hi Muddy, thanks for your reply.

Maybe that’s what happened. I’m not sure, but that could have been it. :face_with_monocle:

It would make more sense that it’d be 250 maximum. I think after my first experience of hosting, it’s just set me off on a bad foot, and I got into a bit of a hot head when I saw $50 penalty.

I just went through the process again and this time rather than explain my reason as to why I didn’t want the guest to stay I ticked the box for having extenuating circumstances, that worked and I had to put an explanation, so I just said “sorry” and it cancelled no problem. So yep, probably me that was running on hot air.

But still with a $50 fee, and I just checked, I think I have instabook on. Not sure what that’s about.

I got a reply back from AirBnb, it just said that they checked the client out and though the client has nude pictures online, they don’t discriminate against sex workers, and provided that they don’t use the premise for such things they aren’t breaking any rules.

On the one hand I understand that. I also understand that with my previous guest, who sat in a corner of the path outside the house smoking marijuana out if a bong, that they aren’t breaking any rules. Marijuana is legal here and the path is city property.

Using my place for a nude photo shoot? I guess that’s just fair enough. But as I’m new to short term renting and getting a feel for it… I’d say I’ve learned this is probably not for me! And that’s a valuable thing.

This thing about people rating your house… That’s probably not for me either.

The first guest, who was booked by the lawyer. The lawyer gave me a 5 star review.(even though in reality she’d never stayed a night) But! She put in the review that “there was a lack of kitchen ware”, and also “bring your slippers as the floors are cold Brrr”

I thanked her for the feedback, and I checked the kitchen. There’s everything and more that you need in a kitchen, and the thermostat is right in the kitchen, but they’d never even turned it up. It’s a simple dial with ‘comfort zone’ marked on it. It was still warm when they booked the place and cooled off a bit towards the end of their stay.

My friend who is a very conscientious guy had a guest. The guest gave him a negative review as he said ‘there are dangerous wild animals in the area’ He was referring to racoons.

Anyway, thanks all for taking the time to reply to my post.

27

The $50 penalty has nothing to do with Instant Book. When a host cancels a reservation, unless the cancellation falls into a penalty-free situation, the penalties are the $50 fine, the dates you cancelled are blocked from rerenting (and you can’t unblock them) and a otice appears on your review page saying “Host cancelled this reservation XX days before check-in”, which can make future guests wary of booking with you.

I suggest you spend some time reading all the Help articles for hosts on the site. All this info is explained there.

You should have checked the “I’m uncomfortable with this reservation”, not Extenuating Circumstances. You also need to read what qualifies as ECs. It’s very specific.

If a guest leaves a stupid review about things that aren’t true, or they just couldn’t figure out how to turn up the heat, you can leave a response to the review for future guests to see. "I’m confused by the claim of lack of kitchenware. The kitchen is fully stocked with all the usual things guests normally use. If something was lacking, all the guest had to do was contact me about it. There is a heat thermostat in the kitchen which I found had never been moved from the setting it was on when the guest checked in. No need to be cold, just turn up the heat. "

And if a guest mentions something in private feedback, as opposed to the public review, make no mention of that in a public response.

Haha, wild animals. People book places in the tropics and then freak out if they see a lizard or gecko. They book a place on a busy street in the middle of a city and then complain about traffic noise. They book a remote, rustic listing and complain about how far it was to the nearest store. Not much you can do about stupid.

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28

Welcome to the Brave New World of AirBnB 1.005. I suspect that a robot was gleaning keywords from your message, not a real human.

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29

I think so… that’s what a friend of mine figured too.

30

I’ve been doing some reading on this site and great to hear people’s experiences first hand.

I must say it does seem like a lot of work. Seems like I’d need to be permanently vigilant, maybe cameras and checking then double checking people.

I should expect people to be trying to scam me as a newbie, and the occasional terrible guest. Maybe people sneaking in extra people.

And sure enough that’s been my experience in these early days of trying this.

I think of the 3 AirBnb’s I’ve stayed in myself, and my friends experiences with being a host for 5 years.

So far my experience dealing with AirBnb is that it’s likely a robot reads my emails and sends me generic ‘frequently asked question’ type of replies.

And I’m not so sure I want to do it anymore. I don’t think I’d earn a ton of money more than I would if I just rented the suite out. And maybe less hassle that way, provided I’d find a good tenant.

31

Cameras are a must have. I live a block away and my business office is on the property.

I do not “vet” guests though, I welcome everyone including porn shoots I just charge more for that. I charge more than a lot of places in my area and I am still booked. Ignore “price tips” or use that as a base and double from there. I have never had a issue with a guest that I had to get Air involved with.

It is easier than a lot of hosts make it out to be I think. Many hosts spend their time wringing their hands and looking for “red flags” and finding reasons not to host. Heads in beds I say.

RR

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32

I just took a look at your listing and it’s a beautiful space. I don’t see anything that would attract unwanted guests. Perhaps it was just bad luck.

Is your area near a business district? Maybe to attract businessmen you can provide a workspace; a small desk and chair. I saw on Amazon a small wall mounted desk that doesn’t take up much space.

I know most folks would use the dinette set as a work space but then there’s the risk of spilling coffee on their lap top or paperwork.

33

I’ve never vetted guests and I was hosting in the last century when we didn’t have the luxury of even knowing their name until they knocked on the door, suitcase in hand.

I’ve done both over the years and I’ve found that financially, one is really no better than the other. But each brings along different problems though. It depends on whether you see yourself as a host or a landlord. The two are pretty different.

34

Hi, yes… that seems to be what I’m learning and people are telling me.

Myself, I’ve been a landlord for about 4 or 5 years, and I’ve hosted students for about 10 or 11 years.

Being a landlord was awful, but it was an investment house in a rough part of a town. The landlord tenant act in British Columbia, Canada is a pain the **** for landlords as far as I’m concerned.

I think being a landlord in my current house would be easier, so long as I pick a tenant wisely.

The last 4 years at my house were going great. I was hosting Japanese students, and they were almost always a pleasure to have around.

Then covid came along and many of them went back to Japan.

Not really wanting to be a landlord again, and wishing that the Japanese students would be coming back… a few months went by and nothing much happening.

So I thought OK, I’ll try my hand at short term rentals.

I have a good guest at the moment, but as it seems to be, that at the moment, it’s no longer travellers using short term rentals. I don’t think it’s the best time for me to be doing it.

I may just rent it out by the month. When covid is over/less travel restrictions, maybe that’s the time to try it again.

I like the idea of being a host, and I can weather a bit of a storm here and there. But of the short time I’ve done it, it’s got off to a bad start. But I’m still open to the idea of it.

I’m trying to figure out my next move. Landlord? Short term host? Wait it out and see if I can host a student or 3 in the meantime?

It’s hard to know which option to pursue.