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Here is the message that came through from a guest at 6:30 this morning:
Are people upstairs mad? Their iphone alarm bell has been ringing endlessly since 5:30 am and they simply do not turn off. The sound is heard loud and clear downstairs and my wife and I have been awake since.
I know it’s not your fault but the creaking sound from upstairs has been very annoying from the beginning. I don’t know how this has not been mentioned in the reviews. I could even hear the repetitive creaking sound of the bed upstairs a couple times during my stay, which I do not want to explain to my kid.
Other than this, the house was wonderful, as advertised and thanks much for the hospitality. We will be checking out before 11.
Sooo…was it a good experience? Or a bad experience? Am I supposed to be on the defensive against a bad review? Because, any time someone says “I don’t know how this has not been mentioned in the reviews” we all know that means “I’m going to mention this in the review.”
Maybe you should Airbnb the upstairs. Can you add carpeting? Many apt buildings, co-ops and condos require it as this is such a common complaint. I’d just let them know that you are sorry that they were disturbed and that you appreciate that they brought it to your attention.
I do think that you can expect a less than stellar review from these guests. I feel their pain about the iPhone. I used to have a coworker who used her iPhone as an alarm. Sometimes she would leave it in her desk at work by accident. As we had a open floor plan and split shifts; it drove everyone nuts for the hour and a half until she came in and turned it off. As the sound is designed to wake people up, it’s loud and piercing. Regarding the floors; I think they’re being unreasonable. Any place with wood floors creaks. As far as explaining it to their children; if they want to keep their children in a bubble where sex doesn’t exist it’s on them to engineer the world to their child rearing philosophy. It’s not up to you to remove anything they don’t like from their world.
This is a great response! And perhaps it would curtail them to writing anything negative in a review, especially is you mention that you are going to address the issue with the Iphone alarm person so no guest will ever have that experience.
I doubt that they’ll give you a bad review if everything else was fine. And even if they mention the noise from upstairs, potential guests will know that it’s not your fault and that will be outweighed by other reviews that don’t mention it at all.
I think maybe I will mention, again, that this is an old building, with sturdy old bones, and there is occasional creaking. When we bought the building, we heavy-walked all over the place, jumping up and down on all the floors, etc. It’s very well-rehabbed and actually the quietest two-flat I’ve ever heard. But–people have different tolerances for noise, and I expect and respect that.
Ugh, I have received messages like these from guests who had obviously never stayed in a downstairs apartment. We all try to tippy toe up here when we have guests. It’s good you acknowledged it but you may need to be ready for a smack. Oh how I hate having guests sometimes!
But I don’t understand. Are they referring to your family or someone else? It’s hard to control the actions of other tenants, if so.
I had once a guest in downstairs room that send me a message that the headboard kept her up since 2 am. First i could not understand what headboard. ANd then she told the guests upstairs were having sex for hours, and headboard was banging at the wall. I dont know how it works but i slept like a baby through the whole thing, hehehe.
With that said, what is wrong with your long term guests??? Why on earth they would not turned off that damn alarm o’clock. If i was these people i would just go there upstairs and bang on a door to stop it.
Regarding creaking, they need to get over it. Floors creak, beds creak, thats the sounds of the house. People do have sex, and if they dont want to explain it to their children then they should rent a hotel with a good soundproofing.
I stayed in Fairmont 5* star hotel in SF in a huge suit, and i heard sounds of sex from next door room. I just turned TV on.
This is totally unreasonable, and honestly ii did not like how they told you about reviews. That was not nice.
Dont be afraid of their review, just say it how it is. If it was me and i read their review i would think they super fussy.
I really do think they might have a bit…uninformed. His first question to me was to say that they looked around for a hair dryer but could not find one and wanted to know if there was one and where it was. There wasn’t, of course, and it’s in the listing (business essentials=no) but I replied to say if they wanted to purchase one at the CVS a half-block away, that I would reimburse them up to $25 through Airbnb and that there was one currently on sale for $20.99. He declined, but thanked me for the offer.
Though I’ll probably get dinged for that. Sigh…
My tenants are nice folks, and having stayed nights there just to hear the noises and feel what a guest would, I can honestly say that if you can hear anything upstairs, you are really trying to.
But seriously, sex noises??!? Go to any hotel and tell me you don’t hear that. Sheesh!
The alarm o’clock could have this annoying piercing sound that you can hear quite far.
Some of the items i bought after i had several comments. Like fans, matres pads, and other little thing,
If you’re willing to pay 25 for a hair dryer why not just put one in the apt so it’s never an issue again ?
Some people who have never had shared walls (suburban, rural) are really surprised by how much living noise travels in an apt or condo. I do my best to screen these types out - I love how lifetime new Yorkers tell me my place is quiet, lol.
Yes, apartments and condos can be really noisy in a city. You get noise from all directions. And many (most?) modern buildings are not built with any concern for soundproofing. Ugh.
