airbnb support

[Elizabeth2247]

Hi I have a guest who from the moment she arrived was a nightmare.   She arrived with more guests than she booked for.   she arrived with an infant which clearly states in my listing that I do not take children under the age of 2.  She requested a blow up bed for one of her children.   We have parking for 2 cars in a shared driveway and I came up the other day to find she had invited friends around and there were 5 cars there and my neighbour was less than happy about this.  She was upset when I asked her to move the cars informing her that the manual states that the facilities on the premises are for guests booked in.   She then requested the use of a tumble dryer, it states on my amenities that I do not have this.  She said she was not happy walking to the launderette to dry her childrens swimming costs even though it was brilliant sunshine outside.   My insurance only covers me for 8 people and she actually asked me if i would overlook this mistake she had made.   

she has booked in for two weeks and i cannot imagine that the niggles are going to stop.  I have asked her to come to see me if she is unhappy but I have not seen her.  

I have tried to discuss this situation with airbnb support and 24 hours ago they told me they were putting me in contact with someone who could help me.   As the situation is only going to get worse I really need to chat with someone about this.   Anyone else been held off by airbnb please.   I keep going back in to the chat but it says the discussion is still in progress.  any ideas how i can get help in what i think is going to escalate.

[Suz8]

I have now gone from a 4.9 to a 4.33 due to a 3 star review where the guest lies to the public about my listing. They said the bed was terrible...but couldn't tell me in what way. The guest reached out to me at the beginning of their booking, I suggested alternatives and even said if they had to leave I understood! They claimed they resolved the issue the following day, with pillows. 

On the public review they claimed (again) that the bed was "terrible" and that they struggled for a month. So, then, why didn't they leave? Or why did they tell me they solved the problem? 

It goes on, but because this listing is new for me (only a few reviews) it has severely damaged the rating and is giving people misinformation. My bed has been fine for literally everyone else. 

Airbnb is choosing not to do anything 😞 

[John1599]

@Elizabeth 2247                                        I accepted a booking for four youngish workers from their company for three weeks and unusually because of Covid concerns I didn’t go for self checkin, preferring to drive for four hours to welcome them and show them how the house works. They seemed ok on arrival and I left feeling good about them. WAS I WRONG ? After only three days I knew I had made a big mistake. They had interfered with the gas central heating and turned the one control on the boiler that they had been expressly told NOT to touch. They contacted me to say the radiators were not heating at all and they were so cold. We never experienced problems with the heating before so puzzled I got a plumber to call next evening after hours who pointed out to them that they had actually turned the rads off. Before I learned this news I got my son to buy two new electric heaters to supplement the gas heaters and arranged for these to be delivered to the apartment before they came from work the following day. Three days into their 21 day stay my son found the place was littered with partly eaten food and drinks including fish meals on our soft furnishings, but more worrying they had placed their wet clothes on racks close to a large electric fire and left them there for twelve hours unattended ! My son sent me photographs that shocked me. I contacted AirBnb’ s dedicated superhost help desk asking if they could be evicted with a refund for their unused days. I was advised to “reach out to my guests” and try and agree a solution !! If they were already there I could not evict them unless they had broken my listed house rules…… they hadn’t as far as I know. In the last ten days I have negotiated AirBnb’s bots, and been passed through five “ ambassadors” who are well trained obviously to make soothing noises and promise all kinds of help, but with no change in the situation and I got so stressed that tonight I thanked the helpline for anything they had tried, if anything was tried but asked them to forget my request as I had lost my naive trust in them and was reconciled to having to wait  the next eight days before they leave. 
I use an app on my phone to control the heating and it records the apartment temperatures on a day by day graph. I now check it many times each day and cancel any changes they make on the manual control pad. Their company refuse to communicate with me other than when they make impertinent demands on my good will .

I have formed the opinion that AirBnb value their guests much more than their hosts and have shown little appetite to address the documented excesses of fortunately the very few bad apples among their guest clients. 

[Huma0]

@John1599 

I'm sorry for your situation, which sounds horrible. However, I am not surprised that Airbnb are not helping if the guests have not broken your listed house rules. Also, they probably don't see the guests' actions as major infringements (not the same as bringing extra, unauthorised guests, for example) but I can see how it's a total nightmare for you.

Being really specific in your house rules is a must and I make sure all guests confirm in writing that they agree to them. Firstly, it's helpful to ward off undesirable guests, set guest expectations and useful when I have to politely remind them that they should or shouldn't do this that or the other. Secondly, it's essential when you need to get a guest off your property.

I have only done this twice, but each time, Airbnb was very helpful because they could see from the correspondence (always keep this on the Airbnb messaging system) that the guests had broken the rules stated on the listing. This was the first thing they checked. They even removed a bad review/ratings once (sadly they don't seem to do this anymore) because the guest was complaining about stuff clearly outlined in my house rules and had told me during her stay that she didn't have to follow them.

People will say that my rules are far too long (as is probably this response) but I don't care. It's better to spell it out than regret it later. I have added to them over time as unexpected problems like yours have arisen because people are weird and because what I think is 'normal' or 'reasonable' behaviour is purely subjective.

Mine include telling guests not to adjust any heating controls, not to use electric heaters, not to eat meals in the bedrooms, to keep the space clean and tidy etc. I also specify that guests must pay for any damage to the property or its contents.

Of course, guests do still break rules, but then you have a comeback if you need to get them out of your listing.

[John1599]

@Huma0  I couldn’t possibly cover everything a malicious guest might do in my house rules . Human ingenuity knows no bounds. I recently had to change from a two night minimum stay to a fifteen night stay because of new Irish Government rules . This has had its advantages, but has changed the profile of the average guest. I now mostly host groups of foreign workers on contract work for a month or more. The problem is that if you have any issues you will only have contact with a remote manager through the AirBnb platform and apart from a delay in the transfer of your issue to the “guests” there can be difficulties with language barriers. Like most groups of youngish guys who are away for extended periods without authoritive supervision they occupy their free time in a certain way and it often leads to laddish and unacceptable behaviour. Thankfully it has only caused me to wish I hadn’t accepted the booking on two occasions, so I will try and be more careful when I approve or deny future requests. Maybe I am a snowflake and should develop a thicker skin but because I offer, what is our other home, I expect a level of mutual trust that sometimes is not reciprocated. 
Thanks anyway for your input and I wish you well in your own listing.

john

[Huma0]

@John1599 

It sounds like your current situation is kind of unique. I am used to long term guests, as that's mostly what I do these days os 15 days+ doesn't bother me, but I am not sure I would be happy with just young guys and the laddish behaviour. 

I hope things go better for you than these recent guests!

[John1599]

@Huma0  I neglected to address your first point about AirBnb not seeing their behaviour as being serious enough. They eventually did, after 11 days and six “ ambassadors” being assigned to my complaint, and belatedly offered to tell them to leave the following day, which I refused as their stay was almost ended by then anyway.

[Huma0]

@John1599 

That is interesting. I guess perserverance does pay off, but what's the point if you only get help when it's clearly too late?!

[Suz8]

Wow, I'm glad to hear that it took you six ambassadors. I have only now had three, so I guess I need to keep going with it. We definitely need an alternative to Airbnb! 

[Michael4446]

I recently had a similar situation with a guest who brought in extra guests, brought in a dog without permission and allowed the dog to run free on my neighbor’s property, and smoked and vaped in a non-smoking house. He broke every house rule I have an Airbnb, refused to pay the extra fees and airbnb did nothing. There are no ramifications for breaking house rules, no accountability and airbnb doesn’t care to support their superhosts.

[Des2112]

Help me please!!!! 
it’s been two days of calls to support as Airbnb is billing my guest wrong and the support team is being incompetent!!! What happened to this company? Got to big? No help available? No ambassador will return my 10 calls for help! Is there another company to use? Other than VRBO? I’m having heart surgery in 3 days and just need this fixed….what are anyones suggestions? So frustrated 4-22-2022 superhost Des Hughes Boise IDAHO  

[Suz8]

Hi, this is an old conversation but I feel like I should add my current experience. I will also add a separate conversation. I had a guest leave a 3 star review and lie on their review. I also left them a 3 star review because they left my apartment very dirty, the worst I've experienced. I replied to the guest review. 

The guest disputed my review of them, I disputed their review of me, but Airbnb has been unhelpful so far, and in fact deleted my response to their review of me today. 

Airbnb allows false reviews to published as long as they don't contain threats, sexual harassment or exact locations. This is crazy to me! There is proof that the guest is lying, on the Airbnb chat, all the support person has to do is read it. 

I had no idea their system was so heavily weighted towards the guests. I've been a superhost, guest, and worked for Airbnb for ten years and am appalled. I don't know where to turn for support now that support can't help. What do people do? 

The negative review has damaged my rating and I am now not getting inquiries. My negative review of the guest didn't affect them at all because they have 50 five star reviews. 

Any suggestions are appreciated.