Rude & Overly Demanding Guest

[Siobhan10]

We currently have a couple staying with us, who said they were visiting our city to see the sights, and intended to travel around our state via plane and car while here.

They arrived - everything seemed great, but the husband insisted that he didn't want the living room or their bedroom cleaned (they booked a private room with us, not an entire apartment, so they only have exlusive use of a bedroom and bathroom that leads off the living room), and that they wanted to be left alone as much as possible. 

We generally only go into the space to clean and use the laundry room now and then.

He also was very pushy about using the washer and dryer to launder a "few things" (something we usually don't allow), and I reluctantly agreed.

Two days later I discovered that she had some kind of pretty big cosmetic facial surgery, and was recovering downstairs.

Her husband insisted that they were super cold (it's 101 degrees right now), and asked if I could give them a heater. He continued to be very insitent that they needed privacy.

At this point I felt a they had been not entirely candid, as I would not have accepted their booking if I'd known this was a medical recovery stay (we have a kid, dogs, play music, etc).

Today I discovered that the husband has left town for two days and is about 3 hours away. He told me that his wife isn't on any pain meds (I was worried that she couldn't look after herself), that he'd "got her enough food", and then ended up yelling at me, telling me that I "worry too much", "you don't know who you're talking to", "you don't know what I can do", "this won't go well for you". 

He then said he would ask his wife to call me. She did, and was calm, but evasive.

I guess I'm asking if this is acceptable/common behavior, and how any of you might deal with this situation, short of either cancelling (which has negative consequences for us) or asking them to leave (which they will likely refuse to do).

I only started hosting at the beginning of May, and all our other guests have been pretty great and sometimes really amazing.

Advice would be appreciated!!

[Deborah1]

You may want to contact airbnb and ask for them to be re-housed. Good luck. This does not sound fun. Let us know what happens.

[RobandAnna0]

Your situation is awful . How much longer will they be staying with you? If it is only another day then I would just ignore them but if much longer I think you need to get Airbnb to be involved. So sorry.

[Buffalo0]

I would call airbnb and get their advice. Sounds terrible! Good luck. Keep us posted

[Pooja3]

How do we contact Airbnb? I am currently facing a simmilar situation. Just that my guest is not having any medical issues but has been shouting since he got here and has been demaing the house keys.

[Darlene13]

I think the minute he yelled at you, he crossed a line. Definitely contact Airbnb and ask that you cancel the reservation. Maybe they can contact him for you. And be sure that your husband or another man is around when they leave

[Sandra126]

I have read hosts guest rules which states no medical stays or similar, I understand why now. Once burnt, twice shy.

She could even die on you! Some do. Get airbnb to move them if you like, hie behaviour counts as abusive.

[Family-Andreou-Leonida0]

Your guests arent guest but abusers, contact airbnb to move them. If he has a good credit with airbnb (has been a good guest for many bookings) they will try to keep him as guest, but if he has not much experience with airbnb as guest/host, they might even cancel his membership. You should also contact police if he ever cross the line verbally again.

[Dee9]

Im 50/50 on this.

I myself prefer guests who like to be left alone. They like their privacy and I like mine. If your guests wanted to be left alone I dont see what the problem is with that. You dont really need to clean the room until they leave. And if you dont want people using the washer/dryer then put that in your ad.

Also, when I have guests I dont play loud music. Even if it is my house, its respectful when you have paying guests. Nor do I let my cat in or near their room.

On the other hand, him leaving his sick wife there is unacceptable. And he seems very rude. Rude enough to warrant a call to Airbnb.

And make sure you leave them a horrible, detailed review to warn other potential hosts!!!

[Sandra126]

@Dee9, they lied about reason to stay. They said it was for seeing the sights, not to recover from an operation. Saying that will make many if not most hosts say no, which is why they lied but that is a poor excuse. Then to be abusive about it and not want hosts near is not good. The living room is shared, yet the guests don't want the hosts near, not even to clean their own living room. None if it is acceptable, from the enquiry and on. They should really have rented an independent place where the hosts are not on site, nobody would have been the wiser unless some post op complications arose. But what did they do? They rented in someone's house and lied about it.

[Donna15]

@Siobhan10, contact AirBnB as soon as possibe.

You can reach them via the Help link at bottom of this page.

Or via Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/airbnb/?fref=ts

Or – if you have a Twitter account - try twitter@airbnbhelp. It’s said there’s a quick response.

Essential reading for hosts.

Contains a link with several international phone numbers (‘Contact AirBnB’).

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/Community-Help-Guides/m-p/23100#U23100

Here’s the number for Canada and the US.

+1 (415) 800 5959 / +1 855 424 7262 (emergency toll-free number)

You might also want to flag the guest's profile.

[Siobhan10]

Thanks, Donna.
I've actually contacted Airbnb, and they explained that I could cancel but that there would be penalties for me - a $50 fee (although the website says $100), loss of eligibility for Superhost, and that the remaining period of the stay would be automatically blocked

[Siobhan10]

Apparently only a violation of house rules would allow me to cancel and not face these penalties.
At the moment I'm considering cancelling anyway!

[Family-Andreou-Leonida0]

its a rather smal price to pay for peace Siobhan,

I had this once and I preferred to be penalized than suffer the weirdo guest's demands.

I think though airbnb puts these penalties in place because otherwise hosts would abuse cancelling for minor things all the time, some hosts would be themselves the abusing ones/pushy ones. So I may not like paying these penalties but I understand why Airbnb has them in place.

[Siobhan10]

I agree with you - sometimes it's worth it just to have the whole experience behind you.
I'm waiting for the husband to get back, and then I'll see how he behaves and decide from there.
Thanks for your input - it's really great to have fellow hosts' opinions on this.