A discussion of House Rules, Violations, and Ratings

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Dearest fellow hosts -

There is no problem to solve here, I just want to talk with other hosts about House Rules, Violations and Ratings.  We have a long list of  "rules" which includes things like "committing to an arrival time and arriving when agreed" to "no smoking in the house".  Despite a long set of expectations for behavior, we have found ourselves frequently having to resolve a violation issue after it has already happened.  

Some examples are: when a guest texts me at 3:15 for their 3:30 check in that they are going to be 2 hours late.  We have this as a rule because we want to make plans and go about our day, but 99% of the time, we readjust and re-plan our day instead of cancelling them saying - nope, sorry, you violated rule number 1 already. Or when a guest shows up with a bag of groceries and we have a clear "no cooking" rule and their steak is already browning in the pan.  The most recent, the guest invited a friend over for an afternoon visit, opened the door and let her in herself, in violation of "no unapproved guests" and a "no entertaining" policy.  

So over some drinks, our conversation got all "thinky" and I wanted to reach out to hear your thoughts on how you handle your house rule violations.  We seem to only be able to deal with them after the violation has occurred or getting involved in the middle of it.  If you see someone breaking the rule, do you jump into the middle of it to stop it (like our steak guy - do we grab the steak off the stove and reiterate "no cooking")?  Or do you resolve it after the violation is over and then take action (like allowing the friend to exit the property first before discussing the "no entertaining" policy with the guest)?   And when does a house rule violation result in being expelled from the property for you?  What score do you give to guests to violate one rule, but follow all the rest - you can give up to 5 stars for "house rules" - is this an "all or nothing"?   And what about those standard rules like not allowing children 2-12 - what if you suspect the kid is 10 - do you kick them out?  

Again, just a discussion of your way of handling situations.  Ours are over, we've evaluated how we might change it in the future but I'd like to here from you about how you handle your House Rules, Violations, and Ratings.  

Thanks in advance for your insight and thoughts, 

Alice 

P.S.  That 1% of time some of you are wondering about from my stat above, well we had plans we could not change and agreed to meet her later when she needed to alter her check-in time at the last minute (we had expensive tickets to a show).  Then she marked US down for check in - how about THAT for a kick in the shin!

[Kim-and-Jen0]

Hi Alice and Jeff,

I think most of the people dont read. they are lazy to read or dont bother to read. My opinion is, when the guest arrive at your place you verbally telling them again your house rules, so they cant make excuses that they didnt read and also print the house rules and hand it to them upon arrival. If they still violating the house rules, i think they are rude and disrespectful.

For the arrival, maybe you have a postbox with the number padlock? so you can just tell them the number and they can self collect the keys?

Its just an idea. hope it helps 😃

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Kim-and-Jen0 - again, I am not solving a problem here but thanks for the advice.  How you you handle when someone breaks the house rules in your property?  

[Kim-and-Jen0]

I prefer to prevent it before it happens by telling them first upon the arrival. But if they break the rules first time then i will tell them nicely. If they stay just a day then forget bout it. If they stay longer and they do it again, i will tell Straight For example cooking, i will say' hey im sorry but our house rules is no cooking, maybe you didnt know bout it but yeah its no cooking'. If after you tell them and they still doing it i will say ' im sorry i have to ask you to leave because you seems doesnt care bout the house rules'.. Something like that..

[Andrea352]

Alice and Jeff,
Thanks for connecting me to your conversation. My incident was very unfortunate, and my guests retaliated because they got caught breaking out rules. My situation is different because I don't live on the site of my rental. I hide a key so people don't have to coordinate their arrival with my schedule. I have to rely on them reading the rules and corresponding with me through Airbnb. However, after reading this discussion, I'm going to start trying to meet my guests face to face early in their stay to go over everything. Hopefully, that will keep me from having issues like this in the future. It is really hard to deal with the public. You never know how people will react to basic confrontation.

Andrea

[Carla13]

I don't live in or near my airbnb property so I will set up a phone call to reiterate rules, sometimes even before they book.

[Andrea352]

Has anyone gone as far as evicting a guest when they break the house rules? How did it go? What were the circumstances? The way the language from Airbnb reads it appears we can cancel their reservation if they break any rules, no matter the magnitude. Can canceled/evicted guests then post reviews?

[Deanna13]

when they violate the houserules and you work with airbnb to evict them. they do not get a refund and are not allowed to leave a review.

[Bernard37]

Hi, guests reviews cannot be seen unless you leave a review for them so if you know a guest will leave a negative review it would be wise not to leave them one. : )

[James1]

@Bernard37 What you said is a very common misconception. It used to be that way years ago but now if only one party leaves a review it is posted publicly two weeks after guest departs.

[Milagros0]

 In response to Bernard's comment, if ony ONE person (guest or host) leaves a review, it will be posted 14 days after the stay.  Now, Airbnb says they do not remove them, but you have a chance to reply to them.  You are notified when a review is left and given a chance to leave a public reply.  I suggest being as civil as possible when replying....

I have had one instance where I kenw the guests would probably leave a negative review...in that case, I make sure I respond to them using Airbnb's messaging system and they reply to me so Airbnb can see what has transpired between us.  In my case, the majority of my guests are seasonal.  They come to the beautiful sugary beaches of Florida.  In high season, my refund policy is STRICT because I literally have people checking in the same day someone leaves!  A couple said they had to leave early because his job emailed him to come into work.  He said he had no choice but to leave and get back to work.  I told him I would be happy to refund him if he didn't mind sharing that email with me so I could authenticate his request.  He got upset so I figured he would leave a negative review.  I was proactive and notified Airbnb immediately.  Whether he left an actual negative review or not, I do not know, but I let them know immediately.  Because of my refund policy being intact, he was not entitled to one.

[Maggie46]

Really?  didn't know this- so there's does not just show up....unless the host leaves one?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Maggie46 

if ony ONE person (guest or host) leaves a review, it will be posted 14 days after the stay.

if you evict someone for breaking the house rules he will be refunded for remaining days and can post a review

[Helen350]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Maybe the rules have changed since the original post in Sept 2016? - Changed in favour of the guest...........................???

[Annette33]

@Alice-and-Jeff0,

I only had it one time that someone broke the house rules: sneaking someone else into the apartment for an overnight stay, it was their daughter, but I had specifically said no when they had casually told me (not asked me....) that she would be joining them. I had made it clear to them that our max occupancy is two, and that we are sorry, yet they got her in anyways for 2 of the 4 nights.

Once we noticed, I focused on: are they damaging anything,  will this cause us any grief or inconvenience? Can I just deal with the disrespect without getting my ego involved?  what is best for US in this situation? That is always the bottom line.

Having the daughter there didn't cause any damages, no extra noise, etc... , so to save ourselves some nastiness or a confrontation, I just let it go - but if it had been something worse or much more inconvenient, like repeatedly changing check in times, like happened to you, I would speak up immediately and be very clear about our bottom line:  we all have our boundaries and once I would feel too much pushed around, or too many repeated violations, I would put that person out. A lot of hosts worry constantly about their 5 star ratings, as if they are powerless because of that - I am not intimidated by that, and wish other hosts wouldn't be either.

These guests also didn't communicate with us during their stay  and left without saying good bye, not writing a review either. Now that I am more experienced with being a host, I would definitely step up and write a review on them calmy mentioning breaking the house rules. I am flabbergasted that most hosts who complain about guests in the community forum then turn around and actually write them a very nice review! Makes no sense to me. These guests I am talking about requested another stay with us 2 weeks later, and I declined, just citing to Airbnb that I am not comfortable with them. End of story, no drama, no upheaval.

I agree that prevention is the best course of action: that means to me to always being physically present when they check in: those 10 minutes of interaction give me an excellent feel for what is going to happen.  I believe house rules are most effective if they are very clear and short, not a long list with gentle reminders or polite "please". It goes right over peoples' heads.

Guests  are not our friends, it's a business transaction that is taking place - great if it is all very friendly but  being "too friendly" about the rules sets one up for disrespect. I believe. Tightening house rules, such as check in time maybe just for 4 hours instead of from  2 pm to midnight, might be beneficial and preempt trouble.

Other preventive measures we have taken :

1.) No "el cheapo" pricing , yet offering excellent value in our opinion,

2.) no more than two guests,

3.) stays no longer than 4 days, which helps if the guest is someone we don't particularly care for.

Overall we have been very veruy lucky so far, no drama, no problems beyond a wine glass broken, some weird smells occasionally, a bit of a mess in the kitchen - but nothing outrageous ever!

Ps : I enjoy your posts and insights in the community forum, thanx!