9 years
I believe your problem stems from the fact that you have let someone stay there for six months. Hostels should never be places where people (other that the staff) live. The staff that live there should have their own separate quarters/dorm.
Once you let someone exceed 30 days some really troubling things begin to happen. Even the most well behaved guests begin to take ownership of the dorm (not in a good way) and begin to boss people around. They become annoyed with all the new people coming in and out though they will endeavor to prevent you from knowing this. This makes the other guests uneasy because the long term guests are intimidating and bossy. Worse, your guests could achieve tenant status (depending on your jurisdiction) which would mean that in the event of an issue you are legally not allowed to make them leave (even if they stop paying). You would have to go through the lengthy legal process of evicting them. That would be a nightmare.
We have a strict 30 day policy at The Wayfaring Buckeye. If we really like the guest we will allow them to check out for 48 hours before checking back into a different dorm room. This has helped us avoid these types of issues and has prevented anyone from trying to turn one of our dorms into their "home".
Log in to join discussion