I've been hosting for several years on different platforms and have a couple of hundred reviews under my belt on ABB alone. My top listing is a premium property in the heart of London and because of the nature of the home, strict regulations and neighbour considerations I have set very clear House Rules which every guest needs to confirm they have read and understood in order to have their booking confirmed, by way of mentioning a "hidden" keyword I place at the very end of my House Rules section. One such rule is that should my home be overoccupied or used for a party, the guests will immediately be ejected without a right to a refund for the unspent nights.
I've not had any major problems so far, but although confirming they were on board with them, my (unfortunately, still current) guests broke that rule and another saying kids must be cleared by me first. They admitted by airbnb message to having 7 occupants vs the 6 max allowed, 3 of whom children, who are neither quiet nor well behaved. I immediately called Airbnb to notify them of this and they've been faffing for the last 24h. They did confirm the guests had broken my House Rules and I was within my right to cancel and keep the entire payout, but at the same time asked if I would make an exception and offer them a partial efund, which both me and my co-host declined to do.
Before going to bed, I once again emailed the case manager with a 2-point summary:
1) terminate reservation immediately and remove guests
2) no refund of any kind
This morning I received a message from the lead guest stating some of the members had left and checked into a hotel and thay could provide me proof of booking, and if I would allow them to stay on. This was followed shortly after by an email from the case manager, stating the same and asking if in the view of the change of circumstances, I would allow the rest of them to stay.
It seems Airbnb are set of "fixing" this, whereas as far as I'm concerned, my House Rules are clear: break them are you're out.
Case gets passed on.
Second case manager - Randolph: "Right now, xxxx is not eligible for any refund, but I am reaching out to see if you would be willing to refund any amount to your guest. You do not have to, as this payout does belong to you, but any help would be greatly appreciated". I declined and expressed my will to have them removed with no refund.
Case Manager #3 - Megan: "I understand that you do not wish to have xxxx in your listing any longer due to the violation of the house rules. Generally, when a guest breaks a house rule, we do like to allow them a second chance to follow the house rules and save the reservation. The same respect as if a guest reports a travel issue, we ask that the host is given a chance to resolve this problem for them. Or if we can in situations like this, we attempt to alter the reservation for an early check-out and a refund for nights not spent in the listing. However, with your denial of any refund this is not an option.
It seems like they're not getting the memo...
Case Manager #4 - Rose (seriously, I've never been able to get a new case manager assigned to a case before even when there was a claim for damages and the assigned case manager was off sick for 2 weeks they wouldn't re-assign it and it took 6 weeks): "It seems as though they have checked in the 4 guests into a hotel room and will be continuing the reservation as is. The guest has mentioned tha they will send in documenation showing the other guests checking in to the hotel for the remainder of the reservation".
Holy crap, they really aren't getting the memo.
"and will be continuing the reservation as is."?? No they bloody well won't cause I'm calling the cops. The payout has already been issued and I'm booked out solid for nearly the next 2 months. I genuinely hope they won't change their mind on their initial decision as they're notorious for doing and corner me into cancelling all future reservations and re-routing them directly through my website and completely switch to HA, Expedia and Booking. This is quite a large reservation and mine and others' experience is that they're more willing to "bend the rules" when large sums are involved.
Airbnb, you don't own any property stock. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
I'll be updating this in real-time as more info comes in.