Guest broke house rule and left bad review because of it

[Kimberly781]

I had a guest bring a dog. We state no pets allowed in our house rules and in the welcome letter to guests prior to their arrival. The guest was caught having the dog inside the home, we have photo evidence of it, and we messaged the renter to let him know pets are not allowed. They could either leave or remove the pet. That made them angry so they stayed with the dog and checked out as planned and left a huge mess. The dog ruined rugs, stained bedding, left dog hair all over indoor and outdoor cushions that the next renters noticed, and poop in the yard.  I requested $100 damage fee for the damages and the renter left me a bad review and made up allegations stating we had blood on our mattresses. We do not. I asked Airbnb to remove the review since he had 1. Broke the house rules 2. Caused damages to property 3. Stated false allegations in his review. 
Airbnb support declined my request and the negative review now affects future bookings. I’ve had to explain to interested guests the situation and am disappointed Airbnb did not side with a superhost and allowed this guest  to post. 

[Sarah977]

@Kimberly781  I'm sorry this happened to you, but I don't quite understand- you gave the guest the options to remove the dog from the property or leave, but in fact he continued to stay with the dog and you did not enforce him leaving? Why give the guest options if you aren't going to follow through on making him leave? Empty threats are pretty pointless.

And why was there still dog hair on the cushions when the next guests checked in? Why wasn't a thorough cleaning done? 

As for the review, I'm surprised it would affect your bookings, as you have so many glowing reviews, and that review is already far down the page. And your response to that review makes things pretty clear. I'd be more concerned about the more recent review that says the smell of mold was overpowering and the place wasn't clean. I assumed this was another bad guest making things up, but I see you left her a great review.

[Kimberly781]

Thanks for your feedback. Our housecleaning service is great. They had to turn the house for another renter coming that same day and missed seeing dog hair on the outdoor patio cushions. Our next guests did message me about it so I explained to them what has just happened and came over and cleaned them myself and they were understanding about it. The reason we don’t allow pets is for the extra time it takes to clean that we didn’t have time for and out of respect for our next renters that may have allergies it would affect. 

I don’t know what the other review regarding the mold was about at all! They were weekend renters that left the house fine but we absolutely do not have a mold problem and other guests will attest to that. I had it checked after and asked the guests that left that to take it down explaining it was possible that the house just smelled a little musty because it was vacant for 6 days before they came. They didn’t reply and again, I feel like it was a false allegation. Is it possible for me to change my review of them after how they have now shown to have been?

[Linda108]

@Kimberly781   I had a chance to look at your listing and it is a lovely place.  I did see one very negative guest review from November 2021 and your review was positive for the guest.  Is that what you are referring to or is this a different situation?  Either way,  I wonder about your ability to enforce your rules.  If you are not near enough to do so, either don't have rules or get a cohost who is local.  Just telling a guest to pack up and leave after they have been caught is just asking for problems.  

[Kimberly781]

I am local but I thought I was being reasonable by giving them the chance to remove the dog or leave. They did neither. How does one go about enforcing the rules in this situation? Do you suggest I go over there and try to  make them leave myself or does Airbnb get involved and send help to make them exit the property? I imagine either of the above would also result in a bad review as well so what’s the point if Airbnb still publishes their bad review.

[Sarah977]

@Kimberly781  No, of course Airbnb doesn't send someone to make the guest leave. Enforcing house rules is up to the host, and yes, if you give the guests an ultimatum, you should be willing you follow through on it or don't say anything in the first place, just slam them in the review.

And if you are going to pussyfoot around disrespectful guests in fear of a bad review, be prepared to have guests take advantage of you. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Linda108 It was a March 2021 review and @Kimberly781 's review was suitably scathing. No idea why it has taken until Jan 2022 to put a post up about this but hey ho.

[Kimberly781]

😂I just found this community forum so that’s why I am just now putting the post up. It’s one of our very few bad reviews and only situation that a renter clearly broke house rules and it has bothered me since. I am wondering how to handle it for the future and curious why Airbnb didn’t side with me? 

[Sarah977]

@Kimberly781 Airbnb didn't side with you because removing revenge reviews is the exception, not the norm. 

[Helen3]

If I was in a situation where I had asked a guest to remove a pet which they had sneaked in against my house rules I would know it was likely to upset the guest and that removing the pet was not an option they would exercise so would have asked Airbnb to cancel the booking . And told the guest to leave. 

i too don't understand why you let the guest stay and risk them trash your place - which they did .

If you weren't going to reinforce your no pet rule why raise the issue in the first place ?