Had a guest who originally booked for a month, then extended to 2, then to 3, then added a final extra week. All good, and glad for the business. To recognise the guest's long stay i offered a reduced rate for the extra week - being the first week of the calendar month I was even hesitant to allow this week to be booked, as many guests are looking for exact calendar month stays.
One week before checkout I reminded the guest of the terms with regards the end of stay clean (which are also detailed in the listing). A 2-hour post-stay clean is included in the price paid, but if additional hours are required these will be billed at £18/hr (had the booking originally been for 3 months I would most likely have increased the cleaning charge to cover more hours). Most previous guests have left the property requiring less than, or if more than 2hours, only slightly. Rarely have i had to charge for additional hours. Of course, the charge is within my gift to waive should I feel the guest merits it (for being easy to deal with/ going above and beyond were issues to have arisen).
At checkout, it becomes apparent that the guest has done zero cleaning, which after a 3-month stay means there is a considerable amount of work needed to restore the property to the required condition for the next guest who arrives midday the next day (24 hours later). I take some photos of some of the issues, and get stuck in. Nowhere has been touched. Bathroom, bedroom, sitting room, kitchen, hallway, deep dirt everywhere. 8 hours later (at 8pm) i finally stop for the night. I message the guest to say I was surprised at the condition the property was left in. No response. Next morning, as I am still cleaning and preparing for the next guest, I sent a payment request for 3 additional hours cleaning (half of the extra 6, as a compromise). The guest refuses to pay, says that it is mean spirited of me to ask for more money after the amount they had paid for the 3 months, and in any case, the property was not dirty to require so much time to clean. The guest also says that they are not prepared to pay for my time - the additional charge should only be for a professional cleaner.
Escalating to Airbnb achieves nothing, they side with the guest, my photos were insufficient to backup my claim.
I am dumbfounded. Where is the host support? What proof would suffice? My time has value, and as i don't know how long it will take to do the post-stay clean it makes no sense to employ a cleaner. In any case, I am no slouch when it comes to preparing a property - the charge made is fair.
Have lost all confidence in Airbnb to adjudicate issues. And for guests to respect the house rules they sign up to when they book.
Constructive thoughts welcome.