No smoking rule broken....how to handle

Well, had to happen after 170 plus guests…My listing clearly states no smoking ANYWHERE on the property. I have a tiny cabin on my farm, where I live in the farmhouse nearby.
Guests arrive Friday, on time, good communication. The primary gets out of the passenger side, her companion the driver’s side. The smell of smoke wafts over to me standing nearby.
Ok…so on to the cabin, where I go over the guest guide, and how things work, and I reiterate that, as per the listing, there is NO smoking anywhere on the property, no drugs and no excessive drinking. They assured me enthusiastically that this was fine with them, and that there would be no smoking. Obviously they must have known that the smell out of the car and on the person of the companion would be obvious.
They left this morning, without a text saying so, which in my situation and property is a bit unusual, but not a concern for me.
Just got over to the cabin to collect towels, sheets, etc, and opened the door and smell nearly knocked me over…Definitely smoked IN the cabin…The wet towels even stunk. It’s a small space, with two big windows and big door, windows were left open (thank goodness) and yet the smell was still overpowering…Airbnb was no help (surprise) as I was told I would need ‘video evidence’ that they smoked…am still laughing, sort of…
I do have their cell numbers, but really feel it’s pointless to ‘accuse’ or ask them point blank.

Any constructive thoughts will be appreciated. I really don’t want to tip them off ahead of the review process, in order to avoid a nasty negative review on their part…but…would like feedback if anyone else had run across this…and what you did to get the stink out. Thank goodness I don’t have guests until Thursday…have never had to remove smoke stink from a space…grrrrrrr

Multiple threads on this already.
https://airhostsforum.com/search?q=smoking%20smell

I would eviscerate them in the review. Think about it, consider our advice, draft your review and then wait 13 days 23 hours and 55 minutes from the time you get the email saying you can review them and then hit submit. Or submit after they review you. One star on rules and cleanliness, no more than 4 on communication, and a do not recommend.

That just can’t happen. You cannot “tip them off” and get a bad review. They will write what they will write. They cannot see what you write, and you cannot see what they write – until you both post your reviews.

You DO NOT need to wait until the last minute to post your review.

1 star on Communication. 1 star on Cleanliness.

Review: Cannot recommend Guest because they blatantly ignored my No Smoking On The Property House Rule. I smelled smoke on them when they got out of the car on arrival, and reiterated the No Smoking rule to them at that point. Three days later the whole cabin and furnishings stank of smoke when they left without saying a word.

1 Like

Ok thanks folks…what I meant by 'tipping them off, is the thought of texting them and telling them the cabin stunk of smoke had crossed my mind…quickly left tho, as I did not want to let them know that I was very displeased…I like waiting it out, and will review them after they review me, IF they do…and if they don’t will wait till the last minute to post mine…Really appreciate the input…I’ve been really lucky so far I guess!!

1 Like

This is where you went wrong - you believed them!

As a former smoker I can tell you that if someone is addicted to cigarettes to the extent that they smoke in their car (I never did - that’s a pretty severe addiction) then you can be certain that they are not going to last for even an hour or so without a smoke, let along a two night stay.

It’s lovely since I stopped smoking as my nose can now sniff out a smoker at 500 paces. When I realise that a guest smokes (smell, yellow fingers or teeth, the outline of a cigarette packet in breast pocket of shirt or whatever) then I don’t talk to them about drugs or excessive drinking, I tell them where they can go to smoke. Because they are going to.

Yes, it’s sad that in this day and age with everything we know about the dangers of smoking, that people still do. But they do. And they stay in Airbnbs.

The guests might have had the best of intentions when they assured you that they wouldn’t smoke (“hey, a cabin in the country for two nights - it’s a great opportunity to detox and stop smoking”) but that addiction got the better of them.

Anyway, that wasn’t the question :slight_smile:
As @KKC says, there are loads of threads here about removing the smell.

I don’t allow either smoking or SMOKERS, and the last time a guest entered smelling like the aftermath of a 10-alarm arson fire, I sent her right out again – to a fellow host who does smoke.

2 Likes

Yes, I’m going to adopt that policy…don’t know whether to mention that in the listing or not…

I don’t know what it is about going on vacation, but it really seems to ramp up people’s vices. We had recent snowbirds that swore up and down they didn’t smoke, they only vaped. Yet every day they would sit on the porch with every window and door open blowing smoke in until confronted a second time. The ozone machine ($60 on Amazon) someone recommended in the other thread was magical. I had to run it a couple times, but within a day the stench was completely gone.

2 Likes

Yes, you need to mention it in your listing and your house rules, for AirBNB to honor it. In fairness, otherwise you would be blindsiding your guest with the fact they are not going to be allowed to enter.

Also- do NOT text the guests. Any communication should be done through ABB platform.

1 Like

I do that prior to arrival. After they are here, we communicate through texting, as they are asked to text me when they are ten minutes out (GPS does NOT bring them past my mailbox to the farm, another 1/2 mile away) as with no internet in this area, they cannot use the Airbnb message center while they are here. Additionally, via texting, they can aprise me of any issues or ask any questions regarding activities or functions. It’s never been a problem, but I quickly gave the idea the shove of saying a word to these two about the mess they left… I’ll just wait until the review process…

If a reservation looks like it might go sideways, you can copy/paste the texts into an AirBNB message just for the record (even though they won’t be read in real time).

1 Like

yes, have done that as a precaution (luckily everything turned out ok)…This couple seemed nice enough, and they left the place pretty clean and neat…just that nasty habit thing…oh well, got it mostly cleaned up and smelling better…have a couple more days to get it right and the weather is cooperating for my quilt on the fence, furniture outside, etc etc! Thanks for the suggestions.

2 Likes