Get out! Now!

Maybe you don't say it exactly like that but how do you get guests to leave?  You know the ones, one to two hours past checkout time and they're still there.  The last time it happened (20 minutes ago) they said 'Oh, we're leaving today.  Where's a good place to get breakfast?  Can we leave our bags here for 2 hours?'  Uh, no.  I'm already late for work.  You've got a half hour.  All done politely and they responded politely too.  But why should I have to tell them?  It's in the description and also in the instructions I sent the day of their arrival.

Have you been in this position?  How did you handle it?

News round-up

• Airbnb Vows to Fight NYC Ruling Against Room Sharing
• Airbnb co-founder: 'We believe it's time for our invention, and it appears the world agrees'
• How To Be More Like Uber And Airbnb
• Will Berlin follow New York and rule Airbnb-style sites illegal?

Someone left the chair out in the rain

This past Sunday it rained steadily all night.  One of those moderate but soaking rains.  We desperately needed the water - all my plants were showing signs of stress.

Guests left on Monday morning.  Everything in the apartment looked fine until I found one of the dining room chairs out on the small deck. One of the guests had carried it up a flight of stairs, used it outside and left it there overnight.  This is a molded plywood with veneer chair and it soaked in the water. This, in my mind, is an excellent argument for why you shouldn't buy anything other than Ikea for airbnb rentals. Better a ruined $40 chair than a $200 one.

Now I'm giving it a chance to dry out to see if the veneer settles down. How things turn out will determine whether or not I ask for a deduction from the security deposit.