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I just read a great post on here from someone who declined a guest who asked a question which showed they had not read the listing. Good on them.
I had a guest turn up 2 days ago who had booked really last minute on instant book, in fact the notification went off and there he was at the door! I thought he might have made more of an effort to contact me but hey I let him in to wait in the kitchen whilst I finished his room. He asked ‘Did I want help’, ‘Absolutely not but thank you’, that conversation went round a few times, please let me get on I thought. Then he said I am just going to cook my meal, I said well that won’t work because my kitchen is not listed and it’s not self catering here. Please read the rules of my listing, that’s really important. He said yes. I agreed to his just heating up a microwave meal.
Finally get him in his room. Next thing I know he’s in the kitchen at 11pm wanting to microwave his meal. I chased him out in my nightie and said I asked you to read the rules and they say no entry to the kitchen after 10pm. Please read the rules again.
Last night he was doing an annoying Skype lesson til 11pm in the bedroom.
Tonight he’s in my kitchen using the gas oven on my range to heat up some dirty chips he could have bought at any chip shop. I say why have you bought an oven meal when you know it’s not self catering? My kitchen was at 25 degrees! So sorry he said. Next he takes the disgusting chips up to the bedroom. Of course there’s a no food in the bedroom rule. I was fuming and tempted to evict him at 9pm but didn’t.
What the **** is wrong with him? (Pakistani Computer guy). 2) Should I have turned him away as soon as he showed he had not read the listing?
Demographics not relevant. Sadly he likes cats. Yes I thought I would get in trouble for turning him away. However as we know guests don’t get better, they just get worse. So there were all those red flags but I let him stay. Should I have rung Airbnb to get them to read him my rules? It’s crap when they turn up and you know it’s going to be crap.
Airbnb might not support you if you did. If you could prove that he was repeatedly breaking your rules and ignoring you maybe they would back you up. That must have been very annoying and I hope you mention it in your review.
Thanks. Well it’s over in the morning. I just don’t get how you can be asked to your face to read and abide by the rules (pretty bold of me) and blithely carry on regardless. I’d be keen to make amends if I’d already trodden on someone’s toes. He knew he was doing wrong because he asked my teenage son about the oven. He’s as soft as my spaniel. I hate guests involving my children, they are not and should not be made responsible for my Airbnb. Even though they’re huge teenagers I still want to protect them.
Yes he was just busy eating his spaghetti and wanted an easy time. Of course that’s the worst thing to do with a guest like that because they’ll take advantage. I’ve had a word with him, he’s not ready to be a host! He just wants to avoid managing other people for now.
After the meeting at the door, I would have printed off the house rules, handed them to him, and watched while he read them. Then I would have said “Do you understand these rules?”
Okay. I have a printed version in the room which I showed him and asked him to read. However with his kind of negligent/disrespectful person it seems I needed to be even more forceful. It’s an idea for dealing with big red flags. It does seem alien to me to treat an adult professional that way, but that’s how it can be I guess.
A surprisingly large number of computer techies have “Asperger Syndrome”.
This does make communication difficult. Rules need to be clear with no wobble for interpretation.
Aspergers folks think differently.
Maybe some of that is possibly at play here.
It’s a definite bee that I have in my bonnet. I see so many hosts (and guests) online who have a problem and say ‘I messaged the guest at the Airbnb site’ or ‘I texted the guest’ or ‘I emailed the host’ or whatever. Or in some cases, call Airbnb or even call the cops.
They always make me want to yell ‘why don’t you just talk to them face-to-face?’
(I’m exempting those who host remotely, of course).
It’s almost as though the easiest solution, guest/host conversation, is the last thing that’s likely to happen.
I feel this is one of those times when you have to look at a guest as a human being and not just a customer. The guy needs to eat and letting him use the microwave (albeit after your allowed hours) seems like a reasonable request, unless he was making a mess of the place. But hey, I understand rules are rules and I’m sure you have your reasons.
Yes I normally agree but repeated face to face failed here because he was just disregarding what I said and doing his own thing anyway. With his type I am leaning towards advice on being hyper strict and reading the rules with him.
Yes bloody good reasons like letting the family and the other guest get some sleep! And yes rules are rules and he shouldn’t have booked if he didn’t agree. Loads of B &Bs don’t allow kitchen access at all, so a 4 hour window in the evening til 10pm for microwave use is very generous. The guy did not need to eat at 11pm, nor did he need to use my oven on a hot night for some dirty chips which are available in a handful of local takeaways within minutes walk. Neither did he need to take the stinky, greasy chips two floors up into my spotless fresh bedroom with expensive linen. Plus he was asked to read and follow the rules 4 times. The guy is a ****
