Dealing with party help line - reporting about my experience

[Inna22]

Yesterday at about 4pm  I received an alert from Party Squasher that I have upwards 30 guests at one of my properties. The reservation was for 5 and they been staying a couple of nights already without any issues. I called the guest who said that he was having a few people over. I told him it was not allowed and that they should take their gathering elsewhere. He promised to do that. Since this was early evening and there were no other red flags from this guest, I wanted to give him a chance to peacefully disperse. An hour later the number creeped up a little bit instead of going down so I called and messaged him again. This time he did not answer. I called Airbnb. I would’ve normally just gone over there, but I was at a family birthday with my kids and I didn’t feel this was a home trashing rager but rather an unauthorized gathering so I thought I will give this whole party line a chance to take care of this for me as per its intended design.

After being on hold with the original customer service agent, I was transferred to somebody else. That person's role was to just gather information. Another half hour later somebody else called me back and went over everything yet again. I assumed this person would jump straight onto dealing with the situation and then call me back to discuss. However, I never heard back from anybody and the counter was still showing a good number of people so I decided to head over to the house. On my way I called Airbnb one more time and was told that I have a case manager (the last person I spoke with) and that person communicates by email only. The only way to get answers to any of my questions was for either me or this representative on the phone (who by the way was lovely) to email him and wait for him to email back. Clearly an extremely unproductive way of doing anything. My main question at that point was if I have the right to remove the entire group or only the unregistered guests and what the consequences would be to me as well as what action if any he took so far. The rep on the phone emailed the case manager and was hearing back regularly, but they were generic answers and not specific to my questions. When I parked, I started to exchange emails with that person myself and was getting really vague responses – quotes from various policies all having nothing to do with the questions I was asking. By the time I arrived, the party was over. This was about 7:30 PM. The guest was extremely apologetic and claimed he would pay for damages if there was any. Visually I could only see some splashes on the walls and I could faintly smell smoke in one of the bedrooms.

I was still not given a clear answer on what would happen if I ask the guest to leave. The person on the phone could not authorize anything without the case manager and the case manager was not answering the questions asked. I made a decision of letting the guest stay. I’m not a big fan of kicking people out on the street. The party was over. There was nothing to gain for me at that point by leaving these people outside to freeze at 8 PM. Yes, maybe that should be a punishment to them but hopefully karma will step in. I also didn’t want to have a cancellation and loss of income on my account at that point when everything was said and done anyway. Also I thought by letting them stay I felt I was keeping the door open to getting the guest to pay if anything major is discovered at departure.

I emailed the representative one last time but never heard back until midday today. His message said he was closing the case.

To summarize: the party helpline is a farce. Most importantly, there’s absolutely no sense of urgency. If a naïve host relies on them for help, it will just never come. The problem may be is that some host will call them thinking that something will be done and waste precious time instead of taking their own action. There are also no policies in place. I should’ve received an email outlining what is going to happen, what my rights are, how to get in touch with customer service through a priority line and what the next steps would be. Ideally they should have a security company or retired law-enforcement in big metropolitan cities or areas on retainer to come and help. Prior to them establishing this line, what would’ve happened was this: I would’ve realized there was a party, I would have either kicked them out myself or called the police without relying on anyone but me; then I would’ve followed standard process to get reimbursed. Now all the regular steps are taken away from me but there is nothing to replace them (if you choose to engage Airbnb).

[Susan17]

@Sharon1014 

If you think that Airbnb guests knowing that you're just upstairs/right next door is going to deter them in any way from doing exactly as they feel like doing - you'd better think again. 

That used  to be the case, for sure, but not anymore (and I've been doing this Airbnb gig for 10 years, so I have plenty of experience of just how far things have degenerated, particularly for hosts who cater for groups) Nowadays, we're constantly dealing with a whole  new breed of Airbnb guest, with the attitude that they've paid their money, the host should kiss their arses, they're entitled  to do whatever the hell they feel like doing, and hey - if it all goes belly up because of their troublesome or anti-social behaviour, they're still secure in the knowledge that Airbnb will have their backs, find them a nice new place to stay with some other poor unsuspecting host, and gift them with a sweet little 10% bonus for their distress and inconvenience. 

11 times in the last 5-6 months of last year, I had to get out of my bed in the middle of the night and go next door to tell the guests to STFU, or they'd be getting turfed out within the hour (despite me checking them in myself, making it crystal clear that there's only one wall separating us, and warning them that they'd be evicted if they crossed the line) That's more times I had to do that, than in all the previous 9 years combined. 

So you can think smart and style your listing as much as you want, but unfortunately, none of that is going to be any sort of a deterrent to those who feel that booking an Airbnb, instantly makes them the boss of your house, and not you. 

[Alex-And-Rhea0]

@Susan17 Hi! This forum reads like Air Bnb hell! Do you know if you can impose restrictions to your hosts in terms of age or reviews? What about getting a credit card  security deposit for possible damage?

I mean this situation created by Air Bnb seems hopeless otherwise.

[Sharon1014]

I do think there are some improvements that could be made at the time of booking, e.g. a requirement for the guest to update their current location and phone number, and recently verified ID, notification and acceptance of an immediate expulsion / no refund policy if the guest breaks house rules etc.   We do occasionally have guests with the "entitled" mentality, not around noise but around the length of time they want to stay, usually they want to check in early and leave late, using up the entire 24 hours of their 1 night booking.  We try to accommodate these requests where possible but have to admit it has been happening so frequently of late, we are considering just trotting out the "no" word.  As a new host however, you are very much hostage to guest reviews, so we consciously cut them some slack in order to build our reputation and ratings.  Certainly understand why your situation would be wearing rather thin after so many problems in such a short time.  Maybe time to consider giving your listing a temporary rest.  Just don't think it's worth it if the aggravation reaches that level.

[Pat271]

Whenever I have problems with a guest, I ask myself “What would I do right now if this guest had booked with me directly?” I take that route first, assuming it isn’t breaking some sort of Airbnb policy.  

I’ve learned, through forums such as this one and through my own experience, not to count on Airbnb to help with problem guests.  They might be able to help, but it’s definitely not a given.

[Sarah977]

I wouldn't really mind if Airbnb just said "You're on your own, hosts". 

Why do they have to LIE???  Constantly. 

[Suzanne302]

This is disconcerting because the real issue isn't "What should I do?" All experienced hosts have an idea of how they would handle an unauthorized party, but the issue is really, "What can I do that won't get me penalized by Airbnb?" THAT is the problem.

If a rule is broken hosts should not feel hampered in their actions by Airbnb. If someone throws an unauthorized party, we should be able to kick those guests out, no questions asked, no refunds. But hosts are forced to do this little dance with Airbnb to avoid penalties at the expense of their listing and peace of mind.

@Inna22  Your posts and experiences are always such an education for us all! Thank you for sharing!

[Alex-And-Rhea0]

@Suzanne302   Thanks! You nailed it.  Hosts should not feel hampered! Without us, there would be no Air Bnb.

Yet, we are constantly concerned about being penalised by Air Bnb.

What to do?

[Helen3]

Oh @Inna22 

You do seem to have such bad luck with some of your guests I really feel for you.

We know as hosts if we want to get guests to leave than we need to do it.  The most Airbnb will cancel the booking.

In your situation I would have gone over straight away (one of the issues for us as hosts running our airbnb business is that we often have to juggle emergencies with our social lives).

Would I have felt guilty for asking this guest to leave at 7 p.m. at night?  Not at all.  Certainly easy enough for him to get a hotel or another Airbnb at that time. He broke your house rules, lied to you and had up to 30 guests partying in your listing.

[Inna22]

@Helen3 I think a lot of host in Chicago are battling parties this time of the year. Prices are low, availability is high, it is cold outside. In the summer I am too booked/too expensive for this nonsense. 

[Sean433]

@Inna22 

I have about as many listings as you and get a lot of suspicious requests. A lot more in the winter. Party crowds are around all year round. But like you said,  they are priced out in the summer. Also, since demand is so much higher, we can pick select who we want. Do you think a better strategy next year would be to rent winter months long term 1-4 months? No only to avoid the party people but for earnings as well? Also, it will give the neighbors a nice break from seeing new visitors every third day.

Having seen how slow January is and the amount of low quality locals who want to rent for the weekend, often at very last minute, I would prefer to up the monthly discount and rent a few months long term next year starting January 1st. Open it back up to short term around May when it picks up again.

[Inna22]

@Sean433 I tried that this year and did not get any bites and then the short term rentals started to trickle in and calendar filled up. But perhaps I should put more effort into it next year. Is that what you do?

i read a report recently that suburban travel to the city on weekends is the biggest source of tourism in chicago now so I am hoping to attract that group . And this guy for example lives in CA, has previous positivism reviews and booked multi day stay. I checked his linked in profile too. There were no red flags

[Sean433]

@Inna22 

This year I booked some homes for 2-3 months and it has been worth it to have peace of mind and not stress about occupancy. You can keep the weekend price high and your monthly discount high as well. This way, if someone ends up booking a weekend and making it impossible for a longer term guest to book, you will be well compensated.

Your party guest lives all the way across the states and still had 30 people over? Either he lied on his profile or use to live in Chicago and came back and had friends over. I check the number registered on their profile to see if it matches the city they state they are from.

[Mark116]

@Sean433   How do you find those tenants, just through airbnb or some other platform?  Do you have them sign something closer to a tenant at will lease to prevent issues w/eviction?

[Sean433]

@Mark116 

2 of them are currently from airbnb and 1 of them is through vrbo. My wife is a real estate agent and can post on MLS but then I have to give the other agent half of 1 months rent which is not worth it.

All of them except one are not permanent residents so I don't think they will want to cause any risks to their status in our country by squatting. Even with a lease, you may not evict someone immediately if they do not pay. It can take weeks.

I prefer to rent long term through airbnb, vrbo etc to those who are not permanent residents. The more leverage you have, the better. I recently had local guests who came for 3 weeks. They moved in half their belongings with me knowing. They wanted to extend and I refused because I had a feeling they may claim residency. When i saw the state the home was in- messy and how they made it their own by bringing their furniture and rearranging ours. As well as how manipulative the guest was crying to me that she was getting divorced, I knew I made the right call. The answer is that it depends on who, where and the situation the person is in. Generally speaking, it is far more risky to do long-term with residents.

Finally, to make sure the person does not get too comfortable and destroy the home, I tell them that I will include a cleaner once ever 2 or 3 weeks. This is more so to keep an eye on the place then anything else.

[Ute42]

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@Sean433 

Helpful advise - thank You.