Hi all, I don’t know what to do. I am new to AirBnB. I had a guest & his wife & child relocating from the UK to Ireland. He stayed at my place for 3 weeks while looking for long term accommodation. He did say in the beginning he had a SIM cards for his mobile being posted to my address before he arrived. I agreed to this but now he has left & there is still post arriving for him & his family. Bank statements. I am not happy about this. So it looks like he had given my address as his postal address when he first arrived in Ireland. What should I do? Do other AirBnB Hosts agree to guests using their home address as the guests address?
Thanks in advance. I’d appreciate some help with this.
Simply refuse the mail. In the us, we write “Addressee Unknown” or “Forward” on the outside of the envelope, drop it back into the box and the mail service takes it from there.
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As @anon67190644 said, mark not at this address and/or return to sender and give it back to the post office.
I would never agree to a guest using my address as this can establish residency and they can apply for credit, ship something illegal, etc.
here’s a previous thread on this subject:
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Hi @ColetteP
Sorry to hear your guest has done this. Completely unacceptable.
There are all sorts of security issues associated with this and of course it could affect your credit ratings, if the guest takes part in fraudulent activity.
For next time, I would tell your guest that you aren’t able to provide a mail service and that he needs to set up a PO Box, pending having a permanent address.
I agree with the others. Just mark - ‘Unknown at this address - Return to Sender’. And pop it back in the post box.
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New TSA security rules in the US force everyone who applies for a drivers license to show they receive mail regularly at an address. My sons, who are millennials, do everything online so it was a hassle to get a bank statement suddenly mailed to the house. Don’t ever let guests ship anything. The SIM card thing is ridiculous. They can buy one at every airport. Just say no to packages and mail. That’s not part of a host’s responsibility!
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Hiya Colette, am from Ireland as well and I never allow my address to be used.
Firstly your address can be used for collection of social welfare, you can ring the social depts and ask has your address been used for someone claiming a PPS number. This can impact you and your family members if you ever need to claim welfare/disability etc.
A host I know, contacted social protection and 15 people had claimed their address to get PPS numbers over a number of years.
Same host, had the bailiff turn up demanding to seize goods to the value of €2,000, they had to call the police as they were forcing their way into their home. It turned out an airbnb guest from South America had got a loan, had a ball and went home. The same guest had got a PPS number.
Return all post , take a note of it, and never leave a bill or id around. I lock ours away so guests can never use it. I have had guests want to use our address as their home address, I told them absolutely no and that my husband was a Garda, make up a member of the police if you have to.
In the next while, you can get lots of people coming from the UK both UK and European so just protect yourself and your family
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Thank you so much for replying. There are bank statements here for them & I know the wife got her pps card delivered to my address. As far as I know they have rented an apartment for 12 months so I am just presuming I won’t get any more post because they now have their own address…I have his mobile number…should I just let him know there is post here & he can collect it or should I just return to sender? Thank u very much for ur help…
Thank you…I feel more confident about this now…I am new to AirBnB & just was trying to be polite
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Just return to sender.
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I was a right idiot when I started, you wise up after a while. This board and the posters here are just great, lots of advice from all over the world. There is a facebook page aerbnb ireland, but I prefer here.
Return to sender
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Guests will walk all over you if you are not firm.
Don’t do any extras for this guy. He is no longer your customer and you are working for free if you make calls or try to coordinate pick up of mail he should have never had sent.
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You are right…I was feeling bad about this…I did alot for him since he was relocating… I’m not going to do any more…I guess the more experience I get with this the more firm I will become…
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Don’t beat yourself up over this though, just a steep learning curve! We had a builder, who we’d known well over several years, use our address for credit cards he had debts with, then disappear. It took several years for threatening letters to stop coming to our home from debt collectors You have been given some cracking advice here and I would follow it to the letter, particularly that from your fellow host in Ireland. Keep records and a good audit trail of action you have taken. You may also be able to cancel his mail divert after explaining the situation to your equivalent of the Post Office.
Good luck.
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Thank you… it’s great to get other Hosts answers
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Thank you so much…I am disgusted at them…after all I was really good to them…I even helped them find another apartment…I thought they were decent people…I guess I’m not as good at judging character as I thought
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Just chiming in at the end - My guests have all been great about asking beforehand to receive mail here/use this address for registering a bank account etc, (many guests stay with me before finding a permanent/long-term place to live), receiving a package etc. I’m in Canada and have occasionally received mail for them after they leave (a bank statement, for example) and I will either message them if they’re still in the province/city (especially if they did ask beforehand) or will write “Moved, no longer at this address” and will pop it back in the mail. Not ideal, but fortunately it hasn’t proved to be an issue (I hope I’m not cursing myself now).
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Please be careful. I never ever ever allow packages or mail to be sent here. They can get an Amazon locker or have it sent to fed ex cargo or general delivery if they need it that bad.
Nuisance mail receipt is the least of it. They can use your address to establish residency… or worse…
Just what I want…
Guest name
C/o konacoconutz
At my Airbnb, Kona Hawaii
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And where possible, do not set your listing to have your full address. Say if you receive the guests outside yourself and such, just have the street name.
Won’t eliminate the likelihood of this incident, but should mitigate it to some extent.
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Thanks everyone… Huge lesson learned 
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It is a constant learning journey with airbnb, you think you have seen it all then wham another really odd thing. Also great for a catch up with friends or family who love to hear what it is like to host
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