What do you do when guests are hostile?

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Art Transforms

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  • Need advice.
  • What is the best thing to do in this situation?
  • What is your refund policy?
A couple checked into our Bed and Breakfast. Her boyfriend was upset that he did not have the whole house rented. They wanted to through a huge party
He wanted to cancel the reservation. We said our policy is you will not get your deposit back unless we can rent the space. After hemming and hawing the decided to try it. We came home last night, they had dead bolted/ locked us out and we had to climb through a window. The couple came downstairs and started attacking me (verbally abusive) The situation was getting unsafe - so we decided to give them a full refund back and asked them to leave.
 
regardless of your policy - no need to put yourself in any danger. you did smart. change to front door code(if you have one) and just forget about them
 
911 comes to mind for me. If you are in the Boonies, I would do what you did, but still would call the cops.
If you have a credit card number - no, it is not worth it. Just file it under education and drop it. Next time (if there is a next time), I would not let them check in. And it would be worth givng back the deposit to be rid of them BEFORE they used anything.
 
You should have called 911 before going into the house. You do have many rights as an innkeeper, they abused you and your home and if the police had come you had all the right to evict. No money back.
While you may want to forget about them as April mentioned - DON'T. You need to sit back and think about what transpired with this couple. I am sure there were red flags and a strange feeling in your gut. This could have been worse, as they could have noticed you were gone and called all their friends to have that party.
Now that you know that someone could accidently or purposely lock you out of your own home, this needs to be fixed ASAP. If you have not looked into the code style locks you should. And you should always carry keys with you at all times. Deadbolts should be key type on both inside & out.
 
For myself when they said they were wanting to rent the whole house for a party I would have cancelled the reservation then and given them the money back -
My godmother has 5 properties with several unmaned chap booked room for himself but knew there was no one there full time brough back 50 friends for a party. I wouldn't risk that happening its not worth the damage and trouble.
I also agree there should have been a call to the police on them and there shouldn't be a way for guests to lock you out of your own house.
 
Fix the lock situation. CopperHead has given you some good advice. Here's my question though, why would you ever both leave the house when you had guests like that? If you have that gut feeling that something is wrong, then never give them the upper hand!
If you were verbally threatened, call the cops and file a police report. Their attitude sounds fishy to me....there's no way that in Malibu you could rent ANY house for the price of what a B&B room would be.
 
Fix the lock situation. CopperHead has given you some good advice. Here's my question though, why would you ever both leave the house when you had guests like that? If you have that gut feeling that something is wrong, then never give them the upper hand!
If you were verbally threatened, call the cops and file a police report. Their attitude sounds fishy to me....there's no way that in Malibu you could rent ANY house for the price of what a B&B room would be..
Sorry to hear this has happened to you. Never physically threatened but have had shouting match with a guest so have some idea how upsetting it can be.
Agree with Diva, we would never leave the house unattanded unless we are completely comfortable with those staying and I would have called the police.
Probably would have done the same as you, give them their deposit just to get rid of them.
Sort out getting back in too, even if a guest left the key in the front door whcih would stop us using the front door we can get in through the back way.
 
Our policy, when faced with guests who are angry and belligerent on arrival, is to refund them immediately and send them on their way. Who needs that kind of energy in the house?
 
i am sorry this happened.
best to refund and say goodbye.
not to defend in any way their behavior, but i looked at your website and it seems i would have the run of the place ... regardless of the low price for such a beautiful location. you describe private access to a huge deck, access to a private beach, use of the community kitchen. i can see why they would think they could have a party. i had people rent one little room of an 8 guestroom place and try to take over the place, so you're not alone in this.
i am also concerned that you show your place in this post. in such a case, i would prefer to be anonymous.
but welcome to the forum.
 
Thanks all for the advice. This was a very unsettling experience and really a close call. We are relatively new to the B & B world and naively never expected this :(
This is a huge lesson for us. I will research inn keeper legal rights!
 
If you think the guy was a "bad guy" and had issues with these guests why are you posting your name and url all over the place?
You asked for advice the best thing to do in this situation is to not post this information and your website/name on the world wide web. Do you not think this will show up in google? That couple will google you and here you are talking about them, very clearly.
Edited: GOOD MOVE
#1 make sure your website is very clear what you offer
#2 make sure your reservation system is set up with policies in place, that the guest must agree to to reserve a room.
#3 I believe you have no photos of the exterior due to location, but I would want to see where I am staying and paying. I would consider this in your marketing, if you book rooms as a B&B guest only, vs the other options.
#4 document everything from this experience, times, feelings (made you feel unsafe or threatened) as this may not be the end of it.
Sorry you had to go through all of this.
 
Refund policy is... we don't feel safe, here's your money, sorry. And never leave your home if you feel that there can be trouble. Let's face it, money is lower on the scale than safety.... sometimes the loss for peace of mind is worth it.
Change your lock! If a guest can lock you out, you need a new lock, one that they can't use to lock you out.
The minute I am verbally abused the next phone call is the police.
 
ditto, change the locks
and also ... how secure is the building if you can get in a window? forgive me, i grew up in the city and am always nervous when i hear this.
 
one more thing about the info on your website - you mention unlimited parking next door. I would remove that reference as it lends itself to being interpreted as 'all your friends can park here, no problem'.
 
I suggest you use the EDIT function on this post and either reword or edit a LOT of what you included.
 
One time we had a couple that I won't even go into all of what happened. We called the police and ask advice. They told us that we are under hotel motel law and we had the right to kick them out but we had to refund the money for unused stay. In our case we put their stuff out on the porch and told them they were out of here. When they started to tell us they are calling their lawyer my husband said " We have already talked to the police about this and we are to call them if there is a problem." When my husband pulled the phone out of his pocket to call 911 they were out of the drive as quick as they could go. Never to hear from them again. We did hear from her husband's lawyer we had to write what had happened for the court. We just told the facts. She was not with her husband here and he was having her followed by a PI. This is why she wanted to park next door and when we said no she backed her car in. Never would you guess any of this by talking to her. She was dressed well spoke well and drove a very nice car. The boy friend on the other hand was something eles. He would not look or speak and had his hoodie pulled up to cover his head and face as much as possiable. She was not with him when she came to check in. Bottom line is in your case of such as call the police and let them come to help. That was my one and only bad deal.
 
Sorry this happened to you!
welcome.gif
Despite the circumstances, welcome to the forum...you'll get a lot of good info and advice here.
The most worrisome part of your post when I read it is your lock situation. You should be in total control of locking your property at all times, for your safety and that of your other guests. I hope you look into fixing that aspect of your business ASAP.
All good advice from the folks here about how to handle this in the future, most importantly not hesitating to call the police to protect you and any other guests.
Looking forward to hearing more from you...
 
Art Transforms wrote:
A couple checked into our Bed and Breakfast. Her boyfriend was upset that he did not have the whole house rented.
What kind of nut would think booking at a B&B meant you've rented the whole house. At least they'll know better next time. At least I hope so. No other innkeeper should have to put up with their unreasonable misconceptions.
Sandynn wrote:
When they started to tell us they are calling their lawyer my husband said " We have already talked to the police about this and we are to call them if there is a problem." When my husband pulled the phone out of his pocket to call 911 they were out of the drive as quick as they could go.
Amazing they would make such a scene when they're sneaking away for a trist! I'm sure glad the PI caught them!
 
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