Illegal Film shoot on my property and an endless loop of customer service with Airbnb

[Marya544]

On October 18th a guest who claimed that she was visiting to take nature photographs with one friend instead used my property for a professional film shoot without my knowledge or consent. 

She broke 4 major house rules, damaged and stole items and filmed illegally with a crew of 8-10 unauthorized people.

Since then I have been in a constant loop with customer service at Airbnb.  Although Airbnb was effective in paying for lost or damaged items, Aibnb has not addressed a dangerous and fully illegal commercial film shoot on my property without my consent.

I want to know what my rights are and how I can pursue legal restitution for this.  The guest even has a gofundme page where she has raised over 4 thousand dollars to fund her film and she has taken away my rights as a property owner not to be associated with her commercial project.  Airbnb not only hasn't addressed this, but they haven't given me a live person to talk to who knows anything about this severe violation of my rights.

If Airbnb gives us the option to check "no commercial filmng on property", what are they doing to protect us when this happens?  Even some sort of coorperation to allow me to pursue legal action would be nice.  But I have no idea what Airbnb's plicies are because I have not spoken to anyone handling my case.  I'll get an email that has a persons name, but when i respod it becomes obvious these arent real people, only automated emails. I am trapped in a loop with no way to communicate with actual case handlers at Airbnb.  Help! As property owners what rights do we have when a professional film crew lies and abuses our guidelines?

[Helen3]

yes it's always frustrating when guests lie .

Your rights are to cancel the booking as soon as you realise the listing is being used for commercial use. You can then evict those using the property. @Marya544 

and leave an honest review .

im glad Airbnb covered damages .

im not sure what else you expect Airbnb to do in the circumstances except ban the guest from the platform. 

As the business owner it's our responsibility to ensure only those on the booking use the property . Do you have CCTV? 

[Marya544]

I will pursue legal action, I just expect Airbnb to talk to me about what best practices are instead of putting me in an endless customer service loop. where I received conflicting information. Yes I have the footage and I handed it over to Airbnb. Airbnb did not allow me to leave an honest review, although they did tell me I should do that-again conflicting information. I tried to lean on Airbnbs customer service to help me take all actions but couldn't talk to anyone who said anything besides "we are escalating your request" and then send everything to us, make your own damages report and leave a review. And attached any damages (how do you explain a film crew stealing a movie at your house- how do you quantify that?) "Your case is closed we are sorry if you didn't get the outcome you desired" Again my concern is how do I stop this person from using the footage they took without my permission?

In the end I wish I could have gotten a clear macro on what to do if commercial filming has happened on your property and how to take action afterwards, also what is considered the damages recoup request for 10 more guests then booked and non-consenting commercial footage? This must happen all the time, but as a first time community member I felt like it was really difficult to get advice on how to deal with this.

[Frances3408]

@Marya544 . It sounds like you need a lawyer. Maybe start with a legal warning letter to cease and desist all usage of the filming material. Then you can escalate to compensation discussions, if you really want to go there.

If you have sleuthed the person's business then get advice on leaving public reviews of their business practices. In the end Airbnb is a booking platform so really many things are out of their control. 

Moving forward in your House Rules do you have an extra fee per visitor/ non booked guest? If so, add this to the commercial claim if Airbnb wont help.

It sounds like you have taken charge so good luck. 

[Marya544]

Thank you.  I appreciate the advice and hope it's helpful to others as well!  Never thought this would happen, it was such a lovely experience with great guests until this.