Going through an AirBnB nightmare, please help

[Paul-and-Debbie0]

We are superhosts who hosted nearly 70 groups of people and nothing like this had ever happened. It is so bad it puts me off AirBnb all together. We live in an acreage property with a guest cottage about 30m away from the main house and it always worked really well. 

A couple of weeks ago we got a booking inquiry that said: "I'm getting married on 3 December and I would like to get ready there and have my photos taken at this very beautiful cottage. The grounds are amazing. My family are Persian, we don't wear shoes in the house anyway." (one of our house rules is no shoes inside as we have white carpets). Sounds okay, right? She booked for 5 people so we asked who else is coming, and she said it's just her parents, sister and brother. 

They got here last night, rather late and today was the wedding day. In the morning a few unexpected guests started to arrive. She never mentioned anyone else, but we did not want to make a big deal out of it. Within an hour there were nearly 50 people and 20 cars on our property! Drums, music, yelling, and whatnot. They stayed almost the whole day. People were smoking, throwing rubbish and of course, everyone walked inside with shoes. After the last non-paying guests finally left the property we went to check. The carpets are filthy and the aircon was on with the remote no where to be found. 

I called AirBnB because the guests, who completely ignored all our house rules (including no parties, no smoking and no shoes) are to stay here another 2 nights. I wanted them out of course. AirBnb did not offer any help besides letting me know that she would be liable for damages. They tried contacting her, but being her wedding day they couldn't reach her. They said I can cancel the booking, but of course we will then lose money and maybe our superhost tag. I am frightened of what might happen in the next two days. 

Anyone had guests who broke all the house rules? What can you do??? Please help. 

Thanks, 

Debbie 

[Lilian20 · Accepted solution]

Hello @Paul-and-Debbie0 

Your place looks really nice and i can see it is indeed very popular (number of perople added to wish list).

..of course, some guests are like that. It's too bad but it shouldn't put you off airbnb because it's pretty rare. 

Big red flag when booking was made : Same day than wedding day. Right away , I would have avoided this group. 

House rules : Your rules make sense so why don't you enforce them ? Lock the entrance after your guests have arrived so that noone else can get in. Tell your guests it is for their own safety too. Do make a big deal of respecting the house rules, because it's your house. 

Up your security deposit : it seems very low compared to the value of your property. 

White carpets in the cottage !!! What's wrong with you ? I think it's about time to replace them with black ones so that you can sleep at night. Best luck with everything ! 

[Sam104]

Hi

   I had a massive problem simular to yours, a lady booked in at 1400hrs, seemed very nice, however at 2300hrs one of my neighbors come banging at my door saying that there was over 45 young kids in my one bedroomed apartment.  I managed to evict them all after about an hour,  changed the locks, and texted the ""lady"" in question and told her not to bother coming back or aproaching the complex in any form or way whatsoever.   I did not cancel the booking, but informed airbnb of the problem, and gave the worst truthful rating writeup possible with 1* all the way through.... this was somehow upgraded to 2* and what i originally placed.   what I am trying to say is not everyone who books is like this. but beware.

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

Do your house rules say  only registered guests may enter the property?

If not, you need to add that.  Then you have something to enforce.

Ours say small quiet gatherings with only a few people and only with prior notice to the hosts of who will be there.  Also that they have to meet their guests at the main gate and escort them to and from the camper.

If you have a rule against parties, shoes and smoking you needed to go up to the cottage after the second car drove up, find the guest who booked and tell them that those guests can stay (or not) but no more and remind them no shoes and no smoking.

When booking for a wedding party I think you have to be very clear about what is allowed on your property.  If the bride is there, the hairdresser, the makeup person, the bridesmaids and all of the brides family are likely to be present also.

You could call Airbnb and ask them to cancel the guests due to breaking house rules.  Or you could send them a resolution for cleaning now or after they leave and if they don't pay, oh well.

You could send them an Airbnb message now telling them that you are unhappy about the extra guests and the mess, and that no one except the guests who  booked is welcome back to your cottage.   

If you don't want a bad review you could just ignore it and clean up and never again let a wedding party stay.

[Paul-and-Debbie0]

Thanks. I was worried that it would affect our super host status if I cancel. When I asked AirBnB they said I iwll have to cancel the booking. Did not think of doing it this way. 

[Betty-B--M-0]

Thumbs-up for evicting without cancelling and giving a truthful review.

A deft way to keep the website part of your listing in order while managing the physical aspects too. 

[Paul-and-Debbie0]

Thanks, these are some great tips. I've changed the deposit level now and amended the house rules. 

[Kelly518]

@Lilian0 

Is it possible to give good advice without being so condescending? “What is wrong with YOU?’” Jeez 

[Paul-and-Debbie0]

Thank you, all. This is really helpful and I got some great piece of advice. 

We had some minor losses, we will be okay. We’ll take it as a lesson fee for some very important lessons learnt.

I guess my question at this point is what can you do as a host when guests to not observe the house rules? People say enforce it. Well, I was not going to send my husband to deal with dozens of people on his own. We wanted to call the police but were not sure what it would mean. What I wanted from AirBnB is to tell me that I can go ahead and cancel the booking right away, ask them to leave and that I will not be panelised because of it. They did not, so I am still lost. Am I completely helpless when people already arrive and disrespect our place and rules? 

Thanks, 

Debbie

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

@Paul-and-Debbie0

If you are positive the guests know of your house rules then you will be confident if you need to confront them.  One way to do this is to post a laminated copy inside the listing, point to it as you check the guests in and ****read it to them****.

I have a little introduction.  I say to the guests  'I have an introduction for you and I have to do it in a certain order or I will forget something important.'  I smile and joke a bit while saying that. 

Then I invite them into the bathroom (which is TINY) and point to the bathroom wall and say 'Mr T (what we call the camper/RV toilet'  is here to help you remember.  The bathroom rules have a picture of Mr. T the celebrity on it.  They smile.  It breaks the ice for the 'RV toilet talk.'

Then we come out of the bathroom, I run through everything else while pointing to the items/features and the house rules that are posted about each item.

Since I started doing this, zero issues.  Before that, well, let's not talk about it.

So if your House Rules are posted with bullet points, you go up to the guests as soon as you realize an issue, point to the laminated sheet and glare at them.  Most people are mortified to have been 'caught' and straighten up immediately. 

In this incident, before they booked you might have emailed the house rules and pointed out that the limit of individuals present would be X and will that work for them.  Or when the second car went up the driveway, you would have been right behind it.  Once there are 50 people there you would have to involve Airbnb to call the registered guest and tell her to tell them to leave NOW.  If you have a house rule in place, Airbnb will do that.  If the person you reach won't do that, ask for a supervisor or call again in a few minutes and get someone else.

Police is only if you want them OUT NOW and plan to have them arrested if they won't go.  Probably not the best idea if they are getting ready for a wedding, but would work fine if a young couple booked and it turned into a frat party.

Unless you know a police officer or a sheriff's officer that would just come and stand by you while you chat with the registered guest.  In a friendly kind of way.  Depending on your police force, sometimes they prefer to be there in case things get ugly, but are willing to just sit in the car and look annoyed while you deal with the situation.

If you know in your heart that your communication was clear enough for any one to understand, you will feel fine about enforcement. 

Kerrin

[Robin4]

@Paul-and-Debbie0...Well in the last week we have seen a host get a speedy and satisfactory response from The Resolution department because she went right to the top! The directors of the company do apparently have active email addresses and although they do not repond personally they do get the wheels turning to take care of situations like this.

Now this information is what was related by another host on this forum and I cannot vouch for the accuracy of it but here is a link that started the whole thing off....

http://blog.airbnb.com/our-commitment-to-trust-and-safety/

and this is the thread where this information came from.....

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/FORGET-FILING-A-DAMAGE-CLAIM-YOU-WILL-NOT-BE-COMPENSATED/td-p/...

I would suggest you follow a similar path and go to the top and see if it gets you any further than the 'Kevins' that you have to deal with in the Resolution Centre!

Here is Brian Chesky's email address....... brian.chesky@airbnb.com

Paul & Debbie, If you go down this path, leave the emotion out of it! Just document what happened plus any supporting evidence that you have with regard to repatriation costs, and specifically detail your dealings with the Resolution Centre and name the personnel that you dealt with. There is the possibility to make an example here that will have ramifications with how the Resolutrion Centre flippantly deal with hosts claims!

I would love to hear how you get on....the resolution centre is turning out to be a major heartache for us hosts and if we can put a bit of pressure to bear in other areas it might just make them lift their game!

Good luck mate.....keep us posted!!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Sue183]

The resolution centre is a nightmare for me too. I'm having my very first hosting experience and the resolution centre has lied to me something insane. I have a problematic guest who was supposed to leave 2 days ago - Robert at the resolution centre told me he would call him yesterday and tell him not to come back, and that the guest's possessions would then be safely transferred to him. This is a safety concern based on ongoing and serious violation of all of my house rules.

Well, Robert never called the guest as he said he would. Nor did James, Siobhan, Dahlia or any of the numerous other people I spoke to. But they didn't tell me this. They left me hanging, thinking they were going to help me when they clearly are NOT. When I call by Skype, my calls are dropped after 5 minutes. When I call by landline, I pay international rates and have to wait forever while people go and talk to each other or something - and then I get lied to.

I think the resolution centre should not exist because it sounds like all it's doing is lying to hosts and hurting them.

This will probably be my first and last hosting experience. I have another guest and she is just lovely and I have had a glimpse of why some people love AirBnB. But I am literally sitting here traumatised, with a person in my home I don't feel safe with (I've had to ask my male housemate to cancel going to work tomorrow morning so as not to leave me with this unknown guest with his unknown ways). I changed some of my locks today as Robert instructed. It's after midnight and I'm stressed and sleep-deprived (this guest has been with me for 3 weeks). But the guy is back inside my home! Robert and the other resolution centre staff are silent. I cannot write any more emails or make any more calls. I am utterly exhausted and I feel abused and i know, from reading on this forum, that all that's going to happen now is I'll be financially penalised too.

[Linda108]

@Paul-and-Debbie0  Your cottage is adorable and seems to be an ideal location for many family gatherings and vacations.  You have had 70 groups and this is the first time guests have acted in an unruly way.  It seems that you have been very fortunate up until now.  It is a little unclear to me what you wanted Air BNB to do.  Did you want the guest to be relocated?  If so, did you communicate with the guest? Using the Air BNB message system you would need to list the rules - walking on the carpet with shoes, smoking, parties.... Then you would require that they find other accommodations because they have broken house rules and they can contact Air BNB for assistance to do that. Once that occurs you can list the damage caused by the guest and seek a claim from the security deposit.

Perhaps I missed something, but it seems pretty cut and dry that you have steps to take and Air BNB can support that.  How do you think Air BNB is not reacting as you need? If the guest cannot be reached by Air BNB or you, it seems you just have to wait it out. Escalating to Brian may be a bit of overkill in this case. 

[Robin4]

@Paul-and-Debbie0   Linda is right of course but I suggested that action that I did because, Paul & Debbie, what is happening to you is a common occurance....'one lovely girl books for her parents and a party of 100 turn up'......And we are so frustrated with seeing the happhazard, dismissive way ABB are handling situations like this!

I know, carpet cleaning might come to a couple of hundred bucks, extra cleaning of your lovely property might take another 100...the remote, well, it may turn up under a cushion! Why all the big deal? Things may all get sorted out in the end!

What if this wedding guest of yours (who can't be contacted) shows up the next night with another bunch of partiers in tow and picks up where they left off yesterday?? After all they are booked for another two nights!!!

NO, no, no.....get them out now, and go to the top to do it, I don't care if it's 3 in the morning, keep sending emails until you get a response.

It is simply not good enough to be fobbed off with a "Sorry we can't contact the guest right now, you will just have to wait" 

Why should we bother having any house rules at all if we can't have them enforced!!!!

Sorry @Linda108, you do offer wonderful advice every day but I have to disagree with you on this one. Where the flagrant disregard for house rules and the trashing of my property is concerned, there is no such thing as 'Overkill'!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Paul-and-Debbie0]

Thanks, Linda and Robyn, you are very helpful. 

As for what I was expecting ABNB to do, it was to allow me in such a situtation to throw the guests out and back me up. But they did not. All they said it that I could cancel the booking, and of course, resulting in loss of income, superhost tag and that doesn't mean she would leave, either. I was very furstrated with what they offered. 

This situation is still going. Her brother came back with his mates today and stayed here. She paid for it, but told us it will only be her parents and siblings who stay. 

I've learned my lesson, will never allow such guests to stay again, but I realised that in case guests do not respect the house rules, ABNB will not back you up.