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Most days I enjoy hosting…today I’m tired & grouchy and working hard to not tell the guest, if she isn’t happy just GET OUT!!!
Entire condo listing for 3 Bedroom 2.5 bath condo. Beds listed as queen, double/full, twin. Pictures include Master BR, 2nd Bedroom, 3rd BR loft/office with twin daybed & double aerobed available. Unit Description includes details 2X that the 3rd bedroom is a office/loft with a desk, closet & daybed. 3 pictures have caption “Office/loft/twin daybed”. In our local real estate listings it is considered a 3 bedroom unit because of the closet.
Guest sends me a message that the openness of the sleeping arrangements is awkward because this was a business trip. My listing did not disclose it was a loft. Plus the full bed is too small so they are using the aerobed. Two guests do not have sleeping privacy.
I message her back “I am sorry to hear the loft sleeping arrangement is awkward…” I explain it was disclosed in the unit description 2x and in the picture captions. Plus that the bed sizes were correctly listed on Airbnb.
She keeps messaging me. I’ve stopped responding. She pestered me before the rental to give her details about what I considered a fully equipped kitchen (she read that!!).
I almost didn’t accept the rental; now I wish I had listened to that quiet voice that said, “she’s trouble”.
PLUS TODAY I get my 3rd request to cancel existing rentals for a huge 3 month rental that will pay me 2X my usual rate. However they need the unit’s exact address & my mailing address before they can write me a check. They are seeking housing for a family that lost everything in a fire. SCAM SCAM SCAM. We are fairly small town/city southeastern USA. A family losing everything would be in the local news. It is not. These people are wasting my time.
Venting. I hope Y’all having a better day.
By the way I removed the SOS in the title because it means “Same old S…” I realized it could be interpreted as a cry for help.
Inquiry…you are correct. To build on it…that type of scam is exactly why I don’t want Airbnb to share the exact address until the unit is actually booked.
I got an inquiry in the middle of the night from a Chinese guest asking if I would do a long term rental. I wrote back asking what dates were needed on the off off off chance it isn’t a scam of some kind. They do have two good reviews… but from 2016. Maybe someone’s account in China was hacked?
Anyway, have to respond for response time measurements and I won’t be declining unless I hear something back. If it’s them alerting in the middle of the night I’m going to be annoyed.
I have actually had (and am still having) a better day than you, apparently…but I sure do sympathize with you on your current guest! She/they sound awful. I may not call a loft a bedroom but it certainly is a third sleeping area, open but away from the field of vision.
If your photo of your loft shows that it is entirely open on the one side…as all lofts generally are, you’re gold.
Speaking of this… is it going to happen with the 48 hour thing?
What’s to stop someone from booking, getting our address and self check in instructions, then come later and rob us blind?
The next day: I slept well so I’m not tired & grouchy. Considering the events of yesterday: The guest has sent correspondence about how much her group appreciates the well stocked kitchen, attention to detail & snacks. Maybe she was having a bad day yesterday too.
About the scammers, I’m going to try to report them & block them. Like scammers everywhere they will create a new profile and keep going. However at least they will be inconvenienced for a while and during that time they can’t be scamming anyone else.
Surprisingly my small city has 4 Universities including a medical school (Wake Forest University, Winston Salem State University, Salem University, & North Carolina School of the Arts), I’ve had long term inquiries from visiting professors & medical fellows (Drs working on a specialty).
Any inquiry I receive from another country for a long term rental, I would treat cautiously too.
She did not reply when I asked for the dates she needed. I actually went ahead and “pre-approved” the dates she put in the inquiry Apr 28-30. I’m not sure why, lol. After reading about declines hurting hosts I just thought “let the record show, Dusty accepts all.” LOL. I don’t see the scam angle at this point.
After encouraging people to post photos of their dogs yesterday mine took a bad doggy turn for the worst. 4 guests and 2 dogs here for 3 nights booked on Holidayingwithdogs a niche Aussie website. I love dogs and am quite tolerant of their owners usually they run around and yap a bit when they get here and see seagulls and a bit of nature in the fresh sea air. The dogs as well. I also take my own dog Jade down to play with them when we go for a walk. But last time we had this breed here (they look v cute but are a bit aggresive and protective) one of them bit and scratched her on the neck (they also have sharp little pointed teeth) so we went straight in and out. I could hear them barking every few minutes or so through the day and evening but on the edge of annoying (I live upstairs). Even when I went to bed at midnight they hadn’t quite stopped. i was woken at 1am by them yapping and could hear their owners were still up talking (which I have no problem with as long as there is no music playing). Then they starting yapping for 30 seconds or so and it was clear the owners weren’t trying to stop them. So I lost it a bit and got out of bed into my wheelchair and opened the inside door at the top of the stairs I use in emergencies and yelled down: “Excuse me! It is 1am and your dogs are still barking while you are up talking. You need to control them or I will ask you to leave. It is 1am I think it is time for you to go to bed and turn the lights out so they can sleep”. Honestly. My dog could sleep through a solar flare at noon but clearly their two dogs were still awake and getting tired waiting for their owners to go to bed. There was a brief apology and then silence. This morning they have gone out for the day. I was kind of hoping they might leave. I now realised there is now one breed of dog I will put on my listing that I don’t want. I feel I might have been a bit OTT in what I said but it is hard to sound even keeled when a yapping dog is keeping you awake at night, and it is in your house! BTW I subscribe to the view that there are no bad dog breeds just bad owners but some breeds attract a particular kind of owner and in this case it appears to be young women who dote on them and treat them like babies. And like some baby mommas they don’t hear them yapping.
So bad nights all round! I’m glad your got better though
Or you could put that quiet hours must be observed by both humans and dogs. Honestly the only breed I don’t want here (boarding) is beagles because of their bay-barking. If you have in your rules that dogs must be quiet after 11 pm or whatever then you can certainly ask them to leave if they don’t comply.
I’ve probably had over 100 dogs stay (not all at once like you!) and even the occasional bark in the middle of the night doesn’t faze me. I think what got me was realising it was 1am and they weren’t even trying to stop them barking. I would be mortified, in fact if Jade barks even once while guests are downstairs she gets a very firm “no barky” complete with a stern finger wag. I don’t blame a dog which is being kept awake at 1am from being tired and irritable to the point of barking. But yes I will now put that in the rules which I thought were pretty damn complete by now not having added to them for over 12 months. Though the current rules say no loud music or noise after 11pm so technically that would also cover barking
If the breed is Yorkies, I won’t give you any grief. I have two - by accident. Both are rescues. Their circumstances made it impossible to say no. Each time I adopted, I was looking for a Min.Schnauzer or mix.
I think they just love to bark. They bark at EVERYTHING. We’ve worked on the “no bark” command &they respond but they can’t resist getting a bark or two in.
