We had a guests arrive yesterday to our house.
Initially all seemed well. They communicated and asked questions about the house, bedding and ironing facilities. Okay they didn't read the web page or house manual, but that aside, all fairly normal.
They insisted on having an 11am check in following a 5 hour drive. They texted me at 7.30 to say they had left. They arrived 2 hours late at 2.30pm.
They said they had got lost, despite having a sat nav and the route being a straight line along motorways and a main road.
They booked for 4 adults and 2 children. Our home hosts 6 people, so no issue there.
They arrived with an extra guest.
The guest, who apparently was a grandmother immediately said to me that she was staying somewhere else. This made me more suspicious.
What should I do as a host in these circumstances?
I was worried that if I didn't hand over the keys that may cause a conflict, a risk to my security, my partner and young daughter who were with me, or to the house.
On the other hand, given their actions, can they be trusted with our home? Particularly as they are renting the entire house, we are not living close by, the risk.
I thought I would contact them and speak with Airbnb.
I messaged them through the Airbnb app to ask if they could confirm that they only had 6 guests. They did not respond.
I thought Airbnb would be able to help.
Despite queuing on the phone for nearly an hour and being disconnected, I rang back.The call handler could not help me, they assured me that they would flag my concerns as urgent and someone would contact me as a priority.
Twelve hours on. It's now 3.30 in the morning, the guest has not responded and neither have Airbnb!
Its been a sleepless night. I am worried and I am trying to analyse the situation.
It's been over 12 hours since I heard from anyone. So I try the message bot. It's a security issue. The message says get some help. Not helpful!
The Airbnb message system isn't working. I call Airbnb. The call handler is naive and robitic. She asks me to repeat the issue. By this time I am fully awake in the spare room under the duvet, in an attempt not to wake the family.
The call handler insists I go through everything again, despite it being logged on my previous call and bot message.
I asked what my options are. She says she wants photos. Photos of what? The guests arriving. Really!
I tried to explain again and ask what my options are. She says she is going to call the guest. Not a great response at 3.30 in the morning.
I ask again what my options are. She says I can go to the house to speak with them. How far away am I? I explain it's a 3 hour round trip on a Saturday morning and that I explain that don't want a conflict.
She announced that she is going to call them.
I said stop, I have asked for my options. The response is that this is your only option if you do not want Airbnb to call. I stay calm and say well you have not discussed the full range of options with me. She insists she has. I remind her that she has not thought about me texting or calling her. Are there other options? She repeats that she will call them.
I explain that I am not happy in her response and say that I want this escalated as an urgent priority to a more senior member of staff. She tells me she will do that but cannot tell me when I will get a response. I tell her I want to make a formal complaint against Airbnb customer services.
So, I have a problem at check-in. Airbnb are not available. They don't follow up. They don't listen. They are reckless in their responses and behaviour and the escalation process does not work effectively. Airbnb are not helping. They are actually making things worse. It feels like we're on our own.
I am extremely unhappy with the poor customer support and customer service and I am no closer to resolving my concerns of a potentially untrustworthy guest who has the key to my house, extra guests and a very large van parked on the drive!
I would appreciate the advice of fellow hosts based on your experience.
