Issue with damage from a guest and retaliatory review

[Mark3061]

Hello Airbnb community,

We have been hosting our basement apartment for a year and a half, with a 4.9 average, and all 5.0 reviews for the last 11 months. We had one cancellation and that is just about to expire out.  We were to be eligible for Superhost status next month.

We received a request to book from someone with no guest reviews in their profile.  I told him we do not take bookings from folks without reviews.  He then wrote back, now with a profile with 5 star reviews, saying he used to work at Airbnb, and was embarrassed that he could not log in.  He had a second profile it seems.  After he booked, we see that he didn't have a last name listed, just "Cody R".  His message:

"Hi Mark, this is Cody again! I totally understand your hesitation about booking to a guest without an established profile.
I created a new account yesterday because I was having trouble logging in, but I got back into my main account and reset my password. Now you can see my verification and all of my trip reviews, etc., from past years. (This is somewhat embarrassing because I was a software engineer at Airbnb. Lol.)
Please let me know if I can share any more context! :)"

He was a well behaved guest as far as we could tell, and on check out day said he "loved the place".  However we went down to clean and our new sheets were curled in a ball at the base of the bed.  When we unfurled them we saw the sheets, and mattress protector - were saturated with blood.  As far as we could tell, his girlfriend had her period during the night.  Pretty gross.  What's worse, the guest made no mention of it upon checkout.

I contacted Airbnb first to see what the best course of action was.  I sent Airbnb a photo of the stained sheets and they said I needed to first contact the guest for damages.  So we did - though I was worried this would result in a negative review since he didn't disclose that he ruined them.  He declined, said he didn't do it, and then gave us a 2 star review to boot - saying we accused him of damage he didnt do (as if that's profitable for us - to invent damage to bed sheets).  This took us down from Superhost eligibility to 4.76 with one swoop.

We then tried to collect the $130 from Airbnb, and they declined the request for reimbursement, saying we tried to collect after a new guest arrived (which isn't true - the next guest arrived the next day"

The messages are all in the Airbnb message box.  It's crystal clear.  On checkout day he said he "loved the place".  I have tried to escalate this and have the false review removed, to no avail so far.  It's been over a week now, and every time I reach out I get a new person, and they say they will call back, and don't.  I called tonight and was on hold for 30 minutes, before finally hanging up.

It disgusts us that there are people out there like this, and that Airbnb does nothing to actually stop and address the situation.

Do we have any other options?  I'm thinking moving forward, it doesn't matter how much a guest misbehaves or damages a place - just move on and let it go.  I'm also never permitting a guest without a last name listed - for the guest and anyone joining.

Thanks in advance.

[Lorna170]

@Mark3061   While I appreciate your being upset by the condition of your property after this guest, damage to bed linens "goes with the territory" .  Guests will have incidents that destroy your linens, and you need to have replacements at hand and budgeted for.  As many other hosts have posted, you also have to become a stain expert, and know what to do to treat and remove stains in an effort to salvage the linens.

As you have also discovered, requesting compensation from guests will inevitably result in a poor review.  I do not believe that hosts should be held hostage to reviews, but I would rather wait for the notification that a guest has reviewed my property and then submit my own review stating that the guest did not care for my property.   

Because the guest (or his girlfriend) did not notify you that there was an incident, there was very little chance that they would offer to compensate for the linens.  Air is also not known to reimburse hosts for the damages done by guests -- hence the many complaints on the forum about this.

I am sorry that you have to wait longer to achieve Superhost status.  You have had a hard lesson in the hosting of an inconsiderate guest -- a species that is becoming more and more prevalent.

[Mark3061]

Yes we do have replacement sheets. It blows my mind that someone would behave this way. His mother should have raised him better. Wash the sheets so someone else doesn’t have to deal with your bodily fluids, and if you can’t get it out, insist on paying for the replacement. It’s that simple. Accidents happen to all of us. Shirking responsibility for ones actions and then retaliating with a negative review is another matter entirely. 
We have had wonderful experiences with all of our other guests. Always bound to have a bad apple in the bunch. 

[Sarah977]

@Mark3061  A woman having her period and getting the sheets bloody isn't what I would term "gross"- it's something that is part and parcel of hosting. Blood, especially if it hasn't had a chance to dry for a long time, comes out easily by soaking in cold water and treating with Oxiclean or straight hydrogen peroxide. This can be done in a washtub or a washing machine. After you have the blood out, wash as normal. 

It isn't "damage", it's cleaning, and the linens do not need to be thrown out.

It would have been responsible of them to mention it, but many people would just find it too embarrassing.

I would never try to charge guests for this, nor ever mention it in a review.

[Mark3061]

I suppose we can agree to disagree Sarah. It takes 30 seconds to put the sheets in the washer and run a cycle. Airbnb suggested we contact them for damage so that is what we did.  Next time we probably will not, or wait until they review us or the 14 days are up perhaps. 
$130. Not the end of the world. Good lesson in how to deal with that rare entitled guest and how the platform works. 

[Sarah977]

@Mark3061  If the guest had put the sheets in the washer on a hot water cycle, that would cook the blood in so it never comes out and the sheets would indeed have been garbage.

Most hosts do not want guests to wash sheets or towels because of this- many stains need to be pre-treated before washing so they are not permanently ruined. 

Learning how to remove various stains and the correct products, water temp, etc. to use are an important part of a host's arsenal of knowledge, unless one doesn't mind replacing sheets and towels all the time or having to deal with upsetting guests and dealing with CS over something that really isn't permanent damage.

[Mark3061]

Good point. Although they could have done a quick Google search on removal hand washed themselves. Anything is better than leaving it in a ball without making any attempt to deal with it or notify the host, in our opinion. 

[Sarah977]

@Mark3061  Well, if I were a guest and this happened to me, I would have notified the host, and asked if they wanted me to put the sheets to soak in cold water, or informed them that I had done so.

But I don't think most guests would be that responsible. I always try to keep in mind the saying that the lower your expectations, the less opportunity for disappointment 🙂

I had a guest in my home-share who came to me with a mortified expression and although I know it was super embarrassing for her, told me she'd had an accident on the sheets (not blood, but an unexpected bout of "Montezuma's revenge"), that there was no way she wanted me to have to touch them, and to please show her how the washing machine worked. (Use of washer isn't one of my amenities, but I'll often ask guests if they have anything to add if I'm doing a load)

But I think that level of maturity and respect is the exception, rather than the rule.

[Lisa723]

@Mark3061 I also would not have claimed for this. But I do not see this review on your listing and its current average is 4.90.  Looks like maybe you succeeded in getting it removed?

[Mark3061]

Yes they took it down as it was completely contradictory to what the guest wrote upon checkout. Very clearly retaliatory. 

[Mark3061]

Thank you all for your advice and taking the time to weigh in. What a great forum here to connect and advise with other hosts. Best of luck to each of you with your own places.