If it wasn't for the money...

[Zacharias0]

If it wasn't for the money I really wouldn't be a host. I give my applause to those who allow couch surfing for free or are doing this out of meeting new people and so forth, but some of these guests can ruin it for the whole lot. I enjoy those guests who arrive after check in time and leave before check out time, I also enjoy those who clean up after themselves and know how to live independently without asking questions which are found in the listing. I really like those guests who after I pre-approve there requests 5 minutes after sending it actually accept it. Those are the guests that make a hosts life easier and I hope that by them staying with me I make their life easier in some way vis a vis money saved.

Then you have those "uninformed" guests who by one form or another teach you just how to be a better host, for lack of a better phrase. They use all 10 towels in the bathroom so now you only leave 2 for them in their room, they stain the white bath mats so you switch over to bamboo mats with a plush backing, they cook curry and fry fish in the kitchen even though you state it time and time again- PLEASE do not cook-so you remove all pots and pans from the kitchen and then there are those that lose the house key so you install a key pad entry. We like to think all guests enjoy a free breakfast, but buying danishes and cured meats in a world of people who are on health kicks and gluten free just seems a waste of money and effort.

I suppose being a successful host is about being nimble, realizing that some things work great in theory, but not so in practice, and focusing on the main reason the guest booked your place- it was cheap, location was great and it was clean. Sticking to those three things and offering little else has become a winning strategy- at least for me.  <End Rant>

[George76]

Yes, you are right.

[Deborah1]

George - so sorry that happened to you. Photos are hard to see. Wow --- hope you can recoup some $ for damage. Good luck!

[George76]

Thank you very much.

[Julie262]

So sorry to hear of your bad experience with yr guest, it must have been horrendous & enough to put you off hosting. 

I do hope you get some justice & compensation for yr yr oreal.

I have had a couple of people who i regretted letting stay. Some of these guests just don't care or appreciate you letting them stay i your home & are messey. Fortunately the majority of my guests have been good & well behaved, but it does make you start to worry who is likely to arrive. 

Once again i do sypathise with you......

[Robin4]

@George76

George, just as a matter of interest, was this sweet young girl who booked for her 'family' by any chance a local!!

There is a golden rule in hosting, you never, never, let to locals! People who want to party don't go far from home to do it, and I will only take a local booking if I can see the specific reason that the proposed guest wishes to stay in my listing. I would need to sight a .....wedding invitation  made to the name of the person who booked, for that specific date! If it is some other event I would want to sight exactly what the event was and the relationship of the guest to that event...and I will make a decision from there. I would also look at the guests past history and contact other hosts in the area who may have reviewed this guest.

It's your property George and you have every right to vet every guest yourself. Do not, for a second, take any notice of Airbnb verifications! Their system is open to abuse and many posts have told of really major problems from Airbnb 'verified' guests.

State also in your listing that all entry to the listing will be monitored for the safety of both the guests and the property.

Don't take ....'a pretty young things' word when it comes to your bricks and mortar George! In many instances as soon as the party is over the guest cancels their verification, removes their profile and opens another profile with another name and details! And that's just the dumb ones....the sneeky ones use concocted verifications before they even book your listing.

Absolute golden rules George......No locals and no short notice 'instant books'

You have been caught once George....don't let it happen again!

Cheers.....Rob

[George76]

Can't agree with too much. What you said is definitely golden rule. I will remember it. That girl told me she from Edmonton. however, when I got the reservation reminder, it showed that her phone number is local, Calgary. It seems that Airbnb could consider provide the city of member and area code of phone number to help prevent such kind of guests cheating other hosts.

[Caribbean-Sun-And-Sea---0]

Dear George. It is amazing what kind of vandals go around the world and I am afraid you got one of those 1% of all the community that are like that.

In my 8 years so far hosting in Airbnb I had very good experience.Little of them did make some minor damage but really I cannot complain.

I read all the comments and answers on your case, and even though I am not an expert nor a very active member in the community, I'd like to point out that Airbnb should get into the matter and solve the problem. I know they are struggling against damages to the Hosts through an Insurance policy, so they should help you. After all, verifying well a guest is their duty.

I think that at the base, the problem lies there:  Airbnb as a Company to let you in their platform pretends little from you? is it a phone or document verification enough for the law to be able to take action when breakage or violence is done to you? What is Airbnb doing now to solve "your problem" and "ban the girl" that destroyed your house?

On the other hand, why don't you denounce the name of this lady so that the community may ban her out?

I think it is impossible for Airbnb to verify the goodness of a member but certainly is a matter they should study more as how to impede people with bad records (i.e.) to be able to join. Pretending documents, bank declarations are not enough to say if a person is under drug influence or is just violent..  so what seems more applicable is that you sue The Company for complicity for letting these people stay in their platform, maybe they will start looking deeper into your problem. Talking to a lawyer might help.  Best of luck.

[George76]

Thank you Viajando Mé. It's a big lesson for us. Airbnb made rapid response and gave us huge help and support. I will post a new topic to record the case in detail.

[Santana1]

Completely agree on this! About 95% of my bookings have been great but it does take the one or two to ruin. I found that a young couple with a child broke one of my chairs and didn't tell me about it. On NYE, I hosted another couple and they had guests over, of which one of their guests urinated in one of my plastic storage bins and they also took my expensive chairs outside and left them on the balcony. Luckily, it didn't rain so the chairs didn't get ruined. They also didn't follow the check out procedures to throw their towels, sheets, and pillow cases in the wash. As a full time working AirnBnB host, it's guests like this that make it so much harder to be a host in addition to working your full time job. I have had mostly good experiences but I will say the bad ones make it harder and harder to stay a host.

[Amy38]

@Santana1@George76

right now, $175 will get you an exterior Nest camera, motion activated 10/month for cloud storage.

it will alert you when someone is entering your house and you can see them real time at any time.

Thus when someone books for x and 3x show up, you have proof and can immediately go and evict them as well as file damages with abnb and the police.  This kind of breaking house rules is grounds for cancellation.

Further George, you need to charge for all extra people over 2, your house is too cheap.

Say, 78 for 2 and 20 per person over that. Eextra people means extra cleaning. Raise your wkend price.

[George76]

Excellent advice. I will do it. Thank you very much.

[George76]

I was wondering about wkend price. Is it fixed price no matter how many guests, or it will rise according to the increase of guests just like the price of wkday?

[Amy38]

@George76. Sorry, I wandered of and didnt see your question...of course add on for extra guests on the wkend. 

[Kristen44]

It's very helpful to me, thank you

[Theresa41]

Hello Again, I've been reading the responses and replies to this thread and it really does help me get thru some of the days that I am so frustrated or just at the point of tears and sadly more times then the actually guests it's been Airbnb ! See I thought when I signed up to do this it would be a great thing all around and the horror stories my husband kept showing me YouTube videos if I thought were the extreme or an exaggeration. Well I'm here to say NO the horror stories are true which I get it if you pick 50 apples one of them is bound to have a worm in it , it's just simple odds. I think the turning point were we realized that Airbnb didn't have my best interests at heart or even remotely handled the cases in a respectful or even remotely logical matter became SO Very Clear Quickly. When I had a "Dr/MedStudent/ " ask to hook a long term reservation with us . I explain everything very throughly in my listings and for good reason so I don't have to repeat crap over and over. I don't mind answering questions thru email or messages but I am not a big phone call person never have been and honestly with a toddler it's hard . So when he asked me for a phone call after he already asked and I answered his questions , I politely told him that I was busy but I could answer any further questions in person when I saw him at check in , so he booked an 32 day reservation and I told him that 2 days prior, well you would never guess but he suddenly is asking if he can cancel and that will I refund his monies... so I trying to play it cool ask why and then explain the strict cancellation policy on long term reservations. Well then he mocking tell me that he is bringing his vitamin blender and will need to be blending at all hours or the day and that it is extremely loud...... i of course say that's awesome I love smoothies and can't wait for his arrival . Well the next message I get is at first humerus because it's so obscured and simply the odds of this is one in like 500,000.So I never thought in s million years that they would allow him to get away with such a insane claim . I'll just let you know that 100 percent did!! And that almost 1000 he didn't get even a penalty or even remotely have to feel any distress over it . I didn't get a dime and when I tried to fight it because I knew it was bull**bleep** and unfair , me and my husband got the runaround and straight lied too everyday we called about !! It would take so long to explain everything they didn't do or the great case manager we had that seemed to never be at his desk or was out for a few days or was in vacation or the other 40 excuses they gave us. The jist of it was that this completely pigheaded asso that just so happened to be in medical school God Help Us , suddenly had contracted not just bedbugs but he also contracted SCABIES as well.... ok please google the probability of contracting bed beds , then do scabies... then do both at the same time , know secondly he tried to say that it was a secondary reoccurring infection from getting this before previously. Ok is that not a huge red flag? If he per saydid have both and knew it what is the hell was he thinking booking a **bleep** reservation in the first place!!! Please someone please tell me that I'm not just being a bitch and that this guy is a totally scamming douche ... and the icing on this cake not only did I never get a penny but this jerk that never even stay had the nerve to have his BANK CARD and Other Important mail documents mailed to my address ! I never have felt so violated by someone I've never meet before ! I do not allow anyone to receive mail at my home unless it's been gone by me and me and my husband say it's cool which definitely wasnt the case here!! Any comments or fed back to my long ass weird story is appreciated love to see things from other perspectives, thanks and Happy New Years!