Hello fellow hosts!
Our house rules are pretty simple. No smoking is my biggest pet peeve. Our guests that just left had left a couple of cans of empty chewing tobacco along with
All the empty beer cans. I also found an empty cigarette package in the garbage. The place doesnt smell but I feel they broke the rules. They also left a hour late. I guess I’m asking advice for reviewing them.
They also didn’t communicate with us at all.
Thank you in advance
The place does not smell. It is a non issue then because they did not smoke in the house. I would like to know they checked out an hour late please mention it in the review.
RR
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I agree with RRR - there is no evidence they smoked in your home, and your house rule does not say “you can’t throw away an empty cigarette package in our trash”.
We have in our house rules " No cigarette butts in the trash inside the house" in addition to no smoking. I find the cigarette butts are as disgusting, if not more so, as the smoking itself.
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Not communicating is no problem - sometimes guests are like that. The smoking too isn’t an issue unless they left lots of dirty ash trays all over or other evidence. If the empty beer cans were in a garbage bag that’ okay but if they were strewn around then I’d mention it.
I’d want to know that they left an hour late if it was contravening what they’d been told although because you say they didn’t communicate at all, had they been told properly to vacate the premises? If they had and deliberately stayed an extra hour to inconvenience you then I’d definitely want to know.
Do people really still chew tobacco? Yikes!
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Hi Jaquo
At 11:15 am I sent a nice message about the 11 am checkout. They never responded to any of my three messages. Thanks to everyone for making me stop and realize that they possibly didn’t brake the rules. I’m going to add no tobacco chewing on my property.
It was so gross I found his spit bottle in the trash!
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Then I’d definitely want to know about the late check out - that was just thoughtless and best but probably simply rude.
Spit bottle! YUK!
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The spit bottle was in the trash? Really? You are inspecting the trash people leave? They put it where it belongs. No rule breaking. You seem a bit picy about this. No smell, etc… let it go.
It was lying on top of the trash when I opened the pail.
I definitely have better things to do than go through the
Trash😉 The thought of someone spittin chew in my property turns my stomach but hey that’s just my opinion!!
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Ah! You had said in the trash so of course I figured you were looking though it. Thanks for the clarification.
I go through the trash. I pull out recyclables for one thing. I’ve had cig butts placed in my trash and they do smell. I just had guests with an infant and used diapers reek less than cig butts.
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Timely topic.
Yesterday, while cleaning, I came across something I was unfamiliar with.
I messaged the guest with a photo to inquire if it was hers, and if so, if she wanted me to mail it to her. She replied it was her vape pen, apologized that it probably fell out of her purse, and that I could just toss it.
I have a no smoking, no drugs, no guns policy, and at first was slightly perturbed, but realized that:
- I didn’t know if they had used it in my guest house
- There was no smell or damage, and they left the place very clean, and were absolutely ‘no issue’ guests.
I often have to remind myself to look at the big picture, and not sweat the small stuff.
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Couldn’t agree more. I think also you need to compartmentalise things, when the guest has gone, they’re gone. I see a lot of folks on here asking for advice on how to review and some of the issues they have with guests come over as a bit personal, as opposed to being objective about the important things a future host would want to know (this isn’t aimed at the OP here by the way!).
We don’t host in our own home so maybe it’s different for those that do.
JF
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This most likely contains marijuana oil and the black part is the battery. It would have been illegal to have shipped it back to her. Vape pens tend to smell a lot less and the odor doesn’t linger but it’s still against your rules.
One of the great things about this forum is you learn a lot. Mostly, (imho) is to grow a backbone and set up house rules and enforce them. I have a deep cleaning fee for smoking (anything) in my rules. If you had that you might have been able to get that fee from Airbnb. Also I have no tobacco products in the house and no disposal in the house and no smoking outside the house on my property.
In regards to late check out, put in it your rules that there is a fee. I give my guests the option for a late check out (at no charge) if they ask in advance) and I have a sign (on pink paper) in a small easel on the table that states our check out times, policy and request for late check out.
In regards to communication, some folks do not download the app, don’t check the website and if they are foreign, they may not have access to a smart phone. Also, sometimes they do download but don’t set up push notifications. Unless it’s really important, I don’t worry. If I do need to contact them, I send them a text telling them that they need to check their aibnb account for an important message. Never communicate off the Airbnb site. It covers thy arse.
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Change your House Rule to:
NO SMOKING. NO VAPING. NO TOBACCO PRODUCTS ON THIS PROPERTY.
VIOLATORS ARE SUBJECT TO $100 FINE.
If you physically greet your guests, you can hand them a written copy of the House Rules, ask them to read them then and there, and sign that they agree to abide by the rules.
Reviews are not really for you. They are for your fellow Hosts to judge the quality of a potential guest. Your Review should always be simple, factual and impersonal:
“Guests violated house rules about smoking, and did not communicate with us, even when repeatedly queried.”
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The problem I have with a fine for smoking is that it’s the equivalent of a higher nightly rate. We rent out our whole house with a starting rate of $400US per night, and most guests stay a week. If I set a $250 fine for smoking and we have six guests that want to smoke, that fine is the equivalent of around $5US per day per person - or about the price of a pack a day.
So I have in our house rules that we can evict them for smoking.
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They were spitting into a can, not on your property. I do not smoke or chew tobacco but if I saw no chewing in your rules it would make me think you are a control freak. I would book elsewhere. These people are your guests not your children.
RR
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Have your house rule read that you’re a tobacco-free property.
Every host has to choose their line. For me, so long as it leaves no lingering odor after the garbage has been removed and bin deodorized, I really don’t feel it’s my place to tell adults what they can or can’t consume. Didn’t we have one host on here that wanted to screen guests who ate junk food?
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Great advise John. That’s exactly why I came here first before writing the review. The only "mistake " they really made was the late check out.
Thanks again for all of your honest opinions
why did you go through the trash? They didn’t break your rules except for leaving an hour late. I think you’re being a little judgemental about the chewing tobacco.
I go through the trash after my very first guest I was missing a butter knife. I think it must have went in the trash… I don’t go through it if its gross but I do look.
RR
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