As a Seasoned and Cynical Host, Why am I so...

Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

As a Seasoned and Cynical Host, Why am I so...

I've been an Airbnb host for 3 years and landlord for 20 years.

I am seasoned and cynical. Yet, why am I always so slow to see the scam?

 

Guests booked for 20 days. Not my preference, but so be it.

Guests had a "service" poodle.  I really don't like that. 

Day 1. Complaints that smoke from previous guests inflamed wife's asthma, but they would suffer for 5 days.

(There was no smoke smell in well-aired unit. Really really hate them and want them gone)

I emailed them that they were more than welcome to leave sooner.

Day 3: demanded extra set of keys. Sigh.

Day 5. They leave. Yeah!   Strangely left a folded up blood-stain sheet inside of my bedding... 

              Mind you, this is a sheet that they brought.

Day 10: I get an Airbnb message asking to refund them because Airbnb has "proof" of unclean blood-stained  sheets. 

 

I know, I know. I should have given them one night free and asked them to leave their 2nd day. I really am slow.

 

 

 

 

34 Replies 34
Cormac0
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

@Paul154 

 

Why don't you submitted the blood sample to a dna database and see what comes back, using there name as a referance, after all it could solve some cold case...

 

 

Now that would be a surprise your guests  would not be expecting.

 

Filter scum that they are

Same thing I thought of, get police involved and track them down, lots of trouble ahead for them...

Charles/Singapore

Heather133
Level 10
Stowe, VT

@Paul154 I hope you are reporting it as the scam it is. Given your history with Airbnb, I would hope they would give your account some credence. And then, at least, if they tried it again they might be exposed. That said, if they are devious enough to pull this scam, they are probably devious enough to have multiple accounts.

There is no such thing as credence with Airbnb.  I recently had rappers book a stay at my house for a week.  There is a no party policy yet they had 3 parties.  The city fined me for noise ordinance violations.  They broke my dwarf japanese maples while parking in flower garden.  They ruined my sod and sprinkler system when they got their car so embedded in the ground that a tow was called to remove the car.  The inside was trashed and I recently discovered that they charged a cover for the hundreds of guests that partied at the house 3 of the 7 nights they were there.  I can't begin to tell the the damage inside the home.  I am so worried that I paid close to 5k to get the house semi suitable for the next guests and am saving for other repairs that are required.  This has been over a month ago and airbnb is asking me for receipts for the sod and sprinkler systems after I provided the paid invoice for it to be repaired.  I am really at a loss about how to handle this as I have not been hosting as long as many of you.

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Paul154 ,

 

Sounds dreaful, sorry it's happened. Do let customer support know, I'm sure you have all your correspondance et al with the guest, being such a seasoned (and cynical) host.

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines 

Thomas1033
Level 10
North Tonawanda, NY

@Cormac0  Great minds think alike, i was thinking same thing!  Yvonna (cohost)

Kira32
Level 10
Canary Islands, Spain

It's sad that some guests do really take the time and effort to create so much drama. 

Jennifer1421
Level 10
Peterborough, Canada

Unbelievable!

 

So, I'm assuming that, in accordance with Airbnb's "Guest Refund Policy", these guests provided their "proof" with 24 hours of checking in, and it just took CX 14 extra days to getting around to notifying you. (Please read that sentence as dripping with sarcasm). Did they sleep with the bloodstained sheet all 5 nights, since it was inside the bed after they left? Oh, let me guess, they didn't notice a blood-stained random sheet in their bed until the morning they checked out, and were thus unable to request something be done about it until after they left. (Also to be read as extreme sarcasm).

 

Absolutely egregious that CX didn't tell them to get lost when they made their complaint, since logic tells us that this is a total scam.

 

Sorry you're having to deal with this bollux, @Paul154 . None of us are immune to this kind of chicanery, sadly, but this is truly beyond the pale.

Ian-And-Anne-Marie0
Level 10
Kendal, United Kingdom

@Paul154 Did the sheet actually match your own? I would guess a match would be pretty difficult. Can you use that as evidence against them? I'd even consider police action as their claims are extortion aided and abetted by Airbnb. Check that extortion policy out because thats the level of this scam.

 

@Paul154 I emailed them that they were more than welcome to leave sooner.

In hindsight something like this sort of complaint doesn't bode well. Is there any way to just get them to leave since you suspect something underhand potentially happening?

 

I suppose... if it happens again or occurs anywhere else - the course of action might be to message the guests that they had left one of their sheets behind pointing out it didn't match yours... then carry on with the celebration that they left.

 

But then there's the review - which I'm sure you're really looking forward to !!

Casita-By-The-Texas-Bay0
Level 10
Texas, United States

Oh my Gosh!...it is scary to think what kind of people we may encounter!

Ian-And-Anne-Marie0
Level 10
Kendal, United Kingdom

@Paul154 

Lets see if we can turn this around. Send me the evidential photos and I'll tell you stuff about them you don't know. (PM best).

 

You do have them I presume?

Beverly44
Level 2
Black Mountain, NC

Oh gee, thanks for the heads-up. I sometimes forget that not everyone lives by the Golden Rule.

 

Kimberlee2
Level 2
San Antonio, TX

@Paul256 ,

 

I am so sorry that you had to deal with that situation.  Working as hard as we all do to offer our guests the absolute best possible experience possible really makes these situations tough.

 

I have definitely experienced a few similar situations, and I would have to say that it is a deep "in-the-gut" feeling about how a particular guest's experience is going that leads to undesired outcomes.

 

I actually had guests take photos of "large roaches" in a freshly-made bed, so that they could get their money back when I used to have a strict cancellation policy.  The really interesting part, is not only that the "roach" in the bed not a roach that can be found in my neck of the woods, it is also a plastic, toy roach that my son actually has.  Additionally, has anyone "EVER" seen a roach in a made bed? 

 

I actually sent the photos to our Terminix technician who certified that it was impossible that it was a real roach, and that if it was, the guests must have travelled with it.  Even if that was the case, why were they stripping the beds down 30-min after checking in?

 

Long story short, it turns out the group was a mixture of locals and friends visiting from out of town, who had all booked multiple Airbnbs in order to determine which was the best one that they all liked after they had a chance to check in to all of them.  Then, they simply cancelled the ones they didn't prefer.

 

 

Chris1846
Level 1
Vernon, Canada

OMG  I just booked my first guest and we have had so many texts already I’m wondering if it’s a mental disorder or if she’s testing me.  She is getting a discount so I get my fist good review.  I can hardly wait.   Good to know there are other real people out there.   

What an experience for you.   Please Just normal people.

@Chris1846  Do you mean texts or Airbnb messages? If texts, don't do that- try to keep as much as possible to Airbnb messaging with guests, that way, if there are issues with the guest, there is a trail of messages for Airbnb to look at. 

If it's any consolation, I've been hosting for close to 3 years now and I have never had any of these horror guests we read about here. A couple of minor things, but dealt with in the moment with the guest, with no hard feelings on either side. A couple minor things accidentally broken, no big deal, not anything I asked for compensation for, and no guests making things up in order to demand a refund. 

A guest who barrages you with messages may turn out to be challenging to host, but at least you're aware of that and can armor up.