“In my experience communication with the host tends to be limited.”
What do other hosts think about? Would you allow someone into your house who doesn’t communicate? Even Airbnb encourages hosts to prepare a set of questions for the guest asking about their arrival time, reason for visiting, number of guests, luggage, house rules, etc. I literally copied and pasted the questions from the Airbnb site, but this guest used it against me.
I moved to a freshly renovated luxury apartment a month before this guest’s arrival and asked him to take care of it like his own home. I mentioned I had a guest who painted her hair black in my brand new white bathroom – leaving black stains – and told the guest I’m not into drama. This means if he doesn’t feel comfortable with my cleanliness he’s free to book other accommodations.
I spent too much money on this apartment and couldn’t afford further damages in my first month. I’d rather cancel and was open about it. I was sure I was polite and professional with my communications, therefore I didn’t understand this guest’s aggression towards me and it really upset me.
“Upon arrival in the city I reached out to the host to arrange a meet (something I’ve never had to do with any other host)”
Let me specify ‘the meet’ in the apartment. The correct term would be “meet and greet.” What do you think, hosts? Is it bad thing to meet your guest in person? Even Airbnb commercials shows hosts and guests meeting. Again, I didn’t understand my mistake.
“She provided me with a different address to the apartment.”
My building has two entrances: the north and south side. You are allowed to put only one address on the listing. Therefore I always ask my guests which side they’re coming from to give them a better address. I even send the map to Airbnb team showing it was the same place. This was ignored.
“I think she could tell by my facial expression, I knew something was not accurate.”
Well, what a politically correct way to cover the fact he looked at me with disgust, assuming I’m Russian upon first meeting face to face. I felt horrible and very uncomfortable, but couldn’t identify the feeling. I was thinking the guest thought I was from a third-world country and he was concern about the cleanliness.
I reassured him everything was clean and showed multiple cleaning supplies. I encouraged him to feel free to use them during his stay – whenever he wants. He attacked me again, saying I asked him to clean.
The apartment was sparkling clean; I put a lot of effort and heart in my new home. I’d never expect someone would want to clean it. Therefore I admit I left only one (thick ) roll of paper towels alongside several different types of clothes, but I didn’t expect guests would want to clean the whole apartment.
I felt like he wanted to clean after me… clean out my presence. If he asked about paper towels, I would have simply bought them, but he didn’t.
Finally, he complained about the ‘sparsely’ furnished apartment. Before I moved in, I checked approximately thirty luxury apartments with a real estate agent. I took pictures of furnished model apartments, I was collecting catalogs with recent home decor trends.
My style would have been named ‘urban minimalistic’ by an agent, but not the guest, who used it as another occasion to attack me, suggesting I was poor minded, maybe even mentally challenged (as he mentioned in further conversations due to my origin) and couldn’t afford furniture? Obviously he didn’t expect I would know any trends; he prejudged me and my place. This was a disgusting experience, but that was just the beginning.
If your condo is that precious to you then why rent it out to total strangers in the first place? Basically, you want a tenant that is an exact clone of your fussy, narcissistic character 🙂 Move your property to http://www.dramaqueen.com