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“Review: It was a lovely stay, unfortunately, my undeclared pet seems to be missing without a trace.”
Hah, this is SO close to the no pets language I wanted to use but my husband disapproved.
I wanted:
“No pets. We are in NC game lands and the yard isn’t fenced. We like animals … so do the bears.”
We have:
“No pets. We are in NC game lands and the yard isn’t fenced. It isn’t safe for your pet to be at our location.”
“About once per year we see a rattlesnake and a tarantula. But not at the same time, and sometimes they are dead already.”
direct quote from my Airbnbn.
This year we had a tarantula crawling on the exterior- front window of Gypsy! The guests thought it was cool…
also “no containment, no child proofing, wild animal predators, unfenced cliff and steep terrain”
I’m not afraid of insects or spiders, but tarantulas do freak me out. My first encounter with one was shortly after I had my house here in Mexico built. I was lying in bed at night reading when out of the corner of my eye I saw something on the wall next to me. It was a tarantula the size of my fist (and I have big hands) and was 4 inches from my face. I don’t think I’ve ever jumped out of bed that fast.
The joke’s on me!
The guests had left early morning, the shades were closed and it was still dark when I entered their room to clean. Out of the corner of my eye I spied a creepy crawler and rushed off to get a newspaper. It looked like a CENTIPEDE ! and it was on the desk! I swatted the bejesus out of it, all the while thinking, “I’m glad the guests didn’t see this.” The creature still seemed to be stirring and hopping when I turned on the light to get a good look. OMG, it was a huge false eyelash—dead as a doornail!
The real joke about my location is that there’s nothing funny about it. I live in an ordinary Midwestern Ohio suburban neighborhood. The only funny thing lately are the squirrels and chipmunks in our yard. At least the greyhound and I think they’re funny.
Winston Salem, NC
Routinely a black bear wanders into a residential or commercial area. Not common but not uncommon.
I often hear coyotes (coy wolf kind) yipping. I live in a densely populated area
They’ve found evidence mountain lions have returned to the uwarrie mountains (1 hour drive)
Even in my neighborhood , I carry pepper spray when walking dogs. When dad had his farm, I carried a pistol.
I do too! We are in a neighborhood of 14 houses, out in the middle of nowhere. Hiking =s walking deer trails and forestry roads. We love it but you gotta be smart. There is definitely something bigger than you in the woods at all times.
I was in bed in Yelapa, Mexico and there was a small white scorpion within inches! They say those are the ones with the most strong sting!
This reminds me of our honeymoon in Ireland. Traffic jam = sheep in the road. Adorable 
A few years ago, two vultures took up residence on K Street in Washington, DC – the address of choice for high-priced lobbyists.
. Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
LOL. This exact same thing happened to me as a guest. It was on the floor by the bedside table and I nearly stepped on it. Once I realized it wasn’t a centipede, I was equally freaked out about it being a false eyelash in a room that was supposed to be cleaned for my stay. Really, I was more freaked out that it was an eyelash. Centipedes happen in the hills with no fault of the host.
It was in a master bedroom of a really cool big house in the hills in CA. The host lived there and was present for my stay, nice enough guy. My toilet was very dirty, moldy ring and all. And I avoided the jacuzzi tub that looked out over the hills, one of the main reasons I paid prime prices for his listing, because it was also very dirty.
This got me thinking. This was several years before I was a host and I rated the listing a 4 for Cleanliness and then was immediately contacted and harassed by the host because of it. He said what we often say on here about guests who don’t leave all 5-stars, “you should have let me know during your stay so that I could fix it.” And he was, I suppose, technically correct, but it’s a good reminder about the guest perspective. No one should have to tell a host that the room and bathroom should be clean, that shouldn’t have to be “fixed” after arrival. Personally, I don’t require spotless and the sheets were defiinitely fresh and it wasn’t worth it to have to confront this guy and then feel uncomfortable for the next four days. But I also couldn’t commend on his cleaning in the rating.
I get what you’re saying, but I still think they should be told and given a opportunity to address it. There might be situations where the host had a new cleaner who was lax (and the host could be one of those people who aren’t detail oriented and wouldn’t even notice the dirty bits if they did an inspection). Or if they are an off-site host with self check-in I could imagine a scenario where the cleaner never showed up and they were unaware of that.
YES! I had the same reaction. Ewwww—I was also more freaked out that it was a false eyelash than a centipede! Terrifically thankful that I found it and not the next guest.
And I do really get what you are saying, but thinking about this is giving me a different perspective and I’m finding it interesting to explore. As a guest, I paid a lot of money for a private room and I shouldn’t be in a position to tell the host that the toilet has a thick moldy band around it with urine down the front. This was an onsite host and it was actually his master bedroom that I rented. And the tub wasn’t just not-clean but it looked like he’d bathed muddy dogs in there. And I had told him, prior to my arrival, that I was especially looking forward to using the tub.
If I have to tell this guy, a very experienced super host, that the bathroom should be cleaned then I should get a consulting fee. Cleanliness is an expectation. And if I told him that it was dirty and he came and cleaned it, it wouldn’t change my rating for Cleanliness. But it would probably change my overall rating down from a 5 because I’d feel put upon to be put in the position of having “to be a bother”. For reference, I gave a glowing written review and did not mention the eyelash to him (I thought it might be embarassing as this was his personal bedroom). I only mentioned that the bathroom was really dirty in the private comments.
At the time I was busy on the trip and was loving the place otherwise, it wasn’t that big of deal to me but in hindsight, a 4 was generous. Also, I remember really reading the cuing while doing the review. It said, “help the host by telling them what they can do better”. I felt obligated to help by lowering the rating. I know that I really thought I was being helpful. Anyway, it’s enlightening to go back to that now after hosting. Most importantly the realization that I thought I was being helpful because of Airbnb’s cuing.
And this is why I didn’t say anything to him at the time. Even though I clearly stated in my first description that there was a “moldy ring” in the toilet, it’s already been dismissed as “dirty bits”. I’m not talking about dust bunnies, which I would never notice. I felt that complaining would make me seem high maintenance or fussy and feared that he would treat me differently.
And none of those things are an issue but then it might not be clean and that’s not a 5-star rating for cleanliness. It just isn’t and it just has to be accepted. A broken coffee maker gets a do-over but a filthy commode really doesn’t.
Exactly! And, for a brief moment, I seriously contemplated whether or not I should go ahead and hit the eyelash with the shoe I had retrieved to hit the “centipede” with, not sure why 
LOL LOL! I hit that “centipede” (ahem, fake eyelash) so hard it was hopping across the desk! So funny what we do in that brief second of time. 
Oh, I wasn’t specifically referring to the disgusting toilet, but in general about the type of people who don’t even seem to notice if something isn’t clean. In this particular case, I totally understand and agree that since he was a onsite host who actually lives in the house himself, he should be on top of the cleaning and shouldn’t need to be told that a filthy toilet, bathtub or hot tub are unacceptable to present to guests, regardless of whether those things are immaterial to him when he is there alone.
I share my kitchen with guests and when I don’t have guests, I can be a bit lax about letting dirty dishes pile up, or not wiping a greasy stovetop right away, but I make sure it’s spotless when I have a guest arriving. Guests will overlook a lot of things that aren’t perfect, but grunginess isn’t one of them.
I am very lax in my home, not a tidy person at all and would not think anything of that in your kitchen. I much prefer staying in homes with hosts because I don’t care for plain and sterile environments. It would be weird if it didn’t look like you lived there.
Really, at the time I wasn’t disturbed about the toilet and tub being dirty. It was a fantastic and unique home and really special, he was an exceptional host. I left a long glowing review and planned to stay there again the next month (until he berated me for the 4-stars of course). I really didn’t know that the 4-stars was a problem for him. More what I am realizing is that Airbnb really led me into saying something to him and rating him down to make the comment and that I really bought into the idea that I was helping him, that somehow I would be a better guest if I left the feedback. And I was truly confused by his reaction. Just interesting to think back how it was just being a guest. Now that I’m a host it blows my mind that the bathroom was so dirty 
