Guest being difficult - please advise

[Gary-and-Allie0]

We are relatively new hosts - we started this adventure in December 2016.  We have a couple that has been staying with us for nearly a month.  They have been very good, clean guests and I have had no complaints.   They are staying with us while they finish building a house.  They are schedued to stay one more week.  Today I received a message from them that they had gotten a puppy and the wife just wanted to let me know before they got back to our house with this new addition.  We have a "no pets" policy and a puppy is especially concerning.  I had a very surprised reaction (possibly even a bit dramatic) to the text and said I was concerned about the challenges with a puppy - lack of potty training and chewing.  She then proceeded to tell me that I was a racist and that she was centemplating contacting Airbnb now that they've got new diveristy guidelines.  I was literally in shock.  We are not even close to being racist!  These guests are of Asian descent - Korean, to be exact - but that has never been an issue.  All of our convos are on the Airbnb platform, so they are easily accessible.  Basically, right now, I think I'm terribly hurt that I would be called racist when that is so very far from who we are.  But, it also feels a bit like extortion.  I just need some info on what my best steps at this point would be.

Thanks, Allie

[Maryanne8]

Hey Michelle thanks for the advice but I'm in Australia :-), I tried calling this morning on our local number, but waited for 20min so hung up. I really dont understand why I cant just email someone.

Cheers

M

[Michelle354]

I actually replied to the wrong person a few minutes ago. haha. But this is the number I found +61 2 8520 3333. For email try response@airbnb.com

[Kelly65]

That would be because Airbnb don't want to be contacted. Hosts are a revenue source and stuff providing service. 

[Andrea9]

@Michelle354

>>>>> I always end up having to look it up with every problem<<<<<

It always astonishes me there are hosts who don't include Airbnb on speed dial....

[Bruce43]

yea you would think 🙂  i always call the usa number seems to be the best line.

[Bruce43]

yes any problem i have i call or twitter help and both times it was settled in my favor 

i might have been lucky but i think airbnb could use more help personal

[Gaye-and-George0]

i would tell them that you haave a family booking coming as they have extended their stay anyway and get them out with their puppy. Gaye

I have a problem someone maybe able to help me with.

I have lovely ex[ensive linen which I use. The last clients must have either suntan lotion or body lotion and it has left ugly oily stains on my sheets. I have tried to hand scrub & very hot wash but cannot get it out. What would you do?  Do you perhaps purchase very cheap linen & allow in your price to throw it away? I am new to Airbnb and am not sure what most people would do?

[Michelle354]

Oh no. Buy either the same item or something similar. Submit a receipt and the request in the resolution center. You only have a certain amount of time. It may be 5 days. I don't remember. But they usually want you to do it within a couple days of them checking out. You can ask them if they'll replace it before you put it through the resolution center and just bill them for it through Airbnb. If they don't respond quickly then just move forward.

[Eva102]

It took me a while to find it... but when I called they answered quickly and  it was helpful

The scond time it was a computer problem which solved itself during  my call... hung up... but they still rang back..

Will send  you he number when i get home.

Eva

[Barbara459]

MaryAnne  ---from US or Canada:

+1-415-800-5959  or 1-855-424-7262 toll free.   It is very difficult to get customer service from a large online company, I agree.  And to do things other than choose their options.    

[Annie147]

Google Airbnb's phone number. Once the search comes up click on the one that says "gethuman" and read the prompts they give you to get a hold of a physical person. 

I always do this for sites for which there is no phone number, like Amazon and Google

[Lilian20]

Agree with @Cynthia-and-Chris1

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

Along the same lines, I run a small business and my most problematic employee happened to be of a minority.  That person would pull the race card before , during and after every single contact that management had with them.  I quaked in fear of the potential fall out from terminating their employment, counseled and coached the person and tolerated behavior that I would not otherwise tolerate,  and was so thankful and relieved when the person voluntarily resigned for reasons having nothing to do with my business.  I will not fall into that trap again.  It had been created by prior management policies that were much too lenient and set a precedent of entitlement that the person took full advantage of.

[Dede0]

@Gary-and-Allie0 Based on their jerk followup, I would pursue this to the max and crush them to the max extent possible. No matter how well you've gotten along for the previous month, these people are clearly jerks (in many ways) and deserve not only the least possible leeway for the remainder of their stay, but also the WORST possible review (to alert potential future hosts to their jerk nature). Please do all you can to alert future hosts to their bahavior.

By the way, "jerk" is muy self-edited replacement for *bleep*. The forums auto-bleeped that exact same term sometimes, but not always. Funny!

[David126]

I tend to look at the presumably unintended consequences of policies and when I saw this I thought here comes lots of problems.

No shortage of people who will play such cards, have seen a few cases mentioned on here, slightly surprised there have not been more.

I agree with everybody else you need to act fast and get your side in asap. We have seen Hosts kicked of AirBnB for less.