Video of flea

Tony1182
Level 1
The Villages, FL

Video of flea

I had a guest claim he has a video of a flea in my house and left a nasty review.  Abnb won’t delete review and guest won’t send me video. Shouldn’t I be able to see this supposed video and respond to such. Superhost with 42/42 5 star reviews. Thank you. 

4 Replies 4

@Tony1182  When Airbnb collects evidence for claims and disputes, it never transmits the original documentation to the other party. This alleged video is very unlikely to be an exception.  I don't think there's anything you can do to force the guest to send you the video, so you're probably at a dead end there.

 

What you can do is edit your Host Response. It's nice that you've gotten mostly 5-star reviews in the past, but that's an irrelevant detail as it doesn't prove that you don't have a flea problem now. You do allow pets in the property, and clearly at least one of your other recent guests brought pets because their review specifically says "wouldn't recommend bringing animals."   Based on these accounts, it sounds entirely plausible that a previous guest left you with a flea problem that only became noticeable in the most recent stay. Of course, this can happen despite a meticulous cleaning - especially when you have carpeted floors and upholstered furniture.

 

Guests do not feel encouraged when hosts respond to negative feedback by bragging about other guests' ratings. They want to know that you've taken the issue seriously and made the necessary steps to address it. It may turn out that there isn't a flea problem after all, but resting on your old laurels does not offer any assurance of that.

@Anonymous  I sort of agree and disagree.  While fleas could definitely be brought in by guests 1 and not noticed until guests 2, it is also true that past is prologue, so if a guest complains the place is filthy and unclean but the host has had every other guest in the past compliment the cleanliness...it is suggestive that the guest may be inaccurate in their comments.

@Mark116  In this case, the complaint was specifically related to fleas and not to cleanliness. So to dismiss the former and emphasize the latter looks like you're trying to deliberately distract the reader. How well you cleaned the house in March and August does not tell me anything about whether you had a flea problem in November; the relevant part of the past that is genuinely prologue to that specific problem is that guests were permitted to bring pets, thereby increasing the risk of flea infestations.

 

Beyond that, there's an element of Superhost Hubris that poisons the well. "Everyone else thinks I'm perfect so whoever has a problem must be lying" makes it sound like the good reviews have gone to your head so much that you won't even bother to investigate a problem. It inspires more trust, and reflects better on your character, to show some humility in the face of criticism and demonstrate a striving to improve. 

Nanxing0
Level 10
Haverford, PA

Flea and bed bug issue is something always associated with hosting. Apparently all those fleas and bed bugs are brought in by other guests but we hosts are always the victim who take the blame. Not too long ago I had bed bug issue in one unit that I had to invest in 3 treatments and replacement of the whole bed. 

 

@Tony1182 I honestly don't think you should pursue too much towards the guest on this issue. There are some guests who cheat on the system for free stays, but most guests complaining about issues are also the victims of other irresponsible guests that bring in the issue. My suggestion is that you find a trustable local pest control company and at least ask them to perform an inspection. If they confirm with you that there's no flea, ask them to issue you a report and show it to Airbnb as a counter evidence. Otherwise, take appropriate actions against the flea problem.