Drugs use suspected...can this be reported to Airbnb

Judy29
Level 9
Brant, Canada

Drugs use suspected...can this be reported to Airbnb

I had a "celebrity guests" stay for two nights.  At the onset of the first phone contact, I thought this guests was either suffering from Parkinsons, MS, or alchol abuse.  It was lpm in the afternoon and didnt want to suspect the latter (even though I come from aloholic parents and was ready to assume the worst).

 

Our little house is four doors down from our main residence so I left the doors unlocked for the arrival of these guests.  On the second day just before departure I did go over to meet these people.  She looked like '10 miles of dirt road" and slurred her words.  She kind of stumbled down the stairs (and it was 11:45am).  She was mostly upset about getting chocolate on the blanket and wanted to know if she had time to wash it before leaving.  I told her it was no big deal and I would take care of it.

 

I asked if they had been smoking in the house to which they quickly denied and said it was only outside.  There was no ashtray to be found anywhere.  The house smelt terrible.  After they left, I went in to clean.  They took all their garbage with them???  Although the house smelt bad, everything was in order and I started to clean.  They had razor cuts all over my wooden breakfast counter top!  They were cutting "coke" and no doubt the smell was them smoking it!

 

Although I know this is absolutely with no questions what they were doing, how do we report this.  Can I go after damages after the fact through airbnb?  It's been "three guests later" so I cant do anything about it now; and one guest did make a comments on the small of the house and passed a bad review on cleanliness.   How do I get THAT SMELL out without painting the house?  And the review....well lets just say it made no sense.."The house was priced accordingly".  What does that mean?

 

I guess if there is an up side to this story...at least they didnt over dose and need to ambulanced out of the house.

14 Replies 14
Lilian20
Level 10
Argelès-sur-Mer, France

Wow, it d be a good idea to call airbnb and report all of that - guests like this should not be allowed to book again

Guys I found cocaine at my hosts stay. But I don’t know how to talk about it to him. I’m afraid I can be blamed for this. It appears to have belonged to a past guest or the host himself. Any suggestions? 

@Samuel-Aaqil0  Have you just checked in recently? I'm not sure what you mean you don't know how to talk to the host about it? If I checked into a place and found something that appeared to have been left behind by a previous guest, whether it was clothing, a phone charger, or drugs, whatever, I'd immediately contact the host to tell them what you found on arrival. Obviously if they were yours, and you were in the midst of a booking, you wouldn't want to report it, so I don't know why you'd be fearful that it would be blamed on you.

Where did you find it? In the bedroom, or common areas that you share with the host, or does the host vacate the house when he has guests but normally lives there?

In any case, if it's not yours, I would certainly let the host know rather than wait until I checked out, because then, indeed, it would likely be blamed on you.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

I am not sure why you didn't make a claim for damages to the work top surfaces asked the guest in question left?

 

Airbnb makes it clear for obvious reasons, in its terms,  that you can't claim if you subsequently take in other guests as you can't prove which ones caused the actual damage.

 

I am not quite clear what the purpose is of your post? On one hand you say you want to report it. And on the other, that you know that you can't ask other guests have since visited.

Helen:  Your last questions didnt come across as too clear.  I want to report this to airbnb but after the fact it is too late and it shouldnt be.  This guest might do it again to someone else and I was delinquent to report it in a timely fashion.  So I am doing it a different way.  I think I should make comments in my House Rules that drugs are not allowed on premise.  However that might send out a different message then intended.  I really dont care what people do behind closed doors so long as they dont get stupid and trash my house and furnishings.  However saying that, most people on drugs have no common sense and it is anyone's guess what they are capable of doing.  I've been in this business a very very long time and sometimes it is better to just say goodbye to these people and hope you never hear from them again.  Sometimes I think I just need a sounding board to get feedback to know I have handled certain situations correction...as well as share the story so someone else isnt sideblinded by similar scenerio.

Karen-and-Brian0
Level 10
Bragg Creek, Canada

@Judy29 You're right, it's too late to claim for damages/extra cleaning - the window for that closed when the next guest checked in, unfortunately.  Not sure if flagging her profile will do much either. To avoid such occurances in the future, you can put something about no drugs in your house rules & make it tough - like say, drug use will result in immediate cancellation & termination of your stay or some such? Hopefully that will give future drug using guests pause & have them move on to another listing - not that you want any host to have to deal with them. 😞  I would have no idea what the smell of burning coke is like, naiive rube that I am - but a quick google search for "how to remove smell of crack" resulted in some discouraging news. It permeates everywhere, so all the walls need to be washed, all surfaces hard & soft need to be thoroughly cleaned (furniture, cupboards, drapes, carpets) etc. - a tremendous amount of cleaning. I'm really sorry this happened to you!

 

Just out of curiousity, how were the previous reviews for this guest? Any warning signs from other hosts? I don't think a review openly stating drug use would be allowed, but am wondering if other hosts have come up with some clever or creative wording to get that message across? - Karen

With airbnb we do not have the option to speak to potential guests until they are booked.  To speak to them before gives you indications of their personality.  For example, if they are errogant, know it all, shy, cautious, etc.  I spoke with "Marilyn" after she was confirmed.  It was early afternoon and she sounded drugged or drunk...and for what ever reason I decided to consider it a health issue such as parkinsons, or MLS or some nervous disorder.

 

However after their two day stay I decided to go and visit as they were leaving.  She stumbled down the stairs; not sure if she was drugged or hungover.  However to look in the kitchen there were empty wine bottles, lots of them.  I asked that they remembered to take all of their belongings with them and tidy up and put garbage in the bags so I didnt have to go around and pick up after them.  I was very polite and chose my words carefully.  However he was skidderish and almost intimidated by my presence.  It wasnt till after they left that I discovered the cut marks on the counter.  It took me a while to clue in to what it was...and confirmation from a friend who knows.  By then I was rushing to get the next guest in and didnt have time to do anything else about this situation.  However it was interesting that these people took their garbage with them???  All two days worth of it???

@Karen-and-Brian0 I didn't know that about not mentioning drug use in reviews. Did you see that somewhere in Airbnb policies/guidelines?

 

I have only had once instance where guests did drugs in my house (I was away at the time but my long-term guest told me about it and then their weirdness started to make sense!) even though it is very clearly stated as against my house rules. I just put in the review that they broke a couple of important house rules rather than go into specifics, but told them in my private feedback that using drugs in my house was absolutely not okay.

Hi @Huma0 I don't think mentioning it is against guidelines, good question though!, but I think it would definitely cause the guest to ask that the review be removed & it likely would be? Not sure. My opinion only. I think you handled it exactly right - mention they broke rules, then tell them privately that you're on to them. 🙂 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Judy29 I assume you are using Instant Book, which is why you don't have communication with guests prior to booking. Personally, I wouldn't use this as I need to have this communication beforehand to feel comfortable, but then they are staying with me in my home. It doesn't always make a difference though. The guests I mentioned who did drugs in my house only gave off warning signs after they booked, not in the prior correspondence.

 

As you are only four doors away, I would suggest that you meet guests on check-in if you can or, if that is not practical, as soon as your schedule allows, so that you are alert to any potential problems. Make it clear to the guests in advance that this is something you do with all guests. It is worth them knowing that you are keeping an eye on things.

 

As soon as I met the guests I mentioned above, I had a bad feeling about them, especially the guy, who was behaving very oddly. It's a shame I was away for part of their stay, but my work trip had already been booked a while back, otherwise I would have kept a very close eye on them. I think though that they might not have openly used the drugs and broken other house rules if I had been around. They were a bit stupid to do it so blatantly in front of my other guest though!

Cormac0
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

@Judy29

 

 

Wash your walls with sugar soap, I had long term tenants that were using Bongs and the smell in the apartment when I gave them their marching orders was truly sickening, I washed all the walls with sugar soap and it seem to have done the trick but it is a very time-consuming process and it took me two weeks to complete.

 

 

 

 

Regards

Cormac

The Explorer's Club Krakow III 

What is sugar soap @Cormac0?

 

Mariann 🙂

Gayle27
Level 2
Margaret River, Australia

For cleaning to remove odours find a product called Nilodor its what hotels use ,it worked for me to remove the smell of curry after a guest made a curry .In future if there is damage take some photos of it and make a claim for repair costs with Airbnb asap .Sugar Soap is what painters use to prep walls b4 painting get it at the hardware store hope this helps .

@Mariann4

 

It removes dirt and grease from walls before painting, you must wear heavy duty gloves while using it.

 

Regards

Cormac

ECK III