If anyone out there has had this experience, I am sure I not alone please reply.
I had great experience with Airbnb many years ago, when I bought my first home I decided even before moving in to operate Airbnb. I bought and furnished the home spending thousands of dollars with intention to become a superhost.
The first guest came and within hours the first night went in and out a total of 20 times from 10 pm to 4:18AM as was a chronic smoker. The first time she did so was in the front yard out in middle of nosy neighbors in a quiet neighborhood. I did sleep that night as I wondered if she was a ghost occupying my home with all her mannerisms, my family was afraid for me. I have 3 rooms to rent and wondered what things would be like if other guests were in the house with her going and coming so often after quiet time to ensure guest got their rest at night. the next morning 9+ am and I asked Airbnb to cancel her reservation. I called a second time when she woke up after 11am and went across the street, directly in front the neighbors gate and stood their smoking for almost 10 minutes.
By that time my neighbour had already called bylaw officer on me about the length of the grass in my yard during when it was still in the winter time. I grew concerned as a new owner in the neighbour and new to operating airbnb. I then noticed the upper floor which the guest occupied by herself stung and he left the room door open with fan running. I caught her at the door about to leave with my sheet to do laundry as whatever drugs or smoking he did in the room after 4am when she stopped going outside, left the whole upper house smelling worse than skunk. I called airbnb a third time telling theme they had to cancel and I had to shut down my listings for a week or 2 to get the smell out of my home. Instead, airbnb told me they would be investigating guest, then shut down my account. The guest broke house rules and airbnb sided with her and stalled cancelling reservation so they could find her other accommodation.
I built my own website because in that situation spending thousands of dollars to host for airbnb and got shut down, I was out of lots of potential income to recover my setup costs even.
They reinstated my account. I turned off instant booking and accepted 2 reservations, one I was uncertain of. That very same one, turned out to be a royal pain, wanted more than was advertised, using host like his secretary, send messages all hours, complained about everything, left messes everywhere he went, walked inside house with outside shoes and told guest they just had to accept it, slamming doors etc.
Each morning I would wake up waiting for my phone to ring or to get a text from him about something as he decided he was working from home so he was in the house almost all the time and doing 2 different jobs. When guest tried to point out that the house rules to clean up after oneself was not being followed, he would always blame the other house guest who was out and busy working. He would complain about everything and become spiteful if he wasn't getting his way. Simply put, he was nasty and a bully!!!
He asked to be refunded claiming he wasn't safe in the house. Guest advised that will not happen as when he went out or came back in, he would be the one who left the door unlocked which is recorded by the smart lock putting the rest of the household in potential danger. Eventually after he left the bathroom towels a mess and tried to blame the other guest who was not home when towels was changed and left dirty and unkempt, it was made clear that is no need to blame the other guest who was not home. He would leave dirty plates and dirty microwave after use. There was another guest to think about so we tried to remind him of household and we each clean up after ourselves.
He then got airbnb agent to call me, agent spoke nicely that he saw the guest has been creating some issues and to help out they were going to cancel his reservation. We said yes please. No one informed us they would be taking back monies they paid to us and reimburse guest. After guest left we saw the damages to the furniture. All the wheels broken off the ergonomic chair, he spilled coffee days before and it dried in the carpet, the new side tables had burn marks in the surface fro what appears to be too many hot cup uses on the side table, inside the side table was stained and discoloured, it appeared he used the metal from the broken chair and dug hole into the custom bedroom set storage bed.
We file a claim and airbnb has been stalling and will not get back to use about reimbursing us when they claimed the guest has 24hrs respond. It is going 3 weeks and they refuse to even be respectful and provide an update. My house is on the market to be sold as a result of this airbnb nightmare, I just want my money back for my furniture and to be done with airbnb. I am trying to find out which organization that is not a part of airbnb community that governs airbnb in canada to file a complaint with. BBB simply will not do as they have grown so big and insulated the company why they feel this wickedness in affecting my livelihood and causing me to lose my money is acceptable to them.
I am going to legal recourse for all the issues and losses.
