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[Gemma5]

Hi,

I am after some advice around how to handle what has been a really awful experience with a guest.

She arrived yesterday and immediately sent me an SMS complaining that the place smelled of cleaning products.  Our airbnb is in our back garden so I went round to have a chat with her to explain about the enhanced cleaning protocols we have committed to and that we are cleaning thoroughly for our guest's benefit, to protect them.

However somehow this made her more angry and she said she "doesn't do cleaning products".  I said to her that the last thing I wanted was for her to stay with us if she wasn't happy with the place so I offered to refund her in full if she wanted to find somewhere else for the night.

This then set her off again, and she said I was kicking her out (which I was not!).  She just kept saying that the other airbnb she stayed in managed to be clean without smelling clean and I should be using eco friendly products.  I explained that actually I do use eco products where possible but that I was also following airbnb's protocols, I had the cleaning handbook in my hand.  She started to use profanities and called me a 'pathetic person who shouldn't be in this industry at all', hit the book out of my hand, slammed the door in my face so hard that a picture fell off the wall.  My 5 year old daughter could hear her shouting and has never heard language like this before 😞

My husband came out to see what was going on, she looked at him and said "at least he's got the common sense to stay silent like a man should".  At this point  I asked her to leave and gave her all her money back in cash.  I was just desperate to get her out of our home.  She continued to shout and swear at us.

I called airbnb afterwards to explain what had happened.  They told me that they completely understand..however basically said there was nothing they could do. 

Despite being very upset and angry that someone should come into our family home and treat us like this I still would not want anyone to not have a bed for the night so I called a nearby hotel and checked they had vacancies, they did and the price was the same as our airbnb so I messaged her to tell her she would be able to stay there if she needed somewhere.

I caught some of the abuse and profanity on video and still when I watch it back find it hard to believe anybody would behave in such a way.

I think the person is new to airbnb as she only has one (good) review.

I don't know what I should do next.  How to review her?  I am sure she will review me badly and I'll probably lose my superhost status because of it.  How can it be OK for guests to be so abusive and get away with it?   It is not fair on me and not fair on future guests that may be treated this way.  I am especially upset that my daughter heard this.

How would others handle this horrible situation?

[Trevor243]

@Gemma5She will probably do what many other AirBnB guests do and start a new AirBnB account for her holiday next year. Guests don't go on holiday frequently enough to remember their logins year after year. Next year they might book through VRBO, or maybe they'll book direct with an owner. That's one reason why reviewing guests is pointless. Don't get wrapped up in the whole AirBnB reviews thing and don't expect AirBnB to do the job of the police - they're not interested.

[Gemma5]

@Trevor243yes she may well do something like that. 

Ultimately this has been an experience that has shown me that Airbnb are not interested in siding with hosts in issues problematic guests.  With regards reviews I have no interest in entering into a "he said, she said" debacle in the reviews, I believe it only serves to make people look childish so I will write something brief but factual and put it behind me.  It has helped to get some opinions of others on here.  I appreciate it.

[Kath9]

@Gemma5wow, I'm so sorry this happened to you. She sounds positively unhinged! It's unfortunate about the cash refund, but I get that you just wanted her out ASAP, and you did the right thing there. I prefer @Sarah977's review suggestion to Christine's - with someone like this, you need to give other hosts the details because nobody wants this person as a guest. You should also definitely report her to Airbnb.

[Gemma5]

Thanks so much for responding @Kath9 .  I agree that I need to put some detail there, but am so so worried it will be taken down so think I need to word it very carefully.  It's clear from my communication that airbnb are not going to take any action so my review is the only chance I'll get to warn other hosts

[Mark116]

@Gemma5  I would say something along the lines of  XX was a difficult and stressful guest to host.  She was unhappy with our choice of eco-friendly cleaning products and ultimately became so confrontational and agitated that her door slamming caused a picture to fall off the wall.  For these and other reasons we can't recommend her for this platform.

Something like that, although I don't think being rude and knocking something out of your hand is reason to call the police.

[Gemma5]

thankas @Mark116 , I like your wording suggestion.

I get that calling the police sounds dramatic however it was very full on.  In hindsight I don't think we should have had to pay her cash to leave, this was something she demanded and it's not OK.  It was my mistake to do this.  Oh well hey ho....hopefully not a situation I will have to deal with again!

[Mark116]

@Gemma5  Yes, as others I think have said, the issue with paying cash is that its possible Airbnb will still refund her, so in effect, she is paid twice.  Its the same reason not to do a refund yourself most of the time...the guest can still go to Airbnb who may do the refund on their end also, and then its much time to hound them to fix the payment issue.