Hi all! I’ve only been hosting for around 6 months but so far so good. This morning my current snowbird guests (2.5 months) told me that a couple pulled up to the cottage and got out to take pictures and when they asked why, the people said it was to send to some friends that have an upcoming stay. I believe it is a French couple (I mention only because of potential language/custom barrier) that is coming directly after these guests. She confirmed booking and asked a couple questions about where on the lake our house is because they would be visiting their local friends also on the lake daily. How can I nicely tell her to knock it off without jeopardizing their visit?
You think they will cancel their booking if you say something to them? I might be a little unnerved by someone taking pictures of the home where I was staying but I’m not sure it’s bothersome. What is the friends had come by when the current guests weren’t there? You wouldn’t have otherwise known. However, you might want to get CCTV cameras or a video doorbell since you don’t seem to live onsite.
The fact that they are already giving out your address to people you don’t know is more bothersome to me. I wonder if they are also giving out check in information?
Finally, if you don’t know for sure which guests sent their friends wouldn’t it be awkward to address it? What if you contact the wrong guests?
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I’m more worried that if I ask her to not send her friends here again, she will keep the booking and it will set a negative tone for her stay. She couldn’t give out the access info because I send a new door code to guests the morning of check in.
The property is rural and all the houses are several hundred feet away so it was pretty intrusive for them to park in the driveway and start walking around the cottage when the guests were enjoying their coffee on the patio. Our house is several hundred feet away, so while we didn’t notice this happening we would notice partying or shenanigans. I do agree that maybe we should invest in the video doorbell after reading horror stories on here.
Yes, it might. They might be the entitled kind of guests who aren’t satisfied that the pictures on your listing are accurate. Or maybe they were bragging telling their friends about the wonderful cottage they found and the friends took it upon themselves to swing by and while there, take some pictures.
So many people seem to think they are the only ones in the world. They might not have realized the cottage would be booked and the guests outside watching them.
@CatskillsGrrl did you have something similar happen on camera once?
So to the question. How does one frame the request to the guests when one doesn’t know which guests they are friends with. Questioning the guests without knowing this information certainly could set a bad tone but then the problem switches from their behavior to yours. But if you are certain that it was them perhaps just messaging them to let them know you know about it would be good enough to get them not to do it again, since that seems to be your worry.
Frame it as concern for the guest. “Good morning xxx, my current guests tell me you sent friends to inspect the cottage today. Is everything okay? Is there some concern about the property that I can address before your arrival?” That sort of thing, as if it’s not that it bothered you but that you are worried about their happiness. Then determine next step after you get their reply.
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That’s an awesome suggestion, I love how you worded that! I’m going to give it a shot. Also, I’m pretty sure it’s them because I only have one other booking besides theirs and it’s for a couple passing through on the way to Miami so I couldn’t see why they would do that. Thanks for the advice!
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I DID have future guests come and walk around the property and look in the windows. It was not super obvious to me who they were, but I suspected they were folks who had booked and Lo and Behold it turned out to be the guests who left their dog alone in the cottage for 16 hours. There is a lesson to be learned there. Their self-center behavior in walking around my property uninvited was a prelude to their behavior in the cottage.
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guests who left their dog alone in the cottage for 16 hours.
I remember THOSE guests and the thread that went with it.
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@Jojocircus - It also sounds like your upcoming guests may want to have people over (the ones that took the pictures) while they are staying. If that is against your rules, you might want to repeat to the upcoming guests that restriction.
That is just so rude to take it upon themselves (or ask friends) to do this without checking with you first. I had a guy show up and knock on the door, wanting to take a look at the cottage – he had booked a stay in about 2 weeks. He really creeped me out, and I called Airbnb and had them cancel on my behalf. He was a local who booked to stay with out of town family since his house wasn’t big enough to accommodate them. There is no excuse for not getting in touch first – none.
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Why would they keep coming now they have taken a photo and verified the location? I would have been super nice to them as I am to all local people who ask about places to rent in the neighbourhood as they may encourage future guests to stay here. It is the current guests I would be more worried about getting a bad review from. It’s not as though the local couple were sneaking around or trespassing.
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Just don’t…
He knocked on your door and asked to have a look at the place he had booked and that creeped you out? I once had a guest drop by two weeks after his visit and give me a cheap clock they said the kitchen wall needed so I thanked them profusely and after they left threw it in the bin. I’ve had friends go to a hotel I was staying nearby where they lived and asked them to check out the rooms for me, which they did. I am not sure why everyone is making such a big fuss. Sure if they were peering into windows etc but front doors are there to be knocked on to announce you wish to speak to the occupant. I personally would never visit anyone unannounced but I live in the country and people do it all the time.
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I think you’re totally right that it is just an indicator of future behavior. Thank goodness she cancelled on me after I messaged her about it! Annoyance averted
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I think they are probably saying the same thing.
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It’s trasepessing to park on someone’s driveway without permission
Ussualy people who don’t ask and just do something that obviously need permission from a host will do other things.
I just had a one night stay guests who of course didn’t read any of my rules and things to note and started laundry with few pairs of socks and underwear.
Not only that they arrived late and started laundry at around 10 pm. Laundry machines are very close to other guests room. And of course they disturbed others.
After that, next day they woke up and immediately started cooking breakfast. Banging pots and pans on a kitchen waking up other guests. My husband came down and told them that they are too loud at this hours and we have a very limited vegetarian kitchen rule. They put away bacon . We went to Gym and when we returned one of my long term guests had her eyes rolling .
We walked in and saw another 2 people sitting at our dining table eating breakfast with these guests. O, i said, now you have company.
This is another rule I have that you didn’t read, no visitors without permission.
After all of this they asked for late check out …4 hours .
They left at exactly 11 am and all of us laughed for the rest of the day.
I noticed long ago than when guests start doing something wrong it never stops.
Coming to someone new property not even being an upcoming guest is totally wrong . I am sure more things are coming unless OP stops it right from.the begining
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Thank you! They absolutely trespassed, and it’s that mentality some guests have that because they gave us some money, they get whatever they want without even asking. That’s really rude of your guests to act like it’s a race to use all of your property as fast as they can.
Jamjerrupsunset, I’m not sure how I’m the annoying one in the situation- I’m sure they would also expect the privacy described in my listing. If they didn’t trust all my photos and great reviews, they could have just asked if their friends could swing by instead of coming down a private road, past a closed gate and a no trespassing sign.
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As I always say: Your Place. Your Rules. As long as people accept the consequences no problem doing things differently from me.
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@JamJerrupSunset, he was creepy. First he stood on my front porch peering in the window for a while before he knocked. There were guests in the rental cottage so I – obviously – could not show him the place anyway. When I told him that he would be disturbing the other guests he did not want to take no for an answer. And then he wouldn’t leave…There is absolutely no reason why he couldn’t have sent me a note and asked to “inspect” the place (which was the word he used). Sorry. It’s nosey and weird. I almost called the cops on him. I hate renting to locals, and only do it if there is a really compelling reason to do so. In his case the reason seemed to make sense, but then he just showed up out of the blue – Airbnb agreed with me.
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He was creepy. He would not take no for an answer when I told him I had guests already staying in the place and he couldn’t see it. Sorry, but one of the things I’m totally cool with is trusting my gut on things like this. He absolutely could have called me first or popped me a message.
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People can be so thoughtless! What if your current guests had called the police or otherwise freaked? Not quite on point, but reminds me of a time I was having a private, seated dinner, family party at a restaurant in a room that could only be accessed by elevator. I saw two casually dressed people I didn’t know wandering about. “Can I help you?” I asked. “Oh no, that’s alright, we’re just here to check out the DJ because we are thinking of booking him.” Some newbie working for the DJ’s company had told them where he was playing. They were shameless and gave no indication they were planning to leave any time soon. I had to boot them out.
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