WARNING OF ROGUE PROFILES AND DISAPPOINTING AIRBNB ACTION

[Maz0]

Dear Fellow Hosts

WARNING OF ROGUE PROFILES AND DISAPPOINTING AIRBNB ACTION

I am writing to you as I fear you too will experience the awful booking I encountered in August.

I had a booking from what appeared to be a lady in her fifties. She had no reviews but I agreed to the booking as I know people have to start somewhere. I asked my usual questions that weed out those who book the full flat for the purposes of a party and she confirmed it would just be two people, etc.

To cut a long story short this was actually a planned birthday party for youths smoking weed and drinking the likes of cognac. My neighbour took a sound recording of the noise and kindly went over to help me make contact with this ‘lady’. He really wanted to call the police and other neighbours were saying the same to him. He managed to get into my flat which was crawling with people, many of them big guys high and drunk. I was on the phone with him through this. I spoke with a guy who seemed to be the organiser and told him they needed to all leave. The booking was terminated due to all the rules being broken.

Not only did they refuse but my neighbour told me he needed to leave as he felt threatened.

The only reason the police were not called was my neighbours felt sorry for me and this has never happened before. I have been an Airbnb Super Host for over 4 years.

I have been pushing for action from airbnb and only today I see they have taken the account down. I gave them full justification why the party should at the very least not get their deposit back. This would cost airbnb nothing and teach the youths there are consequences. Every one of those youths will think this is a clever way to get a place to hold a party. I charge £10/person above 5. There were 20+ seen by my neighbour and he just went into the lounge and hall. The party spilled out of the flat onto the building's landing. I have had the expense of gifts for my neighbours to apologise and restore the damage to our relationship. Someone was violently ill in the flat and I was cleaning the place for a week trying to get rid of the weed smell. I feel my home was violated. £140 deposit doesn’t begin to cover all this. I gave airbnb evidence.

I wanted to warn my fellow hosts and also see if they have any ideas re how we can get airbnb to better protect us and compensate us when things like this happen. I wouldn't be surprised if those who attended the party will spread the word… this is a cheaper way to party even after the nightclubs open up again.

This situation is the opposite of the trusting behaviour and support this whole company is based and relies on for success.

It has been a hard time with covid so I hope you are all ok.

Yours sincerely,

Maz

[Anonymous]

@Maz0  Welcome to this forum. I can tell you haven't visited here much yet, because on a daily basis at least one host has posted a story identical to yours. They're a small percentage of the actual incidents. Entire-home hosts have had to deal with two epidemics this year: Coronavirus, and Corona Parties. Hindsight is 20/20, but we should have anticipated that young folks deprived of public party venues would turn to illicit use of private space. Airbnb has recently claimed that it's "banned" parties, but so far it's only targeted hosts, rather than set a higher bar of entry for guests. Nice that Airbnb took down that one burner account, but that has no effect on anyone in that group's ability to book another place.

The takeaway there is that as a host, you can't afford to lose control of your property every time you misplace your trust - nor can you let neighbors and police be your backup plan. If you can't be physically present to do the job your kind neighbor volunteered for you, you should have a local contact such as a co-host who can. If guests refuse to leave, you should have the number of your nearest trespasser eviction service. Most importantly, it's your responsibility to prevent a situation from escalating into an incident like this - a front-door camera or decibel meter with live alerts would have gotten you on guard well before the first bottle of Cognac was opened. 

Airbnb is moving away from a service-based model and desperate to build more profitable income streams. It's not about to start throwing money at protecting hosts who aren't doing due diligence to protect their own properties. It sure would be nice if they at least started actually charging that "security deposit" you seem to believe you have, but  (cue Ron Howard voice) they don't, and never did.

[Maz0]

Hello Andrew

This is my second attempt at answering you. Last one came up with an error :-/.

Thank you so much for your helpful reply!

As I dont normally use the community page unless I have a problem and need answers I decided to message hosts in London directly incase they are the same as me. I havent had the time or headspace to routinely check and there has not been any need.

Yes, as you have said, some hosts replied confirming this has become rife others just grateful for the warning. I feel that surely if we come together we can push for Airbnb to respect how we wish to use the deposit scheme to deter this bad behaviour. Surely the least they can do?

To be honest I have been left now, wondering if there is a competitor I can take my listings to. Some hosts told me they have had no choice but to just remove their listings. Looks like Airbnb is leaving a gap in the market for a better company to fill. I am also thinking to just move back to renting. Surely we can argue that it is intheir best interest to give us more power over penalising illegal/bad behaviour. Already with Covid I am sure they have lost many hosts who prefer the more certain longer term renting. 

I'm looking for ideas on how to go about this.

I hope you are keeping well and do enjoy Berlin for me. It is my fav city after London and Cape Town 😉

Kind regards,

Maz