We’ve been running Airbnb for around 3 years now.?
The overall experience has been great!
We’ve been able to make a passive stream of income that outpaces our long-term rentals by ~2x and meet so many wonderful people trying to explore our city.?
However, today I am going to share the 5 craziest things ?? that have happened in one of our Airbnb’s.?
This particular unit is a floor below where we live, so we get the full experience (good and bad) of being a resident living with Airbnb guests.?
In no particular order here are the 5 craziest things that have occurred at this property.?
- ?? THE NIGHTMARE: My wife and I live in the Boston area and one of the busiest times of the year is Halloween. Guests love to make the short trek up to Salem to get their fun-filled scares. Well, one couple I guess had a fully immersive experience because, in the middle of the night, my wife and I are woken up to blood-curdling screams. Immediately, we tried to contact our guests to see if everything was okay. After a few hours of eerie silence, they got back to us to share they were embarrassed to admit it but the wife was talking in a deep evil voice in her sleep and the husband thought she had become possessed and started screaming at the top of his lungs. I have never heard a man create that type of noise in my life and the best way to describe it is the Progressive parody of the dad that shrieks about a spider.?
- ?? The 7 am check-in: To simplify our check-in process we do an electric keypad entry. This allows guests to check in when they want. Our check-in time is 3 pm but we always try to accommodate an earlier check-in when feasible. One such guest abused this earlier check-in time. He texted us early in the morning asking for the code because his phone was about to die. We provided the code to him and told him that we could get him an earlier check-in of 12. Well, he chose to interpret noon as 7 AM. In walks this large man while our existing guests were enjoying their morning coffee. We quickly remedied this situation by taking the future guest's bag and advising him on local areas to have breakfast while apologizing to our guests that were checking out with a few bottles of wine. And guess what happened with the guest that tried to check in at 7 am? He still ended up forgetting the code and ended up ringing all the wrong intercoms before finally getting our attention. Note to Airbnb owners, don’t give out the code until you are certain your other guests have checked out, to avoid any uncomfortable crossovers.?
- ?? The woman allergic to dust: Next up is the woman that was allergic to dust. Hey, we all have allergies and some of us, aka me have to take allergy shots so we aren’t coughing and sneezing all day. So when we got a text from our guest that had just checked in that she wanted her money back because she thinks there might be dust in the unit, we had to kind of laugh. First, because we do a deep clean every changeover, second because we had just completed an inspection with the city for our Airbnb approval and were found to have excellent living conditions, and third because we have members in our family that are allergists. Instead, of showing us where the dust was the woman left and checked into a hotel with carpets, beds, and couches that are notorious for collecting dust … and other things.?
- ?? The group that got scammed: This one was an interesting situation. A husband and wife were in town for a concert. What should have been a fun day for them turned into a shouting match. At first, my wife and I thought the couple was in an argument with each other as they screamed at the top of their lungs about this and that with an expletive mixed into every 5 words or so. It was getting so bad that we thought we would need to call the cops about a domestic dispute. But after about an hour of screaming, we figured out that the couple was screaming at someone else on the phone. They gave that person $15k and that person lost their money. This screaming match went on for about 6 hours until finally the couple left for their concert.?
- ???? The woman that couldn’t turn off the shower: This lady was just a nut. She was an older hippie and you could tell the drugs of the 60’s had done a number on her brain. Although she was a nice person, her logic was just missing. On one such day, she started ringing our doorbell with urgency. Then she started ringing our other tenant's doorbell to ask them how to turn off the shower. Finally, she contacted us by phone and told us of the issue. We tried to coach her through the issue of turning the knob clockwise to turn it off, but she was too overwhelmed by the shower and ended up just leaving the house with the shower running hot water. By the time I got home a few hours later, the entire unit had turned into a steam room. Luckily for us, I was able to fix the issue quickly because I knew how to turn the shower knob clockwise.?
As you can see none of these stories are horrific, they are more so challenges that are inherent when running any form of business.?
I am curious what are the biggest horror stories you have experienced as an Airbnb or business owner?
Helping you discover your short term rental home anywhere, away from home.
1 年Recently, a couple traveled with their 3 kids 17, 12 and 6 year old overnight. Got to my town, spent the whole day along the long serene and beautiful beaches of Diani Kenya. Got back to the house late, had their dinner and had some game time. Later, the parents went out to have 'adult fun' and some dance time and left the kids with instructions to sleep but only lock the door with the keypad. In the morning, parents come home only to find that kids used the keypads plus door locks (that can only be opened from inside) as well. They tried to ring the kids and all from exhaustion didn't hear. They also rung the doorbell so much it became faulty. In the morning, at 5am while chucking from my house which is right above the furnished apartment, I found them sitted on the steps playing draft with bottle tops and pebbles. They explained their ordeal and turned down my offer to sit and wait on my living room. Just before 7am,the kids ushered them in. However, nobody left the house again that day. A trip to the museum was canceled by sleepy parents as a punishment for not following instructions. These guests will be hard to forget. On their last day, I invited them for evening tea and snacks & they brought me a beautiful flowers vase.
Next Trend Realty LLC./wwwHar.com/Chester-Swanson/agent_cbswan
1 年Thanks for Sharing.