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This is my first post here, so I apologize if this has been asked and answered. I could not quite find an answer to my questions in my searches.
I have two guests staying with me, my first question is, if they break any of my house rules, and if it came to me asking them to leave, how would the refund be handled? Would unstayed nights be refunded even though my CP is set to strict or does the guest forfeit all of their stay because they violated my house rules?
My second question is based on my current situation that Iâm sure many of you have been in. My two guests have had their parents come to my house around 10:00am each day (currently 4th day out of 7 day stay). That is not the problem, the parents and college-aged kids stay in the house until about 3pm, then back around 6pm to cook breakfast and dinner, watch TV, shower (all four guests), make use of my roof to have drinks, etc. I feel stuck in my bedroom, with nothing much to do other than to clean my house as they are taking up my living areas! I hope you get the picture here. My guests rented one of the rooms in my house, which does grant full access/use of the house excluding other bedrooms.
Iâm looking for suggestions on how I might go about handling this. Are they in violation of my house rules as they have their own guests making use of my houseâs amenities, but technically the extra two are not overnight guestsâŚI believe the parents live here in Malta and the two kids are visiting them from college on their break.
Does your house rules address anything about guests having visitors?
I am really curious as to why the parents and the college kids are not out and about visiting Malta? Why in the world are these kids sitting inside your house with their parents? Go out and explore!
Anyway, to answer your question about breaking house rules. I called Air once to ask what would happen if more than the allowed guests showed up. The Air rep. told me that I would first need to ask the extra guests to leave. And then if the extra guests returnedâŚthen I would be able to kick them out and still receive full payment.
They said I could not keep the full payout just because they show up with extra people. I first have to give them opportunity to decide what they will do. Keep in mind this was my one experience with an Air rep. So I am sure others will have other experiences to share.
First your house rules need to make it clear that guests are only renting a room. Some people allow kitchen use, some donât. Some have restricted hours for kitchen use. Obviously you canât retroactively apply a rule change. If your rules do make it clear then you need to message them through the Airbnb system letting them know they didnât pay for 4 so they donât get full amenities for 4. If you are stuck spending the rest of the week with them maybe you should just make the best of it and join them. Donât hide in your room. Ask to join them for dinner and drinks on the roof. I hope you arenât celebrating the holidays stuck in your room.
Here is the particular listing that the two guests booked.
My hunch is that they have visited their parents here before. They are polish, so I imagine the parents are Expats. Truthfully, only the kids speak much english but they are very quiet and not talkative when I try to have a chat. Here are some relevant points in the house rules/description sections:
Guest will have full access to the home, excluding the other bedrooms that they are not reserved for. Guests are simply asked to respect the ownerâs belongings as outlined in the house rules.
Access: Guest are granted full access to the house. The simple request is that guests respect the ownerâs belongings and take care of the house in a responsible manner. Age: Due to previous problems (and weâre sure this doesnât relate to youâŚ) Iâve needed to implement a minimum age requirement of 18+. Guests under the age of 18 are still entirely welcome â they will just need to be accompanied by parents or guardians. Behavior: If youâre coming to Malta to party youâve picked a great city to do so. Unfortunately, just not at my place. Though Iâm sure it wonât come to it, serious complaints of unruly behavior will unfortunately result in you being asked to leave. Not good for you. Not good for me.
Any number of guests staying in the house after the initial five will be charged 9âŹ/day to recoup costs associated with the use of the property. I understand that for a whole verity of reasons, you may want additional guests to stay in the house. In the event that you want additional guests to stay, please contact me to let me know before requesting to book. Iâm a reasonable person and will accommodate whenever possible with the acceptance of an additional guest charge for the use of additional utilities, linens, and air mattress/es. Failure to book the home for the honest number of guests you plan on having stay could result in you being asked to leave the property before the end of your rental period.
Great points made here! I have tried a few times to chat them up, however I get the feeling that they want to spend time to themselves. Normally my guests and I hang out, have some vino, talk about their travels. There is a first for everything, however, I would never have expected two guests to invite (without notice) their parents to my house, take over my living floor, and then shut me out to conversationsâŚsigh* What wonderful holiday guests. Here is their original booking message inquiry.
âHello ! I come to you with my brother, we arrive on holiday. see you later ;)â
Your house rules do not address the subject of visitors who come to see your paying guests. All youâve addressed are guests who what to have over-night guests of their own. If it were explicitly stated that paying guests were not allowed to have âday visitorsâ, then the guests would be violating your house rules by inviting friends/family to come spend time with them.
The way youâve written it, your guests can pretty much do anything they please with your house, including having the entire Polish ex-pat community come for a barbecue!
You need some sort of statement to the effect that guests are not allowed to have visitors on your property.
I will write something up. I think one of the previous posters suggested a time limit of kitchen use. This may be a better compromise. However, I cannot retroactively change my house rules. So its time to break out that Polish Vodka⌠Merry Christmas
Your house rules do sound like your guests can control the house. A house rental for the cost of a room! Such a deal!
I wonder if this might make your meaning clearer:
Guests are welcome to share the house with us, excluding our personal bedroom. The simple request is that guests respect the ownerâs belongings and take care of the house in a responsible manner.
As to the kitchen, you might wish to add something like: Use of the kitchen needs to be arranged daily to ensure that we all have time to prepare our own meals.
I am sure you could do better but these are some ideas.
Compliments of my house guests. They moved my items to the drawers so they could store pots with food in them. Why do I even bother offering use of my kitchen. Pros vs. cons? Maybe I should search for a relevant thread or dreary a new one. I offer âAâ shelf. They have used all three!
Our rental is a separate apartment so we donât have house rules about access but regarding guests we have:
Please note that only two guests are permitted to stay overnight in the apartment.
You are most welcome to receive guests in your apartment during your stay but please limit the number to two additional guests only and only during daylight hours.
Reading this is making me so angry for you. Stack all their food on top of the pots on one shelf, and put yours back.
Tell the parents itâs time to go now.
Leave your room and go about doing what you normally would.
This is your home and they are well and truly taking advantage!!
Iâve sent a message asking that when they come home if we could chat. I requested that they respect my boundaries and my house. While I welcome them to use the house and feel at home that they need to realize that I live here as well I told them I was happy to have them for the holidays but that I needed my space too.
Iâm always gobsmacked when I hear about guests who are renting a room take over the whole house. Iâm sure this will never happen to you again. Just because they are day guests doesnât mean they donât have impact.
Although you canât rewrite the rules you my want to have a talk with them and tell them all the people are impacting your household too much and that you need them to cut back on this activity.
Be firm. If you donât say something then you are basically telling them itâs totally okay!!
And for heavens sake⌠Rewrite your rules Now. Some of the suggestions above are great but I also would recommend this.
Only your registered and approved party may be on the property or in the apartment. No unauthorized guests.
You may want to scale back use of the kitchen.
Light Kitchen use only. This means only heating up or tea making is allowed. No heavy cooking.
These rules wonât cost you guests. Itâs only going to cost you the type of guest you donât want.
Well done! It needs be said, for sure. And like others have suggested please make it really clear in your house rules! It sucks we have to spell these things out but guests can be so clueless.
Let us know how the conversation goes and good luck!
There is something in between âheating and teaâ and you can take over my entire fridge, storing your food in my pots without a cover. I think it can be a hard balance, but one worth discovering, especially for anyone who wants guests that stay a week or more. They really canât be house rules, but the house rules can state that âUse of the kitchen includes restrictions which are available by request and/or when you arrive.â
Clearly, a defined area of the fridge only, food stored in containers provided by the guest, all pots cleaned immediately to be available to both parties, etc. Of course, whatever rules you choose, the host has to follow as well. By that I mean, if the pots have to be washed as soon as the cooking is done to be available, then the host needs to do the same.
Mostly, these specific guests are self-absorbed and not very good at sharing. Where do the parents live that they arenât eating their meals at their home? and cooking at their home? If I knew that someone was coming to visit their parents, I would assume [wrongly it seems] that most of their time would be spent at the parentsâ home.
Looking again at the listing, it may be that the guests donât realise that they are doing anything wrong.
I found this part particularly confusing:
We ask that you kindly respect our maximum occupancy requirement of 10 guests. I have this in place to help keep costs down. The purpose of the additional guest charge is to keep costs down for you by charging for more than 5 guests. While the house can accommodate up to 10 guests, the comfortable maximum is 5. Any number of guests staying in the house after the initial five will be charged 9âŹ/day to recoup costs associated with the use of the property.
So I imagine that Iâd find it even more confusing if English wasnât my first language. And the listing does say that the guests have access to the entire house plus the photographs show the kitchen and lounge.
Would it be possible to add a microwave to their room and ban the use of the kitchen altogether? Also, the price is way too low if guests have access to the whole house and full cooking facilities.
EEK! After seeing your listing and the first two sentences of your house rules states âGuests are granted full access to the house. The simple request is that guests respect the ownerâs belongings and take care of the house in a responsible mannerâ - I think the guests donât think they are doing anything wrong.
There are some clueless guests who need âsharedâ to really be spelled out clearly. Iâll let the others help you with creating clearer house rules.
Merry Christmas
