Bad guest and filing a claim

[Rasheda3]

Hello everyone! I am a new host to airbnb and have had 7 guest within 30 days. I've had 6 really wonderful guest stay at home home (6 5 star reviews as well!) but one bad one that is really causing me anxiety. 

When they first booked my home they did not respond to any of my welcome messages. That was the first red flag. The day of check out they are still inside my home at 5pm when my check out time is 11am. They have 3 large dogs on my property when I have a no dog policy. They also smoked Marijuana inside my home when I have a no smoking policy.  I told them to leave and upon inspection of my home I notice my hardwood floors are scratched from the dogs nails. I filled a claim for$2900 which is to have them refinished. The guest has responded through airbnb that I am trying to "scam" her for the money. She admitted the dogs were on my property but is adamant they were not inside the house. However, when I called her upon arriving to my home on the day they were to check out,  she stated she did not know who's dogs they were and she was back in her hometown of Georgia. This is really freaking me out because I'm afraid the guest may retaliate or something. The quote for my floors was the LOWEST bid I recieved. If I was going after a scam, I would have claimed my entire home was trashed, and I need all new furniture.  Any advice?!!

[Helen3]

So sorry for your bad experience and awful guests.

Going forward my advice would be to install CCTV or similar so you can ensure only guests who have booked stay at your place (human and animal).

You also need to ensure you send reminders of your check in process the day before check out and have someone at your place close to your check out time so guests can't overstay.

Yes guests can retaliate by leaving a bad review but that is not a reason not to pursue your claim/leave an honest review.

Good luck with your claim I would have also charged for additional cleaning needed.

Going forward I would also suggest you ask some vetting questions to try and ensure guests are a good fit for your property. You could only accept bookings from guests with positive reviews while you become familiar with Airbnb. Get them to confirm they have read your house rules; particularly around no pets, no extra guests not on the booking, no smoking etc 

[Rasheda3]

Thank you so much for responding and your tips. 

The guest messaged me after I posted my review and claimed I'm trying to scam her by filing a claim for my floors. I'm thinking, you smoked in my house,  brought dogs and were late checking out but I am trying to scam YOU?! SO laughable. I won't be responding to her messages. 

[Helen3]

Ask Airbnb to block her from messaging you. @Rasheda3 

You only seem to have left one review for a guest and that was positive. So not quite sure what you mean when you say the guest was in contact with you after seeing your review of her.

[Rasheda3]

I've written reviews for every guest I've had,  which has been 7. I have the screenshot of her response to my review below. She sent me a message.