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In short, he used the house for a drug-fuelled weekend which had loads of unauthorised guests that spilled out of the house, including a woman in her panties and bra walking in the middle of our family-oriented compound at 6am. Although this booking came through The Plum Guide (not Airbnb), I knew what to do from having learned from all of you in the advice you’ve given in past threads. Thanks to you, I had the courage to stand my ground and refuse his promises to behave etc. Thanks again.
Now, as for the idea…
When the guy made the booking, I asked him if he had read and agreed to the rules. Although he said that he did, he clearly thought he could get away with breaking them.
So my thinking is this… Each time someone does an instant book, to send them a follow up message which includes, “Please can you confirm that you won’t have any unauthorised guests coming as I’m very serious about this rule. I just recently had to prematurely evict a guest because he thought he could break it.”
My thinking is that this message should scare off anyone who plans on disregarding that cornerstone rule whilst not being an issue for those who intend on respecting it.
I wouldn’t put IB on separate unit. When you are not there guests likely to misbehave.
You need at least a moment to make decision.
In my house where I rent out private room a I have IB, on another house that I rent as whole no IB.
If guests are determined to break rules they will break them anyway whether you send the.post booking message or not. But it’s always worse to try
I give no indication I won’t be there. On the contrary, I tell them I will be there, but then, at the last minute, tell them my mum will greet them.
In any case, surely someone who is intent on breaking the rules will be out off when they see the host is serious enough about them to have evicted people before. No?
A message saying no unauthorised guests OR visitors or the reservation will be immediately cancelled would be clearer.
You need cameras so the extra guests/visitors are asked to leave before the party has a chance to start.
I wouldn’t put such a harsh message as the guests are not aware of the exact circumstances of the eviction and can form unfair opinions on the host. I would go with something like “please kindly note house rules on unauthorised persons will be strictly enforced for the safety of the host and neighbours.”
I agree. I would say that we don’t allow the use of our garden out of respect for our neighbours (the entrance to the accomodation is just beyond the fence line and they sit out where a lot).
That was my initial feeling too. And I agree, cameras at the front door really helps.
Here’s another way to prevent these types of events.
In my house rules, I state that I require government issues photo ids of the booking guest and all other guests staying the suite within 3 days of booking. (Separate from Airbnb identification) Their Airbnb profile picture has to look like the id. I also require that any guests visiting be pre-approved and also provide id.
Once the guest checks in, I verify via camera that they are who they say they are and send them a welcome message and make sure everything is as expected. This give them a chance to tell me if there is something I need to do for them. It also covers my *ss should they complain about something after they leave because I can show documentation that they didn’t tell me about it.
I never do anything with the ids but if a guest gives me a hard time, (probably because they want to do something that is not ok) then they either don’t book or cancel. If they cancel after the grace period, Airbnb has backed me up and I don’t have to refund because it is clearly in my house rules.
I think that the message is absolutely fine. Start as you mean to go on. It would be no problem at all if I received that message because I’ve no intention of breaking rules.
If I suspect that a troublesome guest has booked I adjust y usual message.The usual message is something like ‘I live close by so I’m on hand if you need anything during your stay’. The 'could-be-a-troublemaker message is ‘I live right next door so I’m on hand to keep an eye on everything and to help if you need anything during your stay’.
I’ve had a handful of guests cancel when they see that message! Which is fine - if they can’t accept the fact that I’m keeping my beady eye on them then I don’t want them here.
Yikes. I once had the male version wearing just underpants and with his big gut hanging over the waistband . It wasn’t in one of our apartments but a neighbouring one. It was early in the morning too. I yelled at him (which included a few choice English swear words as is my wont) and proceeded to video him on my phone. That made him retreat quickly.
If truth be known, I wasn’t videoing at all him because I was so very angry that I was trembling too much to find the right button but he didn’t know that…
Keep in mind you may eventually have to use a different tactic as people will put in the review that they didn’t meet you. Also, I don’t agree with Yana about IB FWIW.
I’m not sure how the unauthorized guests got into the house. I was certain you had a camera at the entry but now I read everyone telling you to have a camera. What I think is more important than sending another message to reinforce the message they see when they book is to enforce the rules that you have in place immediately. When the unauthorized guests arrive, tell him you will cancel if they don’t leave immediately. When the people park in the wrong spot, tell them to move it immediately, don’t fume overnight that they parked in the wrong place.
Abbreviation, for what’s it’s worth. So many people say not to use IB and I disagree with that almost 100%. Use IB, get the booking and then if you need to do screening, do screening. A new host with no other advantages (like being a Plus listing or the only one in town, etc) is going to be buried if they don’t use IB. Hosts that are so picky or problematic that they will be miserable on IB shouldn’t use it.
Another vote for IB. I much prefer to use it and cut out all the screening thing. I’m a bad judge anyway. I’ve had several guests in the past who I’d probably not have accepted if I didn’t use IB and they’ve invariably been lovely.
I picked up on the anti-IB tone on the forum. We’ve used it since day one and are happy with the extra exposure and bookings it’s got us. We n ed it now more than ever now that bookings have tailed off for now.
I am not against IB. i am on IB from day one. I said : I use IB for my private room in my house where I live and present and can control.thw situation but I do not use IB in my other property which separate house as I had few bad experiences and I decline quite a bit of guests for that listing
karma>>enforce the rules that you have in place immediately
Getting them to acknowledge reading of the rules and listing.
When I 1st hear from a guest, I am going to ask them which animals are mentioned in my listing verbage. If they read it they will tell me correctly. If they didn’t read it I’ll know and encourage to read all of it to find the clues.
Good for you @Fahed!! I emphasize in rules and in listing description that exterior camera monitor the exterior of the property and I have THREE. I don’t want to catch them doing something. I want to discourage them from doing anything.
My bad actors have been rare, but going through the experience is an important and confidence building experience as a host. You’ve got one more notch in your “gut feeling” belt, too. You get better at spotting the Iffy ones.
