Guest Complaints, yes plural

[Jill536]

Sorry for the length of this scenario......I have been renting my condo for 6 years and have never had an issue.  Only 2 rentals via Airbnb; this is number 2.  An employer rented our unit for two of her employees, and assured us that their jobs depended on their commitment to treat our condo with respect., and to abide by the condo rules, etc etc.. 

Day two, I contacted them about the air conditioner.  I have wifi access so we can monitor it remotely when no one is in there for various reasons, such as receiving an alert if it isn’t working.  We are in a State where we must have thenAC unit running all year round or we will have mould issues.  They had set the AC on Hold 60.  We were of course worried that they were going to freeze the unit, not only what the electric bill would look like.  There is no reason to keep a place that Cold.  They agreed to allow me to set a schedule and I must note that I have scheduled it, must colder than I think is necessary, but I’m not that kind of owner to enforce a temp that they would feel uncomfortable with.

Week one, back in Mid-June we received a complaint from the condo manager who shared pictures of an entire coffee spilled in the doorway of our unit with footprints all the way to the elevator.  They walked through the spill and never looked back in addition to ignoring the stain thereafter, until I asked them to clean it up.  They did clean the spill immediately but I had to contact them again the next day to instruct them to also clean up the footprints.  This was alarming as we wondered how anyone could do such a thing.  It seemed that they literally didn’t care at all.

Yesterday, we received formal complaint number two.  They have been throwing cigarette butts off the balcony and there are so many that the yard maintenance staff reported it to the office.  The real concern here is that this is a non-smoking unit!!  

I haven't contacted them yet, because I’m not sure how to address this. I would like to tell them that three strikes and their out, but I would also like to maybe ask them to leave now.  I am super worried with what the state of the condo might be in.  I’m also worried that they might decide to trash the place if I ask them to leave.  I’m lost....what do we do?  What are my Host rights?  I’m not even sure if I have a damage deposit in place.  How does Airbnb support me here?  Am I entitled to keep the rent I’ve received so far.  They had three payments total, and we just got payment number 2.  Please help!!

[Emiel1]

@Jill536 

Did the employer booked via a business account ? Otherwise it is an illegal 3rd party booking and then Airbnb will not support the reservation. As you mention multiple installments used for payout, it is probably a "long term stay' reservation. Such a reservation has the "long term stay" cancellation policy attached, which means no refund for the next 30 days after cancellation (and you can keep allready paid installments). Your listing shows a small security deposit (Euro 178,-), i can offcourse not see if it was also there at time of booking (check reservation). Instead of cancellation you could opt for shortening the stay (change reservation), which is more convenient and penalty free.

Best regards,

Emiel

[Jill536]

Hi Emiel,

Are you also a host?  

No the employer booked via her own account.  She has been an Airbnb member since 2015.  Would she not be accepting liability by association?  She filled out all of the paperwork and passed along the rental agreement and such.

Yes this was a long term rental and even though my listing was set up to have the rental paid in full before the arrival date, Airbnb set it up as instalments.  

Taxes weren’t added and my cleaning fee wasn’t applied.  Lots to learn, but I decided to leave well enough alone until I started seeing issues.

Thanks for the assistance/advise!