in Korea, too. Old plumbing in older buildings cannot accommodate any paper at all. So here when you thought your guests were being gross, they were actually trying to be considerate of you. A world of cultural differences separate us sometimes!
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yes i see what you mean, i guess iâm talking about the big chains where a bad review can be a drop in the ocean, whereas for us it can mean the difference between making ends meet or not.
yes a guest of mine who arrived on friday who is my first guest from Greece, asked if we flushed toilet paper or put it in the bin and i had no idea why he was even asking. now i know 
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âŚand China. We adopted an older child from China and it was quite a bit of work helping him understand what to do with that paperâŚ
There is a reason hotels have a set check-in time, and a reason why, when I call the front desk asking for a late check-out, they sometimes say ânoâ. Donât apologize for being reasonable and professional, just say no.
At least they askedâŚ
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I love your email. I would like to copy it. After only doing Airbnb for 4 months and having all text book fabulous guests it has all gone downhill rapidly.
After my last guests, stupid me 3 boys from a band with no reviews, poisoned & injured my dog and repeatedly left my windows unlocked and left a massacre of hair you would not believe (fan of 2 weeks age had to be completely pulled apart & I had to burn the hair off with a lighter) AND slashed my $400 air bed I was well and truly burned.
Now I am sitting prisoner in my room whilst Airbnb case manager tells the current guests in Mandarin (as they refuse to use a translate app) they must leave in 2 days and will not be getting a refund for the last 2. im feeling really bad and this is turning me off hosting & wishing I had a husband to do all this dirty work, my son just hides from the guests & is useless in that regard. My issues despite having very clear house rules about all this stuff with current guests have been:
-leaving front door open 4 times so my 5kg little Maltese has to be locked in my room so he doesnât get killed on the main road
-sending a random stranger to my house, I was out but had guests, day before booking started to try to force me to allow early checkin despite airbnb and me contacting them 9 times total to say âno not possible I have guestsâ. Their only response was âwell come anyway and leave our bagsâ um no you wonât. I cleaned the room and went to the gym to escape and what do you know I get hounded with text messages 2 hours before checkin âweâre here hurry up and get homeâ. Delete.
-the slaughter of the black Labrador hair issue in bathroom within 1 hour of check in.
-4 total strangers appearing for 4 hours tonight having a dinner party with guests with no prior request when this is a clear breach of my rules.
-eating all my free range eggs, 12 in 2 days when I donât supply any to guests. I have fruit, toast, condiments & 4 ranges of cereal and porridge for FREE.
-eating a whole banana loaf & dirty plate for me
-eating my steamed veggies I just cooked for dinner, can you believe this! I left on bench as chicken was still cooking.
-waking me up, literally knocking on my door at midnight to do washing & using the dryer (again in my house rules state only when raining and cannot wait) when we are literally in a heat wave.
I work full time and study full time and this is just too much.
How do you even deal with people like this that literally refuse to read my listing (they told airbnb this) and house rules âbecause itâs in Englishâ when they can just press âtranslateâ button. I even have the rules with colour pictures laminated on back of guest door. âNoâ symbol through a pic of an open door and picture of dog squashed by car should translate in any language.
Please give me faith. All my reviews have been 5 star but Iâm about to get 1 star by blowing my stack.
Nightmare. So sorry.
Take some time to read your past reviews. Take time to reflect on the laughs youâve had, the things youâve learned, the friends youâve made.
Hang in there.
Emily,
I am so sorry and for once am just speechless. I also have a Maltese, too btw and watch over her like a hawk. If I were you would just quit. The aggravation isnât worth the pennies you are being paid. Sorry, I just have no words. Only one of those incidents would have made me close my doors. I rent a separate space and so hardly ever encounter this sort of unimaginable behavior!
Thatâs just awful. Prisoner in your own place. Itâs just not on. And why do they have two days to leave? If theyâre clearly in breach of your house rules Airbnb should put them somewhere else immediately.
BTW I just discovered through my latest interraction with Airbnb that they use google translate too! Itâs not great as I kept getting emails from a Korean guest and I really couldnât understand them. I told the Airbnb support person that I thought they must be using Google translate - and she said that was what theyâd be using to communicate with them too!
So, Iâm afraid I donât hold out much hope for you when Airbnb needs to communicate with them in Mandarin.
You should just make them feel really really really uncomfortable until they leave. Itâs your place. And if Air is telling them they need to be out they wonât be allowed to leave a review.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Guests finally left, totally at their convenience as they were travelling 2 days earlier than planned anyway. So Airbnb was useless. They also withheld my payment until I queued this a week later staying this is normal process when someone reports a problem to protect the funds- why is this done when the host is reporting the problem??! Plus they have removed my ability to leave a review for the customer with no explanation. So done poor sucker will now have these pigs stating at their house washing at 2am, stealing food, leaving crap everywhere and on their last night left all the lights on and the bathroom basin tap running ALL night. I feel really bad I canât warn anyone & makes me sceptical about anyone with no reviews
Emily,
Itâs such a shame that you had inconsiderate guests. However, I have to agree with @konacoconutz - because you work and study full time, hosting might not be for you. We have just one rental apartment and to provide a good and personal service to our guests is almost a full time job. (Depending on turnover rate).
I know that Air portrays it as a âfunâ thing but thatâs not the reality - itâs still a business proposition. They make it seem like an easy way to make money and yes, the money is good, but itâs not casual - you have to devote time and effort AND, unfortunately, put up with guests who are less than ideal. All part of the game, sadly.
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Hi I agree itâs more fun than business but itâs a little presumptive to assume Iâm not offering a high standard of personal care for lack of a better word. I have 2 beds, get a lot of friends or work colleagues taking advantage of this as have stays of mostly at least a week, some up to 2 months. Despite my room being super cheap I take people places they need to go, like shops of a drive around the neighborhood, help them work out their public transport have a fresh treat & flowers on arrival & breakfast everyday. Iâve even helped people apply for rentals & given them job tips on how to secure employment & referred them to jobs in my field. I make a high effort & donât ask for any thanks but leaving peopleâs taps on, doors open & poop in their waste paper bins is a poor reflection on the guests themselves not me as a host. I honestly wish I didnât need the extra income from this but sadly I do & meeting interesting nice people is a bonus & thankfully occurs more often than not. My American actors I have now are fab, our work schedules are opposite so weâre not on each otherâs way & im sure my medical students I have next will be just as interesting. I will however be much more careful with family groups from os in the future with no reviews. Appreciate all the support from the other hosts, itâs a hard job none of my friends are certainly willing to do!
Emily, of course you can rent out your space even if you work and study full time. I have no doubt that if its well organized its totally doable.
What i learned during my one year of hosting that be firm from the very begining as soon as you detect first signs of non compliance with your rules. Because from there it does not get better, only worse. Usually its the same person who keeps on doing wrong things through the whole stay. I really dont know how it works, but when it starts it never ends:)
I had over 100 guests, probably more around 150. Only few were off, but not as bad as you described. It probably would get bad if i did not stop it from the very beginning.
One girl who wanted to cook âall nightâ i did not even let into the house. I called Airbnb immediately and tell them to cancel as she kept on insisting breaking my house rule, though i repeatedly told her that no she can not cook.
Guests can not rule hosts, its the other way around. Thats why we write house rules, and thats why they have to confirm that they read it.
Honestly i would not let your guests into the house if you did not want them to even leave bags but they still showed up earlier. I personally have nothing against people leaving their bags or even check in earlier if the room is available, but if you said no, and they still went against you that would my decision just to cancel them.
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As usual, Yana nails it.
With all of your help. Yana a year ago is a different person nowâ:grinning:
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Thatâs above and beyond especially as you say you are quite cheap! I wouldnât bother doing this unless i was super high end⌠even then.
Yes I agree. I guess the people I have done this stuff for were really nice so I didnât mind & I was offering rather than them demanding so it didnât feel like such a burden. I also used to get a lot less $ for my homestay students who treated me like their slave & rarely gave anything back.
Still I am pulling back and getting much more strict with the guests. Like the 2 medical students I have arriving in 2 days. Clearly they found something closer to their hospital here (I gave them very clear public transport route before booking showing it was a train, train & a tram approx 45mins to an hour) and tried to pretend âcan we cancel & you can just rent the room to your other enquiries as the university changed our whole program & now itâs not convenientâ. I let them know that my calendar is blocked out due to their month long booking so naturally I donât have any enquires, that if itâs now inconvenient then the choice to cancel was up to them & suggested they take it up with airbnb âtheyâll want proof they are very strictâ & get a refund from their university due to âcompletely alteringâ a program 2 days prior to international students arriving, but per the airbnb rules they agree to I would still need to be paid for the month due to the very late cancellation. I had every faith that they had no proof of any program change & they responded in 30mins âin case weâd still live to comeâ. But added 'just one thing over Easter weâve got to other students who will be visiting us for a week & staying in our room but as we wonât be there every night this will be ok? I quickly let them know, I doubt it will, I will be on holidays then & also my son, itâs a 3 room aoartmnt with one bathroom and I cannot accommodate large groups of adults, I did it once and they were very messy & it was too hard with the bathroom. I suggested they find them somewhere else to stay local as I charge $25pp extra person a night & insisted they pay via Airbnb. They wonât as if they try to cancel the booking and add and minus ppl and rebook, airbnb will charge them $1000s in automatic cancellation fees etc. I anticipate it will be a long month but my add is clear so Iâm becoming more confident to say No.
A deal is a deal. They knew what and where and how when they booked. If they want to cancel itâs on them. Iâve never booked as a guest, but I am SURE the system probably warns you several times before you put the card down and press BOOK?
This is in no way an extenuating circumstance⌠although being doctors, maybe they will write themselves a doctorâs note and give that to Air? LOL. Letâs hope they donât think of that!
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The location review really needs to be eliminated. Iâm extremely detailed about my location also. My home is not on water, but is within walking distance of so many different bodies of water, and I leave them a âwalking mapâ of a 30 minute walk that takes them to 2 different rivers, 3 waterfalls, and one lake, and because they donât bother to read my listing and my map, they ding me because Iâm not right on the water. Makes me so frustrated. Yet, other people, say from Brooklyn, love my little back yard and the proximity of all those water places within walking distance.