Advice needed

[Rachael110]

I have been a happy host to happy guests for two years. Not one issue. Lucky me 🙂  Then a guest booked for 70 days. She was trouble even before she arrived with about 30 pesky messages. Things went ok for a few weeks but she was very demanding as she wanted my children to teach her son English and to take him with them to all their after school  activities ( my children were not interested!) I know this really bothered her. Then she came up with a plan to say I would not let her use my dryer. She didnt contact me but went straight to airbnb and requested a cancellation. Airbnb ( Chinese support) awarded her a discount at first of 10% and then told me I needed to let her cancel as the unit was missing an ammenity. I sent evidence of the dryer available for her use and we offered to install her own dryer the next day. She refused and told me she didnt need a dryer and  this wasn't the real reason she wanted to leave ( no kidding!) She sent numerous cancellation requests which I declined as she had booked out my calendar for 70 days for quite some time. I had no way  to make up for this lost booking. Then on exactly 30 days after her booking started ( when her next installment was due) she left. I got notice her payment was unsuccessful. Airbnb have given me no assistance after 9 days.  The New Zealand support number connects to a restaurant in Auckland, the message system just says it is being looked into, I have spent an hour on the phone to America , I message daily but feel I am getting no support as I just get  template answers. I am owed $2300 and then I also discover this guest has badly damaged my benchtop. So... does anyone have any suggestions? My calendar is still blocked out for another month by this 'active' but not paid for booking. The guest refuses to pay and insists airbnb assisted her with cancelling her payment. Nobody seems to keeping me informed. Has anybody ever had any luck getting reimbursed by airbnb and any insurance payouts for damage?

[Lisa723]

@Rachael110 some hosts have reported eventual success, after much persistence, getting some payment for damages; many hosts have reported no success. You can file a request for reimbursement and try. It sounds like your most urgent issue is getting this reservation cancelled and your calendar unblocked ASAP. I think you are extremely unlikely to get payment for the unused month, so I would focus on getting the reservation cancelled without penalty to you, by calling the US number and insisting on escalation until that happens.