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I am an “in home” host. I rent one private room/bath that is at the opposite end of the hall from my personal bedroom. Guest slept with his door open/ajar. Would you mention this in your review of him?
Maybe not a big deal, but it was very frustrating as he would turn in way earlier than me, so there is noise and light coming in his room as I’m moving around. I felt like like a guest in my own home, having to creep around in the dark. The wood floors and steps creak (which I mention during “the tour”, and recommend the “white noise machine”, which he didn’t use.) I felt like my freedom was restricted, and also it was just weird that I had to avert my eyes, lest I see into his room as he sleeps.
I’m very quiet once guest(s) turn in for the night, but this was impossible to pull off with an open door and I’m pretty sure I woke him at least once.
I’m fearing a bad review b/c he left abruptly in the morning, last day of his stay, didn’t leave a note, didn’t make coffee, or take the free “Kind” bars that I left for him. Everyone takes those.
Otherwise he was an all-around great guest and I enjoyed talking with him, he was pretty social…Soooo what would you all do?
***I will say the noise was a bit more than usual on his last night b/c I had a client (other job) that was traveling internationally and kept texting with changes to his project. I was having to keep getting up, and going downstairs to my office as he had a tight deadline.
I probably wouldn’t. It was his own choice to leave it open. Like the other poster said, if he complains about being disturbed you can matter of factly respond that if you feel the need to.
@Sarah_39 and @GardenGnome, thanks for the input. The reason I might politely add this to the review, as a heads up to his future in home hosts. And no, not for air circulation. There is a ceiling fan and 3 windows he could open. Air circulation not an issue.
If I was booking someone, and saw this in a review as a host, I would know to emphasize to the guest to PLEASE keep door shut while you sleep as we don’t want to wake you. (Or something to the effect.)
I want to add this to the review for other in-home hosts, not to personally slam him… He was a good guest otherwise.
With relative strangers in the house? I definitely sleep with the door shut for privacy sake. I certainly wouldn’t sleep in a hotel room with the door open. Can you elaborate on this?
In a hotel there will be circulated air from the air con and they have some sort of security.
At home I sleep upstairs and I need to be able to hear what is happening at night… come from when my kids were small and I didn’t want them climbing stars at night
Why wouldn’t I mention to him on review? I planned on mentioning that we enjoyed his company, clean, quiet, blah blah, I was going to make a small polite diplomatic note at the end of the review about the door being open.
This is why I’m asking folks here. I’m not trying to bash him, but just give a heads up (as per this forum) to future hosts in a shared home. And I’m not hell bent on that, so I can just as easily leave it out…but would like it on record I guess, for the potential bad review in regards to slight late night noise.
Or are you asking why I didn’t mention “the door” to him while he was here?
I was planning on talking to him about the door being open and apologizing if he was awakened by my up and down the stairs (I was a church mouse, but creaking of the house is beyond my control) but he left REALLY early, and slammed the front door. I talked to him so much during his stay that I knew that he didn’t have anywhere to be in the morning and we discussed late check-out. So yes, I was going to communicate this to him but did not get the chance.
As an aside…Last night of his stay, he wanted to book additional night with me but I was already booked.
We have air-conditioning. (whole house swamp cooler to be exact, vents in bedrooms as well. it keeps us quite chilly and the air is fresher than air-conditioning.) I guess we are the security, and on the same floor down the hall. I’m sorry, I understand your need for the open door sleeping, but not if I was a guest, in his particular situation.
I really just posted this to find out thoughts on how others would feel and review. This is not a life altering issue for me. I just want to do the right thing for all parties concerned, which includes potential future hosts.
I would definitely not mention anything about it in the review. Who cares if his door was open? If he was bothered by any noise you were making, that’s on him to get up and shut the door. You shouldn’t have to tiptoe around your house. But on the flipside, if it bothers you that a guest would sleep with the door open, put it in your house rules that it needs to be shut at night.
Why not put in your rules and a sign on the door of the bedroom that for consideration of others in the home, we request that you keep your door closed when inside. (Probably can be better worded.)
I’ll be very shocked if I was dinged for leaving my room ajar/open during bedtime. Unless it’s a house rule to keep the door closed, which should be included in the listing description, the guest has done nothing wrong (unless he was sleeping half naked).
Plus, even hotels don’t mandate you close your door.
Some people have quirks about sleeping with windows or doors open. Some even like the bustle of an “awake household”, in the same way some folks like falling asleep with the TV on. Obviously the noise from the hallway wasn’t enough to override his preference or he could have gotten up to close it.
You may be reading too much into the slammed door and early departure. I’ve certainly been in situations where the wind caught the door or otherwise caused noise without intent.
As humans we’ve developed complex language abilities and reserving a shared listing should require we use them if there’s an issue. Make a house rule if it really bothers your enjoyment of hosting, but I’ve got to imagine it’s a rare occurrence and would let it go.
I probably will leave it out since that’t the consensus here. I wouldn’t call it a “ding” though. I was going to write something like this:
“XYZ was a great guest, we enjoyed blah blah, obeyed house rules…Yada yada. We hope that XYZ slept well here, as he kept his door open at night and we do share a common hallway to guest/host bedrooms”
I was inconvenienced all three nights, but I should really be looking at it as though I inconvenienced myself (first two nights when his room was open, I went to bed really early and brought my laptop to bed with me so as not to disturb him.) I guess I just shouldn’t have let it bother me and gone about my merry business. As you’ve said, he could just shut the door, so it was not “on me” if he was disturbed by light/noise/movement.
I don’t think adding that to house rules is necessary, no one reads them, it’s never been an issue, and sounds a bit controlling. I don’t even think I want to add it to my meet and greet spiel because I’ll just sound like an idiot to most. “Of course we will sleep with our door closed, duh.”
And no on the signage as well. I hate (controlling) signage/rules and only provide where it is (or has proven to be) necessary.
As for the early morning departure, I could be jumping to conclusions, but he wanted late check out (I generally don’t allow but was willing to make an exception) I was just waiting to hear back from the guests checking in as to what time they would be arriving, so we agreed to figure it out in the morning.
I would go for this. As a host in my own home, I would really want to know about this guest leaving their door ajar. I have one room with it’s own staircase at the other end of the house where it wouldn’t be a problem, but the other rooms are up the same one as us, with a shared landing. Thus this would let me know which room to put him in. I would feel inconvenienced by having to creep about like a church mouse, as we’re often up late. And I do find his abrupt departure a tad odd.
Ahh, @Joan I hadn’t even considered a scenario such as yours. Do you think I worded this right? Again, I don’t want to slam this kind, older, gentleman, but I sure would like this heads up from another host if I were going to be entering into a similar situation with another guest.
I’m soaking up the advice here. Thanks to all. This is such a small issue, I’m not obsessing (much) I probably will post that comment on the end, but if someone has better wording I’m all ears.
I probably will post that comment on the end, but if someone has better wording I’m all ears.