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Now I’m just venting. Sometimes typing these things out helps…
My guest has now rung my doorbell and let me know he needs to go to a doctor. He has some sort of condition and isn’t feeling well. He has a new US phone but the SIM isn’t working. So he also needs to go to a T Mobile shop. I lent him a spare phone and asked him not to misuse it. Ugh. This is starting to look like an unpleasant day for me.
Godspeed!
Keep us updated.
The guest is still here, hopefully still alive. I asked about if he’s getting a rental car and I got an unintelligible answer. This stay is causing me a lot of anxiety and I’ve now blocked off tomorrow on the calendar. I’m going to need the day off.
Good call. Do you have any idea why he was coming to your city?
His profile says he’s “traveling through the US south and camping. He likes the desert nature and climate.” He’s been a member since Dec 2018 but has zero reviews. He also said he has a Doctor in Tucson who is treating him for his condition. A lot of people fly in here to start a trip down to Big Bend NP or to tour the national parks and monuments within a 120 mile radius.
But even in person he’s not very clear about his plans.
Possibly… or it could be that because you have so many easy uneventful bookings that when something goes wrong, it’s major. Kind of like a build-up of hosting karma or something! I’m the same. Everything goes boringly fine for ages and then… wham… I get a complete slam-dunk of absolute craziness.
This exact thing came up in conversation with a recent guest and I was recalling all the “interesting” people I’d had stay over the years. I wonder if it’s just that we are no longer phased by any odd behaviour?
Anyway, on topic, how long is this guest staying?
Hope he becomes more intelligible after a good sleep.
Just tonight. I’ve blocked tomorrow for now, depending on how tomorrow goes I may open it up after he has checked out if I get it turned over. It’s been quiet for a couple of hours so maybe all is well.
Hope so. Sometimes guests create a bit of drama before/on arrival and then it just all settles down, right? Like tonight I had some foreboding about incoming guests who booked last-minute (unusual for me). They said very little in their message apart from “is your room warm night and day because we are afraid of the cold”. Sigh. It’s relatively mild here tonight so I’m not inclined to put heating on full blast.
Next message is “Is there a supermarket near your home”. Sigh again. They’re only here for one night and they want to feckin’ cook??
On and on it goes all day with changing arrival times until eventually there is the message “I arrive” “Are you home”.
I go to the front door - nobody there. They’re at the wrong house. I see lost people with ENORMOUS suitcases across the street and go get them.
I’m just going to come right out and say it - they’re Chinese so I was expecting the full experience: lots of cooking, lengthy showers, wet towels and clothes draped all over the wooden furniture. That’s ok, done it loads of times before and my nice friendly teacher mode was switched on.
They’re sweet as pie, don’t want to cook, don’t even want to shower, they head home tomorrow at 5.30 am and checked with me whether it was ok to call an Uber to the house.
It’s good to get a wake-up call about pre-judging guests!
edit not trying to distract from your situation btw, just sharing stuff. One of the things I love most about this forum is how threads evolve.
Yeah, and my streak of 90% of my problems being older white men continues. At least I can’t host groups of old ladies traveling together.
Maybe, though, we sometimes see problems that aren’t actually there? I’ve hosted loads of Chinese guests and generally I love them. I just know that they like to cook and to take long showers. I’ve also hosted a load of older white men too and it’s no worse or better than anyone else. Apart from maybe fathers and sons… don’t know, some kind of dominance thing going on. I couldn’t care. I can’t even raise a bristle any more!
Yeah, I’m just being sarcastic for all the people who love to make sure the race, nationality, social status of the person gets mentioned in the description of the guest.
This guy is German but it’s only relevant in the context of flying from Germany, being delayed, no sleep, no luggage, no phone or computer, no health insurance for the US, etc. He wouldn’t have had most these issues if he were American.
Ah ok. I like to think of myself as completely non-discriminatory but … I’m human so it’s not completely possible. The social status thing REALLY annoys me, though. You still see this idea that “cheap prices attract low-quality guests” . Uggh, it’s the lowest form of snobbery.
I think that’s partly true due to guest snobbery, not just host snobbery. I had a guest tell me once that they almost didn’t book my place because the price was too low (that was when I was averaging $40 a night). He said he set the price range at no lower than 40 and so my listing just made the cut. I don’t know how many good guests feel that there’s a bottom price rental they aren’t interested in. I know I use the slider to set a bottom and a top because there are just too many rentals to choose from. I’m using all the filters I can.
Agree 100%! I myself am Extremely High-Class but a real cheapskate because, you know … champagne tastes but a beer pension …
OK, it’s late and I’ve had half a bottle of vino rosado but I’ll say it … he sounds like most of the German guests I’ve had (oddly, particularly the men.) Lovely people but neurotic as hell … the good thing is that once they’ve settled down and are reassured that they’re in reasonably safe hands they become real puppy dogs!
He’s the first true foreign guest I’ve had in months! I had a German guest in May but she was here to visit her local girlfriend. As you know 99.99% of my guests are fine. This fellow really seems odd.
Now he’s gone off in a taxi and left the door open and unlocked (there’s a screen door and that’s closed, not locked). 18 more hours to go.
You’ll survive! Just don’t add it to your funny stories too soon 
And if that’s what someone wants that easy book hotel is where they should go, or at least not choose an AirBnB listing with more requirements. 
Real problem comes when they only do the complaining in the review… 
At least she did let you know while on her way…that’s a start! 