Blatantly violates rules, now my account may get suspended.

[Felicia48]

Our last guests brought in a friend (unauthorized), and just because I mentioned we were dog owners (not on the premises), his unauthorized guest brought in their dog! They also smoked on the premises and had beer bottles in the pool area. Each and every one of these violations are in my house rules, which is sent out to the guests prior to arrival. Well, I immediately called ABB (provided pictures and video evidence), informed them of the violations and now they may suspend my account. They say it is because we have a camera on the exterior of the property. The cameras (doorbell and pool area only), were there before we did ABB. We did state in the listing that there is a monitored alarm system but did not mention in walk thru. What is the point of house rules if guests don’t need to abide by them? How does a host protect their property, if guests are going to “sneak” and do whatever they want. Please Help? What do I do now? How do I stop this suspension. Do I contact the guest? No review has been left yet. Thank you in advance

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Felicia48 - no, do not contact the guest.  Are you looking to have some sort of remedy from the guests - like asking them to pay for something?  Did they damage the home in some way that has resulted in you being out of pocket for clean up or repairs?  You can't penalize someone for breaking the rules unless you can prove damages from breaking them. 

That being said, it's very clear on the Airbnb site that you must disclose that there is a camera system which your listing says that it has right there in the description.  It's not clear to me why Airbnb would say you are in violation for non-disclosure.  Can you provide more insight on what Airbnb has said was the problem with the cameras?  

Hopefully you can get this resolved quickly. 

[Felicia48]

Hi there.  I supplied picture and video evidence, per the advice of my “case manager”, saying that it could just help my case.  well, nothing is being done to the guest. I have to fumigate my home, at an extra cost, of pet dander and all the little hairs left behind as well as the poop for a future guest.  Also I have been dinged by ABB for the Ring video. Treated like I am the criminal. What is the point of house rules if guests don’t have to follow them?  Thank you for your time.  I thought I was following all the rules and doing the right thing.  

@Alice-and-Jeff0

[Matthew285]

@Felicia48 the question "What is the point of house rules if the guests don't have to follow them?" is asked a lot by hosts, especially when they find out that Airbnb does not help with the enforcement of financial penalties for breaking house rules.

Over time, different hosts have written many different thoughts on the topic. Here are a few:

1. House rules are mainly for the good guests. The vast majority of guests are terrific, and the rules are there to help the host communicate to the good guests what the host would like them to do (where to put the trash, what is expected about dishware, how and when they can use the pool, that kind of thing.)
2. Airbnb may not help enforce monetary fines in the house rules, but the blatant breaking of house rules can be used as a reason to have the guest relocated. Depending on your cancellation policy, this might cost the host money, but at least the bad guest is removed (which gives the host some satisfaction as the guest experiences some consequence for their actions.)
3. The house rules can help keep away guests who are a bad fit. Well written house rules can let people know that certain behaviors won't be tolerated, and so they might choose to book elsewhere.
4. Even if Airbnb won't help enforce certain things, the house rules at least give the host something to refer to if there is some difficulty with the guest. It is easier to say to a guest "When you agreed to the house rules, you said you would not (bad behavior)" than to just say "Hey, stop (bad behavior)."

The enforcement of the house rules is quite difficult for hosts who are not on the property with the guests. Even so, the job of enforcing the house rules really falls on the host. The less the host tries to rely on Airbnb for enforcement the more effective a job the host can do. Rule enforcement is already a tough assignment; not owning the job makes it even tougher.

[David126]

Just to clarify ABB requires all Camera's to be declared, Mobiles, Laptops, Computers, Tablets whatever.