Latest Scam hosts beware

[Ab1]

Having been a host for several years we have just experienced our first scam. Seems any guest can turn off your internet router. Take pictures of their computer and then at the end of their visit break or otherwise make the wifi not work. Air BNB will automatically take 25 percent off the entire visit or %50 per day out of the host account. There are no questions asked and nothing the hosts can do to get the moneys back.

We are not sure how to avoid this in the future............any reccomendations??

Thanks

John

[Ab1]

Exactly what I will do.

I had no idea Airbnb would encurage such scams.

I guess I was told my my office staff Airbnb protected us up to a million dollars.

Thanks.

[Robin4]

@Ab1

I understand you are not really looking for advice, you are just stating what has happened to you but I thought I would look at your situation to see if you could do what we do! But when looking at your profile, there is a big fat 'zippo'.....nothing, so it's a bit hard to advise you.

We have a stone house that was built 80 years ago and the walls are 40cm (18 inch) thick which really limits the range of Wifi....particularly in our listed cottage which is not attached to the main property.

To get around this problem I have mounted the router in a thick styrene foam box in the roofspace adjacent to the personal access hole (we are not allowed to call them 'manholes' any more) bloody political correctness!

This works brilliantly because of the relative density of the ceilings is minimal compared to the walls! We get good signal strength up to 25 metres from the router in all rooms, and in the cottage. Sure you have to keep a ladder on hand to reset the router on that odd occasion that this needs to be done, but sometimes I will go two months without having to reset, so it's no big imposition!

This also ensures that the guest has absolutely no access to the router.

Ab forget about any help from Airbnb, they are not 'encouraging' it, but you did make it available to the guest! Put it out of harms way and make sure that you can hit the power switch if you feel it's being abused.

Cheers.....Rob

[Tomji0]

Translate to English please. And wish I knew the way to scam like some hosts who never showed up took my money and proceeded to be protected by airbnb. Facebook acquisition of airbnb inevitable.

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

Put the router in a locked room or cabinet.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Routers go out and need to be rebooted - especially if you've had a power outtage.   If a guest doesn't bother to ask about it or inform you that it is not working during their time with you, and Airbnb sided with them, get on the phone and talk to someone in customer service. Provide them with the router history that it was turned off at the beginning of the guest's stay.   It seems to me that the guest has too much access to the router if they can turn it off so putting it in a locked cabinet is the way to go. Make sure it is password protected too. 

[Roland31]

After the final straw of 7 years with 2 beach location properties renting 12 months out of the year I have HAD IT with the.....COMPLETE AND UTTERLY BETRAIAL, AND LACK OF SUPPORT from abb when a renter either steels, breaks, violates, and is able to post the most untruthful, personally and business damaging reviews and abb REFUSES to do anything about it.

VRBO would not, AND DOES NOT treat its #1 important person ( THE PROPERTY OWNER) that way.  You pay $499 a year, ( Listed on at least 3-4 other GLOBAL sites for free)  to list and you get an INCREDIBLE level Different level of OWNER SUPPORT when things go south with a renter, and you get MUCH BETTER QUALITY OF RENTERS. ( HANDS DOWN).! ( renters negative reviews are MUCH BETTER SCRUTINIZED)

If you are a serious professional property renter renting entire home and it is professionally photographed, decorated with complete and new furnishings, THE ONLY PLACE TO BE IS VRBO.!  

You get what you pay for, and you pay NOTHING to list on abb, so what kind of support did you think you were going to receive as a OWNER\MANAGER.??  

 abb is ONLY concerned with PROTECTING their RENTERS so they KEEP RENTING......

They break something and YOU the owner fix it, say you have to drain your Jacuzzi, hand scrub it, refill it, reheat it, retreat it, YOU GET NOTHING FROM abb……abb WILL NOT REIMBURSE OWNER FOR ANY OWNER COMPLETED REPAIRS. PERIOD….

If you hire a handyman and he gives you a receipt, an invoice and they DO NOT HAVE A WEBSITE (AND BUSINESS ADDRESS VERIFIABLE) YOU WILL GET NOTHING….

VRBO, the ONLY place to be.!

[Tomji0]

You are far to the #1 most important person. Fine example of a person who avoids paying for business licenses,  thinks of the effect of opening a hotel in a residential area and continues to WRITE EMAILS in all caps. Oh so sorry for your inconvenience. Hosts are far from innocent when it comes to scams.

[Alexandra168]

Hi Airbnb community, thank you for your time and patience with this as at first sight this may not seem like a scam...

I have been a host since 2015 and have thoroughly enjoyed having genuine guests staying in my apartment and visiting my hometown.

However, over the past year I have noticed more and more problems...the latest is a potential fraud/scam. Bear with me whilst I explain...

Guest books multiple bookings in advance regardless that I have a strict cancellation policy (I.e. no refund if they cancel). The guest has a new account and no reviews but they book with 'instant book' option.

Guest stays for first booking and complains about cleanliness (nothing major) but enough for it to show up on the message thread. My cleaner is impeccable so I know this not to be true!

Suddenly, after checkout they start cancelling their other bookings stating their work contract has been cancelled (or another excuse but nothing about the apartment itself).

Next thing I started getting a barrage of messages asking for a refund from the guest. I can't help but feel there is some urgency to their request!

I explain that as I have a strict cancellation policy, as a goodwill gesture, I will refund this guest if I'm able to re-let the dates at the price they are booked at.

Here's the rub! Unbeknown to me, the guest had contacted Airbnb and already asked for a refund claiming they were new to the service. Airbnb instantly gives them 50% refund but as the host I am unaware this is happening. If I were a more naive host I may end up refunding the guest in full, which means not only have they got all their money back, they've also received a nice 50% cashback bonus from Airbnb.

Just had another multi-booker (new account and no reviews) asking for a discount for multiple bookings...advised guest to book her first booking to see if she likes the apartment and then we can go from there.

You have been warned fellow hosts...don't get caught out!

Happy hosting 🙂

[Michael477]

Hi @Alexandra168 : In the Spanish forum we are very clear about that:  "as a goodwill gesture, I will refund this guest"-> Do not do that! No "goodwil gesture" because that operations mode is well known! For some reason YOU did select the strict cancellation mode! Never let guest behaviour or request make YOU refund anything! ALWAYS AirBnB should manage the refunds!