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My husband and I are superhosts. We recently met another superhost who lives a few miles from us, in a different city. After meeting this host, I realized that this host is the one a friend in that neighborhood complains about. Our friend says that quite a few neighbors are grumbling about this host for two reasons. First, the host doesn’t keep up the yard. It’s mowed regularly but very weedy, and flowerbeds are overgrown and unkempt. (The rest of the neighborhood is manicured). Second, although the host lives at the home, the host travels most of the time and rents several rooms to long-term guests. Because the host isn’t often home to oversee, the host is apparently unaware that the police have been called about the property and the guests several times for disturbances and noise. At least one neighbor has attempted to talk to the host about the issues, but the host has shown no interest.
The neighbors in that area are considering complaining to the city.
I don’t know this host well at all. From the short time we talked with this other host, I’d say that the host wasn’t very honest in representing to us how the neighbors respond to that particular Airbnb home. The host intended to keep the Airbnb business a secret from neighbors, but they know and are very unhappy about it.
Should I tell this host about what’s going on in that neighborhood?
Well, the host told us in our brief discussion that the police had never been called. But the police have been there three or four times when the host was out of town. I assumed that meant the host didn’t know.
A neighbor offered a referral to an inexpensive landscaper, and the host walked away without responding. The same neighbor mentioned that the guests have been loud on several occasions. The host again walked away without responding.
My concern is that I don’t want communities around me to start regulating against Airbnb. There’s nothing like that so far in the metropolitan area where we live.
This other host is in a small, very upscale community. It might not take much in their area for anti-Airbnb regulations to appear.
We happened to meet the other host at an unrelated event, and we just got talking about being Airbnb hosts.
That host asked us about how our neighbors respond to our Airbnb. We said that we’ve been up front with the neighborhood since before we started Airbnb. Our neighborhood has an online page on social media where we communicate about a lot of things. Our neighbors know that we’re always home when we have guests. They are so supportive that they’ve booked rooms from us for their own visitors whom they can’t accommodate. And we’ve had several open houses for neighbors so they can see our Airbnb accommodations. Our neighbors actually love it.
The host asked if we’ve had any trouble with neighbors complaining or calling the police. We said no. The host said the same, but I subsequently found out that isn’t true.
No, that host’s guests aren’t friends. They don’t know each other. They tend to be long-term guests (several weeks or months), according to what the host told us.
If I were going to talk to the host it wouldn’t be in the vein of “I heard this or that” hearsay stuff. It would be more in line of “disinterested, absentee hosts are likely to piss off neighbors who will then turn to the government for help and once the government gets involved it’s unlikely to be in favor of hosting.”
There is a place on airbnb for neighbors to report bad hosts such as this one. It’s everyone’s interest to get him to shape up or ship out.
I don’t - you are putting another hosts livelihood at risk based on hearsay. How would you like it if another random host did that to you?
You say this host is a superhost so they must be doing something right .
In the nicest possible way you need to mind your own business. One dodgy host isn’t going to lead to Airbnb being banned in your area.
If your friend is concerned they should complain to their local gov noise people and look on Airbnb Help. There is a link they can use to report bad hosts as a neighbour
I can’t think of one good reason to get involved in this dispute. There’s no way that one bad host could spoil things for anyone else. And if this ‘bad’ host is a superhost then can they really be so very bad?
You could be cheeky and ask her if she knows this other host everyone is complaining about who has had the police out to their place several times. Most innocent people would want to find out more but if they pretend it sounds like people making things up then that is definitely her.
Some people are not as yard-proud as others. This will not change if she stops hosting Actually it will leave her with fewer resources to beautify her yard
If her renters are long term educate your neighbors that Airbnb hosting is short term (in general) and long term roommates will/can continue even if they restrict STR s
If you are concerned about legislating STRs out because of her situation, you may wish to remind complainers this will not change with STRs being legislated out
