We had a group of guests who at first seemed OK, then on the first morning we received a text saying the coffee maker was broken. I responded and asked them to try several things, and if it didn't work, I told them we could bring a different coffee maker. I never heard back, so was thinking it was all good.
The day they checked out, we went in, and immediately noticed everything was left in a mess:
- Oily floor from food droppings, rice sticking to carpet, some drying up on the carpet already, requiring some repairs
- Trash and linens all over the place, and dirty dishes left all over the place
- Apparently there were many more people staying (12 by my count) than the number booked (7). They took out back-up mattress to sleep on, and even used bedskirt as sheet because we didn't provide more sheet than there are number of beds naturally.
- The dryer also had some rubber pieces from who knows what they were drying - maybe some kind of cushion that broke in heat.
- Bathrooms were dirty, not flushed, etc. and trash all over
- We of course tested the coffee maker and found it to be in great working condition, and they even used it because, remember, they didn't clean up (but later in the review they still said it's broken)
When I sent him a message demanding extra payment for extra guests (we charge extra guest fee after 4 people), and payment for the carpet repair and house deep cleaning, he basically argued he has paid the cleaning fee (which we charge for just basic whole house cleaning), and refused to pay. Escalated to airbnb, but took a really long time (I ended up having to re-submit under damage) to get just the repair/cleaning reimbursed.
Meanwhile, 14 days deadline to review is approaching, and one day he left a 1 star review full of lies regarding how he didn't go over booked number of guests, how they had cleaned up, how coffee machine was broken, and even the location (which they know full well in advanced before booking).
I was able to respond to the message, but this is dishonesty and blatant lies to "get back" to me for my demand in recovering damages and extra guests (beyond the limit in fact, we have 10 people limit in the house). I wasn't able to recover my payment for extra guests because airbnb required me to provide proof. Apparently photos of beds and backup mattress being used wasn't enough. Until today I still don't know how I can provide proof of number of guests, other than actually spying with cameras on the guests? Is that what airbnb wants!?! I hope not.
Then on the review, I demanded airbnb to remove the review because it is just a complete lie, but they said it's not against the policy. I pointed to them this is absolutely against policy because they were damaging our reputation as good hosts. They were basically defaming and lying about their experience.
How do we best handle this type of guests? If they trash the place, how do we confront/ask for payment, and not get bad reviews? I guess this must be pretty common, but we are new at this.
Why does airbnb become more and more guest-centric and let guests lie in their reviews? This is absolutely against the review policy in the damage section.
What can we hosts do about this type of guests???
Thanks!
