I have read all of these replies and have to say I agree with or have experienced nearly all of these issues with guests from one degree to another. I think part of the problem is that the hosts rely on the reviews of the potential guest to determine whether they will rent to them and time after time I see 5* reviews, yet it's not my experience. I rarely see a lengthy review and believe the problem is that hosts are very hesitant to post a negative review because Air BnB does not allow the host to see the guest review until they have first posted one themselves. Feels a bit extorted to me. I think hosts need to be more honest with their reviews as a starter. Secondly, if there is an issue, there needs to be the ability to have a phone conversation with an agent at AirBnB in order to clear things up more expeditiously for all.
Repeatedly, I have guests who do not follow the house rules yet have rarely submitted for damages until this year when one guest obliterated my kitchen. The additional cleaning and linen expense topped over 700 euros and yet air BnB did not feel i was entitled to reparation despite the fact the guest had agreed to an additional cleaning expense IN WRITING prior to my acceptance of the reservation. It was, in fact, a condition of the reservation because it was for greater than one week. When the guest was questioned by AirBnB, they came up with a laundry list of complaints they had not once posed to me. (silly things like slow wifi - in rural France, btw....imagine that!) Air BnB offered me 45 euros. I strongly protested and got a bit more but it took 6 weeks of my determination to get more. At that point it had become more out of principal than expense for me.
Air BnB will ask you for an extensive list of documentation - photo's, invoices, etc. (not always easy to negotiate when working with a foreign country) but even then the people who review seem to act as though their review and findings are God-like and not subject to rebuttal or response from the host.
