Advice Needed

[Shannon15]

Ok, I had a guest stay at my apartment recently. I live out of town most of the time, but happen to be in town shortly before they arrived. I cleaned the place, then had a cleaning lady come in a couple of days prior to the guest's arrival, just to make sure there was nothing I missed. 
A couple of days after check out, I get a text from the guest telling me that the floors had not been swept or vacuumed, the countertops not wiped down, there were spots on the mirror, the tub had "not been cleaned in quite some time", the towels hanging in the bathroom were used, and the toilet appeared dirty. He claimed that he and his wife were even up until after 3am cleaning everything. 

I did everything myself prior to their arrival, even put the towels out right after I took them out of the dryer. I will concede that I may have missed the mirror (sometimes I do forget it) and when I arrived back in town, I discovered there was a plumbing issue causing the water in the toilet bowl to run constantly and leave marks in the toilet. Aside from those two things, I took care of everything else, even cleaning the tub after my last shower before I left. My mother went in prior to the guest's arrival to double check things, and the friend who let them in did a walk through before they arrived to make sure everything was in excellent condition. They all agreed it was. 

The problem is, this guest is insisting I refund them 50% of what they paid. I am waiting to hear back from the cleaning lady who left for vacation shortly after she cleaned my place. She usually takes photos of the apartment when she's finished so I can make sure the job was done before sending her money, so hopefully she did this time. Either way, I'm wondering if I should give them the 50% back. He's threatening to leave me a bad review if I don't. I have more than a dozen reviews, all excellent and I really don't want a bad one. I considered giving him the cleaning fee back because of the toilet issue, but should I be concerned about the 50% he is asking for? This was the first time he rented from Airbnb. 

Suggestions on how to handle this?

[David126]

Sounds like a scammer.

Especially with no prior history.

Hopefully you have been communicating through AirBnB system and can easily report him.

I have seen other cases wheere this has happened and AirBnB have cancelled their account.

Do not offer anything.

[Robin4]

@Shannon15 Hi Shannon, these days I will usually try to answer questions in the form of a message to the person posting but the message option is not coming up on your profile so on this occasion I will offer a public response.

You have the word of your cleaning lady, your mother and a friend (all of whom wittnessed the apartment prior to this guests arrival) that the apartment was in a fit state to let, and none of your previous reviews suggest that cleanliness is an issue with your property.

I may be wrong but of late this seems to have become something of a sport on Airbnb and possibly other hosting sites......Invent a problem and get your money back!! And these days Airbnb are more reluctant to offend a guest than a host!

Shannon, stick to your guns and don't refund what this guest is asking. They may wish to file a claim with the resolution centre, which they is entitled to do, so as soon as you can inform Airbnb of this incident, keep all your documentary evidence including possible photos (dated for preference) as you may need to defend yourself.

The problem with giving in to this guests demands is, in some instances it makes them braver each time it works! I have seen profiles where the same guest has used this scenario on other occasions! Maybe they are particularly fussy, but it is a red flag to me.

I understand you don't want to jeopardise your superhost status but if you can prove to Airbnb that the guest has fabricated a complaint they WILL remove the offending review. And if it stands Shannon, in general the public are not fools. One bad review in a heap of good ones sort of stands out like a sore thumb and is treated as what it is.....sour grapes!

Good luck and keep your standards up....cheers....Rob

[Suzanna0]

I tend to agree with the others who say don't offer a refund if you believe the place was in a fit state for them.

With reviews though....I thought they only appeared once both the guest and the host has writen one?

In any case what this guest is trying to do goes against the Extortion Policy

https://www.airbnb.com.au/help/article/548/what-is-airbnb-s-extortion-policy?topic=253

"Guests are not allowed to threaten to use reviews or ratings in an attempt to force a host to provide refunds, additional compensation, or a reciprocal positive review."

[David126]

I have friends on TripAdvisor, they have come across it as well.

[Robin4]

@Suzanna0 @Shannon15 Here compliments of Dave and Deb is the protocol for the writing and publishing of reviews...

"How long after I leave a review will it be published?

This depends on whether or not you have already reviewed the guest.  You and your guest have 14 days to leave a review for each other. Once you and your guest leave a review for each other, the review is posted immediately.  If you leave a review for your guest but they do not review you, your review will automatically be published after the 14 day period expires"

Further to Dave and Debs content, my understanding is, the same goes for the guest....if they review you and you do not review them, their review of you will become public on their site after 14 days.

Also once reviews have been published, as the host, you will be offered the opportunity to publicly comment on your guests review. Any comment you may make regarding the review will appear directly below the guests review and this is pehaps a way of 'leveling up the playing field' should your guests review be critical of you or your listing in an un-warranted way. It gives you a chance to respond to the guests comments. This feature is only available to hosts and guests do not get the right of reply to a hosts review.

If any of this is incorrect I would appreciate an information reply...cheers.....Rob

[Suzanna0]

Thank you for clarifying this @Robin4!

I guess I have been so on top of things I never got to the 14 day mark!

Really good to know for people who are in this situation as they have a potential buffer time to get the review removed (which I believe AirBnB will do in certain circumstances, I had to have one changed once as it had our address in it!).

And the right of reply is a good thing too. It will show potential guests that this person is an anomoly...still stuffs up the star ratings though potentially...