I have a guest staying with me now who sent himself a package from Amazon which arrived the morning before he checked in. He had not asked or made me aware of it- I was surprised when the mail carrier handed it to me with my mail, and I recognized his name on the package. I was taken aback. I do not have anything in my rules about guests not sending themselves mail or packages, as I only have short-terms guests, with a maximum stay of 8 days, and I live in a small apartment. It hadn’t occurred to me that guests would be ordering things or receiving mail at my home. My mail carrier had left, and it was too late for me to refuse the package, which is what I had thought I wanted to do, so I decided I would wait for the guest to ask about the package, give it to him, and then ask him to please not have mail sent to my home. When this occurred he apologized and said he didn’t know there would be any issue. I said it is something you should inform a host of in advance before using their address- for safety, and privacy concerns. He seemed very surprised and apologized again saying he didn’t know it was a rule. (I thought not a rule, but maybe common sense? Am I wrong?) Since then in his stay he has been asking me things- “is it alright if I use the bathroom? I don’t know what the rules are here.” I have rules, but they’re typical, no smoking, no outside shoes inside, respect neighbors, quiet time after 12am, etc… What should I do to make this guest and myself feel more comfortable for the remaining duration of his stay?
i noticed this, too. there is a weird thing where a very small number of guests use a huge amount of toilet paper. but i estimate its 1 in 30 or less.its also one of the very few things i have had people take with them.
You could tell him that you are on a forum and that you were warned, but that everything else is okay. It’s always easier to understand a person’s concern if they’ve just been warned about something. That might help him relax.
Even common sense things need to be in the rules I discovered. So you might want to add it, although if it doesn’t happen that often it may not be too much of an issue. Keep your rules to no more than about 6 or 7.
We stayed at a small hotel in Washington last week and my son wanted to order a game case from Amazon. We informed the front desk and asked, they said sure. But when it came it had his name on it and not mine (the registered guest) so they got confused. He went down to get it at the desk and they said they didn’t know who it belonged to, even though the room number was on it.
Nevertheless, we made SURE to ask first! Common courtesy!
Not cool! What are they thinking? I hope you gave them a negative review. That is stealing supplies from your room.
beware!. I won’t entertain anyone use my address
@Kerry wow so sorry to hear that… thanks for sharing. hope everything gets worked out.
I had the US Marshalls show up at my house looking to arrest a guest that had ALREADY checked out - he used my address when he arrested! And another guest that had checked out, advised me that he was expecting a package and to let him know when it would arrive so he could come get it! And yet another guest, who was here from Germany, visiting her prisoner boyfriend here, I saw her walk to my mailbox and LOOK THROUGH MY MAIL! I really need to write a book! GOOD LUCK - your problem is way WORSE - I hope it works out for you! I currently have a guest in JAIL - hopefully he didn’t use my address - but the arrest record I found on line clearly shows his Kentucky address. PHEW.
Where in the world do you live that attracts such low-lifes with such regularity?
In her other post she mentioned…
Wait for it…
FLORIDA. Has “Florida Man” payed you visit yet?
Southern or the interior?
Was the German lady one of those nutters who become pen pals with inmates, and fall in love with them sight unseen?
While we are on this topic, what about grocery delivery? Urban areas have online food shopping. I ordered a box from FreshDirect when I was in one Airbnb (whole apartment rental.) I never even thought about it, but now I’m wondering if should have asked the host.
FWIW I did recycle the box the right way.
Not always. I just hosted a very nice couple from FL. They were not able to finalize their plans before leaving home and needed to have tickets to a ML Baseball game sent to them via our address. No issues.
I had a friend who lives overseas but was traveling in the US ship things to my house to pick up while she was in town. Let’s say Faheem wanted to order things on Amazon while in the US because they are so much cheaper and take them back in his luggage, he might ask his airbnb host if he could use their address. People only come to this forum to post if something goes wrong. No one joins and then creates a thread that says “OMG, I’m a new host and I just wanted to let you all know that I’ve just had the most wonderful guest who was booked by someone else but they left the place spotless and had packages shipped here without asking first and it turns out it was wine gifts for me!”
YES!!! She met him on a penpal site. This was a 23 year old BEAUTIFUL young gal! I was shocked! She had been with him for 5 years and he had 8 more years to go weapons charges! YIKES
I live in a very affluent area of South Florida - near the beach - my house is simple - middle class neighborhood and my prices are lower to get more bookings. I swear I’m gonna write a book - I’ve had some doozies!
I have posted that I permit guests to have packages sent to my house with the understanding that I am not responsible for the packages. I’ve never had any problem and it has been greatly appreciated by guests who wish to buy things that they will be using here, that are cheaper here than in their home country, etc. As per usual on this forum; I was not only disagreed with, but also insulted.
This is your problem. Raise your prices now and do not let riff raff book!
I’ve asked to have a pack & play delivered to a rental home since the owner didn’t have one & we weren’t going to have a car to go purchase one. I left it for his use (after he said he would take it, of course.) It wasn’t a big deal.