Is a bad review enough, or would you charge for breaking house rule?

Still on the fence about this one. Guest snuck a pet in with them, and my listing says in multiple places that we can’t have animals in the house due to severe allergies. They were a younger crowd (mid-20s, I would guess) that obviously thought the rules didn’t apply to them. Didn’t even try to hide it. Left a soggy and smelly litter box (cardboard shoe box!) sticking out of the top of the kitchen garbage can.

I did already leave a scathing review, but I’m still on the fence about charging them. Would you be satisfied with giving them the consequence of just a bad review, or would you add a monetary punishment on as well? And how much?

I suspect that hosts will all feel very differently about this one!

Personally, no I wouldn’t. Once a guest has gone, it’s over for me and I don’t want to expend any more energy on them - I just want to move on. But that’s just me…

I’d give them a very bad review though.

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Unless you have the penalty $$$ in your listing, Airbnb wouldn’t back you up. I think you could potentially have a damages claim though, and get to cash in on your security deposit.

The questions you have to answer are: Is the person (or you) who has severe allergies having an allergy attack? Is there an odor of cat urine? Is there anything you can find to take a picture of other than the makeshift litterbox?

Who travels with a cat?

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People have asked that here before and each time, I’ve owned up that I do. :slight_smile: :cat2: :slight_smile: :cat2:

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Put it in your house rules what the penalty is. I call it pet deep cleaning fee of $200 and state that their reservation will be cancelled.

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Yeah, they will. I’ve already talked to them about it, and they said I can charge whatever I want because they clearly broke a house rule. I do have pictures of the litter box and the plant that was dug in/chewed on. There was a urine smell in the house when I was there to clean, but I haven’t been there in a few days, so I’m not sure if it’s resolved or not. My daughter is the one with severe allergies + an immune disease, and she helps me clean. Luckily, she wasn’t helping on the day these guests checked out.

Wow! I’ve had Air back down on late check-out charges because I didn’t have it listed in the rules. So you initiated a claim and Air is allowing a “blank check” on extra cleaning? Do you have to provide receipts to substantiate the claim?
I had a guy take a knife and rip my couch and Air wouldn’t allow me to claim reupholstering the entire couch they would only let me claim 1 cushion even though he stained all the others with bodily fluids and such. But that was a few years ago…

The French take theirs on holiday with them. I used to find it really funny seeing them stop for a pee, with a cat on a lead.

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I have a pet friendly listing and have had several people who travel with cats including a booking coming up in mid January.

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Reading this I just added to my house rules which already prohibits pets

$250 fee charged for undeclared pets.

RR

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Well if they said you can charge whatever you want submit a £1 million bill then :wink: :blush: :smile:

How will they learn that the rules apply to every one if you don’t enforce them?
I would eviscerate them in the review and charge as well!
Entitled inconsiderate life threatening assholes!

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Awe the pet issues. I have a “dog” friendly chalet and apartment which has very specific house rules concerning “puppies” and cats since I have had bad experiences. So I charge a pet fee for “each” pet and have had a very few guests cancel because of the fee. I had a guest “lose” their cat that I did not know they had at my chalet in Canada and blame me for it - I sorted that one out with “What cat are you referring to since you didn’t inform us you were bringing a cat and here is your pet fee and so on.” I would charge for breaking a “No Pet” house rule as I would for my “No Smoking” house rule which also indicates what the charge would be for cleaning out smoke from my property or pet hair, etc. We really do learn over time since my house rules are so strong and state “you will be asked to leave if you smoke or bring a puppy or cat to our property” and now guests have not tried to break our house rules since I put in some very detailed consequences for bad behaviour–

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That’s kind of what I’m leaning toward. On one hand, I wasn’t necessarily harmed by them bringing the pet (although my daughter hasn’t been in the house since, so we’ll see.) But on the other hand, I feel like if I don’t slam them with a fee large enough to make them regret it, they’ll just do it to the next host.

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And if your daughter had gone in? Gone into anaphylactic shock? Where would she be now?
You said no animals repeatedly in you description and rules. You have explained why.
I would be beyond furious that some one had put anyone of mine at risk!

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Although I understand that you would be very concerned for your daughter if she had come into contact with said cat, I don’t think it’s relevant in this case. You say “No pets” and that means “NO PETS”! How difficult is that to understand?!

It’s a straightforward flouting of your rules and although I usually err on the side of giving guests some leeway, this is quite clear. A bad review certainly … whether you can actually get them to pay up as well is doubtful, I think.

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Charge them – A $200 “deep cleaning” fee does not sound unreasonable.

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Yes, possibly. That’s why I mention it so many times in my listing and in my rules.

:astonished: Thats crazy ! Were you hosting a meth-addict?

Sounds horrible both him and Air’s response!

I agree with charging a fee as you’ve stated you have :

Update house rules and hope it doesn’t happen again or charge them straight ahead the next time it might happen