Help new at hosting - bad experience already

[Zahra61]

Hi everyone 

we are new to hosting, about two weeks in and our third guest was the worst I could’ve ever imagined. Her profile had some good reviews and then we started getting neighbour complaints about parties and loud noise. I contacted support and they told me to wait until she checked out to fill out a resolution page however because we have security cameras on the premises we noticed that she was clearly having a party. We tried the phone number on her profile and it was not even hers; a friends. 
we finally got a hold of her and she was respectful and said she would turn the noise down. Fast forward to the following morning where they were supposed to check out at 11 AM. We went to the home as we had another guest checking in at 3 PM and everybody was still sleeping. We waited about 20 minutes to half an hour and still no movement so we started kicking people out. There was about 8 to 10 people over the guest limit and the place was left in complete disarray. Quartz countertop was chipped, cabinets were damaged and paint was damaged on the walls, they didn’t follow ANY house rules, they were ashing into our gas stove which was left on the entire night, there was white powder and yellow powder on numerous countertops and coffee tables which we can only assume is a certain substance. There was food everywhere, on the sheets, the floors, they wore their muddy shoes in the entire home. We had to pay over $600 to have it last minute deep

cleaned and luckily in time for our guest who was running late. 
I've filled out the support centre form and all details along with over 60 pictures but from reading some of the past posts about Airbnb not doing anything and the host guarantee being a hoax I’m really starting to get worried. We have about $5k in damage.

If you could please share your experiences that would be greatly appreciated

i’m also wondering how many people use the security deposit feature to cover situations like this or potential situations. Is there any tips or tricks you can provide us?

We currently have AUTO book on our listing but I am now going to turn that off so we can review each booking, would you recommend that?

thanks in advance 

[James2566]

I definitely screen and I’ve never had trouble getting refunds from AirBnb by providing photos. Luckily I’ve never had parties yet and I make it clear it’s instant cancellation (eviction). You can start to tell with experience when someone’s looking for a party house, they’ll often be local, ask if you can waive the minimum nights stay for them, they’ll refer to it as a “space”,  asking if there’s any shared spaces outdoors, when locals ask if they can see the space before booking for one or two nights is a huge one, if locals ask how early they could arrive on check-in day to “drop off a few things”, how many plates are there, your spidey sense kicks in after some time. This is when I remind them of the policy and ask them to “quickly confirm” it’ll just be (the registered guests) on the property at any time, even if it’s in my description and booking rules, this makes it more real. Some guests think the max guest rule only applies to the beds at night. I strictly forbid unregistered guests on my property, especially during the pandemic. 

I’m surprised AirBnb let it go on! I find it also helps to do a before walk-through video of the space ahead of arrival for guests with little or questionable history on AirBnb. 

[Maia29]

You have to file a claim before the next guest checks in or Airbnb won’t pay for damages i fortunately (as far as I know). 

Not sure how that is going to work since another guest checked in the same day.

[Sarah977]

@Zahra61  When there are things going on at your listing like that, you need to act immediately to stop it. The CS rep you had the misfortune to talk to gave you horrible advice, to wait until the booking ended. As soon as you see more guests arriving than were booked for, or neighbors complaining about a loud party, you need to go over there and tell the guests to pack up and leave and stand there until they do. You deal with Airbnb during or after this process, but the important thing is to prevent as much damage as possible before it can happen. It's your home and you call the shots, not Airbnb.

[Helen3]

Also to add do install CCTV this will help you monitor your property to make sure only those who have booked and paid use it .

@Sarah977  advice is spot on.

if you haven't done so already add house rules to say only those who have booked and paid are allowed at the listing and no parties.

do leave an honest review