First guests from hell

[Emma433]

We have just had our first group from hell. As superhosts I am dreading our first bad review and need help what to write. Guests booked for 5 people as a family group to stay for a family wedding. My fathers lives in the apartment below, on the second night we got a phone call saying they were having a party - there were about 12 people drinking, playing music - he went upstairs and asked them to stop - they did.

The next morning he found 3 people parked in the driveway sleeping, they woke up and went inside and used the facilities, last night there was another big party, we contacted them via phone to say only guest registered for the property are to be there and we have a no party policy. They complained it wasn’t fair, and all went quiet- 30 mins later it all started up again with more people and music - my father went upstairs to shut it down,  he was accused of being a racists.  It was a very stressful night last night trying to negotiate with them - we could have cancelled the listing and evicted, but we though let’s just try and keep the peace so things don’t escalate- they were big guys. It’s the first time I have felt really vulnerable with Airbnb, strangers in your house , who are breaking the rules but don’t care.

Needless to say we have woken to a barrage of text messages about how the electricity and hot water had been turned off ( it wasn’t, and we have solar, they are just dirty because they were caught out partying) that her brother had an asthma attack because of the house and her mother fell down the stairs. The house wasn’t trashed but they left a pile of dirty nappies, blood ( from meat) through the fridge, dimmer switch is missing and the toilet seat is broken. These things can been replaced I am more devastated at the impending bad review. Any advice greatly appreciated

[Tueykay0 · Accepted solution]

Do reach out to your ABB customer support and let them know that they had parties and other violations. There was a lot of people in the home and you(your father) was really intimidated by them and didn't know what to do out of fear.

Take pictures of what was damaged in your home. The guests need to pay for the damages. Next time any other guests violate your house rules, take notes, pictures & videos. Write down a few variation of sentences on paper, to practice saying out loud on asking guests to stop and leave the premises. It sounds like you haven't found your voice on that.

Be willing to file a police report if they did serious damage to your home. 

Keep the text messages as proof of their communications to you, if you say they are untrue, it's easy to prove.

You mentioned a " phone call that they were having a party". Who called? A neighbour? Ask your neighbour for a written statement that he/she was disturbed by the guests parties and behaviours.

The potentially bad review is not really the bigger picture problem here. Let them write a bad review. And you can respond with "we have solar panels...", show pictures of their damages etc. Anyone reading reviews can make sense of which story to believe as long as you stay neutral in your response.

Hope this helps in some way.

[Ian583]

We live in Western Australia and have a small but cute house in a French medieval town. We rent it out to pay the taxes, etc and just had the guests from hell, Tim and Tanya Davies, who are also Superhosts!

Briefly, they broke the keysafe and front door lock, damaged the fence and bedroom curtain and left food waste on the floors. All in 4 days.

They didn't report the damage, became abusive when asked about the damages and mess, and then denied it, despite the photos taken by our local managers!

So they just gave us a lousy review, complete with personal abuse included.

I gave them a factual review in response and have claimed the Host Guarantee payment.

The hardest thing is that they also called our local managers dishonest, and they don't get a right of reply. They are decent people and had to bust a gut to repair the mess before the next guests arrived.

I have n't filed a police report, but its not a bad idea.

These are the only such guests in 7 years of hosting, so we think of all the great reviews and comments that we've had, and accept that there are some ugly people out there.