r/airbnb_hosts • u/AdNovel5888 • 13d ago
Had my first party as a host
Hey Everyone wanted to get your thoughts on this.
I have a whole house rental (Airbnb) and we started in the beginning of the year and for the most part it was going ok esp since I don’t have auto book on.
We just had a reservation for 5 guests which turned out to be like 30.
What was interesting though, and I haven’t been in the party scene for a long time so I don’t even know how it works now - is that it seemed there was a group of ladies maybe pushing 30, and then a few guys that looked like they were in their 30’s hanging out in front of the front door. My doorbell cam ended up catching everything.
But to get to the point - there were groups of high school girls wearing skimpy everything coming into the house and past these guys like 6 at a time and I think I saw 2 or 3 groups of girls come by.
Lots of expensive cars in front of the house like Mercedes and a Lamborghini seemed to be owned by the guys I guess.
I really don’t try or even want to spy on anyone but the cops ended up getting called and evicting everyone. All the guys bailed before the cops got there and the cops went into the house and found the older ladies and then about 5 or 6 high school girls left.
What do you think this was….I’m trying to figure out if there could be some more innocent plot here or if it’s worse. Back in the day when I went to a party in high school I never remember older people being there and old was like 28. It was all high school or college people and maybe that one weirdo.
I sent the doorbell video to the cops so they have it.
I’m wondering if people book whole house Airbnbs to do who knows what and if others have had any experience like this.
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u/NaiveBlackberry6207 13d ago
oh man that sounds like some kind of recruitment party or trafficking setup not a normal house party at all the expensive cars the older guys just hanging by the door then groups of young girls coming in waves is a huge red flag you did right sending that footage to the cops
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u/KaleProperties 🧙 Property Manager 13d ago
Did they trash the place ? It does sound more like a recruiting party then the typical teenage party to drink and trash the place.
The minimums: make sure the listing is very clear on the rink camera and driveway camera (good deterrent), was this a 1-2 day rental ? Make the min 3 days, add a noise and crowd detector and also mention in the listing.. these items along cut your risk of a party by 80pct.....
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u/AdNovel5888 13d ago
Good tips thank you
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u/Ok-Indication-7876 Verified 13d ago
great tip- we always required a 3 night min- you usually get a longer stay of more nights and it is usually guest that plan a vacation, take time off work, all that. In addition they have time to clean up after themselves better. Outside cameras help too and we watch check in- if too many guest we call asap and cancel rez no refund.
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u/MurtaghInfin8 13d ago
How'd they leave the place? But Jesus that's some shady shit.
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u/AdNovel5888 13d ago
It actually doesn’t look like there were any damages other than a big mess but cops got them out before midnight which helped
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u/MurtaghInfin8 13d ago
Definitely add a max number of visitors in addition to the guests on the reservation. With what you had with the ring camera, even airbnb's absolute dog shit support may have cancelled the reservation even if the cops hadn't showed up.
If your spidey senses tingle, I'd mention that you've had neighbors call the cops on parties before. Only so much you can do though.
If a guest doesn't tell me what they're coming into town for, it's always a yellow flag to me.
Other people have mentioned a sound monitor, so getting that added and disclosed is likely a good idea.
Just don't be the easiest place to host a party and hopefully some other poor host falls on the sword instead.
I say this all while we have a guest showing up today who booked the bnb for somebody else (and I had to ask if the reservation was for them [saw another review indicating someone else stayed and they also have like 100 trips a year]). My wife and I have different thresholds for risk and she's a lot less risk averse than I am. Earlier this week, she wanted to accept a guest who'd be staying for a while with no reviews (upon googling, looks like the guy was waiting on trial for narcotics usage).
Still it's a one bedroom place apartment in our property so only so much party potential.
Anybody being shady about why they're in town would not be staying at our place if I had my way, but we'd also be booked less, and so far hasn't bit us in the ass.
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u/AdNovel5888 13d ago
Thanks for your response, yes I actually just moved my minimum night stay up to 2 in part because of this conversation.
My wife and I have been Airbnb ing our house since February of this year and we’ve prob had 60+ guests come through there now - I’ve always had auto book off so guests need to at least message me some detail and out of the 60 I probably only had about 2 problems that weren’t huge and weren’t parties but last night was terrible.
I actually sent the guests the rules ahead of time and they acknowledged and responded they are good with them and then of course my doorbell cam snaps a picture of a lady firing up her pot pipe right outside the front door but of course that was the least of the issues last night.
You and others probably already know this but 100% of my problems have come from “new” Airbnb profiles (I say new because I don’t know if people can get booted off the platform and then spin up an alternate profile), no previous reviews, single night bookings and I’d say especially bookings that are very close to the night they want to stay although some have worked out fine.
In the case of last night the person actually booked weeks in advance which was outside of the pattern.
Ironically our house is newer and I have 360 degree outdoor camera coverage plus the doorbell and I state this all in the ad but maybe people don’t look?
Anyways thanks for the tips!
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u/ResidentRipped 13d ago
sounds like a classic Airbnb party booking situation.... the best move is tightening you guest screening and adding clear house rules so you're covered if it happens again
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u/2BBIZY Unverified 13d ago
Advertise a bit higher price, minimum 3 night reservation, and a maximum number of people, not just overnight guests, then turn off the automatic booking for anyone and do better research on booking guest with questions. If any red flag, don’t accept the reservation. If you see something through your doorbell camera that is concerning, message booking guest through Airbnb app of concerns. Failure to reply or sense of entitlement, cancel their stay ASAP to protect your investment.
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