One night reservation — nefarious intentions....

[Ruth290]

Has anyone ever had a reservation (room in your home) for two guests and have the guest show up with four people who barged in even though your house rules and Airbnb rules specify that only guests on the reservation are welcomed in the home?  You welcome them to your home, give them a 4-digit code to the front door, show them around the house (i.e. room, bathroom, kitchen, etc.) and while you're giving them a walk through two men in the dinning and living room are casing your house and opening doors and searching in drawers? All this was caught on camera. This horrific experience happened to me less than a week and a half ago and I am still in shock!

After the four people showed up and barged in my home, after 20+ minutes they left (BTW they only lived less than 15 minutes away), the two intended guests never came back to sleep even though they paid over $120 for one night. My home is in a very nice and sought after area of Kansas City Missouri.

The next day I reported it to Airbnb and they were NOT helpful at all!  My neighbors advised me to make a police report just in case anything would happen down the road. — to me or my property.

I don't wish this on anyone!  The Airbnb account was opened in the 16 year old daughter's name but using the mother's photo and payment. I'm appalled that Airbnb allowed this to happen.  I've put my trust on Airbnb for more than 6 years  being a host ... I thought they did a thorough check on every ID submitted — needless to say ... that's not the case. 

I contacted my local TV news stations to get the word out about this scam. One of the police officers told me that "what deterred the men from coming back and burglarizing your home was that they saw you had cameras" ... that's a big deterrent for them! And for them having to pay $120+ for one night stay is nothing if the person/house has valuables ...  

All I have to say is, I've lost faith & trust in Airbnb and thank God nothing (thus far) happened!

[Anonymous]

@Ruth290   I'm sorry that you had to learn this in such an unpleasant way, but Airbnb does not do a "thorough check" on guest profiles. Where did you get this idea? 

It sounds like you have good neighbors - their advice was right on point. Airbnb is just a listing service, and its customer service is outsourced to people who just don't have a clue. Hosts are very much responsible for their own safety, and when you suspect nefarious intentions you're best off going straight to the police. 

[Ruth290]

Andrew, I knew Airbnb didn't run a background check .... I was referring to thornily checking the gusts ID ... to check if the name on the account (newly opened acct.) matches the name and the photo of the person opening the acct. In this case the account was opened under the daughters name (first name and surnane) are completely different than the mom's .. the mom's photo was uploaded and she made for the booking, under her name. 

[Huma0]

@Ruth290 

@Anonymous  is correct. Airbnb do not do any thorough vetting of guests. I have even have guests try to scam me, Airbnb tell me to block and report that guest and then they leave that guest on the platform free to book with any other host!

You need to take control of the vetting process yourself and gather whatever information/reassurance you feel is necessary for you personally.

What kind of correspondence to you have with a guest before you accept the booking? Which questions do you ask? If you use Instant Book, what do you ask after the guest books (remember you have three penalty free cancellations a year for IB so you CAN cancel guests that you feel uncomfortable with or when you have a suspicion they will break your house rules).

In this particular situation, the first mistake was to allow the guests to stay. I know you say they 'barged in' with the extra people, but at that stage, you are not obliged to "welcome them to your home, give them a 4-digit code to the front door, show them around the house..."

As you yourself have stated, it's against Airbnb policy to have unregistered guests staying. It also voids any protection that Airbnb may (or may not) give you should anything go wrong with those unregistered guests.

So, that is what you tell them. "I'm really sorry, but you booked for two. You have to change the booking to the correct number of people (and pay for them if there is an additional fee) or I am afraid you will not be able to stay here." You then get them to alter the reservation before you check them in, or you call Airbnb and tell them that this party has shown up with unregistered people and is refusing to leave, that you need Airbnb to relocate them ASAP. If you get a clueless/unhelpful Airbnb rep (quite possible as it's very hit and miss), hang up and call back until you get someone sensible. 

I would never admit anyone to my property who behaved that way on arrival. Who knows where it could have ended...

[Ruth290]

Mark,

That's exactly what I did ... I had the mom revise/update the reservation to show it was for two adults and not one. She did that hours before they showed up.

And, I messaged her the house rules approximately 3 hours before check in time .... she knew exactly what was expected.

I've never used "instant book", I like to find out what brings the to KC, if it's for business or pleasure ... mainly to find out if they want a place to work remotely — which I don't allow. I've always asked several questions before I accept the booking ... this has never happened to me before and quite honestly, I'm not sure if I want to continue hosting.

[Ruth290]

Thank you so much for the info.... I had no idea we had three penalty free cancellations a year!

What is IB?

[Sarah977]

@Ruth290  IB is Instant Book, and you don't get penalty-free cancellations on anything other than IB bookings.

I'm really sorry this happened to you, but I don't understand why you opened the door to these people to start with. If you didn't see anyone in the group who looked like the photo on the booking, that means you should not open the door to them.

[Andrea4731]

So sorry this happened to you, this is truly a terrible thing & shows the dark side to hosting. I wish everyone was a great guest with pure intentions but that’s not always the case. Because of this fact, a lot of hosts would not accept 1 night bookings especially not from local guests because it usually means they have bad intentions. Again sorry this happened & I hope “AirCover” is able to help you, don’t back down & just keep calling Airbnb customer support. You may also want to rethink your booking settings & vet your guests & if you don’t already have Short Term Rental insurance you may want to look into it for the future.

[Ruth290]

Andrea,

I opened the door because the two people (guest) were the only ones at the front door ... the mother and the 16 yr. old daughter. While we were chatting in the front porch the two black men came up the steps, one was the mother's boyfriend (around 32 yrs. old) and the other young man was the son (17/18 yr. old).

The boyfriend was the one carrying the to big trays of chicken and insisted on coming in to place them down on the counter in the kitchen. I let my two guests come in and the men came in after I had closed the storm door — what was I to do, slam the door, stop them? I didn't want them to think I was being racist by not letting them come in and quickly placing the trays on the dining room table. Trust me, I've learned my lesson — I wanted to share this unpleasant experience with other hosts to let you guys know of scams and nefarious things happening that we may or not be aware of.  

[Sarah977]

@Ruth290  "what was I to do, slam the door, stop them?"

I realize that things can happen very quickly that one doesn't expect and it can be hard to know how to handle it in the moment, but it seems odd to leave the 2 men standing on the doorstep without saying anything.

I would have said when these people arrived, "Oh, hi, welcome. The booking is for you two, right? (To the mom and daughter). I'm sorry, but I can't admit any  people into the house who aren't registered guests. I'll be happy to take that meal inside for you. If you gentlemen need to wait for some reason, please feel free to take a seat here on the porch."

[Ruth290]

HI Sarah,

I love the response ..... I kind of did say something similar ... the mom and daughter arrived first when I opened the door and as soon as the mom told me that her teenage son was parking her car and her boyfriend was parking his car and bring the trays of chicken, I had the opportunity to tell her: "Erica, did you get my house rules? per Airbnb guidelines and my house rules no other guests are allowed other than the ones in the reservation. By the time I finished my sentenced, the boyfriend and son were walking up the front steps onto the porch and when I opened the door to let the mom & daughter in, the other two barged in ... once they were all in my living room I deed tell the boyfriend that I could take the trays to set them down in the kitchen but the mom and he insisted and just walking to the dining room table and setting them down himself. I never even thought of have the two men wait outside on the front porch .... once again, because they were all black I didn't want to offend them or come across as a racist. I assure you if they weren't black I would have told them to please wait outside for the mom & the daughter while I showed them their accommodations .... I've done this before when an Uber driver brought my guest's luggage up and insisted on taking it to the bedroom — I had no hesitance to tell him to go ahead and leave them on the front porch and we would take care of it.  Trust me ... I will NEVER let this happen to me again!  For 6+ years I've been able to supplement my limited income by hosting and I've met some wonderful guests! Now that I know that I can cancel a reservation without being monetarily penalized .... I will do it! Thank you again for your message! 🙏🏼