Guests Smoking

[Michelle104]

We've recently had 2 different guests who smoked inside our house which is strictly against our House Rules.  This is the first time in our over 2 years of hosting on Airbnb as Superhosts that we have had to request payment on a deposit.

In our several back and forth conversations with Airbnb we were first advised to hire an outside company to remove the smoke smell, which would have cost over $3000.  Then later we were told by the same Airbnb rep that Airbnb does not cover smoke damage at all !  

In both cases it has taken my husband, myself and a cleaning crew 5 days of constant work to remove the smoke smell from the house and even then it is still faintly present in some areas.  This has cost us around $2600 in each case.  Yet Airbnb will not cover any of it under their Host Guarantee. 

Since we don't have control over the Deposit, it is completely up to the guests if they want to pay the deposit for cleanup of the smoke smell.  In one case Airbnb finally agreed to pay the deposit, since the guests refused to do so.  But the deposit was less than half of what we spent cleaning the house of the smell.  In the other case the guest did agree to pay the deposit, but again it was less than half of what we spent on the cleanup.

The Host Guarantee does not exclude Smoking damage.  But the Airbnb rep says that it is not 'Physical Damage' as defined in their Host Guarantee.  We disagreed that smoking damage is not Physical Damage since it includes having to discard smoke damaged fabrics and in some cases repaint walls and ceilings embedded with smoke smell.  But to no avail.  Airbnb will not cover smoke damage with their Host Guarantee.

We are dismayed at Airbnb's lack of responsibility, even saying that all cleaning is up to us, regardless of whether the guests broke the House Rules.  We are seriously considering using another Vacation Rental booking service as a result of this experience.  

[Robin4]

@Stephanie254 @Vanessa164 @Michelle104 @Joel171

That is great Stephanie and I am pleased that it has helped this smoking issue,

Just a word of caution about the use of an Ozone generator....what it does is flood the air with Ozone particules which although having the effect of scrubbing the air does lead to lung issues and health authorities around the world have been suggesting that Ozone generators should be banned from use.

Try using it as sparingly as possible, only for situations like this and don't be tempted to use it all the time to keep the air clean. 

If you wish to keep the air clean and pollen free on a regular, or continual basis I would suggest you get yourself an Ironizing filter. They are more expensive than ozone generators but there are no potential health issues attached to ironized air.

We use a Whirlpool Whispure 1000 ironising air filter which is built into the air circulation system in the guest cottage and runs on a continual basis. I believe this model has been superseeded now but I am sure an equivelant is available and this unit has performed very well for us for a number of years now.

Well worth the investment.

Cheers.....Rob

[Joel171]

 That is good to hear Stephanie. Robin thanks for the information about ozone generators.

[Vanessa164]

I just came home to a heavy smoke smell, worse than from some bars I used to go to many decades ago. It's illegeal and against all bylaws in the province and city I live in, and it could easily burn down my wooden building. I am also allergic and it's winter in Canada and not sure how long I can keep the windows open ventilating. If my place needed to be ready for another guest it most definitley wouldn't be. I am not sure how to approach this. This is a severe hassle and inconvenience for me, the smell is in the sofa and even in the mattress which i had to force myself to smell. I am so disturbed that anyone would even do this and it makes me lose trust as I have seen a degradation in the quality of people who book through airbnb this year.

[Vicki184]

I am having the same problem. When a guest's dog was barking for a while up in the part of the house I AirBNB, I texted her asking what to do about it? She said to let the dog out of the room, so I did and was hit by a wall of pot odor when I opened the bedroom door. No wonder the poor dog was barking to be let out. I was too furious to say anything last night, so I spent the evening cooling off, and wrote a note about the house rules this morning, along with leaving a can of air freshener. They are leaving tomorrow by noon, and I have guests coming tomorrow afternoon. Not sure how to approach it. GRRRRR....

[Hilde8]

Firstly, I’m so sorry to hear you are facing this. The ill consideration of some guests is what ruins this hosting. 

Secondly, I would call a few friends to come and take a sniff so they can, if necessary, sign a statutory declaration stating what they smelt. Of all our senses, smell is the least simple to define and therefore prove. 

When you get in touch with Airbnb, which obviously you must do, you should forward these statements from your witnesses. A statutory declaration can be found on the internet. Do it now. 

As to the dog barking, there’s not much you can do about it now. It’s your word against hers. She of course will deny there was a problem. 

You were way too patient by waiting to cool overnight. I’m far faster to react and will turf people out on the spot. You must not do this on your own. I find it better, being female, to do this than ask a man to do it. Again, try and get someone to watch, film it if necessary, and write notes as to what is happening. If your guest is a complete arse, they may try to charge you with assault. Never, ever lay a hand on a guest. You have to stay really calm, in fact the more angry they get, you go more quiet. Give them a choice. THey either leave now with some dignity intact or you call the police. 

If you call the police, you must say “I have a guest at my home who has overstayed their welcome and is refusing to leave”. 

There is no discussion to be had. Stick to your wishes. If it was a hotel, they’d do the same. 

Now, you know you are going to get an awful review. Don’t let that concern you. You have the right to reply. And your reply can be written in such a way to show other potential guests that you are reasonable but you will not accept this activity in your home. That all your other reviews are more indicative of the experience a guest will have whilst staying at your home. 

You also have a duty to other hosts, your brothers and sisters in this hosting game, to leave an honest review but be careful to be factual only. Keep the emotion out of it. 

For example, you cannot day “she was smoking...” you didn’t actually see her smoking (or did you?). You can say the room smelled of pot smoke. 

As to making the room ready for your next guest, you’ll just have to do your best. Open windows and doors. Get a fan going. Wash absolutely everything. If you have a carpet, get some carpet cleaning powder. Get some fresh flowers in the room (ask florist to get the strongest smelling ones they have) and your next guest will enjoy them too. Don’t go mad on air freshener spray.

There is one thing you get for this sort of situation and that is an ozone machine. They are not cheap and may not ever be needed again but if there are other hosts in your area, you can hire it out to them maybe one day.  

Good luck. 

[Pete69]

Do you allow guests to smoke outside?  Try encouraging them to go outside if they must smoke. Maybe the reason they're smoking inside is because they think that there's no smoking allowed anywhere on your property.

My rules include:

This is a non-smoking room. Future guests are expecting a non-smoking room. Please go outside and away from open windows if you must smoke.

Even if they smoke outside, their breath will stink up the room when they come back inside. This is one reason why I don't book back to back guests the same day. I can run fans overnight if the room smells like smoker breath.

[Diane-and-Greg0]

We have guest from Bejing in our guesthouse right now, they had excellent reviews.  We just found a cigarette butt in front of our back door from the guest house and the cigarette is one only bought in Asia. We are furious if indeed there is smoking inside and near our high styled guest house. If there is smoke in side we will have to strip the interior down and have to get all new beddng etc.  What do we do?? this is cost thousands to replace. Should I call Airbnb??

[Hilde8]

Get yourself an ioniser. Will remove all trace of tobacco odour. You don’t need to replace all bedding. Just wash sheets etc an air pillows, duvet.  I’m assuming you use mattress protectors so your mattresses will be okay. 

I’d certainly claim for cleaning costs.

hilde. 

[Tony134]

@Michelle104 Please weigh in on the 'Introducing Superhost Week' thread in the airbnb updates section, it is written by a what is apparently the new Host Success manager at Airbnb, and ignores all our regular complaints to make themselves look good with the new hosts.  You will see all level 1 and 2 postings in there, probably they should hear from the regulars.

[Daphne54]

I have guests in my downstairs unit who are smoking, my whole house smells like cigarettes now. I have written to them asking them to stop. I don't know what to do now. What is the point of house rules if they are ignored with no consequense?

[Hilde8]

I doubt whether anyone from Airbnb monitors all these threads, but there are other ways you can get a response from the company’s firstly, call them, if you don’t have the phone number, just google it fornyour country. My conversation with the Customer Service team would be that these guests entered into a contract when they chose to rent from you and part of that contract stipulates that no smoking was allowed in/on the premises. Obviously these guests have broken the contract. If they’ve not already gone, tell the CS to cancel the reservation. This must be at no penalty to you either in ranking or financially. Once they’ve gone, you must put in a claim for damages. The extra cleaning costs and to do this you must get a quote or receipt from your cleaner. If you do the cleaning, it’s a problem. Seems Airbnb don’t count your work as paid or in any sense “real”.

If the guest has gone already, then you must put in a claim before your next guest arrives. 

You can also post something about this on their Facebook page and also tweet them. These two social comms methods, they don’t want your complaints out there in the world. Doesn’t look good for them. 

Check out various Facebook groups, just search Airbnb in Facebook. Join a couple, they are very helpful. 

We are all getting thiroughly fed up with badly behaved guests who when challenged, leave revenge reviews. There are guests that brag on social media about how they got away with damage and didn’t have to pay because Airbnb paid instead. 

Guests leave reviews saying eating all sorts of things that the host can’t possibly be responsible for like it rained, or it was cold (weather), etc. and yet their reviews don’t get taken down. This is a massive problem with reviews.