@Helen744 , @Bhumika , @Quincy
Hi. PLEASE HELP! Entire Account Suspended for Investigation after Former Guest Broke Into Listing
I've been a superhost for most of the prior 7 years or so hosting on airbnb. This past weekend I had maybe my worst guest in my entire experience on airbnb.
I had a guest who booked from June 29th to June 30th. He then extended 1 day. Both me and him were clear it was for just 1 day, so he was okay to be at the listing until July 1st at 11 am. On July 1st at 11:30 am he texts me requesting to extend again. I tell him he would need to pay through the resolution center to book again as his stay had ended, which he never did. So it was clear to him, his stay was over and to continue he would need to extend again.
He had no access code to get inside the home as it deleted automatically at 11, and I saw him leave the property around 10:50 on the camera, but then at 5:19 pm he returned and literally forced open the front door and broke into the house. I got an alert of this on my smart lock. I notified the guest he had committed a crime, that he had not extended, and that he needed to leave the property immediately as he had committed a breaking and entering and I also notified him he was now trespassing. I messaged him maybe 15 times telling him he needed to leave. He ignored them all. I called airbnb and explained the situation--that I had a former guest who had broken into my home and he would not leave, and I requested their help in getting him out. I was told to contact the cops, which, after giving him literally 4 hours to vacate the property, I did.
I then told the guest repeatedly that the cops were on the way and that he needed to get his stuff and go. I saw on the read receipts that he--once again--read all of the messages and ignored them. I also filed a claim for the door and the breakin.
The guest then retaliated by calling airbnb and claiming I had threatened to shoot him. That never happened. I threatened to press charges and sue him and he may have been worried about getting shot due to the police but I never threatened to physically harm him. Airbnb has all of my messages between me and this guest and, despite this lie, has suspended all of my listings while they investigate. I am on day 5 of the investigation with no contact from the people who are actually looking into this. I am thoroughly confused on a few fronts -- 1. This was no longer an airbnb guest with an airbnb reservation, and 2. Does airbnb honestly expect me not to call the cops when any prior guest breaks into my house without a reservation?
To top it all off, the maid had ultimately had to throw the guest out on the 2nd by locking him out of the house. Police never showed up because Dallas has a policy where they treat anything at an airbnb as a civil matter, and so they ended up not going. The guest trashed the home, damaged items, and left 7 or 8 piles of FECAL MATTER on the floors of the house for the maids to clean up.
The guest then messaged me on the 3rd and I flat out asked him why he didn't simply leave the home, and he then lied claiming he had left on the 1st and was in a different time zone but left his luggage there until the 2nd. I have ring cameras on the exterior of the home and I know this is false and that he was at the house, including the same dog and people as checked in on the 29th. He then accused me of throwing a party at the house and claimed I had trashed the home. He also wildly claimed that he was going to steal my home and turn it into a homeless shelter.
I have sent the 1 message thread I have been told to reply to a ton of evidence, including the texts from the guest acknowledging his stay had ended and that he would need to extend, from airbnb confirming his stay ended on July 1st, the forced entry notification from the smart lock, screenshots of the ring video which is time and date stamped showing his group as the only ones there, the damage found by the maid, and they can read all of my messages with him and see I NEVER threatened to shoot this person. I did tell him and warn him repeatedly to leave the property or he would be arrested, but I feel that is obvious for somebody who breaks down my door to enter the home. I'm an attorney and I threatened to press charges and sue him because he had committed 4 separate crimes at the house. That was it. Airbnb has also separately in other departments acknowledged that his stay was over on July 1st (via tech support sending me an email explaining the end date for his initial extension and Airbnb separately sending me a late checkout fee for the breakin that followed).
I am highly, highly concerned at this point because I've been unable to speak to anybody handling this case and there is a lot of information to explain. I am worried they will gloss over the extension end date of July 1st as well. This is my only source of income. I've invested millions into my business, and I support a large number of maids and handymen as well. I understand this must be investigated but I am very frustrated from not hearing from anybody and I am at a loss for what to do at this point or what I was expected to have done differently here. Was I just supposed to let him breakin? I am beyond worried. Please help.
