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This is a bad bad guest. Coming home drunk and disorderly is worse than the AC demands. I don’t know why you were gentle asking them to quiet down. What crap guests.
But back to your question… you could make up something (sometimes little white lies are needed) saying it automatically shuts off at 74 degrees and you can’t override it. Sorry, old system. Or something. Just because you say it in the listing doesn’t mean they get to turn it on. They sound more like hotel guests to me.
I just had two guests leave, thank god, who were hot when it wasn’t hot. …the minute they got here went out and bought fans for the room and ran them full blast without telling me or even giving me the courtesy of knowing they brought appliances into the room . I do have box fans available but didn’t offer them because it’s not hot here! It was annoying that they ran these 24 hours a day, so I left a bad review, as it is in my house rules to conserve because our island has the highest electric rate in the country and they disregarded my rules… plus they had not only done that but had also done a few really other annoying things. Thumbs down,
I think you need to tell the guests if they come back drunk and disorderly to your home again they will be asked to leave. And then set your countdown timer and start composing your bad review.
When we began renting to International students many years ago, a more experienced landlord advised us to just assume our utility bills would double or triple. He was right. In doing Air we have tried to use the same attitude. If you offer, internet, central air, kitchen, laundry etc. we figure we should assume they will use it.
If it is in your listing that you have central air, it seems to be that debating how they use it is kind of putting yourself out there for a poor review if you debate with them.
If this is a big issue for you, maybe don’t advertise that you have it, and then it becomes a bonus and you can negotiate its use. My 2 cents!
What were they smoking? I host in Calgary and we (southern Alberta) have been under the heat wave warning for the past 3 weeks on and off. The high temperatures are anywhere from 77F to beyond 86F during the day. Having said that, it would be a good idea to invest in a new floor/table top fan and make it available to comfort people with odd temperature expectations. Also a good idea to improve the wording in your listing about running the AC beyond certain temperatures as @daniellealberta suggested to manage guest expectations and accuracy in your listing.
It is simply rude and obnoxious the way they behaved with your wife and please know that they do not represent majority of Calgarians! I would have kicked them out for yelling. Surprised you haven’t done that already. How long is their stay?
74 would be a little warm for me personally, but if your listing never stated anything about AC or ceiling fans I would have never booked it. Guests need to be accountable for their own bookings and this is my one biggest peeve with Airbnb guests that either a) don’t read the listing properly and then you’re stuck having to deal with a crap review or b) they just don’t care - book your place anyways whether it’s location or price or both and then bitch/complain about whatever after the fact.
No I was being sarcastic. Guests who know how air conditioning works would not walk into a room and turn the temperature on to lower 10 degrees and expect it to be cool to that temperature immediately. In fact, that is the fastest way to break the AC (and they have!). If you walk into a room that is 10 degrees hotter than your expected, then you either needed to have set the AC before you left and came back, or you need to lower the temperature a little, open some windows, and if its still not enough, lower the temperature some more. We have a three story house and people act like air is supposed to function the same way as if they are in a small hotel room. It’s ridiculous.
As I said, I’ve never lived in a house with air conditioning. I didn’t know that you have to lower the temperature incrementally. I would assume that you would set the thermostat to the temperature you want. That’s the way it works with heating.
That’s what we do with our air conditioners and central air in our old house… (turn it down to the temp we want it and slowly but surely itll just keep getting colder and colder). Granted, if the condenser is running constantly it could freeze up and the air that it’s blowing in, is not colder.
I struggle with this issue. I had no AC in the Catskills for years and years and successfully hosted, no complaint, but a few years ago we decided to get central air and MY GUESTS NEVER TURN IT OFF. I want them to live how they feel comfortable, but they are missing out. My cottage has TONS of windows and ceiling fans, and it is well-shaded by trees and having all the windows open is DELIGHTFUL! Bird song, crickets, the wind in the trees. Lordy, why do they even leave the city?
I am actually thinking of adding a sign encouraging folks to open the windows and use the fans.
I can control my AC remotely and my last guests kept putting it down to 63 and then leaving the sliding glass door open. I kept changing it to 70. Sorry, bad guest, no 63 AC. Just No. If they asked I was going to say it was programmed in.
I know you may not want to hear this but our neighbor has dreadful allergies and cannot tolerate open windows in their house even on the most delightful days so they run their heating and cooling all the time. This my be more of an allergy thing than a temperature one- just a thought.
I do LTR and also have international students (from hot, deserty climates.) They have individual mini-splits in their rooms and in the winter and spring they keep the thermostat at 80. At least now when it’s triple digits outside they don’t run the air!
Yes, that’s right. In fact, humidity is as an important factor as temperature. I have three things I take into consideration before shutting off the AC. Temperature, humidity and wind. If the temp and humidity are perfect, but there’s no breeze to blow the perfect air into the windows, then I leave the AC on.
If the temperature is fine, but the humidity is too high, I leave it on. Yesterday, all three things were working perfectly together. The temp and humidity were low and there was a perfect breeze blowing it straight into our windows.
Yesterday it was 74 degrees, a nice breeze and a little less than 50% humidity (which feels fine). Today, it was 76 degrees but the humidity was 75% so I turned the AC back on and it has been on all day.
Sorry to hear about your neighbor. That must be miserable. But allergies played no part here. It was all temperature related. If a guest was traveling and did have that kind of allergy, they’d be very smart to verify with the host that they could leave the AC on all the time. If they had told us something like that beforehand and I agreed to it, then I would have left the AC on with no complaints. But they haven’t said a word about allergies.
Yes! That would have been a great excuse to give them! It all happened so fast though, didn’t have time to think.
I wrote them a nasty message last night at 3 in the morning after it happened. Then I edited it for an hour taking out most of the vitriol and anger! I wrote it for the benefit of Airbnb to pre-empt anything they might say or do later.
In my original message I told them THIS IS NOT A HOTEL - THIS IS OUR HOME!!! Then I softened that quiet a lot and changed it to something like, ‘For a lot of first-time Airbnb’ers, it can be a little awkward realizing you’re not staying in a hotel but rather in someone’s home.’ That was basically to answer her for screaming at my wife last night, “I PAID TO STAY IN THIS PLACE AND I PAID TO HAVE AIR CONDITIONING!” Seriously, if I were a hotel employee, that wouldn’t bother me at all. But being that they’re staying in someone’s personal home, it’s way beyond how anyone should act. ESPECIALLY since she did have air conditioning!! As we turned it on after she complained.
All of our other guests have always been so respectful and kind (well, almost all). It’s just so surprising to get someone like this who is so clueless about the whole Airbnb concept. Yes, you’re paying, but you’re still a guest in someone’s home. And you’re not paying all that much compared to a hotel. She’s paying 3x less here than in a typical Manhattan hotel. And she’s paying 8x less than a hotel that would give her as much room space and living space as she has here.
The RN part of me is asking “why were your guests hot (or cold)”. Chronic conditions like MS or Diabetes can make a guest “run hot” or use of blood thinners or hypothyroidism will make them “run cold”.
Yes, it is your home. Should your description include “normal house temperature 72-76”?
Most new AirbnbERs are accustomed to a hotel with a room thermostat. The concept of sharing sharing the home and compromising isn’t on their radar.
Your response was said very nicely! I feel embarrassed on behalf of our country(wo)men that these clods are from Canada. @JonYork you need to point out to them that they are paying a fraction of the cost of staying in a hotel (New York is EXPENSIVE!).
There are 2 SEPARATE issues. You mentioned at 2AM that they were being noisy and disturbing your family and other guests. The biotch replied that she paid for A/C??!! What does one have to do with the other? She might have been tipsy, but obviously also stupid. You likely were up half the night after that wringing your hands and seething.
My policy is that when someone is rude, you reply in their “language”. I hope you tell them (when they are sober) that you’ll be cancelling the balance of their reservation in your very modestly-priced, Air-conditioned home if they are noisy again past 10PM.
I have to take their side here. Individuals have different requirements for heat and cold. Personally, I prefer my space to be warmer than others and am very uncomfortable with cold temperature. Since you share your house, if they ask for AC or heat then I believe you need to satisfy their request. Maybe for the future,you can provide a small room AC, fan, or heater.
My latest guest’s booked in yesterday, its summer here, temps in the high 70’s. So why did one guy ask me how to turn heating on? I told him heating isn’t provided in the summer.
