My answer hasn’t changed despite the clarification that she didn’t reserve and pay for him to stay the night he was there. He was there because of this guest. It is not your fault he arrived with this guest. I too would have been flustered and confused by his behavior. I have every reason to believe that he will accompany her to every Airbnb she books. I don’t care to have her stay at my Airbnb thank you.
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Thanks for your response. Not that it makes any difference with this situation, but we do not charge extra for a second guest. We only charge extra for 3 or more guests. So it wasn’t even like she didn’t pay for him…there wasn’t an extra charge. Our tenant stayed for over 4 months and only had a guest the very first night. So I didnt bother to make her add him to the reservation for the 1 night he was there.
I should have had her log a second guest, and I didn’t. That was my mistake.
For some reason I thought this was a one month stay not a 4 month stay. This is much more relevant than if the guy is on the reservation or paid anything. Now I’m faced with a guest who was fine for 3.75 months except for bleached face cloths (towels as well) and the furniture rearranged in the home. I’m also not keen on a guest possibly turning off gas with a wrench.
I don’t care about anything other than my concern that someone thinks that renting my place for 4 months is license to rearrange the furniture and make changes like new detectors that they expect me to pay for. Also the day you spent when they arrived is time out of the host schedule.
You should be honest and lay out the facts and let future hosts decide if they want to deal with a one day relative in exchange for a 4 month booking. I think not mentioning does a great disservice to future hosts.
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But she didn’t do this. If she had you would be in a different circumstance.
You need to review the guest on HER stay. How did she act while she was there. The cousin was not officially part of the reservation. So it is unfair to review her based on what the cousin did. YOU gave permission to the cousin to enter. That is on you.
I don’t care about that. She could have checked in the guest and left and the relative could have come later for his inspection and renovation and I’d have been none the wiser until 4 months later, had the guest thought it wasn’t necessary to mention it. I’m holding the guest responsible for allowing this guy to do this to a host’s home. That’s why I don’t want THIS GUEST. But another host would feel differently. So review honestly and let other hosts know. I’m with Sandy Toes and Ken that looking back it seems an under reaction. But I’d probably have found myself in the same situation.
Did the guest do this, or the cousin?
The relative did the physical work but I’m putting the responsibility on the guest because my expectation is that she will never be renting an Airbnb without his “help.” The guest is allowing and enabling this behavior.
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Agreed. But it’s also up to the new hosts to not allow those not named on the reservation to be allowed to enter.
You could do a review that says, xx was a great guest and we enjoyed hosting her. However, please ensure that she will not ask to bring her buttinsky relative over before she moves in to inspect your place, demand unnecessary safety measures and move your furniture around.
But it still seems unfair to the guest who was a good guest.
Same situation, but let’s say this time he was officially on the reservation. Does that change your response? Because when she told me he would be joining her for one night I definitely could have asked her to add him. And she would have. And it would have changed nothing but the book keeping.
So if she booked your place and asked what to do about someone coming for 1 night only, you would tell her to add him to the reservation. And she would add him. And that would be the end of discussion. Because if I don’t include a warning in my review, you wouldn’t know to even be concerned.
And honestly, I HATE leaving even mildly negative reviews. I don’t want to do it. But on the flip side, I think I would want to be warned about this person. Which is why I’m asking other hosts. And I’m getting like 50/50 feedback on this one, so not really getting warm fuzzies about either option. I want to do right by the guest AND by other hosts. Isn’t that what reviews are meant for?
Yes. Reviews for the guest by the host are to help the next host; reviews by the guest for the host are for the next guest.
I don’t even know if you are asking Kona or I.
Yeah, that is interesting because what I see most forum hosts post time and again is to be honest in your review.
Let me recap: as a consequence of this guest’s stay,
A second CO detector was not just suggested, it was demanded and he bought one and expected reimbursement;
All the electronics were unplugged;
Tools and instructions for turning off the gas were left for the guest;
your bed was moved despite your explicit request that this not be done;
Other furniture was rearranged;
Your time was taken for this relative’s inspection as well as restoring the home to its original condition and
Bath linens ruined with face bleach.
I don’t want to host this guest if the relative is coming by first and I need to know why. Maybe in the written part you could say “thumbs up for the guest, thumbs down for Inspector Gadget.”
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@KKC I keep trying to reply, and I obviously wasn’t doing it right. But I was trying to ask @konacoconutz because it seems she’s hung up on the booking technicality. But maybe I’m misunderstanding.
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@KKC I really appreciate all your feedback on this. I’m just curious about one thing. Let’s say I leave a review disclosing the issues, but also talking about how nice and respectful the guest was. Would you click “recommend” or " do not recommend" at the end?
I would be her first and only review, so if I don’t recommend she probably won’t ever be able to instant book. But maybe that’s okay if my review if I say something like, “would recommend as long as nutjob isn’t coming as well”. But if I do recommend her then she can instant book and it puts the next host in the situation of not being able to make a decision. They would just have to cancel if they were uncomfortable after reading my review. So do not recommend?
You should click whichever is true of your feelings about it.
Based on what you have posted here I would click recommend for the guest while also making it crystal clear in the public part of the review what the issues were. Then as a host I can vet her to my standards. It sounds like if the relative isn’t coming for pre-stay inspection she would be okay. I can stand some rearranged furniture for a 4 month stay. I understand the need to distinguish between the guest and her relative. But the idea that you would leave a nice public review and save the negative stuff for private feedback is not one I endorse. Just be honest.
As for the next host, she can always find a place that isn’t IB or write to a host explaining she is coming alone, she understands the inspection isn’t necessary, etc and let that host decide. Don’t fear that you are going to ruin her Airbnb life with your review. They are important but not the be all, end all of Airbnb.
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I wouldn’t do that. And I wouldn’t admit him if he came later, even if she told me he was coming. As above, I would have said, “I’m really sorry but I can’t allow xx to come on the property due to insurance constraints.”
If he was on the reservation for one night or four months we would be having a different kind of conversation. I’m not sure you’re getting it.
If you are fearful of leaving a negative review, do the safe thing as I advised above. Just make sure she knows the actions of her relative almost caused a cancellation. If you want to leave more of a negative review, do it but at the 11th hour, so she isn’t prompted to whack you back. If she leaves a review before the deadline review her now.
It’s not a booking technicality. Either Inspector Buttinsky was your guest officially or he wasn’t.
With the exception of the last, all was done by Inspector Gadget, who was admitted by the OP, and therefore permitted to be there. After he was there, he walked all over her, making demands and she sucked it up and met his demands. Whose fault is that? The guest?
I’m stepping out of this one, good luck with whatever you decide to do.
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I would consider these facts to be the most pertinent to include in your review:
- That your guest was a long-term renter of 4 mos.;
- That prior to her arrival, she allowed a family member to do a “pre-check” of your rental.
- That the family member took it upon himself to make several drastic changes to the property without your approval, including disassembling and moving heavy furniture (such as the dining table and the bed!) from one room to another; and
- That upon departure, the guest did not see to the return of the furniture to their rightful locations.
I would also like to know that the guest was a pleasant and courteous individual throughout her stay but is oblivious to the fact that such extreme liberties should not be taken in a rental situation; and that due to her lack of judgment – as well as having to replace a significant number of stained towels – you cannot wholly recommend this guest.
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Of course, guests get to rate us on ‘overall experience’. I’d say that the overall experience here for the host was pretty grim. If guests can rate the overall experience, then maybe we should too?
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I’ve been getting bookings lately where I see both the booker’s avatar and the avatar of their partner. I wondered what was going on and if they were just being cute but maybe they can be linked. But as I am on IB it doesn’t make any difference to me.
Some of your best work!
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