AirBnB hosting rant - messy guests

Mr. Tezza

Hello all,

My parents look after an apartment which they let short term on AirBnB, down in Killarney in Co. Kerry.

We had 5 girls (mid to late 20s) staying recently for 3 nights from South Co. Cork, my Dad went down to sterilise the place before my mom and I went down to start cleaning the place before the next set of guests. He was greeted by the stench of vomit and they had somehow managed to break the holder for a curtain rail off the wall. They did make an attempt at tidying the place up before they left but it still wasn't great.

They left without saying anything and left one of their cars (they came in two) for a few hours in front of the house which is a problem because ther apartment is located in a small housing estate and we physically don't have the room at the moment to accomodate multiple vehicles. We actually thought ther car was belonging to our neighbours initially.

In pre-Covid times we've had guests from all over the world stay with us and we've only ever had issues with Irish guests. Why is this? Due to thhe negative experiences we are having we are seriously considering letting long term instead or giving up on renting the space altogether as its becoming more hassle than its worth. Honestly my mother has the patience of a saint, I probably would have had the car towed and called the Gardai on them for making noise (the previous night).

If you get this upset, lettings of any type are not for you. It’s not nice to see it, but you get to charge a guests a cleaning fee on Airbnb, so suck it up, every now and again this is going to happen.

Perhaps might be worth considering the neighbouring residents if there are any as well. I know Killarney is a tourist town, but to expect nearby residents to put up with drunken noise of all kinds is in my opinion, not terribly fair. Generally people will put up with a lot before complaining, but antisocial behavior is horrible to have to put with. A long term let might be better.

Ljmscooter

How do yiu know there was drunken noise ?

Skipduke

completely agree re- Irish guests being an issue. most international guests are super respectful to property. any drinks they do have end up in the proper recycling bin (not the furnishings) and tidy as they go. Irish tend to arrive at 3pm, drink the evening away and want a late check out the next morning, leaving you with nothing but vomit, shite or worse. shouldve booked a hotel for that.

that being said , I have had groups that surprised me. young Irish (early 20's) leaving the place much cleaner than expected. i was a bit of a karen though and always make it crystal clear this is not a party house - if you want to stay clean up.

my only tip for you is to turn off instant book and only take people with previous reviews - lots of younger irish are very sneaky on airbnb, might book for 4 and 3 more carloads of friends show up after dark. be wary.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744249#Comment_117744249

Jeez, you sound like a great landlady, ......" Irish guests being an issue".......maybe the 'hospitality sector isn't for you????

Furze99

You know the old saying? If you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, get out.

Mr. Tezza

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744147#Comment_117744147

I thouight it was a fair assumption to make because of the noise and presence of empty bottles in the bin?

Skipduke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744276#Comment_117744276

nah ive been working in this industry 40+ years. not used to tending to locals' needs , they differ so greatly from the majority of my tourists. im generally sound but i draw the line when ive to clean up literal facaes

Mr. Tezza

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744249#Comment_117744249

We've had occasions where we've been pleasently surprised too, but we've also had an occasion where an ambulance had to come to our house, 2 young girls (18 or 19) and one of them drank so much she passed out and the ambulance had to take her to hospital to get her stomach pumped...

Basically my point is that it only seems to be Irish people that act like idiots and have no respect for their hosts, my sister rents out a similar places on AirBnB too and has a strict no dogs policy like most other establishments , she was walking past her apartment a dfay or so after some people came and was greeted by a loud bark, when she confronted the guest his exact wordas were"well I'm here now", she was in tears, her husband wanted to remove him and call the Gardai.

The only reason we have persisted for so long is that my mother does not have a pension so the money earned from renting is her only income, but lately people seem to be worse, yes from time to time you'll get bad guests and we've learned to live with that but it just doesn't seem worth it anymore.

HBC08

You could only take bookings from foreign sounding names?

Would cut out a lot of the irish/UK p1sshead weekend away crowd.

Ljmscooter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744357#Comment_117744357

No mention of bottle or noise in OP is all.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744359#Comment_117744359

There's always at least one (as we can see here!) who pretend that a genuine grievance is just someone being an unreasonable whine-bag and nothing more. I assume they do it just for the sake of arguing.

I agree about the tendencies among Irish guests as opposed to non Irish - and I can't stand Irish self loathing so it's not about that. It's about patterns observed. Now of course it doesn't mean all Irish folk - I'm Irish obviously and wouldn't dream ever of leaving a place a mess. But there is that self entitlement thing so prevalent here. And in Britain.

JimmyVik

At least they are gone.

If you went long term letting then you would have a couple of years of the scumbags, probably paying no rent, while you try to evict them to keep you going.

At least with Airbnb when you get scum in they are gone quick.

Also can you not see the guests reviews from other hosts before accepting them?

Mr. Tezza

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117747034#Comment_117747034

I think you can, but I don't control who books, think you can turn on an option where they apply to stay and you can rersearch them and either say yes or no.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117747687#Comment_117747687

Correct, you can set preferences so that guests have to request booking rather than being able automatically book directly. Quick Facebook/Instagram check can reveal a party animal. I don’t let to groups of friends, families only.

Incidently, rarely has problems with domestic guests, Americans are giant pains in the ass.