Breaking house rules...he said, she said

[Heather142]

Hello

So I am looking for a little guidance here.  I had a guest check in last minute for New Years Eve.  I saw that she was local so I asked her why she was looking to rent a house (I do not allow parties at my listing and wanted to make sure that she was not planning one).  She told me that her family was looking for a place to all get together to celebrate New Years and asked me about things in the area for her active 8 year old son.  After some back and forth I accepted the request for the two nights.  New Years day I get a text from the neighbor asking me to call him when he got a chance.  The neighbor tells me that he would rather I not rent to the guests again because they had a huge party that took up all the parking on the street and left empty solo cups, empty glass bottles, and broken bottles all over the neighborhood.

When I text the guest to let her know I am aware she had a party and that she violated the house rules and disrespected my neighbors, she gets back to me and tells me that it is not true and that she only had her family over.  

When I get to the house there is broken glass in front of the mailbox, the clean out pipe in the front yard is in multiple pieces, the trash is over flowing with emplty bottles and solo cups, and every surface in the house needs to be wiped down because it is covered in alcohol.  The floors were so sticky it sounded like an octopus walking through, the walls all needed to be scrubed, and I now need to steam clean the furniture.  I text her and tell her that this is the state I found the house and she tells be she is appalled that I would say that.  She treated my house like her own and had wiped all surfaces down and swiffered the floors.  There was also a broken transitiion piece between the kitchen and the living room she swears she didn't break. 

I feel like this is a classic "he said, she said" case.  I don't want to battle her for the extra $100 I would claim of the security deposit and I feel like she would leave me a bad review, just because.  I just want the money it has cost me to clean up the house and fix what she broke.  I did take pictures of everything, but it is hard to take a picture of sticky floors and the smell of stale beer. 

This is the first time in 2 years I have ever felt like I didn't want to be a host anymore.  I don't have time to deal with people who cannot be honest.

Heather

[Lilian20]

@Heather142 not a funny story but she also told you that her family was looking for a place to all get together to celebrate New Years - and that's what they did. . .

I think you should not care about the potential bad review and you should do the necessary to get compensated for the trouble. 

[Karen-and-Brian0]

Hi @Heather142 I am really sorry this happened to you - she broke a major House Rule and you have all the evidence you need, no matter what she says. No parties means no parties. She may have had "only family" over, but they were a group of party animals. I agree with @Lilian20 - give her an honest review & a big thumbs down. And ask for compensation for the extra cleaning and the broken items. Photos of the bottles & solo cups in the over flowing trash is proof enough of a party and you have even more.

Sorry I haven't looked at your listing or House Rules, but if you haven't already done this, you may want to make a new rule - confirmed guests only, no additional guests. You can throw in wording like - presence of unconfirmed guests will result in immediate cancellation and termination of your stay.  We don't live on our property so have a live feed video camera at the front door to catch anyone letting additional people in. It's eliminated the problem (so far).

She may refuse to pay, but Airbnb might come through for you. They did for me when a guest refused to pay for an item they broke. Dated photos help a lot. Please don't let one bad apple get you down - there are still great guests out there. Screening/vetting is key - although I likely would have let her stay too, with the 8 year old boy & family get-together story. Best of luck! Karen

[Andrea9]

@Heather142

"The neighbor tells me that he would rather I not rent to the guests again because they had a huge party that took up all the parking on the street and left empty solo cups, empty glass bottles, and broken bottles all over the neighborhood."

Sounds like your neighbor is a witness you can refer to when submitting refund request to Airbnb.

If I rented out an apartment I wasn't able to supervise (living beside it, etc.) I'd certainly put up a security camera above the entrance.

I'd also get my neighbor(s?) a nice bottle of wine for the irritation.

Wish you luck pushing through your refund. Make sure you have a cleaner bill for the extra work, otherwise Airbnb won't consider it.

[Julie-And-Dan0]

Hi Heather,

I just had a contact from a group of 14 wanting to rent my home for next year New Years Eve for 4 days. They sounded like a wonderful group but they were over my limit of 12. They continued to beg me to change my mind. They would even pay more for the extra guests.

My gut said "no" so that's what I told them.

I was relieved after that... I have a feeling I avoided an incident such as you had.

Sometimes we have to go with our first instincts.

Good luck.

Julie

[Isabelle193]

Hello 

sorry to read your story seems your Huse rules were broken your home needed fixing and your neighbours are upset.  Surely Airbnb have to react? Why is it we are intimidated by 1 bad review?! As Hosts we seem to be under constant pressure to respond, be the voice of Airbnb as without you there would be no Airbnb Surely it's worth posting your bad experience rating the guests for future Hosts to accepting them and Airbnb banning them from using their services?