My very first guests

[Elizabeth1852]

Ok- My very first guests appear to have been excellent con artists and grifters.  They made the original reservation for 2 nights and then added a third- which I have not been paid for.  They stole stuff that had been in the houses so long, I no longer have receipts for and cannot be replaced.  They had a dog, which can be seen on my backyard camera before I turned it off.  Also a 5th person- when they said the reservation was for 4.  There appears to be no recourse for me for this.  They smoked, as I found cigarette butts in the yard.  They took a bowl of pecans out on the back porch and ate them all and left the shells all over the porch.  They unloaded a huge amount of trash into my trash bins and there was trash in the yard, in the house and everywhere.  They disconnected the kitchen smoke detector, left me dirty dishes, and food in the oven.  They used my hot water pot to heat coffee- essentially ruining it.  They left personal items in the house and cigarette butts and dog doo in the yard for me to clean up.  Since this was my first guest- I did not think to take pictures of everything before I cleaned up.  Airbnb has only referred me to their online labryinth which is a nightmare in itself.  they have an excuse for not paying me for the 3rd night- which I cannot fathom- since they sent me a payout schedule that included all 3 nights, but only paid me for 2.  I cant seem to get an answer on the deposit issue.  I feel like I have been had by being a naive first time host by both my guest and airbnb.  Are they worth working with for short term rentals at all? 

[Helen3]

Hi @Elizabeth1852 

Sorry to hear this was your first guest experience. Do be assured that bad guests are very rare and there is lots you can do to minimise the risk of ending up with one both by vetting  your guests and taking a proactive approach to managing guests who break your house rules. These guests sound truly horrible and disrespectful.

If you are using IB turn it off now so you can vet your guests before accepting a booking.

Hopefully you have made a report to the police about the stolen items.  I am sorry that you didn't collect videos and photos of the damage. 

I am a little confused as to why you let them bring a pet and extra person without calling them out on it. You had the option to ask that the dog and extra guest leave immediately or to raise a request through the resolution centre for the extra payment for the dog and guest. 

Similarly for the extra night. If they didn't pay before the original check out you shouldn't have let them stay.

Have a look at Airbnb Help for information on claiming under their guarantee. https://www.airbnb.co.uk/guarantee

Why would you turn your camera off? I presume you had it displayed in your listing in accordance with Airbnb t&cS for outdoor cameras.