Airbnb Party and Events - I fell totally alone!

James1813
Level 4
Almancil, Portugal

Airbnb Party and Events - I fell totally alone!

Hi everyone!

 

I would appreciate your advice and comments on my situation.....thanks in advance for taking the time!

 

A couple of weekends ago we had a booking at our property - our property is a guest house which includes 4 suites and communal areas such as kitchen, dining area, pool, outside seating etc etc.

 

The guest booked the complete guest house for 8 people (max person allowance) a few weeks in advance and asked for a late checkout (6pm) to which I agreed despite meaning we were unable to welcome new guests on their day of checkout.

 

Anyway, in the days leading up to the booking the guests sent a few messages asking questions about the property - does it have a kitchen? does it have a seating area? does it have a BBQ? amongst other things.... all of which made me think, she has not read my listing or the welcome message/house rules sent at the time of booking.

 

I also felt additionally concerned as other things she said made a feel like having a party was her intention, so, despite our refund/cancellation policy (we were 36 hours from the start of the booking) I offered her the opportunity to cancel the booking and receive a full refund as I knew if I cancelled the booking I would have been hit with lots of negative marks!

 

It turns out my suspicions we correct! When the guest arrived they were VERY shocked to find out that my wife and I lived on site despite the fact it is mentioned in the listing no less than 5 times. 

 

Fast-forward to the night of the incident - lets skip the numerous house rules breaks up to this point, including entering my personal area and using and breaking my personal belongings. 

 

Short version, they had a party which went on until 5am, we received complaints from the neighbours and had to ask them to keep the noise down multiple times - the problem was I kept worrying that if I upset them, they will leave me a bad review.....

 

The next morning, I was able to review the carnage in the light of day! I was also able to clearly see the RV camping on my drive way with the additional guests they had invited to their party. There was food up the walls, glass bottles in the pool, BBQ grease all over the floor, spilt drinks over cushions furniture...the list goes on!

 

It was at this stage I decided to call Airbnb and explain the problem to ask for advice and assistance in dealing with the matter. I was told a member of a designated team would call me back and I needed to wait for them but keep them informed if anything else happened.

 

Over the course of the day, I expected them to begin cleaning up from the night before...but no, the party started up again when they woke up and additional people arrived.

 

5 calls later to Airbnb telling them what was happening and explaining that I was worried if I intervened I would upset them a risk a negative review - I was assured they were in breach of not only my rules but Airbnb's policy around parties and event and that I had nothing to worry about, they even confirmed they supported my decision to force them to leave.

 

Now comes the forcing them to leave bit....this turned nasty pretty quick, they refused to leave, demanded a refund as the were leaving before the late checkout time and even went as far as to shout racially offensive comments to my 7 month pregnant wife - we had to threaten to call the police to make them actually leave.

 

Evidence of the party and the events that occurred went submitted to Airbnb and the investigation completed - I thought it was over....

 

However the guests have left us a 1 star review - I have contacted Airbnb about this explained the issue again and request they remove the review, guess what, they have said no!

 

The Party and Events policy says all parties are banned, however how can I enforce a policy Airbnb set if they will not support me when I enforce it. The terms even state that hosts who violate this rule and allow guests to throw parties may be subject to account consequences - I am in a no win situation and feel totally alone without any support from Airbnb at this stage.

 

There are clear contractions between what I have been told by your Airbnb, the terms and rules they have set for both hosts and guests and the outcome/effect of these events of my account.  

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

30 Replies 30
Till-and-Jutta0
Host Advisory Board Alumni
Stuttgart, Germany

Congrats and thanks for your follow-up, @James1813 !