Clepto and Disgruntled Guest

[Clark-and-Adam0]

Trying to figure out how to review my most recent guest. She texted me to find out how to gain access to the house and when I hadn't responded to her in 24 minutes, she canceled her stay. Then, when I asked her if she had canceld, she said I hand't responded fast enough and that she wanted to re-book. She re-booked and then complained that her rates were higher than before. Before I could even respond or offer her a special rate, she confirmed the stay and never mentioned it again. She also incurred a cancelation fee for cancelling the day of her trip, though she didn't mention anything about that. My go to answer was going to be that she contact AirBNB regarding any fee issues, as they are all a result of her actions and can only be corrected by the company, not by me. Since then, she has checked out and we are missing two towels and a book. Not huge deal, but annoying and the first time we've expereicned any theft of any kind. I have no way to prove it either, so... Not sure what to do or what to say about this guest. I really want to leave a bad review as she is a total pain in the ass and a thief, but I've never left a bad review. I don't know if I am in any way at fault here and she did steal from me and cancel the day of. Any thoughts? What would you do?

[Tania-and-Andrew0]

Before leaving a review always ask yourself: "if someone else had left an honest review about this person would I have hosted him/her?". 

It is REALLY VERY important that all hosts leave honest reviews. It's the only way we can protect each other. Airbnb will most likely side with the guest than with the hosts in an issue so making sure we warn each other about problematic guests will help us improve this growing community.

Please leave an honest review. If you're not happy leaving a very explicit one you can say something like:

Miss X had issues with booking and understanding Airbnb's policies, during her stay she was OKAY but after she left we noticed some of our things were missing. We wouldn't welcome her back nor recommend her to any hosts.

I hope you have better guests!

[Jo74]

Very interesting this question as I myself have had a horrid guest stay in my house, he complained about a pet hair allergy after one night and not even mentioing this issue BEFORE he booked my home. Clearly stated in my listing my home is pet freindly and a pet lives in the property. Anyway, because I had such dreadful experience with this man, complaining the whole weekend he wanted a refund, I thought I would give him a very honest review to warn othr hosts and give him the big thumbs down! Since then I have had nothing but whingeing threats, the messages started at 7am this morning and he is still messaging me now complaining about my review on him! He wants me to remove my review! Argh! So, as much as I would have benefited from reading my own review on this guest before accepting his booking, I would now perhaps think twice about giving a bad review as is it really worth the hassle?!!

[Eileen4]

Talk to Airbnb about blocking him...is he texting you or messaging you? I've found that archiving messages, too, can get them off the first page. 

[Jo74]

Hi Eileen, yes he is messaging me through Airbnb! I blocked him from my phone but he can still reach me through Airbnb app.

How do I block him from there do you know? Who to call?

I'm fed up of hearing from this man! He feels that I have attacked him in my review of him, which from my experience of this guest was totally true and honest. He is claiming money back and has sent me aggressive messages to remove my review of him! Which I actually cannot do from my end anyway. To be honest i'd do anything never to hear from him again! 

[Kirstie]

Hi @Jo74,

I'm sorry to hear you have been receiving aggressive messages from a former guest. It is possible to report the messages to airbnb by clicking on the flag icon in the top right corner of each message. You may also want to flag the guest on his profile. This will notify Airbnb to look into this and they can prevent him from sending you messages. 

If he is still sending you messages you can contact airbnb directly to deal with the situation - this Community Help Guide explains the best ways to contact them.

I hope you can get him to stop and that this hasn't put you off giving honest reviews - as other hosts here have said, it is really important that hosts are honest when reviewing guests so that future hosts can have a more complete picture of their guests.

Thanks

Kirstie

[Jo74]

Thank you for that information Kirstie. I would like to speak to somebody about this experience as it has been very stressful!

He still wants me to remove my review, which I am not happy to do as it does go against the honesty that we all rely on as Airbnb hosts.

But after the aggressiveness of his response to my review I did wonder if perhaps I should have left it!

In all honesty this guest was clearly more suited to a 5 star hotel rather than an airbnb rental! 

Can you give me some advice on the refund? I'm still deciding whether, after such disgraceful treament, that I should give into this! 

He's using bully tactics, and I'm not happy about it! 

Thanks,

Jo 

[Kirstie]

Hi @Jo74,

I can understand how you must be finding it a stressful situation! I'm afraid that as I am not part of the customer support team nor a host myself I can't advise you on the refund process but dealing with refund requests have been discussed in the community center (CC) before - if you have a look at this thread you might find advice that applies to your situation. You can use the search bar on any page in the CC to search for key words to find other discussions around the same issues.

Hope that helps, let us know how you get on!

Kirstie

[Jo74]

Thanks Kirstie,

Wil do! You've been very helpful. Will do some more research on this and try to resolve the situation without

further drama!

Jo x

[Sara2]

@Clark-and-Adam0i always take a quick photo of room and contents before guest arrives as ABB need photos for all claims.

re the delisting I had a guy who stripped and walked around naked ( it's a family home) ABB HAVE DELISTED him he also tried to come back.     He obviously gets his kicks with emails thru ABB  BUT their trust and safety department handled it 

[James1]

@Clark-and-Adam0 I think you should be very careful leveling a "theft" accusation in a review, even by implication. She could very possibly get it removed. Keep it short and to the real point for future hosts. He's my stab at it:

"I would not host "Guestname" again. She was difficult, demanding and unpleasant to deal with."

... and give her accurate and fair star rankings and a big "thumbs down". 

[Karen-and-Brian0]

HI @Clark-and-Adam0 @Jo74 Very tricky situations for both of you, so sorry to hear this has happened. I wonder if saying something very neutral from a guest stand point, but very telling from a host standpoint would be the way to go? Simply work in to your review that the guest may/might be better suited to a hotel - that speaks volumes without you having to get into specifics.  My 2 cents. 🙂 Karen

[Jo74]

Yes, thanks Karen. It is a very trickly situation and infact I did say to the guest he would have been more suited in a 

hotel! But trying to get that across in a review whilst trying to remain on the fence is a very tough one. My guest was and has been a such a pain that It totally reflected in my review of him and he was not happy in the slightest! Anyway, communication, trust and honesty is all what Airbnb survives on, so i'm sticking to that. Up until now everyone has been great! Hope you guys have found the same...

[Karen-and-Brian0]

@Jo74 Please think of it as a public service to other hosts. And this too will pass ..... soon I hope! I do feel for you. I know you regret ever having met this man, but your review will save the rest of us from the experience, so hope you can take some solace in that. Yes, we have found the same - the vast majority are wonderful guests but we have had a few clunkers too. Makes us appreciate the good ones even more. All the best - Karen

[Jo74]

Thanks Karen! Well I have totally found solace in the fabulous hosts on this thread and can't thank everyone

enough for the support and words of wisdom.

It's been great in helping me through this awkward situation.

Best wishes too and here's to keeping Airbnb an honest and trustworthy homesharing experience!

Jo x