Kicked out guest. AirBnb is not replying

[Nanna20]

Hi 

I have had a very strange experience this weekend. Room in shared apartment (with me) 

A guy booked a 4 day visit with another guy (let’s call the booker A) - he was validated with good ratings.at checkin a totally different guy (B)  showed up. I asked him if the booker would arrive: “soon. This fixing the car” when I got home later that that I noticed he had not arrived.

i wrote Airbnb to ask what my rights were. Zero reply.

In the morning I asked B when A would arrive. “Nono. He’s not coming. Maybe one of my friends is coming instead” I told him that I was not comfortable with this as they did not do the booking.

I contacted Airbnb again. Still no reply.

When he left a few moments later I decided to cancel my day and stay at home. Then I noticed (the door was wide open) that he had smoked in the room the night before even though I told him not to. 
forward to approx. 11 pm: I wake up to a noice of someone entering my apartment with the key. I though it was B, but then I hear a different voice. I got up and out off my room. It was a third guy (C) entering my apartment on his own with backpack and everything. 

I got really scared and found the guts to kick him out. I made sure that he took everything - also AB’s stuff - with him and I locked the door.

He called B who came by and they started calling me and ringing the doorbell (also my neighbours). I was so scared that I ended up calling the police. 

I then once again contacted Airbnb. Now the morning after and over 24 hours from the time I contacted Airbnb I still haven’t received an answer. I am not able to cancel the rest of the booking. 

What should I do? Also: how do I get rid of the smell? 

[Inna22]

@Nanna20 what a horrible experience! And what an odd group!

Why are you not able to cancel the reservation? You can cancel anyone you want, a couple of times a year it is penalty free

You are not required to let anyone in who is not your registered guest so you do not have to host guest C at all. It does not matter if A chooses not to sleep at the house, you still get to keep the money if you do not cancel, you just don’t have to let C in (I understand C has a key, that’s another issue)

I bet some hosts will come along and evoke the third party reservations are not allowed but honestly it just doesn’t matter.  All third party rule says is that you forfeit Airbnb’s help and they are not helping you anyway

Is there a number you can call for help? There is a number for hosts in the US and airbnb does answer it

As for going forward, requiring IDs from everyone staying and having language about not allowing visitors as well as smoking deposit will help prevent this in the future. 

As for situation at hand, make sure to write through airbnb messaging and tell them that your guest A and B are those who are allowed to stay. If C or any other letter of alphabet shows up you will be forced to call the police as it is trespassing and you hope that they will not pass your keys on to anyone else as it will make them accomplices to criminal behavior 

[Nanna20]

Thank you very much for your tips and feedback. Means a lot. 

actually both B and C was not on the list. I just didn’t had the courage to kick B out right away - also because he told me that A was coming (he did not) 

I have tried to cancel through app and website but it states that I need to call Airbnb to do so. When I do there is no answer. I am still waiting for their reply her 30+ hours after 

[Inna22]

@Nanna20 You don’t need to cancel. You should collect your money. If A chooses not to stay, it is his problem. I know you don’t want A either but he is not coming. 

as for B, I understood that A booked for two, no? 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inna22  she already kicked out both B and C so she solved this problem. Nanna doesn't even have to cancel, those guys should cancel by themselves if they want any money back.

@Nanna20  always ask for ID, and take a photo of it at arrival BEFORE you give a key. You have to know who has a key to your home and if it is the same person who booked. Put it in your house rules (you can copy mine)

You did the right thing by kicking him and his friend's stuff out. Bravo!

[Inna22]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 I agree. I also think they are not entitled to any refund even if the chance on their end

i think our OP wants this canceled so they don’t try coming back

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inna22  they can't come back without a key. They tried, Nanna didn't open the door so they will not try it again, no point. They are not the ones who booked so they would trespassing anyway. Even the police wouldn't help them let in, they don't have a reservation.

Nanna, relax, you don't have to do anything anymore. Even if CS contacts you, you can just say the problem is solved 🙂

[Inna22]

And @Nanna20 make sure to not cancel through the app so you do not have a penalty of you decide to cancel

[Nanna20]

Thank you all so much for this! ❤️ 

I know now that I should always ask for IDs. It just hasn’t been a problem before. The police has all information and I can always call them if B and C contact me in any way. 

I just hope Airbnb will get back to me at some point. It’s really strange that they haven’t. And I am glad nothing happened to me. I kind of kicked out C by surprise. So I some way I was glad it was him instead of B who was here the first night. 

Thanj you again. You helped me calm down 

[Kyle476]

@Nanna20  if they were both on the reservation that is one thing meaning Booker B would need an Airbnb profile as well and you would see his information connected to the primary on the reservation through the app and this would then allow the additional guest access to the reservation, and your listing profile outlining the check in procedure, and any other rules you had for your rental. Especially if he was not planning to check-in at the same time as the primary guest who made the reservation. However, if they had arrived together, and guest B doesn’t have a profile, well you at least know that the primary guest is who is he is and assuming the responsibility of the second guest on the reservation who was identified numerically as the second adult guest, but may not have had a profile connected to the reservation. I think you were in the right in how you handled things when an unaccounted guest or stranger arrived that was not even on the reservation, and you were concerned of safety. The red flag here why didn’t the primary guest convey any of this information to you prior, and or why didn’t guest B offer and or you personally get in immediate direct contact with the primary reservation holder via the app or phone to clear things up, and give you explanation of the situation such as he was having car trouble. With none of that happening I would then assume someone else made a reservation for another adult when they maybe had no intention of showing up, this also looks to be the case when guest C arrives. This is not allowed and is a breech of the rules. This breech occurred when primary reservation holder did not arrive for the first night of the stay.

I will tell you though the only thing on your end I would have done differently would have been picked up the phone and called the Airbnb super-host line. Anytime I’ve called they answer without delay, and make note of the situation. I would only write them in less urgent situations, and I would consider this situation urgent when your possibly throwing out a guest, and or canceling their stay, or further more feel your safety is at risk. I say this as now you don’t have anything really documented excerpt your emails written to them, and you needed to have this documented from the start with a live agent. If for some reason you couldn’t get through you would still have that documented as well that you tried to call as you have to self verify via the app using a texted code. I hope I don’t sound too forward, as that’s not my intention, but I just know from experience with Airbnb documentation is key. In fact I never do phone calls either with guests, as I tell them I only communicate issues through the Airbnb app, so it’s all documented, and then everything you said, and did is all in writing, and further providing you credibility that you handled everything in the correct manner per Airbnb guidelines. However, it is ok to contact Airbnb via the phone as every call is recorded,  and  they also send you a follow up message outlining everything you discussed during the call. I wish you luck with this, but I would highly recommend next time calling using be super-host line, and or I believe there is a safety line of you felt you were in an unsafe situation. 

[Nanna20]

Hi 

as mentioned I did try to Call the danish hotline for superhosts But there was No reply. I then thought it would be a Good idea to have the document that I did in fact try to contact Airbnb and did so before I kicked them out. 

In the other comments here I have described the further, eg. That B first gave me the information that A was coming in a moment - I have tried this several times, so no biggy - I had to meet up with a friend so I left the apartment but when I got home A was not there and only in the morning I got the information that he was not and that B was not the second person on the booking. As I have never tried that before I tried to contact Airbnb. not answering on phone I wrote them - again to have the documentation. 

[Huma0]

@Nanna20 

As four days has already passed, I assume that this booking is over anyway. Did you receive your payout from Airbnb? Did the booking guest contact you at any time during the stay? Have they asked for a refund?

If not, and the payout has been made, I would not worry too much about it, but it would be interesting to hear if CS ever get back to you and what they say. Strange that you cannot get through on the phone.

Just to clarify about the point made above about cancellations. You can cancel three times a year, penalty free, ONLY if it is an Instant Booking, and only for certain reasons, but I definitely think that your situation fits within those. I have got CS to cancel third party bookings a number of times. If it is not an IB, then it's a bit more complicated.

Third party bookings are not technically allowed by Airbnb, but they have a fairly casual stance on it, i.e. they leave it up to the host to decide whether or not to accept them and if the host does, then it's on the host. You are then potentially left out in the cold if something goes wrong and won't be able to claim on Aircover.

Of course, in your situation, you were not aware it was a third party booking until day two of the stay. The important thing is to avoid this type of scenario in the future and vet your guests carefully. I don't know if you are a single woman living alone but, if you are, then it's even more important to know exactly who is staying in your home.

My house rules state: "Only guests named and paid for will be permitted on the premises as otherwise the Airbnb insurance is voided. Please respect that this is my private home and do not bring visitors, including friends and family, without asking permission IN ADVANCE. Visitors may not stay over night... Guests may be asked to provide official photo ID on arrival."

If the booking is for two people, I ask that the second person is added as a named guest if they have an Airbnb account. At the least, I would want their name. I also insist that guests read the full listing and house rules and agree in writing (in the message thread) to them. I need to know a bit about the guests and their plans as the correspondence with the guest is really important. Look out for red flags.

Perhaps you did all of this and these guys still slipped through the net. It can still happen...

Good for you though for taking control of the situation and kicking them out. 

[Nanna20]

Thank you 🙂 I’m taking some time off Airbnb to think about if I want to still rent out a room. I don’t know yet. If: could I maybe use some of your house rules? 🙏

[Huma0]

@Nanna20 

Yes, please feel free to take whatever you want from the house rules.

[Sandra856]

Hi @Nanna20 🙂 

Sorry to read your story. I host a room in my apartment in Copenhagen and I only host women. Maybe that could be a solution for you as well :-).

Best, Sandra