Is It Appropriate to Create 'Agreements' on the Fly Before Booking in a Pet Situation like This?

@HostAirbnbVRBO
You know, if they’re after the same dates around July 4, you could temporarily block those dates and maybe they’d go away and pick on someone else. You wouldn’t have to keep track of who X,Y or Z is.

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You are on the property. Why do you need a deterrent? If they overstay you just go up there and start cleaning and then they will leave. You don’t have to wait until they leave to start cleaning. Once the checkout has passed you can go in and start cleaning.

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Well, unless they had told me otherwise, I would not have assumed for one second that the host would be okay with accepting a pet to a no pets listing, simply because the host was out-of-town. Seems quite unprofessional for a co-host to take it upon themselves to entertain the thought of accepting things that are against the host’s rules without asking the host first .

If I were a co-host and thought that for some reason the host might be willing to waive a rule, I would tell the guest that I had to consult the host about that, not carry on messaging with the guest as if something that clearly violates house rules might be okay as long as they told me what they think I want to hear.

By not consulting the host first, you wasted your own time, the guest’s time and the time of everyone who responded here, because the entire situation was a non-starter.

If I had serious misgivings about a guest, I wouldn’t come up with a whole bunch of threats to try to dissuade them, I would just decline to accept them.
And if I only had some questions, the answers to which might set my mind at ease, I would just dialogue further with the guest.

All these made-up rules on the fly as deterrents is just playing games. I have better things to do with my time than waste it playing games in order to avoid declining or trying to ensure guests follow rules.

Besides, this was just an inquiry. They might have sent the same inquiry to a dozen other hosts. You seem to have assumed that they really wanted to book at your listing specifically, which may not have been the case.

Yes, probably.

Our check-out letter says that we and our cleaners will enter at 10 am, the checkout time.

The scenario I was considering was one in which the guests just don’t leave even though I’v entered the Airbnb unit, admittedly an unlikely scenario but one I do not disregard (especially if it’s six guys in their 20’s). In that scenario it might be very time consuming, with getting the police, making a statement, etc. I’d like to deter that possibility, however remote.

LOL.

Well, the Host’s conclusion was based on a lengthy discussion today based in part on the discussion I’ve had on this forum. In fact, she said she was glad she was unavailable last night because she might have said ‘yes’ then but now it’s a firm ‘no.’

No, I didn’t assume that they ‘really wanted’ to book this listing; sounds like something you’ve made up.

I did and still assume that the probability that someone will travel here (we generally don’t take locals) and leave on July 4th by 10 am is low.

I take most inquiries seriously (this one was for ~$1,700, which is not a trivial amount for us) and I try not to make assumptions about what other people know, think and ‘really want’.