Very true about the lost income and time.
Thanx. Iāll have to figure out howto post to someone elseās page that I donāt belong to. I am not a huge user of Facebook. I will also need to create a twitter account. I wonder, though, if posting all the ways that guests get out of paying for disobeying house rules will only hurt the cause instead of help.
I know Michelle, at least, is a person, well, I doubt her name is really Michelle based on her accent, because I have spoken with her on the phone a few times, once even with witnesses because she called while I was with others on the road so I couldnāt hear very well unless on speaker. But I do get what you mean on the learned helplessness and on not supporting claims.
I donāt know why they bother to allow hosts to have House Rules that they will not allow them to enforce or support. Worse to deny a claim on when there is clear evidence. That sounds like a fraudulent judge to meā¦so they seem like they are betting on me dropping it and not bringing it to anywhere legal that will enforce it or force them to support me in enforcing itā¦
If it was me Iād post it to AirBnB Twitter account, and use the suggested language. THAT should get their attention.
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Let. It. Goā¦
RR
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+1 to that.
I also spell everything out in our house rules, so that there is not confusion. But (more importantly) gives me some leverage if and when there are issues to collect on the deposit since AirBNB is such a PITA about mediating things. My house cleaner and I have worked out our arrangement, which includes indoors only and guests are required to do X things (throw away trash, run dishwasher, strip sheets). When people break this house rule and it takes her longer to clean (and she charges me more money) I want to pass this onto guests. I had to fight with AirBNB on the two occasions that the guests left the house a complete mess (trash all over the house, etc.) over like $30. Yes, I could have paid it myself, but had I collected the deposit myself I could have just kept the price to pay my cleaner properly. Until AirBNB starts siding with hosts, I think we should to be explicit in our house rules (and tell guests they will be charged for removing smell of smoke, costs for clogging the spa filter, etc.)
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I donāt allow smoking or vaping anywhere on the property, period. I did this because a tenant who told my sister he didnāt smoke put out a cigarette in a dried out flower pot on the front porch and it burned her house down, and after a neighbor complained about one of my tenants (back when I rented the upstairs as an apartment) smoking while sitting on the back stairway and the smoke was bothering him while he was working in his back yard, and the tenant threw cig butts everywhere until I made him clean them all up. If guests want to smoke they can go take a walk.
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Just know that, from this experience, Airbnb will NOT support you if they smoke on the property anyways, as long as it is not in the house.
I have now been Ghosted by Michelle and Danni and they indicated in the message thread that it is closed and I should visit the help page if I still need help. I also cannot respond as they have removed the capability in the inbox. I checked the Resolution Center and it is not shown as closed yet though. I will be contacting them again to follow up. I still want to see if they deny me when they are able to view ALL the evidence.
@Militaryhorsegal another risk of litigation is that a judge will rule for example that instead of your $800 fee for smoking, (and the other fees) youāll be limited to actual costs of getting the smell out. So you will have to argue that the guest agreed to this fee and itās a roll of the dice whether the court would in fact award lower damages.
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I wouldnāt either. When Iām looking for an Airbnb and I see the equivalent to the old testament under house rules I usually manage the first paragraph then itās on to the next listing.
In addition to the standard no pets/parties & check in/out times, we have four lines. What the quiet hours are, no third party bookings, donāt leave the AC on when youāre out and smoking only permitted on the patio.
If I had to spend as much time, as @Militaryhorsegal appears to spend, collecting fines/fees then Iād take a long hard look at how Iām operating my business, seriously. I know nothing about your listing Kelly so donāt have the knowledge to offer you any helpful advice, which I honestly would if I could.
JF
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I certainly understand your point of view and I am fine with those who canāt be bothered to read my House Rules not book. There are plenty of other listings in the world. And plenty of other people who would read and comply (and even some who donāt read and still end up complying because my rules are mostly common sense when you go to someone elseās home. Sadly, I seem to attract a lot of them without common sense and even entitled or deceptive attitudes and behaviors. I would rather try to collect disclosed fees from these people and eliminate/prevent a lot more violators.
Ironically if you took the time to read all the reviews a lot of the bad ones simply complain about how they did something that was against the rules and didnāt like the results. Some even go back and quote the rules and house manual in their review because they hadnāt read it until they were charged for something.
Well this thread wore me out.
- the guest smoked outside on the property causing no damage but broke a rule.
- Didnāt pick up dog poop.
- Parked on grass.
In the time it took me to read the all of @Militaryhorsegal ās postings, I could have cleaned up the poop and written a short review. This drama feels more like being upset they broke the rules.
People break rules. Provide the rules you need. Focus energy on true damage that must be repaired.
If you have a reason for an unusual rule, explain the reason. For example, to not allow smoking on property at all, is a bit unexpected. Not allowing smoking in-doors is common.
If people think you donāt want me to smoke outside just because you want to control me, they will do it anyway.
No one likes being bossed around especially if they are paying the bosser.
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- the guest also smoked INSIDE the house
- the guests also left their two unruly dogs inside the house loose all day, against the rules, even though I provided crates and they told me they would put them in a crate
- sent threatening text and left threatening voicemail
- refused to pay the fines associated with acting against the rules
- oh, and brought an undeclared firearm into my property which is against Airbnb rules
I had cleaned up the poop and likely would not have even known about all the other stuff had the guest not lied in their threatening response to that one where I had to go back through the footage to provide proof of the lies.
i did explain the reasons in person and they lied to my face saying they would follow my rules. Honestly, I really donāt care why people do or do not follow my rules. If they think I am trying to control them with my rules they should not book because that disrespectful entitled behavior is not welcome at my listings.
Sorry to have worn you out with this thread.
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Maybe āunexpectedā for a smoker but those who donāt smoke look at things differently. Smoking on the property can be troublesome if you live in a dry climate subject to fires. I had this situation in Los Angeles*. But even if thatās not the situation, Smoking on the property implies the guests are smokers and that smoke gets on their clothes and skin, which then transfers to sheets and furniture. So even if there isnāt smoking inside, getting rid of that odor can be a challenge especially when you have quick turnarounds. How do you explain to your next guest why the place smells of smoke?
And that doesnāt even go into the damage caused by ashes on exterior furniture or stamping butts into the ground when there arenāt ash trays available (and why would there be, when itās a no smoking property).
A listing has a set of rules that are clearly posted: Each guest should be compliant or just move on to another listing that fits their needs better.
*Hollywood Hills (Los Angeles)
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