Problem with a host - please recommend me what to do

[Berta25]

I am an Airbnb host, buuuuut I have had my first Airbnb nightmare as a guest 😞

I am waiting for a response from the ressolution centre, but i would wellcome any recommendations. Additionally, these type of guests damage our community.... I am just shocked how my guest dealt with us.

The first problem was on check-in. I did not communitcate the guest my exat check in time because I was arriving on the suggested time frame: 3 to 7PM - I arrived at 5PM. This was a mistake from my part,  I admit, and I have surely learnt from it. However, the guest did not communitcate with me until the same day of travelling, when he sent a message through the platform saying that I should check in by 15h maximum at 17h. I did not see the messages because I was travelling, you know - he could at least call me. So I did not answer and showed up at the house at 17h. Then the nightmare begins. He had left the house and was not there anylonger. The phone number that he provided was wrong. He did not answer my messages through the Aribnb platform fluently until I contacted Airbnb support. Finally, he asked me to go somewhere far away to collect the key. At this moment I was just fed up of sitting in the cold for 2hours so I took a bus and went there. It crosssed my mind that he would give me more problems, so I ask airbnb for alternatives. They offered to put me in a hotel, but at this point I decided it was just a missunderstanding and I would go an collect the keys.

Got the keys, stayed at his house, had a friendly converstion with him suggesting some sort of emergency plan for check in problems - e.g. my neighbour has a key of my house (which he has had to use twice to let guests in), I provide a right phone number and I alwas call my guests for last minute requests (plus message through the Airbnb platform as a record) andI provide the phone number of a friend as emergency contact whi also has a key. Maybe I am exagerated, but I freak out about my guests not being able to get in. My host was clearly not prepared  to ressolve check in problems (which do happen).

This was not all. After check out, he wants to charge us 65euro for cleaning (he already charged a cleaning fee). The reason: we used 4 glasses, 1 knife,  1 spoon and a bowl, we cleaned it, and left it on the side to dry out. As we did not put the items back  to the cupboards, he will hire a cleaning company to do the work. He additionally says that we did not clean some of the glasses, which is not true. Anyway.... 65euro to ctidy up 4 glasses is excessive (even if he had to clean them). I find it abusive and some sort of revenge for the check-in missuderstanding - which ended up being worse for me than for him as i lost the entire afternoon chasing him (!)

Has anybody had an experice like that or has any idea of what to do?

I am not sure what else I can do other than a bad review.

Another thing, will a bad review as a guest (that I will surely get) damage my host profile?

[Helen-And-Mario0]

Miscommunication happened, so I think you both learned a lesson. For the cleaning charge, until he can provide the photos, bills for the cleaning, it is hard to pin you on this. You will ge a bad review perhaps, but you always have a chance to explain what happened in public response. 

[Annette76]

I’m a bit confused. You were the guest? You keep saying that you contacted the guest, but aren’t you the guest? 

[Inna22]

@Annette76 It was clearly a typo. You have never made one of those?

[Annette76]

I have made typos. But you used the word multiple times so I was genuinely confused. I’m pretty literal so wanted to be clear. 

Regardless, the guy shouldn’t be a host, or should at least get a ding on this event. If check in says a range of times and you plan to and do arrive in that window then the host failed in his job. If he needed a specific time within that window he should have communicated that to you well ahead of time. Not the day of when you are obviously traveling. The rest of it was just petty.  

[Inna22]

@Berta25 Cazy revengeful host. He will never collect the cleaning fee. Just ignore it. As for review- he will probably leave you a bad one at this point and nothing you can do about it so no reason to fret. I am not sure if they separate host and guest reviews. Interesting question 

[Berta25]

Thanks for your answers. Sorry, i made a typo between guest and host - english is not my 1st language. I was the guest all the time!

He did not claim for the cleaning fee but he threatened me with smth more ridiculous... He says he will send me a letter from his lawyer because for my fault he was late to a meeting and lost loads of money...   I trust i have no legal responsability on this so I will just ignore him. But he has made me very nervous!!

It cannot believe theres people like this!

Berta

[Yun8]

@Berta25 @Inna22

Hi Berta,

So sorry to hear about your terrible experience with this host.

The reviews you receive as a host and guest are totally separate, so you don’t need to worry about a bad guest review affecting your host ratings.

Like Inna said, he has no grounds for claiming a 65 Euro for cleaning fee and Airbnb resolution won’t approve it.

As for the legal threats, you can ignore them completely. The check in time on the listing was 1500h to 1900h - that is by his own submission and your arrival at 1700h is in that window. 

If he continues carrying on like this simply tell him you will countersue for loss for your time (as you had to travel far to get the key) and just block him.

How ridiculous, this person should not be hosting.

[Stefano553]

Se veritiero, Airbnb dovrebbe vietare e togliere l'annuncio di questo Host immediatamente...le spese di pulizia si pagano una sola volta...ci mancherebbe che mettere a posta due bicchieri ed un piatto occorra chiamare l'impresa di pulizia...quando arriveranno nuovi ospiti l'host non deve pulire !?! e llora cosa cerca ?

[Paul154]

As a host, I love when a mistake happens and then the guest chastizes me. Total love fest.

[John1080]

Wow, 65euro for a few glasses left to dry?! That is really insane and an abuse really. I would not pay it and let him take it to resolution if he feels the need. It's my understanding that it is next to impossible for a host to claim cleaning as part of the 'deposit'. 

[Huma0]

@Berta25

I'm sorry this happened to you. It certainly sounds like a very unpleasant experience.

However, I'm going to play devil's advocate here and suggest that the host's behaviour might not be as outrageous as it's coming across on this thread. I've checked out his reviews/ratings and they are great, including for communication and check in. In fact, I think it might have been you that pushed his 100% 5-star check in score down to 95%!

I would not assume that because a listing has a check in window of 3-7pm that you can just show up at any time during that period unless the host has specifically told me this. He says he asked you four times for your check in time. If he only did this on the day, then that was his error. It’s frustrating when you can’t get hold of guests, but it often happens.

However, are you sure he never asked you this question in advance? I frequently have guests ignoring questions sent before their stay or claiming they did not receive messages, even ones that they responded to and acknowledged. I’m not saying they are lying, they just don’t seem to take in the information/remember. For example, when guests get lost, I ask them, "Didn't you receive the instructions I sent you?" They respond no, even if they already sent me a message saying, "Thanks for the directions!" It’s amazing how perfectly logical people can switch off their brains as well as their phones when they are travelling!

If I were to advise this host, I would say he needs to make it clear in his house rules that guests must specify an arrival time and make sure it’s one of the first questions asked at booking. I ask my guests this question repeatedly until I get an answer.

Of course, he should have tried to call or text you (even though hosts are advised to keep all correspondence on the Airbnb messaging system) and, failing that, contacted Airbnb asking them to try to get hold of you. He should have done so well in advance of the time he needed to leave.

You say his phone number was wrong, but if you were calling him at 5pm, perhaps he was in/on his way to the meeting he was supposed to have at that time. It would have been sensible for him to leave a key closer by, but perhaps this was not an option for him.

RE the cleaning, yes it seems excessive. However, if he is paying a cleaning firm, it might not matter if it’s a few minutes of cleaning or a couple of hours, as most companies will have a minimum of two hours. Also, he says you left the kitchen and toilet (but not the bedroom) dirty. Still, the cleaning fee you already paid should cover this.

No, you shouldn’t pay compensation for him missing/being late to his meeting and losing income. However, I think he is overreacting rather than necessarily trying to fleece you out of money. What I’m perceiving is a frustrated and angry host, who felt that you messed him around, didn’t respond to his messages, caused him to miss an important meeting, reported him to Airbnb, shouted at him and then left the place in a less than clean condition. If that is what I felt I experienced as a host, I wouldn’t be asking for the extra money, but I certainly wouldn’t be leaving a glowing review either.

I’m not saying you are wrong, and the host is right. I’m just trying to see it from both perspectives.

[Berta25]

Thanks for you answer Huma.

I don't know what was wrong with this host neither. I have gone through his reviews too and I do know that are all good.

The check-in problem was a shared mistake. I completely forgot to tell him when I would arrive and he completely forgot to ask. Only messaged me by noon - when I was flying- not the 4 messsages that he says.

On a side note,  I have to say that I contacted my guests 2-3 days in advance, and they still come at the wrong time - one of the reasons why my neighbour has a key and one of my friends is left as emergency phone number. This host has no emergency plan at all for this sort of mistakes.

The phone number was wrong indeed - someone answered in the other side and had not idea what I was talking about. Even the meeting is dubious. In his messages he clearly said he was being late to a party. He was having dinner with a lady (in a kebab place) when I collected the keys...

After the bad check-in experience, I stayed at his house, where he lives, and the interaction was very cordial. I had even decided to ignore the check-in problem and not leave him any review at all - because I am also a host nad I know the consequences of a bad review.

Then, once I left, he started to threaten me with charging me extra, even though I did not leave any mess (I cleaned the dishes, and left them on the side drying out). This is what he explained in the review, but not what was said in the Airbnb chat - possibly why he did not make a real claim through the ressolution centre.

He wrote a review, and I answered according to the experience. In the private feedback of the review is where he said I would receive a letter from his lawyer.

Besides all the fuss, I use Airbnb for work and having a bad review as a guest will cause me problems too!

Anyway, nothing we can do now and I just hope the lawyer letter are just words...

[Huma0]

@Berta25

Yes it sounds like an empty threat. Hopefully you will hear nothing more about it, but keep us updated.

You are right that guests can still show up at the wrong time, even if they have confirmed their arrival time in advance. I also don't have a back up plan. It's not possible to leave a key with my neighbours but I have occasionally left it with a trusted local shopkeeper. It's rarely needed though as I try not to make other plans too close to a guest's check in. Even if everything is 100% confirmed with the guest, flights and trains get delayed, people get stuck in traffic or lost etc. etc.

Even though I have a job and other commitments, hosting is still a business and needs to be treated professionally. You shouldn't just up and leave a guest in the lurch.

It sounds to me that perhaps your host made plans on the day, assuming he would be able to get hold of you a few hours before. It's a bit of a silly assumption to make. 

[Alexandra316]

@Berta25 A check in window doesn't nescessarily mean that you're welcome to check in anytime during that window. If it's not self check in, I would still assume that I had to make arrangements with the host regarding my check in time, unless the house rules or instructions said otherwise. Anytime I've stayed in an Airbnb, that's how it's worked. Even the one time I did self-check in, I still had to give an approximate arrival. I think that the host probably should have asked you about it earlier, ideally, but it hardly sounds like it's all their fault. Hopefully you both take something away from the experience.

I would disregard the theatened legal action: he's probably just angry. The cleaning fee does seem excessive, but as Huma says, maybe it's his cleaning firm's minimum charge. If you don't feel you should pay it, ignore it: they will likely involve Airbnb and they can determine if it's reasonable.

I think that the host does have the right to be somewhat annoyed in the situation: you didn't communicate before you turned up, then reported him, then shouted at him. I think that would get any of us as hosts a little worked up. Maybe try and put yourself in his shoes, because into every host's life a little rain must fall, and one day it'll be your turn.