I rent a room in my small home and there is a guest bathroom and I allow guests to use microwave to heat up simple meals but the listing is clear that they are entitled to use the rented room and bathroom and I live in the space and it is small, Current guest said when he booked he was arriving late Friday night and staying until Sunday morning and was in town for a dance show. Sounds great so far. He hasn’t broken rules with regard to check in time or anything but I need to stick to my space rules because after arriving he promptly asked if he could sit at the kitchen table (ten feet from where I hang out in my recliner) to study for finals and I said fine. That was at 730 last night and he literally was up all night sitting there on his laptop and hasn’t moved except to use the toilet. The lights above the table were on and it kept me awake and I could not shut my door because my cats and dog like to wander around and dont want to be in or out of my room all night. It is now 1:30 in the afternoon and he hasn’t gone to any dance show or left for food or anything. WTF. The lesson here for me is I need to flat out say no when people ask to sit at the table. I never imagined he would park his ass there for 16 hours and not leave. They get to use the rental room, which has a comfy chair as well as the bed, and the bathroom and the kitchen to warm food up, that’s it. Geez. The reason it bothers me is he has a bad cold and is coughing and sniffling and won’t blow it out despite my giving him a box of Kleenex. I am going to get out of here just to not go nuts listening to him sniffling .Never again. Stupid me for allowing him outside of the strictly designated space, he will probably fucking park here until his 2 pm checkout on Monday.
That is truly maddening. I learned quickly that home sharing really wasn’t for me because I too value my privacy. And although 80% of guests are hardly there, the few who are like this guy make you want to stop hosting altogether.
I don’t know if the layout of your house is such that there is any way to put in a separate entrance and block off their access to the rest of the house but if there is any way to do so that can be your salvation.
Also simply not allowing use of the kitchen can help.
Thanks. Separate entrance isn’t possible due to the size and setup. Backdoor entrance leads to my garage and I’m not giving that up. Front door is through my front porch and into living room. It’s a typical small St Paul home. This is not worth it. I’m so irritated. Like you said the majority of guests stay in their rooms to crash and go to events in the city. He’s using my space as a coffee shop but he’s not drinking coffee. He didn’t sleep because my daughter and I were both up wondering Wtf. Why not find one of those? Or a library? Very odd. I asked him where and when the dance show is and he gave some details. When he leaves I will tell my daughter to put her study books all over the table. Ironically that’s where they were before he showed up but I asked her to move her books so we could have a place to eat lol. Never again.
So, you have a guest, who asked for an accommodation, you gave it, and you regret giving the accommodation.
And is leaving tomorrow.
I do not see a reason for anything but regret on your part. Take the money you have made and next time, do not allow, or say ‘ok until x hour’ sharing your common space.
Lights shining in your eyes are solved because you will give a curfew for anything done in common space.
Once a guest is paying for accommodation, it’s really none of our business. As long as they are clean and tidy and don’t make too much noise it really doesn’t matter. I don’t see any mention of his actually breaking any rules but you’re so angry. He asked to sit at the table, you said yes.
You sound affronted that his story about coming into town for a dance show might not be true. You even quizzed him about it.
You then go on to complain that he’s sneezing all over you but gave him a box of tissues instead of telling him to take his germs to his room. I’m astonished that you’re complaining when you were so lenient with him.
You’ll soon find out that guests do the most weird things. What’s weird to us (sitting in the same place for 16 hours) isn’t at all weird to them. It really does take all sorts - and they tend to head to Airbnbs 
He’s violated a house rule. Terms state that he is supposed to use a key to lock and unlock the front door. When he appeared to be leaving for the day, I said you have your key to use to lock and unlock? And he said yes. Then he walked out the door and didn’t like it. Not a big deal because I’m here but I’m leaving right now to and if I had left before him, my house would be unlocked.
And frankly it is my business what he’s here for because that’s part of the trust issue for me on Airbnb. I have every right to know why they’re going to be in town and when they are leaving. Especially if I allow him to use a space that is not considered part of the rental space. I learned my lesson. I won’t be doing that ever again.
I had once a guy who sat at the computer all day long. That was our dining table and we sat
there eating next to him, but he still didn’t move. He never even asked us if he can, just put his things there .
Then I told him , as nicely
as I could, I was pretty pissed at him by that time , to take it to his room. He looked at me confused and said: I can’t sit here ?
I said , it’s not that you are not allowed to sit here at all but definitely not for so many hours. We are forced to move around you. There are other guests at the house and they are now on their beds eating because you occupied dining room from morning.
That was the end of story. For the next 4 days we never saw him.
Then I had a guy who sat in my living room talking to his girlfriend on Skype. I just told him to not do this anymore. Then there was a girl who didn’t like the same movies as her mother and sat for hours in a living room watching her shows, until I told her that living room is mainly for our use and there is TV in her room.
I would tell your guest
that I didn’t realize it would take him so many hours and this is actually my personal space here and my favorite recliner where I chill and think and need to be alone, and hope he understands . Your life will go back to normal the same second .
I have regret but don’t expect anything else. Where did you get the idea that I do?
Just smile sweetly @lauras0323 and tell him you didn’t realise he wanted to use the table to study and he will need to do this in his room as it is disturbing others who share the space. Simple 
That is the most practical response to this. I will do that. Thank you for the tip!
Do you expect the guests to lock you inside your house??? I’d probably not lock the door if you are sitting right there, either.
Right now, set your house rules that guests can only use the common areas for very limited hours (say 4-6 pm) - or not at all except for travelling through them. And YOU need to tell them to leave if you don’t want them there. I’m with @jaquo - handing him the tissues instead of telling him to go into his bedroom is very passive-aggressive and doesn’t work in the AirBnB world.
I don’t see that this guy did anything horrible except do something other than what you wanted him to do.
@lauras0323, I get your frustration and I’m a bit taken aback at some of the negative replies you’ve received.
I have a similar set-up to yours (although my house is bigger) with a dining room and small kitchen attached. Guests are welcome to use it for breakfast or evening meal. In my early days I had similar experiences with guests sitting there for hours with their laptops. It got on my nerves too!
So I put a small desk and chair in the guest room so there is no reason for them to use the dining table. Can you do the same?
Speaking just for myself I’m more patient when I haven’t already been through this before. I don’t know if members of the forum have poor memories or don’t know that old posts are visible or what but…
Why not just tell him that you’d like him to study in his room late at night because the light and the noise is keeping you up?
Yep I limit dining room use from 7-9 a.m. and 6-8 p.m. due to exactly this issue.
Bloody hell, do you really think that we all go back and check on peoples’ previous posts? Or commit everything to memory??
I can’t speak for anyone else, of course, but generally I just take what I see. Yes, there’ll be the odd poster whose modus operandi is immediately apparent but it’s an open forum - people post what they post. If it makes you impatient, go for a walk or something.
Honestly, the guy just wants to study, and he’s paying to stay in your place. If you’re that annoyed by someone in your space, perhaps hosting is not for you.
I really dislike it when people jump to “perhaps hosting isn’t for you”. OP is happy to host when the guest primarily uses the room and bathroom they paid for. She’s only feeling put-upon because she’s allowed someone to push beyond her comfort zone. She needs support on how to better enforce her boundaries, not a dismissive “you’re not suited to hosting”.
@lauras0323 I’ve found it really important to put a time limit on most asks.
“May I use the kitchen table?”
“Yes, but we’ll need it for dinner, so please pack it up by 5pm.”
Same goes for late check-out, leaving luggage, borrowing bikes, etc.
I hadn’t had a chance to reply to this thread yet, but I was going to say: OP will want to enforce her boundaries if she is to continue hosting. She should become comfortable saying, “would you mind turning out the light now?”
Huh. Apply this to my posts as well then.