The longer you host, the more you trust your gut at first guest meeting?

I didn’t find your pictures as being a proof of some incredible messiness.
They could have brought garbage outside but they didn’t …I don’t really consider this …anything actually…it’s just bags on a floor.
I guess I have seen my house left so supermessy that for these little things I have no energy anymore to get upset over .

I just hosted a couple who spilled some sauce in a bed. New pillow was damaged and matress cover I had to buy new. Also I couldn’t get stain out of cover sheet and it went into garbage . 40$ stay cost me 75$. On a positive side I have new sheet and new matress cover
That’s not the first time it happens . They never want to pay and always argue with me that it’s washable
But then if I put them on stained sheet or matress they complain. .
Thankfully…it doesn’t happen often . I just sigh and replace .
Now I have a group that stays in pool house for over 3 months.
After they leave , first goes in there my cleaner …than almost at the end me . This is the moment I dread…I can only hope that there is nothing there costly to repair.or replace .and ussualy there is not.
Ussualy towels are missing along with some items of bedding.
My pillows are getting replaced with their pillows, once one of comforters dissapeared but 2 others were left, I still use them.
Glasses are broken, cups are missing along with silverware. Who knows what they do with silverware.
What puts smile on my face is when I count how much money I made on them …that’s really all that matters :grin:

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I can’t imagine a host, who is reasonable, complaining in a reveiw about a guest taking long showers. THAT is not a sign of disrespect or disdain for a host’s property. Don’t think that’s what katnhat meant. I could be wrong.

I can’t tell a thing from people during messaging, but I totally get what you’re saying about the lemon-sucking sort. Some people seem dismissive or unimpressed by everything. I try not to take it personally, but I’m definitely more wary of what review they’ll leave and watch out for them pushing boundaries.

When they leave I feel I’m more judgy about small messes. “Ugh. You jerks couldn’t even put the ironing board away!” where it wouldn’t phase me from a regular guest.

Yana, I didn’t say it was ‘incredible messiness’. It was just a symbol of disdain for MY property and for the care I take to give THEM a quality place to enjoy. And obviously a matter of personal opinion and pride.
Do you leave garbage on the floor in your house or do you take it out? What would you think if you visited someone’s house and there were bags of garbage all over the floor in the kitchen? It’s not ‘just bags’ …it’s garbage…food waste, empty cans, etc. garbage. I find this amazing and amusing that some don’t find this offensive.
However, I certainly did not, and do not dwell over it. It was just part of my post asking others whether certain guests lived up or down to first impressions.
And I am very glad that I do NOT get the kind of guests you seem to get. It would definitely make me reconsider this line of work if I did. I rather admire your ability to continue to deal with slobs and disrespectful people in such a nonchalant way. Kudos to you! And thank you for hosting these jerks so they don’t come here! Please keep these folks away from me!

I don’t even think from “respect” or " disrespect " point of view .
It’s just a job like any other …just this hosting job is much easier and better pay.

And I think you did get upset because of garbage bags, that’s why you posted these pictures.
I wish I could prevent slobs from entering anyone’s homes .but it’s not in my control…
I just deal with it.

Sure, that makes sense, however I don’t bother with complaining about long showers (except maybe in a rant on the forum ;-p). I focus on whether or not they were respectful, followed the House Rules and good communication - the things I would think that most hosts care about - like if they brought an unauthorized guest into my home in the middle of the night.

Yes, the more ‘wary’ of what they’ll do or say was the point of my post. I’m not more judgy tho, I guess because I ‘expected’ less than the nicest. I’m not concerned about the cabin being in the ideal condition I delivered it in. Just to see that my guest appreciated what was delivered and respected themselves and me enough to leave it fairly nice.
It just seems that certain ‘things’ send a message of disrespect that usually goes hand in hand with that lemon sucking initial reaction a not so nice guest can give. Luckily it happens very very rarely to me.
And Yana, you misunderstand. I was not ‘upset’ over it, my point was it merely proved my initial gut reaction to them turned out correct. They were disdainful of my property then and left me a a not so nice ‘message’ to show it when they left. And it wasn’t just the garbage, as I have also said. It was also their non adherence to important ‘house rules’ that also sent that message…
This is not ‘just a job’ to me. I do not have to do this, so maybe that’s the difference in how we look at a guest like this. I enjoy sharing my special place, I LIVE on the property, and I respect my guests, and myself, and am proud of this, and it’s why I deliver a lovely property that almost always delivers more than a guest expects. When someone, doesn’t take care of someone ELSE’S property then they are saying they don’t care about them, what they’ve done and delivered , and that in itself is offensive. And sometimes we can ‘sense’ that a guest is going to turn out that way upon meeting them up front.
We’re getting in the weeds about ‘garbage’, it wasn’t the original intent of my post. Sigh…'nuff said…

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I suspect the answer lies with the 12 year old.

They are on vacation. But Mom doesn’t get one because she’s cleaning up after him, and quite possibly her husband, too. So she threw in the towel!

Sometimes people go sideroads here from the original topic.
May be if we thought of hosting as just a job has to be done …it would be easier on us not to take things personally and just take care of business. I am also hosting people in my home But going back to your original “gut telling” question…I have gut feeling about people’s personalities , and it’s often has nothing to do with their cleanliness or respecting house rules .
I just had crazy Mishelle guest who was very clean but she was a total nut case and we saw it right away …thought she was odd from first minutes and other guests commented on her super eager desire to make friends . It ended up us kicking her out of the house a day earlier and cancelling her new booking with us for another 5 days. But she was super neat and organized… I would rather have someone a bit messy …but not crazy.

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I’m not good with my guts… but I dont meet my guests, I just communicate with them in writing… It’s rare when I smell trouble from a guest and he/she gives me trouble indeed. I don’t see the damages in the pics you posted. I get this most of the time: people forget to take the trash bags out, do the dishes or just leave the dirty ones in the sink or the dishwasher (but I instruct them to do so), bunch of towels on the floor or bath tub. sometimes they forget clothes, phone chargers, they leave food in the fridge… they also forget the lights on, ceiling fans on, door unlocked, door open…

#1: Shooing the animals is right out.
#2: My instincts are pretty good.
#3: I swear two 20-somethings left my place like this. They were sweet as pie upon checkout and said they had a" lovely time!" until I called CS and opened a complaint. ABB sided with me.
#4: Just out of curiosity, do you charge a cleaning fee? Bed%20Frame

This morning was one of those times. Guests smoked in the house and stunk the place out, were still asleep upon check out time. Lied to my face about smoking and basically refused to leave. I basically had to frog march them out of the property and call the cops as it was looking like getting physical. The boyfriend of the booked guest then spat at me on the way out. Quality human beings

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No I do not. I wish there was some mechanism for charging a sliding cleaning fee taken from a ‘cleaning deposit’ that is in place at the time of booking. It’s a small property and I don’t mind the normal stuff at all, but in the case of these last guests, I would have ‘claimed’ a cleaning fee of $25 to be deducted from say, a 'cleaning deposit of $50… I think if the guest knew this, they might be inclined to be a bit nicer to the property. That is just awful what you had to deal with from that ‘sweet couple’…

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That’s two twenty somethings on what we would call a twin bed here in the US? A bed meant for one? They had a good old time. Were the stains bad?

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If you feel like being bothered you can press charges. Of course they will get slammed in the review, but also make sure you report the guest.

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Yeah I even have it on security camera but I’m pretty sure they are on a plane back to Italy and it’s not my style. I called Airbnb and explained the situation to them. I also stated to them I don’t need any help and I’m taking care of the situation myself but i just wanted them to note what had transpired. Totally forgot to report will do now. One stars a given. I’ll wait the 14 to try to make it one way cause we all know how easy it is to get reviews removed :joy:

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Gosh…I am so surprised at what I’m hearing here. I just don’t get those kinds of crumb bags.
This couple, I wouldn’t waste any sympathy on ‘mom’ having to look after cleaning from hubby and kid. She obviously did NO cleaning…and she was as dismissive and negative as hubby…and, they consumed TWO 12 packs of beer in two nights, one night they were at a concert and yet still there were two empty 12 pack boxes on the floor in the kitchen. they didn’t read the directives I told them was necessary to understand. I verbally went over everything but always tell guests to read it as well. Since it’s a farm, and gated and fenced, it’s not a self check in, can’t be, and there are things they must understand and comply with… and I wouldn’t have an Airbnb that was a self check in, as I want to meet and greet and get a feel. I have had to turn away one couple who tried to bring 2 extra kiddos into a max 3 capacity unit. Said the kids could ‘just sleep in the car’…:joy:
If I decide to review them… 1 star for house rules and 2 for cleanliness since the bath was not trashed and dishes were kinda cleaned. One dish was jammed between the sink cabinet and the eating bar (they are separate units) and in danger of falling through…just showed disdain. Just like when they arrived…Kid seemed ok tho…poor thing.

This is a place where people come to vent. The hosts who never have problems don’t seek help on the internet and don’t stumble onto the forum. Anyone who reads this forum and thinks it’s a indication of how most host’s are doing would be mistaken.

I use Airbnb as a guest and see every city has hundreds of hosts with hundreds of reviews showing a 5 star average. It’s just not that hard. The sky is not falling, Airbnb is not doomed. Airbnb reports that there is an issue of some kind in about 6% of stays.

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…and to get in before the doom mongers do, it has to be said that of that 6% with an issue, it doesn’t mean 6% are problematic due to bad guests. That figure (I believe) also include stays requiring admin tasks or any form of assistance from CS, even the totally mundane crap such as cancellations etc.

I suspect the true “problem trip” percentage is way below 6%.

JF

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holly molly! that’s outrageous! I’d charge a small cleaning fee though. hope abb sided with you. i cant even begin to imagine how they did that. But what am i saying? One time i had a guy who bent by sheer force a leg on my metal bed frame. cant figure why. then he put books from my bookshelf so that the bed would still be parallel with the floor. After he left I imagined he could have twisted my neck and kill me in a second. that’s why i decided to host women and couples only.

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