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We discovered that when you take a bath, the bathtub drain will leak, but not when you shower. It’s weird, I know, right? When we bought the house we noticed the kitchen ceiling sheetrock had been replaced under the tub is upstairs. There would be some leaking occasionally, so we regrouted and caulked the tiles and tub. Our recent guest is taking baths and it’s leaking again… a lot. Perhaps the pressure from the water in the tub is leaking from the pipe where the drain is closed. I’m no plumber, but shower = no leaking, bath = leaking.
So, we asked our guest to take a shower instead, but day 3 he took another bath. I came home to a puddle of water in the kitchen, again. Perhaps there’s some medical reason he needs to take baths and not showers. A sensory issue, can’t stand upright for long periods, who knows. We make no claim to be an accessible home whatsoever. Nothing about our house is universally accessible - there are stairs everywhere! So when a perfectly seeming able-bodied 20-something-year-old man keeps taking baths against your instruction, it just seems odd (but I guess telling someone how to bathe is odd, too, but not if it’s causing damage, right?). I know that’s an assumption on my part, but when he seems to briskly bound to and from his car 4-5 times, up to the room and back. Or goes back and forth from his room to his car 2-3 times when he returns at 4 a.m., he seems quite able-bodied.
He booked 16 nights and it’s already is becoming a bit of nightmare scenario. If he keeps choosing to take baths, do I bill him the kitchen ceiling repairs? His booked-the-day-before booking made no mention of a daily 4 a.m. routine. We’ve started to decline guests who ask if getting up and leaving that early. We’re not a hotel.
Anyway, part rant, part getting concerned that this now non-responsive guest might make the next 13 days grueling for us, and potentially destroy our kitchen ceiling.
If the bathtub is an amenity and photographed/mentioned in the listing, then I’d expect to be able to use it.
But if you explained the problem to him and he still persists, then he’s being unreasonable. Did you add your request for him to shower only in the Airbnb message system? If so, reiterate it now, noting that he has been using the bath.
I’d ask him why he is being unreasonable. It’s a strange request on your part but easy for him to do.
I think you should have properly fixed your bathtub so it doesn’t leak. The guest should probably listen to your instructions. But this situation should never have occurred in the first place.
I would take the guest downstairs and show him your ceiling and explain that his using the tub is doing significant damage. Also, remind him that you only recently became aware of the problem and that it appears to need immediate attention since he is causing additional damage.
Tell him that you can either schedule the repair for during his stay or after he leaves. If it’s during his stay, it will mean there will be no baths for x-number of days so his reservation will have to be cancelled due to the emergency repair. However, if he agrees to use only the shower so there is no more damage, you will allow him to stay.
Get it fixed. The shower is probably also leaking just beneath/behind walls & floor. Your entire ceiling is going to come down one day (hopefully not with a guest in the tub!).
Yes, I left that part out. When he came downstairs yesterday to use the kitchen, he immediately noticed water dripping on his head and I asked him to take showers until we could get the this fixed. Came home to another puddle today. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
One can never be sure about leaks. Leaks are sneaky things. They like to do their damage quietly yet throughly and painfully… like Chinese water torture. Drip. Drip. Drip.
Whaat?! Don’t you live downstairs…in the same house?! What’s with all the “messaging”? For crying out loud, you have an active leak that is affecting the foundation of the floor above you.
How about leaving a note on his door and specify everything you need to say. Then you’ll know he got it.
You state, “…there’s going to be a problem unless he chooses to take a shower.” Uh, yeah…there already is a problem. You need to give him some ultimatums.
I have to change my stance in this from what I wrote earlier.
Josiah, you have an emergency on your hands.
Maybe we don’t have the whole story…but if I had a leak like that coming through the ceiling from plumbing in another part of the house, I would be immediately asking Air to relocate that guest so you can tend to this emergency. This is major, it’s serious and you should stop worrying about showers versus baths and call a contractor as soon as you possibly can.
Given this chap’s agility with regard to going out to his car etc, I’m wondering if he may be an energetic bather, and is slopping water over the top of the bath as well you having a leak. I had a similar issue last year, with a slow leak where a pipe had become dislodged (difficult to find), and an energetic guest flooding the floor tiles. In any event, speak to him in no uncertain terms, as advised.
We spoke the first time about it. The water even dripped on his head. I like to document my communication in the Airbnb messaging system, but yes, a note and/or phone call will be next. Since he’s been leaving midday and returning after 4 am, our paths just aren’t crossing, except Mon bc it was a holiday and I was home. I have a conventional 9-5 job.
And concerning the early morning routines, that would have been helpful to know ahead of time. We actually think it’s quite unfair to a host to be woken up at such ungodly hours. This morning we think he came back around 3:30 am, and we could still hear him moving about at 7 am - when we usually get up. Now I’m not sure I should grind my morning coffee - but I need my coffee after these sleepless nights! :-/
It is not too much to ask a guest to shower if you only just discovered the issue, but even then I would refund him something for the inconvenience of not being able to bath as he wants.
Why aren’t you focussing on fixing the leaking bath? Surely that should be your priority.
Yes it is annoying that the guest is using the bath. But I really don’t understand why you aren’t getting a professional out to fix the problem. You know this is an ongoing problem not fixed by your DIY efforts.
