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@Yana Holy crap! I’ve never had anything close to any of those things happen at my place. Honestly
I’ve only had two bad guests out of the 180 I’ve hosted so far. One of them had sex really loud (so the neighbors across the street could hear) 5 times per day. The other one left the door open and got marijuana grease all over everything. That’s literally it for truly bad stuff. I guess I should count myself lucky.
I had probably 10 times more guests than you …
Still good words of warning about what could happen. Especially if you are thinking about going without insurance. Just one of those police incidents might be enough to scare me off from hosting.
First year nothing really happened . Most of these incidents happen for the past year. Don’t know why …may be some criminal guests were just exploring possibilities .
To think of it Airbnb had quite an impact on how people started to live and not only travel. Few of my trouble guests were sort of homeless. They were going from host to host creating problems . In a past it wouldn’t be possible as they wouldn’t be able to pay for hotels for this life style .
Guest who entered my house without booking was repeated guest and understood that we are not always there to see ( that was my other house) who exactly comes and goes .
Anyway for me days of renting by day are gone.
I am having much better luck with Craigslist where I can meet and interview and background check my future guest before hand. My requirements are very clear and explained…no compromises whatsoever and after quite a few stays I can see it works well.
Yup - I stand corrected.
Thanks for sharing your experiences! That is really helpful to know.
One question I have is about #4–what would you do if you had guests that were just mediocre? As in, they didn’t necessarily break any house rules and weren’t awful, but they did little things that annoyed you and compared with other guests, just weren’t as considerate?
Thanks! Happy to share!
My philosophy is that all guests should be reviewed positively unless they cross a line. Even then, if you talk with the guest and they drop the bull, all is forgiven.
I’m actually hosting a guest right now who is just like the person you’re talking about. She didn’t communicate until the very last minute before she arrived, parked behind my car despite there being plenty of street and private parking, wore her shoes upstairs despite being against house rules and having signs up, then asked to wear soft sandals as an alternative because of surgery, complained that she smelled cigarette smoke, even though there wasn’t any, etc. etc. etc. But I did speak with her about her behavior and expressed my concerns, even though I didn’t have to. Now she seems better and less ornery and also apologized. I’ll probably give her a good review in the end so long as she stays that way.
We don’t know what drives people to do behave rudely, but we as hosts have to put hospitality first. If you show your best, and they’re still awful, then you can give them a bad review. (Just don’t tell them you’re going to review them badly).
So true. Many times I’ve had guests who are tired after travelling for days and mis-calculating how long it takes. For example, Americans, Australians, Chinese who have travelled a huge distance to “do Europe”. Yes, it looks small on the world map but they fail to factor in airport procedures, travel to/from airports etc etc. So they sometimes arrive here exhausted, bad-tempered and they’ve fallen out. It’s not my problem but I have to deal with it because they’re in my home. Once I even received text messages from a wife saying ‘please show my husband how to use the shower’. They were both in at the time…!!
Exactly. Everyone has their own problems.
That definitely sounds like a fair policy!
And congrats on a year and half of hosting!
1.I’m lucky to say that most of out sheets have lasted without stains, although We do buy new ones every so often. We learned early on that having extras of sheets and towels was a blessing. When you live in the tropics and don’t have a dryer it’s important.
2. I personally prefer a design pattern on the sheets.
My responses to all my guests are always personalized, mainly because I’d be worried of sending out the wrong reply.
3. Absolutely, this is huge. Fast responses. Guests always appreciate this.
4. I always allow early luggage drop-off, sometimes the house is ready earlier too. I don’t want guests driving around with luggage while they go to the beach.
5. Tips from guests are great, sometimes questionable, but helpful. I’ve learned a lot.
6. I took my own photos for 2 properties and was satisfied. I co-host for a luxury villa that had professional photos done-much higher rates.
7. I wouldn’t include tissues because it’s not common here. Cups are found in the kitchen if they want to use it in the bathroom, not everyone does. Luckily our guests aren’t wearing too much make-up due to the humidity and heat, but I will invest in black towels for make-up removal.
8. Being in the tropics I invested in good quality standing fans, it makes the difference.
9. Mattress and Pillow protectors. My biggest thing, I had these from the beginning, but have stayed at places that don’t.
10. We get a lot of families, over the years we’ve purchased some sand toys and easy to clean toys.
11. Knowing your area. It really makes the difference. All our guests are here on vacation, so they look to us for insider tips. I’ve stayed places where a host doesn’t know much about the area at all.
12. Keeping some cleaning supplies around for guests-wipe down the outside table, kitchen counter etc.
I just stayed at a luxury listing in Boston. It was hot and the AC was superb. But there wasn’t a single fan of any kind anywhere in the home. We could have saved them some utility dollars if there had been. I was in the third floor bedroom and a fan or even windows with screens that opened would have been helpful.
Absolute logical fallacy. Plenty of hosts are passionately providing remote hosting where the guest is afforded the convenience of a fully automated reservation and self check-in. Just because this isn’t your business model doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with it. And just because a host is on-site and welcoming every guest doesn’t automatically imbue them with passion and a personal touch.
When I read the policy, I envision that it would be reasonable to have a camera in a common dining or living room in a case of a whole house where the bedrooms are rented privately to separate people not traveling together. There is no expectation of privacy in these areas, as you are sharing them with strangers who are renting rooms in the house. So it’s okay to have cameras in this area as long as it’s disclosed. It would not be okay to have them in an area of the house where a guest has a reasonable expectation of privacy. So absolutely not in bedrooms or bathrooms. Yes, pointing at your liquor cabinet is fine, as long as it’s disclosed.
@LoneStar. It doesn’t matter if the rooms are r need to strangers or if the whole house is rented to one person or family or friends. Cameras ARE allowed in the kitchen and living room as long as they are disclosed.
In the US maybe, but here in Spain we may have issues if someone objected (even if they were disclosed to Airbnb). Technically, even a Ring doorbell is illegal here if it can record “public” space, e.g. footpath or road.
JF
Yes, you must disclose but simply disclosing is not sufficient. It is still going to hinge on “reasonable expectation of privacy” in any sort of a challenge and you cannot defeat the guest’s reasonable expectation of privacy with a disclosure. Yes I probably can point cameras at the couch in my whole home rental but even if it is disclosed, I doubt it would withstand a legal challenge when I publish my dvd series “Afternoon Delight: The Vacation Rental Volumes.”
Here is a quick rundown on digital intrusion:
An intrusion on seclusion claim is a special form of invasion of privacy. It applies when someone intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another. In most states, to make out an intrusion on seclusion claim, a plaintiff must generally establish 4 elements:
First, that the defendant, without authorization, must have intentionally invaded the private affairs of the plaintiff;
Second, the invasion must be offensive to a reasonable person ;
Third, the matter that the defendant intruded upon must involve a private matter ; and
Finally, the intrusion must have caused mental anguish or suffering to the plaintiff. See Restatement (Second) of Torts - Intrusion Upon Seclusion.
http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/elements-intrusion-claim
Each state/jurisdiction will have their own laws that may be more restrictive than AirBnB’s ToS. Some jurisdictions will be more permissive with video than with audio because of the letter of the law and for this reason you will find some places in the world where security cameras may not record audio.
The reason I laid out the scenario of a whole house that has bedrooms rented individually to strangers: This is a scenario where the host is on solid ground for having disclosed cameras in common areas.
If you are renting your whole home out to only one party, you are on less solid ground and need to make your disclosures more obvious and make sure that you are not pointing them where there is a “reasonable” expectation of privacy. I’m renting out your whole house, it’s pretty reasonable to expect that I’m not being recorded while having a romp on the couch. Is the couch doubling as an extra “bed”? Then you definitely can’t point a camera at it, even if it is in a “common area”.
I had bought some black washcloths when I found them on sale at Homegoods. Wish I had more because now I can’t find them try Amazon?
I bought midnight blue Amazon Basics washcloths again they were on sale $1 each! Can’t beat them!!!
Same thing I roll them up next to the sink. I’m starting to think luckily have mostly had men stay in my condo 
80-90% of my guests are women. I’ve been using the black washcloths for about a month now and it has worked very well.