Airbnb has continued to be a great success story, as over the years, it has managed to build a global online community of guests and hosts that is loyal.
As a host, when you agree to use the Airbnb service, you understand there are specific guidelines and requirements for you to follow. For instance, you have to provide your guests with a living environment that is comfortable, safe, and clean.
Likewise, when the potential guests of your property sign up for the Airbnb service, they also have to agree to follow specific rules of behavior.
The business model the property rental online marketplace uses heavily depends on the willingness of guests and hosts to abide by rules. Both guests and hosts are expected to be honest and respectful.
Nevertheless, sometimes, a rare occurrence with Airbnb, a guest can break your property rules or make you feel uncomfortable to continue hosting. In such a situation, yes, you are within your rights to ask your guest to leave your property. Often, when you have requested a guest to leave, he/she may be worthy of refund for the nights not stayed.
Some of the Potential Reasons for Requesting a Guest to Leave
· When there is a violation of the house agreement terms.
· Because of property damage.
· Disruption of peace and lousy behavior such as staying nude in your private part of the property.
· If the tenant poses safety and health risks.
· When a guest overstays.
It is advised that when asking a guest to leave, your approach should be understanding, civil, and humane. That creates an environment for peaceful resolution of the issue.
What To Do If You Feel Uncomfortable Hosting a Guest?
There are various ways of approaching this situation, including:
I. Ignore The Situation
If the violation is minor, you can deal with it appropriately by just ignoring it. That usually involves waiting until the day a guest is required to check out.
When the situation requires, for recovering a financial loss because of guest damage, Airbnb allows for the filing of a claim. Alternatively, you can file a claim with your insurance company.
II. Communicate With Your Guest
The second option is to have a candid and honest conversation with the guest of your property. You can use that time to remind the guest, in a friendly manner, of your house rules, and point out how they may have violated some of those rules.
This is a vital way of dealing with a guest to see if they can continue cooperating or remaining a problem. Your guest may seize the opportunity to apologize for the trouble and even offer to remedy the issue.
III. Report Violation
You should report any guest violation to the guys at Airbnb. Your safety as a host is considered a top priority by Airbnb. If a guest is going against the existing house rules or poses a risk to you, you can request for a departure or cancel the reservation when the guest is not cooperative.
When you contact Airbnb, they will tell you how you can make a guest leave your property peacefully. It is often advised that you try not to be subjected to cancelation penalties.
If it is necessary, you can claim any extra fee from the guest through Airbnb to cover for your expenses in the repairing of your property or cleaning your belongings.
IV. Police Intervention
If a guest is uncooperative or just want him/her out of your property, at this point, a drastic measure may involve having to dial 911 or calling the police straightaway.
How Has Airbnb Responded To The Issue of Rowdy Guests?
In 2019, a deadly mass shooting occurred during a Halloween house celebration in one of the Airbnb rentals in California. The shocking occurrence prompted Airbnb to issue even stricter guidelines for the safety of not only hosts but also guests.
As per now, your guests are supposed to adhere to high standards than before the deadly mass shooting incident.
The new rules generally cover:
· Unauthorized guests
· Excessive noise
· Unauthorized smoking
· Unauthorized parking
· Cleanliness concerns. For instance, guests are required to undertake significant cleaning before leaving your rental property.
Likewise, Airbnb now has an innovative 24/7 Neighbor Hotline, which you can use for reaching a real person to report any breakage of rules by a guest.
The Potential Ways of Avoiding Difficult Guests
Airbnb cannot force you to continue hosting a guest in your property if you no longer want. Trust me; you do not want to be in a situation where you need to ask a guest to leave. Often, it is not a great experience when you have to deal with issues like confronting drunken guests and dealing with neighbors' complaints and police intervention.
However, the good news for you is that there are different ways you can take into consideration to minimize or avoid a situation of hosting a rowdy and challenging guest.
a. Age Of The Guest
Some hosts prefer young guests, teens in their early 20s because, by virtue of being active, they tend not to use the rented space a lot. They are always out.
Nonetheless, a younger guest may tend to be less respectful of your property and may even be more demanding when accommodated. If your guest has spent most of his or her life staying in guest houses and hotels, expect more demands and complaints about the standard of your accommodation. Frequent complaints from a guest mean a negative host review is in the offing. And when you cannot take petty grievances, you may be forced to part ways with the guest.
b. If the Guest Costs You More
You can always expect that you may receive one or two guests who thrive on wastage of resources. The situation, in most cases, applies to the younger generation. For example, you may find your guest taking showers lasting more than 30 minutes or excessively using toilet paper rolls every day.
We understand that it may be hard to figure out the potential guest's behavior and character by just reading written reviews. For that reason, we strongly advise that to avoid potential wastage of provisions like cosmetics, you must concentrate on guaranteeing your house rules are concise and precise. Do not let your house rules be open to interpretation, which in return, may encourage abuse.
For instance, if the electricity cost in your area is expensive, you may require the guest to use the air conditioning system just when indoors. As well, if your hot water supply is limited, you can control the duration and number of daily showers.
c. Read Guest Reviews and References
To help you get a feel of the kind of potential guests wanting to use your property, you should go through their reviews and references. If a guest cares about the experience of Airbnb, then he or she will make sure to have, on the profile page, positive references from employers, family, and friends.
When you read the reviews provided by previous hosts of your potential guests, it becomes possible to have a rough idea about their personalities. That is essential for aiding your determination of whether a guest is suitable or not for your rental property. When a guest is suitable, there may be no reason to request for his or her premature departure from your property.
You should also check the guest's description as written on the profile page and go through the photos. If the guest has not bothered to provide this critical information or the information provided does not make you feel good, you should avoid such a guest. That is a sign of potential trouble.
d. Look For Warning Signs
For guests that may lead to you requesting them to leave, usually, there are signs. Some potential signs may involve when a guest asks the potential host meaningless or random questions. For example, the guest may ask if your property has surveillance cameras. This is probably a sign that the guest may prove difficult to handle and hence, should be avoided.
Furthermore, if a potential guest asks you to make an exception, it is recommended that you avoid such a guest.
e. Learn Polite Refusal
As a host, you should not be too slow to refuse a hosting request by a guest, particularly if you do not get positive vibes from the guest. You can compose short message to the potential with reasons why guest is not appropriate for your rental property.
Remember also to wish the guest success in finding another host and having an excellent holiday.
In Conclusion
While you generally have great guests for your property, you must also be alive to the fact that you may encounter a difficult Airbnb guest. If you are to request an Airbnb guest to leave, make sure that you do it according to the recommendations of Airbnb.
In the resolution center, used for requesting that your guest departs your property officially, you will need to provide your reasons for wanting the departure. You must have solid evidence, like photographic evidence of damage, to act as a backup for your reasons.
Requesting a guest to leave your property in an unfriendly manner can cause you to incur Airbnb penalties, and your rating as a host may also be negatively affected. If you do not know about the recommendations, you can always call Airbnb to furnish you with proper advice.
You can also provide a review about guest so that it discourages him or her from being difficult to handle. In addition, your host reviews of a guest can also be helpful for other potential hosts to make their decisions about hosting a guest. You can also decide to delete your Airbnb listing Airbnb does not treat you seriously.
Do you want more control over your vacation rental income? Try these tips!