Review help for guest who turned...strange w smoker son

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1

Not first problem guest for me by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not even close to one of the really bad ones either.

Newly signed up guest (Mike) Ask’s to confirm that since he is paying full price for 7 guests even though 5 are spending the nights that the other 2 can come and go as they please and that he doesn’t have to share house with anyone else. I thank him for reading the listing and house rules and concur. He asks another few questions and has great sense of humor and we banter a line after all the questions get confirmed and I let him know to just ask if there is anything else I might be able to get to make their Thanksgiving even more special (within reason).

Starts out booking about a month out and then on Day before check in day (Wednesday is check in) Had asked for noon checkin and I hired a friend’s 19 yo kid to help me get ready last minute as well as help me with a bunch of other stuff at 3 properties for a few hours…I had pulled a muscle in my back and spent the day in the hospital and dealing with that and wasn’t even sure I would be able to finish making beds.

Doesn’t show up or message so at 12:15 I message to see if everything is ok and when he thinks he will end up am getting here. Still no response an hour later so I message that I am leaving and he will need to let me know a minimum of 30-60 Minutes before he actually checks in or may end up waiting a few minutes at the house for me to get back. He still hasn’t downloaded the smart lock app for his key so I adjust his access time in case he does it and shows up before I get there because he also hasn’t yet paid his pet fee nor even let me know which method he would like to pay by and if I needed change if he wanted to pay in cash without exact change.

He doesn’t respond to any more messages on air but texts my phone (I had asked him to write down my number in case Airbnb delisted me after sheriff incident and use it IF there was an issue with Airbnb) he texted me there at 1:40 saying he is about 45 minutes out.

So after he waits about 5-10 minutes I’m checking him in and he doesn’t seem to remember anything from the listing or house rules. Isn’t happy about paying his pet fees and doesn’t have a smart phone for the lock. His 30 year old son has one but has disabled his ability to download new apps. The listing does indicate to let me know if they don’t have a smart phone so I can provide a remote keypad but I didn’t have that there since he didn’t tell me. He then seems to remember seeing the picture about it but says that there will always be someone there so no worries. I let him know I can lock and unlock remotely if he just calls and let me know.

So his reservation is through Saturday at noon but around 9:30 am the day before he calls and says they are leaving and would like me to lock up. I ask how everything is going and he says good but they are heading home. I ask if there is a problem at the house and he says no, everything is great but we are going to get on the road now. Very strange in my opinion…

I get to the house and it is very clean and he even vacuumed. Hardly any towels or washcloths are used (one bath towel, 2 hand towels and maybe 3 washcloths). Remember this ended up being 2 nights for 2 adults and 3 children (7,8&9) with 2 more adults for Thanksgiving Day.

I’m thinking contact him and see if he wants to cancel it and I can refund if it’s rebooked, had been thinking before checkin I’d refund half fo the non overnight guests. am now also thinking I need to refund the last night pet fee. Also consider that the base price is average $24/night more than my minimum for the holiday period already…

So to review camera footage his 30 year old son is seen at least 3 times walking into the house with a lit cigarette or cigar and 1-3 times smoking outside on true patio or in the yard. Thank goodness the house doesn’t smell!!!

Do the yard walk through because he had asked for me to be there at checkout for him originally but didn’t give me notice to do so when leaving early…dog pile in the most common corner of the yard (even though I installed a pee post in a sandy conspicuous place visible from the patio hoping it would help the issue for future guests).

So now I’m wondering how to review…and I’m also currently planning to wait until last minute and then also request the fees for broken house rules although credit him the one night pet fee towards it. Thoughts and suggestions for the review?

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How about “Guest left home clean and tidy. Wish he had clean up after his dog in the yard and obeyed the no smoking in house policy.” Short, kinda sweet put to the point. I would give him a low rating on following house rules and would not refund the unused nights.

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I think @Ritz3 review is perfect. Why bother chasing fees and fines, keep the dog fee and extra night fee and move on. Not worth the energy IMO.

Sounds like a near perfect guest to me, the smoking would piss me off but since no smell I would let it go. Pick up the dog log and move on.

NEXT!

RR

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Thanx. I would need to add that I wished he had enforced his adult son to follow the no smoking policy (it is in the house and the entire property).
I was not planning on refunding the unused night unless it got rebooked (which would be highly unlikely for Black Friday on the day of). The part I was talking about crediting is the pet fee for the unused night. I don’t have it written but my policy is not to charge pet fees for nights no pet is there. I fully control that with no part going to Airbnb so I like to be able to save them some money when the animal was not there.

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Because I have them there for a reason…1. To prevent the broken house rules and 2. To compensate me when they are broken.

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They are always broken though, so reason 1 is out the window. Between the night they did not stay and the dog fee that went unused what is the actual dollar amount and is it worth the aggravation? How much do you collect from a guest for a dog log anyway?

RR

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7

Well, they are not always broken. And I am very complimentary and thankful to those that don’t break them. I just don’t come and complain about them here so maybe it seems like all my guests. The night they didn’t stay would not have been refundable even if they canceled (although I would have refunded it if rebooked and no broken house rules) but was $202.73 (my portion) + $15 pet fee. Each rule violation is $100 per time for the smoking and $50 total for the dog doo whether it is 1 pile or 100. If they had not broken the house rules I had also been looking at refunding them $60 for the 2 additional people not staying overnight. So, you see, I’m very happy to give the best deal to those who do not break the rules.

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WOW! Does Air actually collect that for you?

I would make you get DNA and prove it if it were me!

Lol

RR

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They have in the past (either collected it or just paid it out of their own pocket. Lately it seems they don’t pay much of anything and say guests are allowed to break all the rules if they want with seemingly no repercussions.

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Keep the money and give a bad review. Easy-peasy. Done deal.

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For what? A dog log? I would not mention the smoking because there was no smell/damage and I would not want to have guests reading a review that said I was watching them on cameras.

IMO there is nothing to see here, no harm no foul.

RR

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