Share your Crazy Vacation Rental Stories

[Wendy Schultz]

I think I could write a book sometimes with some of the crazy stories from owning and managing vacation rentals. I'd love to hear your stories and how you've addressed the issue to prevent it from happening again (if possible). I'm hoping to learn from some others out there. 

[Jason Hendrickson]

I've owned/managed four nightly rentals in Park City, UT for the last 5 years (over 3,000 guests). We've never had any truly bad experiences and our guests are incredible 99% of the time, but I could definitely write a book about the helplessness of some folks. Let's see...

We had a woman bring a cat with her. Who travels with a cat? We knew because it sharpened its claws on our leather couch. The guest denied having a cat, called me "literally insane", and so I asked if she ate cat food often, since there was an empty can in the trash. It took months of fighting with Airbnb to get damages to repair our couch (for the record, Airbnb has never once had our back when we file issues, and I think we've only filed 3 or 4, ever. They're happy to take their cut but blow you off when you have a problem).

We have people show up to Park City ALL THE TIME with no clue where the property is, and not having the check-in information that we email each guest with the subject titled "IMPORTANT CHECK IN INFORMATION - PRINT THIS OUT!" So we get frantic calls from upset people who "need to know where to go and how to get in..." RTFM, people. 

We had one winter guest complain in his review that the floors were cold and he needed to wear socks. You're in Park City, in winter, for a ski trip. It's cold here.

One guest on a stay-cation from Provo, UT called to complain that someone urinated all over the inside of the freezer. This was one of our first times hosting and I was mortified. I was like "is this how it's going to be? people pissing in the freezer?". So I emailed the previous guest and asked him as tactfully as I could if he urinated in the ice cube trays or anywhere else in the fridge. He didn't, but he did admit to forgetting about a beer he put in the freezer. Chalk it up to folks of the local religious persuasion being naive to certain sinful substances and confusing them with other things. I think beer has a piss-like quality, too.

Had a guest just the other day ask if we'd be picking them up from the airport or if they needed to arrange transportation. 

We send every guest our very thorough guide to the area with restaurant recommendations, things to do, where to rent equipment, etc. We probably get asked weekly about our favorite restaurants. We tell them they're in the guide. They ask "but which ones are your favorites?". They're literally in the guide. It takes 30 seconds to read them. 

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asks us how to light a fire. If you haven't ever lit a fire before please don't learn in my condos. Or at least just watch a youtube video and don't tell me - that's why we have insurance. We even provide Duraflame logs so it's about as idiot-proof as it gets.

Had a guy a few weeks ago email us that he left a pair of underwear behind and if we'd mail it back to him. Our cleaner found them but we said she didn't. You just have to take the loss on some things, buddy.

People thinking that if their check-out date is, say, the 15th that it means they get to spend the night of the 15th. No, that's the day you check out. That's why it's called the check out date. We've had to call people off the ski slopes to come get their stuff and go to a hotel because we have other guests checking in.

That's just what I can remember over my first cup of coffee this morning. Writing a book on this stuff probably would have been more profitable than the nightly rentals themselves.