Nightmare before Christmas

[Marianne596]

So, we are new, having begun in September. We have a cottage and during the winter, our guests are mostly here to ski.  We had a family of four arriving on Christmas eve. The prior guest was to be one night leaving the 23rd.  On his departure, my husband and I were horrified to find our beautiful cottage absolutely trashed. These four very young kids had no intention of skiing. They were here to party, and nothing else. They played beer pong indoors, spilling alcohol everywhere including all over the walls. We know they were playing beer pong because they left their cups, broken table, and ping pong balls behind. 

They broke a window and a door jam. They stole firewood, our house manual, and other minor stuff, but still. To top of their evening, they vomited all over the place, and of course left everything filthy. They were here less than 24 hours and we had a family arriving for Christmas the next day. There was no way we could cancel. My husband an I spent the next 24 hours busting butts to clean the place. We had to deep clean, and have all the rugs, walls, and floors professionally cleaned on an emergency basis. We were unable to fix the window and door in time but it was liveable. 

I am so angry that Airbnb did such a lousy job of vetting these people. Airbnb gives you no information about the person making the reservation until after it's been accepted and is too late to do anything about it.  When I googled the name on the reservation, I found out this was a local kid who had just graduated from high school, and the phone number he gave was fake. This is not acceptable and I'm seriously considering whether Airbnb was a good idea. 

[Sandra126]

Airbnb is a good idea, if you consider them as an ad and only an ad. They get the views. Everything else is up to you, getting is up to you. I'm sorry this happened, but it's not unusual.

[Mark116]

@Marianne596  Airbnb doesn't vet anyone beyond getting an active credit card attached to the name.  I'm sorry your place was trashed, but a group of young people with a one night reservation is two red flags.  

[Huma0]

@Marianne596 

So sorry this happened to you and it is not your fault. This was your first Airbnb experience and you were not to know.

However, I agree with the other responses. I NEVER take one night bookings.

[Marianne596]

I didn’t allow IB. But I’m still confused. 
I accepted a one night reservation, which I have changed. No one warns you about that. But Airbnb is supposed to confirm a phone number as well as payment information. In this case, the phone number was fake. The prefix doesn’t exist and they should have caught this in my opinion. But let’s say I accept a reservation but find the person’s communication inadequate or suspect. I can’t cancel it at that point. At least that’s my understanding. That once you’ve accepted you’re stuck.   Is that incorrect?

[Sarah977]

@Marianne596  You can always cancel a reservation, the issue is that you will be penalized for doing so.

"But let’s say I accept a reservation but find the person’s communication inadequate or suspect"

You have 24 hrs to accept or decline a request. During that time you look to see if a guest has any reviews and read them, you communicate with the guest in order to get a sense of them and rout out red flags. If their communcation is poor or non-existent, or red flags pop up for you, you do not accept the booking. 

You are aiming for prevention, rather than damage control after the fact.

[Sarah977]

@Marianne596  So sorry you had these animals and spent what should have been a nice Xmas for you dealing with the destruction.

As others have said, Airbnb doesn't vet guests. That is up to you. 

"Airbnb gives you no information about the person making the reservation until after it's been accepted and is too late to do anything about it."

That's incorrect. First of all, what information does Airbnb give you about a guest after the booking is confirmed? A phone number? What good is that? If you turn off Instant Book so that guests have to send Requests for you to accept or decline, you have 24 hours to take a look at their reviews if they have any, and communicate with them sufficiently, ask questions, etc., in order to determine whether there are red flags or anything that makes you doubt their honesty or suitability. 

I have never used IB and never will, even though I just have a private room home-share listing where it would be impossible for guests to sneak in more people or trash the place, because I want to maintain control over who I rent to. 

[Lorna170]

@Marianne596   I am sorry that you had such a bad experience.  There are many good guests out there, but some really rotten apples too.  As a new host, take things slowly.  Do not worry about renting every possible night.

1.  Do not use IB until you have a good idea as to what kind of guest is attracted to your property.

2.  Do not allow 1 night bookings.  Most party animals book for 1 night.

3.  Do not allow bookings less than 7 days before the arrival.  This gives time to communicate and see how you feel about the guest.  
4.  Check your pricing and compare to similar properties in your immediate area.  Stay slightly higher so that you get a better caliber of guest.  
5. Do not discount.  Your property has a value.  Do not undercut it by discounting because you have a vacancy.

Your goal should be to establish your business; not to get heads in beds at any cost.  I hope that you have better guests and good rentals in 2022

[Marianne596]

The only mistake I made was the single night. I did everything else you suggest but a completely fake phone number is unacceptable. I’ve contacted Airbnb to make a claim for damages. I was told I’d be contacted and have heard nothing, which makes me very nervous. 

[Melanie982]

Hello,

I’m also new to AirBNB and did a superhost webinar when we started. They said to set your bookings so that only people who are ID verified and have 5 star reviews can instantly book. All

others have to send a request. I recently hosted a group of 4 who were new to Airbnb and I won’t do that again. They basically wanted turn down service - didn’t understand the difference between Airbnb and a hotel. 

I’d set your booking criteria more strict. 

[Huma0]

@Melanie982 

I agree that you should turn on all the extra criteria options available for instant book, such as verification, previous reviews etc. I have hosted many first time users and more often than not, they have been great (we're all new at some point), but it adds an extra level of protection. You can also tick the requirement for the guest to have a profile photo.

However, I would not rely on that alone as a method of vetting guests. You need to have some correspondence with them to ensure they are a good fit, understand the listing description and the house rules and agree to abide by then. You need to know WHO they are, beyond just verification, profile photo and a good review.

There are many guests who have all of the above but turn out to be problematic, e.g. they have not understood what they are booking, they have not put in the correct number of guests, they are expecting to bring pets to a no-pets listing, it is a third party booking etc. etc.

I would not recommend new hosts use instant book at all until they have some experience under their belt, unless they feel it absolutely necessary (e.g. the listing is in a very competitive area and non-IB listings therefore drop to the bottom of the searches). 

[Melanie982]

Thank you for the advice! I welcome any and all help as I’m getting accustomed to being a host.

I should have had a red flag go off when I let the new group book because their very first question was about an early check-in. Then they didn’t even arrive until 7:30PM. 
I’m learning!