Noted. And thanks. I will count my loses from now on and purchase utem that will not cost much to replace. So that way, I do not have to make a claim at all.
At this point, I am not even sure how to “mend” this. I wish I came to this forum earlier while the guest was still at the listing. The best thing that I should have done would have been to ask guest to leave after I noticed all the traffic and violations of my rules.
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Aw, c’mon, cut her some slack. It is an excuse- tons of new hosts have no idea how to handle bad guest situations. And Airbnb’s rhetoric leads new hosts who’ve never followed hosting forums before to assume the company will support them.
I had a couple of situations when I first started hosting that I really wasn’t sure how to deal with. I followed my intuition and dealt with it in the moment and it worked out fine, and it didn’t occur to me to involve Airbnb.
But I’m 71 years old, had had a fair amount of experience with long term renters, and am not confrontation-averse. Not everyone is like that.
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Lots of people do. As in life we learn, we put on our big girl knickers and then we go on and do better.
Maybe raise your price a bit. Also sounds like you are doing longer term. When someone talks about “moving in” that sounds like a tenant, not a guest. An extra $5 a night will pay for a lot of towels and mops.
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Yep, wish we could put together a swag bag for new hosts filled with self-confidence, tough love, nip-it-in-the-bud problem solving skills, don’t-sweat-the-small-stuff antiperspirant, a friendly-but-no-nonsense persona, and big-person pants.
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What are your thoughts on tenants as opposed to guests? Anything that I should bear in mind when deciding how long to accommodate guests/tenants??
- We all learn as we go along. We all make mistakes. Consider this a Lesson Learned that will make you an experienced host.
- There is ‘Tough Love’ on this board but it is good insight. I had similar initial overwhelming critique when I first posted here, when many people called me out for a review I should have written differently. Accept it; try not to be defensive. Because of it you WILL do better / differently next time.
- You are not alone. Even experienced hosts struggled at first. Attached is an experience I wrote about awhile ago. While I really didn’t know how to deal with it while it was going on, and I tried to rely on CS while it was happening, I learned my lesson.
- what I did RIGHT was to engage CS immediately and document everything on the message app, as it was going on, including screen caps from exterior cameras.
- After the event, I added to my house rules to give me legal and AirBNB recourse for future events, luckily never needed.
- I mentally prepared for how I would handle a future situation
Last bit of advice: Be prepared for a bad review. If you do get one, look over it carefully to see if there are any things that would warrant removal by AirBNB terms. While I didn’t have a review from the guest described below, she left untruthful commentary on the review I left her. AirBNB immediately removed it after I called CS; they did so because they had all the documentation of the event as it was happening to validate her false claims.
Good Luck. WELCOME to the forum.
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What are the tenancy laws where you are?
How difficult is it to get a tenant out?
One of the reasons I came to STR was a horror, hoarding, unwell tenant that took SIX months to remove and cost a fortune to go through the eviction process
The city allows for 30 days. I had a guest that booked my listing for almost 2 months through Airbnb. Great guy. A Nurse. He was helping with the COVID situation. I noticed that Airbnb paid me a month at a time. Is there a setting that allows hosts to determine the maximum LOS for guests at a time?
The last thing most new hosts probably think about when deciding whether to do str or not is “Do I have conflict resolution skills?”
They concentrate on getting place spiffed up, taking photos, writing the listing ad, and just assume that guests will all be respectful and appreciative.
I’ve read so many posts from new hosts who have an objectionable guest who say “I really hate confrontation”.
A person who can’t deal directly with situations that may come up because they just have a character that shies away from any conflict either shouldn’t consider hosting, or should take a course on assertiveness and conflict resolution.
People who don’t have a problem standing up for themselves don’t usually look at doing so to be “confrontation”, but more like “taking care of business”.
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You choose your length of stay in your settings. Mine is set at 28 days.
I have a current guest whose accommodation is being paid by her insurance due to her home being flooded. I am moving her between my listings to keep her under 30 days. If she goes over 30 days, I can’t charge our version of VAT and she gains tenancy rights.
I don’t want to be a landlord. I want to be in the hospitality business. I have a limit of 18 days on my listing. I had one local guy (in the military) who stayed several times. Then he asked to stay 6 weeks with his dog. I said yes and he paid cash directly to me. His dog was one of the ones who caused damage. I also had to tell him the first weekend that the place couldn’t be the crash pad/hang out place for all his on post buddies. He left after a month but paid for the 6 weeks. He just said something came up and he wouldn’t be coming back. Anyway, that reinforced that I don’t really want a tenant. Also, my room is attached to my house, it’s not a separate entire house. So it’s not for me. My favorite guest arrives after dark and leaves before sunrise. LOL.
If you get a squatter who won’t pay after 30 days you will be stuck and Airbnb won’t be able to help you even if they wanted to.
Can the police be involved in this instance? I mean, I know they can be but not sure if they can make the tenant leave.
In the US the police generally don’t get involved unless a criminal activity occurs. Tenancy laws are civil, not criminal.
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Gotcha…I will look more into this topic. Thanks
I had to go through a tribunal process that eventually involved the sheriffs and I had to have a valid order of eviction. I had to have a locksmith lined up to immediately change the locks and a Removalist to take her possessions. I had to pay a month of storage. This was not a cheap or easy process, particularly when the local housing services are working against you and appealing every ruling for the eviction.
Oh wow!! I cannot imagine how that must have been like for you.
Maybe you’re familiar with this Riverside CA nightmare and how long it took the owners to claim what they paid for.
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Horrific. I got some pointers from everyone. Will change my settings.
Definitely. I followed multiple Airbnb forums before the pandemic and there was a definite upward trend in specific bad behaviors. The word of how specific bad behaviors achieve desired results for AirBnB guests is spreading.
I would consider these rewards:
- Getting a free stay after making up a story about cleanliness, safety, discrimination, etc.
- Not paying for accidental or intentional damages simply by not agreeing to pay.
- Bringing a pet to “no pets” listing simply by saying the pet is a “service animal.”
I’ve seen many posts where hosts say that the quality of guests has gone down over time, but I have not personally experienced it.
