Report a Guest

[Lisa1015]

Why are we no longer allowed to report a guest. When I try to report a guest, I get the message, "Something on this page is broken". 

[Huma0]

@Lisa1015 

Are you getting that message when you choose 'it's something else' from the options? If so, that has been broken for ages. I've reported it to Airbnb a couple of times but they don't seem to care.

[Kisty0]

I have a guest that wants me to set the A/C to 62. It's currently 65 degrees outside.  The AC temp has to be set higher than the outdoor temp or it won't come on? these people cannot be happy - I'd like to remove them but how? They complain every day and honestly in three years - NO one has complained 

[Lisa1015]

My suggestion:

Just tell them no and if they are displeased, message them on airbnb that they seem dissatisfied with your property, and you are unfortunately not able to satisfy them despite your reasonable efforts to do so. State that happy guests and good reviews are very important to you so it seems best that they look for a different property. Tell them that you will allow them to cancel the remainder of their stay for a refund of the portion unused. Offer to look for a different property for them so they know you are quite serious about getting them out.

This is my way of reminding very difficult guests that this is a 2 way street: The fact that they are paying is not enough to make you willing to do any and everything they desire. The few times I have done this, the guest assured me they did not want to leave and things went better after that.

[Lisa1015]

Yes, I get that message when I choose "something else". But if I don't select "something else", I am either instructed that I contact airbnb, (waste of my time especially if they are already aware of an issue with the guest), or the option to "report a guest" is gone completely the second the stay is over. 

Hosts should be able to report a guest as long as they have specific things to report, and that should be filed away and referred to by airbnb if major issues arise, to alert them to the fact that the guest has a problematic history. Of course, I can't even get airbnb support folks to note what I report to open a case so that the next 3 agents they typically transfer the case to, won't make me repeat everything.

[Lisa1015]

Thanks for letting me know that the link has been broken a long time. I am sure they don't want to fix it.

[Huma0]

@Lisa1015 

Yes, it does make me wonder if it is intentional! 

There was a guest that Airbnb CS actually told me to report and block, but I had to choose 'they are being offensive' in order to block them, when that was not the actual problem at all. Apparently (confirmed by the Airbnb rep), the only way to block is if you choose that particular problem. You'd think they would want to know the real reason why. But the fact that the guest had created a new profile to get around a bad review (which stated that different people were using the same account) and trying to mislead me, didn't seem important. 

By the way, it didn't make any difference. Neither the guest's original profile with the terrible review, nor her new, basically fake one, were removed and she has been able to continue booking with unsuspecting hosts with the new one. Both profiles say ID has been verified by Airbnb. It's a bit of a joke really.

[Lisa1015]

Yes it definitely is. Airbnb plays ALOT of games to hide the fact that they are completely guestcentric and believe hosts will put up with anything. Probably as a result of these policies, as well as that they are less expensive than the competition, the airbnb guests are, as a whole,  more problematic than the guests I get from any other site.

[Huma0]

@Lisa1015 

I've never used it myself, but a lot of hosts say that guests from booking dot com are much worse.

[Debra300]

@Huma0, @Lisa1015,

In my experience the guests from Booking and Expedia is that they behave about the same as Airbnb guests.  The benefit is that I have their credit card details and can charge them for damages without having to involve the OTA.  Last year, a Booking guest damaged a wood nightstand from beverage condensation that caused some wood warping (right next to the place mat and coaster that they didn't use).  I sent them a picture of the damage via Booking, and an explanation of the charge for damages.  They contacted Booking to dispute it, but I referred the CS to the message thread with the picture and damage description.  The rep just said that I was within my rights to charge for damages, and that ended our discussion.  Had the guest booked through Airbnb it would have been a whole rigmarole to get any compensation. 

[Lisa1015]

This is great to know!

I was on booking several years ago and at that time, they handled the payments but I know they don't anymore. I am going to look into possibly listing there again. Thanks!

[Sudsrung0]

@Lisa1015 

BDC here in Thailand do collect payments but charge 17.2% and you have to wait 2 weeks

[Sudsrung0]

@Huma0 

In our experience I can confirm that, most of them where a nightmare for us it was like all the Cheap Charlies booked through them.

[Lisa1015]

Now that you say that, I did have some problems there too. 

Most of my listings are extended (30 day min) stay listings. So my best guests are from sites that cater to traveling medical professionals such as Furnished Finder.

[Huma0]

@Lisa1015 

I wish we had the equivalent of furnished finder here, but if we do, I haven't come across it. I host long term guests also and have generally had great experiences with travelling medical professionals.