BnB Bookings - Behind the Scenes

Today I'm going to give you some chuckles and tell you all about the weird bookings and requests we've had, and will not mention one single word about you-know-what!

I started my journey of running a self-catering Airbnb towards the end of 2015, about six months before retirement, and as we were only on Airbnb at that time, we never had any strange requests.

Midnight callers

However, once we registered and became more visible, especially on Google searches, I would get phone calls at all hours of the day or night; mostly as I'm sitting down for dinner, or to watch my favourite TV series. Very annoying, although I understand that people usually decide on a getaway after a hard day at work. But calling after 10pm really is not on; some calls would come as late as 2am, people out partying nearby and not wanting to drive home so late! Not having any of those for sure!

Our pricing strategy

As we have many business bookings with single guests and the competition is tough, our pricing structure is set up for 1 guest, and the extras are added on a sliding scale.

All the online booking sites clearly ask for the number of adults and number of children & their ages to be filled in when booking.

Favourite con - 1 guest books, but 2 arrive!

The booker then acts innocently!
'Oh, but the room description says 2 guests, and I'm sure I booked for 2.'

Nope sirree, you did not, you had to press the button that says 2! SO...there is an extra charge for the second guest!

Just last night I had a new one - again booking for 1 guest but 2 arrived;
The guy's explanation was 'No, it's 1 couple, that's what I booked for; I filled in 1, and we are 1 couple!

Explaining that the form clearly states the numbers of adults, but the guy pretended to be puzzled and asked what happens now! Well, an extra fee of course, for the second guest.

However, I should ban my husband from going anywhere near new guests, as he then says...'don't worry about the extra fee' even though he knows we've been conned!!! GRRRR, did he get a cold shoulder from me for the rest of the night!!!
Hubby would not have been so lenient with the 2 bedroom cottage though, so I forgave him ;)

Guys and Dolls Wanna Party

We get many requests from people looking for a function venue, a definite NO especially after a small bachelorette party became noisier as the night wore on and we had to ask them to tone it down! Everything we touched the next morning was sticky from shooters! That was after they cleaned up, so I'd hate to have seen it before!

We had another occasion where 4 guests booked, but on arrival were carrying boxes of booze down to the cottage. They no sooner had checked in, when they opened the gate and a minibus drove in, filled with guys and gals dressed for a party!
They were not impressed when we told them that this was not a party venue and their friends had to be gone within an hour.
We hardly saw them after that, as they obviously found another party venue, and they left sulking when they checked out!

Thank heavens that episode was the only time we were happy to say goodbye!

Teens aged 0

So... we often sometimes get bookings for 2 adults and children, all aged 0; but when they arrive, some of the 'kids' are closer to adulthood that just 0 years old!
Teens over 16 are charged an adult rate, but we just turn a blind eye as it's not such a big deal.

Rugby fans

A young guy booked to come down and see a rugby game between the Blue Bulls and the Sharks; there were four of them. Hubby drove them to the stadium and a time was arranged to fetch them, but he waited almost an hour for this lot to return at the arranged pickup point. The guest who had booked had his head stuck inside his shirt and when he got into the car; his nose was bloodied. He was a Blue Bulls supporter and got into a fight with a Sharks supporter in the pub at the stadium!
He was so embarrassed and could not stop apologizing; afterwards we saw 5 star reviews from him on google, TripAdvisor, the booking site he'd used and even on our Facebook page.
We had such a chuckle as he actually was a decent guy, but obviously did not take his team's loss too well especially after having one drink too many ;)

The Darts Players

Photo by Mustafa Elkhnati on Unsplash

We had a booking for a team of darts players and when they arrived, there were at least four extra guests. The team manager called hubby to one side and explained that they had last-minute selections and would it be ok for the extra players to stay in our large games room where two of the guys were going to sleep. Hubby agreed, and the next thing we saw stretchers coming down; they were ready to camp out ;) That was sooo funny as the team manager and his wife were both so anxious about bringing extra guests, but we understand when it comes to sporting events.

I however was a tad concerned, as some darts players can be a rough bunch; fortunately, these were decent guys, and it was lights out sharply at 10, it was a South African championship so it was serious business!

We had to laugh when the young guys would have a beer in their hands on their way to the darts venue early in the morning already; to steady the nerves they said ;)

Hourly bookings!

I left the worst for last ;)

The most annoying requests that are met with an icy response and a quick tap of the red button on my phone, are this:
'Do you guys do hourly bookings and what is your rate?'
One guy even explained that he just wants a few hours in the afternoon to play with his mistress! Yep, I kid you not!

These are just some of the funny not-so-pleasant side of running a BnB is, thankfully it's rare and we mostly have awesome guests!

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This is day 20 of my attempt at #Hiveblopomo, an initiative of the awesome bizzy Queen Bee @traciyork, encouraging all Hivers to write a blog a day for the month of April. Day 30 no longer looks so far away!

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