Bad guests

[Frank1492]

Hello, I have a question, my house is new, it was not even two years old and it was built and I put it to rent on AIR BNB  had the first guests for 3 days yesterday and it turns out that they left a toilet on the second floor covered and apparently were drunk  and full  the toilet between paper and wet towels, look like  they were playing now I will have to hire a plumber to fix it .  also rotten food from several days in the kitchen and dining room what should I do in this case?

[M199]

@Frank1492 

Your place is beautiful.

You don't  state if you use Instabook or not.

Either way, you need to gain experience vetting your potential guests.  You can learn a lot from the CC, but also, time and experience will help.  I'm sure more experienced hosts can attest to and provide some suggestions.

[Huma0]

@Frank1492 

I'm very sorry this has happened to you on your first Airbnb experience. You have obviously put a lot of effort into your immaculate place.

I noticed that you have not added any additional house rules. Apart form the menu that Airbnb offer you to select rules from, you can add additional rules and I would certainly recommend you do this. Mine are rather long, but have been added to with experience. You would be surprised what some seemingly nice people think is acceptable behaviour. Never take anything for granted.

I would add some rules about how you expect the property to be treated, that guests who cause damage will be charged for it, rules about extra guests (do you allow them? if not, state it) etc. etc.

If you have stated on your listing/house rules that guests will be responsible for damages, you have a greater chance of claiming money back from the guests for those. That's not to say that Airbnb will always support you, but they are more likely to if it's mentioned. It can also act as a deterrent to bad guest behaviour.

It's not a bad idea to have some kind of insurance that covers damages from guests, independent of the Airbnb cover, which is not 100% reliable.

Of course, as a new host, you want to build up a bunch of 5* reviews. This makes it particularly difficult as challenging a guest on damages (let alone asking them to pay for it, which you must before Airbnb will consider reimbursing you from its own pocket) is almost guaranteed to result in a bad review. On the other hand, I have found that a lot of bad guests/guests who cause damages do not leave a review as they're scared of the retaliation. It's a risk you take.

[Anonymous]

@Frank1492 Based on your listing's location, size, amenities, and newness, it ticks off every box as a party magnet. You'll have to put a lot of effort into proactively preventing those bookings.

I'm not sure if this particular stay was one of those, but it definitely sounds like they had no qualms about disrespecting your household. In terms of recourse, there's not much to work with. Being gross and leaving food behind doesn't add up to a physical damage claim, and the prospects of getting reimbursed for the plumber are iffy. @Huma0 correctly sums up the risk of a retaliatory review, and lodging a damage claim before having an established reputation might  cause Airbnb to internally flag your listing as a problem child. 

[Sarah977]

@Frank1492  I think you might work on your listing description a bit to make it a bit more personal, like this is a place you care about, not just some investment property. You should also think about your target market, which isn't partiers, and aim your wording at them, perhaps that it is family-oriented. 

Remove the wording about it being private- there is no need to say that- it is listed as an entire home. Also remove the "quarter acre of property". Both of those things are what partiers look for- a place where they may be able to get away with bad behavior. You aren't selling real estate here, you are trying to attract the type of guests you want to rent your home and ward off the undesireables. 

I think your photo gallery also needs big overhaul. All those wonky photos which elongate and distort the space and make it appear much larger than it is are not good Airbnb photos. They can lead to guest complaints about inaccuracy, saying the rooms were much smaller than they appeared in the photos. And those elongated hallway photos with all the doors look like fun-house photos, they are really kind of creepy. 🙂

Take normal photos, as many as you need to show each room from different angles. There are far too many photos of the pool and they should not appear before the photos of the home itself.

And if I were you, I would remove a lot of the purely decorative, breakable things I see. Guests don't care about knicknacks, and they will end up getting broken. For instance, I see what looks like a pottery tray on the glass shower shelf- there shouldn't be any breakable items in a shower stall. Some guests will eventually knock it off the shelf where it will smash to smithereens on the shower floor. 

We hosts tend to think that guests will appreciate things and look after them respectfully, but the reality is that plenty of them won't. People can be clumsy and careless.