I'm not sure how to review these guests. What do you think?

[Chris131]

Maybe it's my mistake I don't know but I told them they could "use anything they have access to". When I told them that I didn't expect them to use all the beds and bedrooms in the house especially when they knew there might be guests coming for the other rooms. If a guest had instant-booked one I would shown them into a room not knowing it was messed up. And even though they cleaned up after themselves pretty well they were using my cereal bowls as ashtrays. 

I'm kind of on the fence about if it's my fault for not being strict enough or if they were disrespectful. 

What does everyone think?

Thanks,

Chris 

[Grace62]

Absoclutely disrespectiful.  They wouldn't use all the beds in their own home and if they use their own cereal bowls in their own home as ashtrys then do you really want these people in your house.  Maybe make it a no smoking home?  I personally would want to know about this kind of behaviour as I would not want them staying in my home.  

However, you do need to practice expectations.  I think have a folder in the room/rooms with wifi code, map of the area, local interests, takeaways, transporation, but at the front a paragraph let them know what they have access to in a friendly and positive way.  Sorry to hear that you have had a negative experience but the positive is that you can handle the next booking better.

[Momi0 · Accepted solution]

@Chris131  Take them on a thorough tour,  and remind them that other guests will be possibly checking in to use those rooms.  AND  unless they booked another room, those rooms are off limits.  When my guests arrive, I go through everything, letting them know that my office is off limits, my daughters room is off limits and I am very clear on what areas of our home inside and out is available to them as another friendly reminder even though my listing is very clear.  I even posted photos of the areas they may use so there is no confusion about whether or not they should be going into my Master Bedroom / bathroom. haha  and for the love of god, please be sure to write an honest review about this guests, and the disgusting use of your cereal bowls.  If you do allow smoking, then point out to your guests, what they may use for their butts.  But I don't want these guests coming to my place, so please be honest.  I have to write a review today about a guests who recently checked out that wasn't our best guests, his wife was wonderful, but the husband....yikes!

*** I dont' allow smoking anywhere, so no chance of getting your recent guests, but other hosts do allow smoking, so please help them out by making sure other hosts know about your experiences.  How awful you had to deal with that.  And yes, it happens to all of us.  But I am getting better and better about declining anyone if I sense a RED FLAG....and its proven to be the best decision. Good luck.

[Sharon114]

Perhaps I am missing something but I looked at your listing and it says entire place for rental.  If these guests had booked the entire place and then you stated that they could use everything I guess they took you at your word.   How many guests were there?  Do you have additional guests from different bookings using the place at the same time?

I think most people would not use all the bedrooms unless required for sleeping but they may feel as they have paid for the whole place, they can use all the rooms.

The smoking issue is another matter and it is not acceptable to use your dishes as ashtrays.  Perhaps when you have future guests you could ask them to only use the bedrooms they need and leave the others untouched. 

One other point, if you had received an instant booking guest and shown them into the room which had been used without your knowledge, what about the other areas of the property i.e. lounge, kitchen etc. Don't you have to clean these in between guests.

As I said, I am a little confused.

[Julia66]

@Sharon114 Yes, confusing.  I see from Chris' reviews that one is for 'Private Room' (now unlisted) and the others are for 'Three Bedroom Vacation Rental'.  If the private room is in the same apartment, maybe there was a mix-up on the host's or the guests' side.  Hence the advice of hosts on this forum to monitor calendars carefully if we list as whole apartment and private rooms for the same property.

[Anupama1]

Yes True Chris, it becomes difficult sometimes. But it helps to tell your guests what is expected from them and what they can expect from us as hosts during their stay. You may update the house rules on site and have a printout with you when the guests checkin. Handover that printed checklist to guests, this works as a reminder. And yes as everyone suggests it is better to lay the limits before hand only and be cautious for next time, such learnings will only help us to know how and what can be improved or changed.About using cereal bowls, Sandra rightly suggested, availability of ashtry will help.

[Sandra126]

Apart from anything else, if you provide outside ashtrays I find that 99% will use those.

[Goga1]

Dear Chris 

i have 6 bedroom apartment..

At the beggining i would fix all the beds even when i had 3 guests comming

I was realy shocked that they slept in all beds...

Now i changed my tacticks..

i ask in advance how many of them will be in my apartment and fix only 3/4 beds...

if they need more then 4 beds i will ask for extra money..

problem solved...

I hope i helped

[Chris131]

Hey everyone and thanks for the great responses!

I usually list the Entire Place but I didn't have any bookings at this time so I listed each room individually and these guests had booked just one room. When they checked in I told them we may have other guests coming for the other rooms. 

My problem is that if I leave them a poor review about using other bedrooms don't you think they will retort with "he told us we could use anything we have access to"? So maybe I should just leave that part out and just talk about using dishes as ashtrays?

Yeah it seems my real problem is not being clear enough about the rules. I'm still pretty new and will be much more clear in the future. It was a good learning experience since nothing really bad happened. I also left them there without supervision which was certainly a mistake. 

I didn't mention it earlier but they also got yelled at by the neighbors for being too noisy at midnight (on Wednesday) and brought home girls. 

Yeah I guess I just need to leave them an honest review. I feel bad because they were pretty nice and didn't seem like they were trying to cause trouble. 

Thanks everyone,

Chris