We recently had our most demanding guest ever, and he has not left a review (has four days left).
To give you a sense of his requests – to be fair, I live downstairs from the unit and did not discourage him:
o He’s from FL and asked for gloves and a hat. I provided these and also a neck gaiter.
o He called me up because he could not find a can opener. I immediately opened the second drawer on the left of the cooktop, and voilà, it was there. [There’s also one in the top drawer to the right of the cooktop and we do provide a list of all that is provided and which drawer everything is in.]
o The clock on the cooktop showed :23 left and he wanted it to show the correct time. Mind you, there’s a clock above the washer/dryer, another in the coffeemaker and a third on the cooktop, all visible in the kitchen. I always make sure that they are synchronized to the minute. But he had touched the clock and somehow re-set its mode. I set it in an instant and reminded him that the QR code for the manual is on a sticker on the cooktop but he said it was faster to ask me.
o He thought that the heat in the bedroom was not working though he noted it was working earlier. I pointed out that the fireplace was on, that the hall (where the thermostat was located showed 75 but the heat was set to 72, so the heat in the bedroom would not be on. “Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” he said. I reminded him from the orientation that the beds each have two bed warmers. “Oh, yeah.”
o We offer to take in groceries for people (no charge) and suggested that they use InstaCart or a similar service. He said he was having trouble with the system and could I just order it, provided a list and he’d reimburse me – which I did.
o He had an empty box for beer and asked what people do with that. I said they usually break it down and put it in one of the three recycling bins. He asked if I could 'take care of it." I took it for him.
o He texted to say that maybe the fireplace ran out of gas because it was off and was making a noise, like a fan is running. I pointed out that he had set it thermostatically and the temperature had been reached, at which point the fireplace turns off, that it runs on natural gas so it would not run out, that the fireplace was just cooling off and its fan would eventually turn off. He texted later that I was right.
o He asked if it was OK to smoke in the house! The listing says early on: “For non-smokers. No smoking inside or outside.” And the VRBO title of the property is “For Non-Smokers . . .” → I cut him some slack (his family member was critically ill, with a large tumor on his liver; family member since recovering (so far), though slowly) to say he needed to smoke outside.
o In the orientation he insisted that the listing showed the property as having two bathrooms; I pointed out it shows just one.
o Hearing him walk in shoes I reminded him that shoes are not to be worn in house. He responded to write that that should have been in ‘all caps’ in the listing, that he has toe separators and orthopedic shoes. I texted that in that case he should wear his shoes. Our texts crossed and to his credit he said he was sorry and that he would try the slippers we provide, but I said I ‘nicely insist’ he wear his shoes since he has feet issues as even though it might not hurt him now, his feet might ache later. He wore his shoes, which was fine.
o I actually could go on.
Mid-way he texted to say he was grateful for my help but in the end, he left no review (so far), but did text me “Thx.”
He’s actually a semi-famous person, in Time magazine etc., and I could see that he was just used to people doing things for him, so I let it go (that and a critically ill family member) but a little surprised about no review.
So it happens, no review, sometimes even when you go the extra mile and every mile in between.
