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I have multiple vacation rentals and use several sites including AirBNB to list them. I've also spent a month in Japan traveling and gotten to know hosts who we

I have multiple vacation rentals and use several sites including AirBNB to list them. I've also spent a month in Japan traveling and gotten to know hosts who were on AirBNB. One host we talked deeply with after she lost all of her other bookings from a massive typhoon. The problems she has with guests and the problems Japanese people face as a country are very different. She has had to stop taking specific types of guests because of rude behavior like flushing food down the toilet and damaging tatami mats. When in Japan, a person described their culture as, "having a very specific way of doing things and becoming very upset when people get in the way of that." With so many people having that mentality, hosting is a more friendly sort of thing. We have different issues. We've become friendly with several of our guests, and even see some past guests once or twice a month to spend time together. When the guests come from AirBNB, we have to maintain a lot of vigilance. We've had multiple drug dealers, a large number of people smoking weed in our rentals, child endangerment, and a few parties. AirBNB has a hands-off policy and there are a lot of pieces of shit who have learned they can abuse AirBNB's system to do what they want, and we don't quite have the same culture of empathy anymore.

oefrha 6y ago
> We've had multiple drug dealers Wow, how did you find out? Got calls from FBI or something? (Just curious.)
- iratewizard 6y ago
  When "one person and her kids" turns into 6 grown adults who are constantly coming and going and I can smell the weed from outside, it's obvious. When they are dumb enough to leave an unlocked iphone after their stay with their signal account open and the details of their dealings, it's also obvious. Drug dealers aren't a bright bunch.
i_am_new_here 6y ago
I am an AirBnB host myself since about 5 years and with 3 units today and there is a rating of your guest at the end, which basically prevents all of this. You can also just allow guest with (good) ratings to book your apartment (at all). So you have quite a good control over this. People are not dumb and will try to get value out of their investment (also guests - their investment is the booking of the accommodation), but I think your anecdote is not representational. Your home might be cheap and in a "bad" neighborhood, where you are forced to rent out to "problematic" people, since only those are interested to stay there. Though initially you probably bought the house cheaply and now -maybe- conveniently ignore this and complain about the problems in the neighborhood. I am not saying that there are no problems. But it's kind of possible to get them under control and also have a good value proposition as a host. If you don't have this, then switch back to classical long-term renting. If you keep renting (rather short term) via AirBnB, then the value proposition for you (the host) must also be good enough considering all factors. It kind of does not make sense to be an AirBnB host and be unsatisfied - only temporarily.
- iratewizard 6y ago
  "jUsT dOn'T hOsT tHeM." Great advice. You assumed what our properties neighborhoods are like incorrectly. You used your faulty assumption to create a story inside of your head so it would be easier to be patronizing. Your unsolicited advice was a waste of my time and yours, but I do hope it gave you that dopamine hit you seem to desperately need.

oefrha 6y ago

> We've had multiple drug dealers Wow, how did you find out? Got calls from FBI or something? (Just curious.)

iratewizard 6y ago
When "one person and her kids" turns into 6 grown adults who are constantly coming and going and I can smell the weed from outside, it's obvious. When they are dumb enough to leave an unlocked iphone after their stay with their signal account open and the details of their dealings, it's also obvious. Drug dealers aren't a bright bunch.

i_am_new_here 6y ago

I am an AirBnB host myself since about 5 years and with 3 units today and there is a rating of your guest at the end, which basically prevents all of this. You can also just allow guest with (good) ratings to book your apartment (at all). So you have quite a good control over this. People are not dumb and will try to get value out of their investment (also guests - their investment is the booking of the accommodation), but I think your anecdote is not representational. Your home might be cheap and in a "bad" neighborhood, where you are forced to rent out to "problematic" people, since only those are interested to stay there. Though initially you probably bought the house cheaply and now -maybe- conveniently ignore this and complain about the problems in the neighborhood. I am not saying that there are no problems. But it's kind of possible to get them under control and also have a good value proposition as a host. If you don't have this, then switch back to classical long-term renting. If you keep renting (rather short term) via AirBnB, then the value proposition for you (the host) must also be good enough considering all factors. It kind of does not make sense to be an AirBnB host and be unsatisfied - only temporarily.

iratewizard 6y ago
"jUsT dOn'T hOsT tHeM." Great advice. You assumed what our properties neighborhoods are like incorrectly. You used your faulty assumption to create a story inside of your head so it would be easier to be patronizing. Your unsolicited advice was a waste of my time and yours, but I do hope it gave you that dopamine hit you seem to desperately need.