Guest is threatening my partner and I and will not leave property. Airbnb support ambassador won't reply to any messages or calls.

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Guest is threatening my partner and I and will not leave property. Airbnb support ambassador won't reply to any messages or calls.

My guest started threatening my partner and I last night and somehow figured out we were gay.  We quickly realized the people staying are not the person who made the reservation.  I spent 3 hours on the phone with airbnb last night 9.30p-12.30a trying to get this dealt with.  The support ambassador said they would have the guest leave by 10am today, but now no one will answer me via phone or the app thread.  The guest is still there, though they left 3 hours ago, and left the door standing wide open.  I'm terrified for my safety to go down to the property, but airbnb will not help me.  

 

I am at my wit's end.  I've hosted thousands of guests over 4 years, and airbnb has totally failed me in the only case I've ever been fearful for my safety.  Does anyone know how to get a response?  I've told them repeatedly this is a safety issue, but they keep saying I have to wait for my support ambassador to come back in, but that may be 3 days from now.  What do I do?

1 Best Answer
Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Lee353  Okay, well then you obviously have  to get them out 1) before they can claim tenant rights and 2) ASAP before they destroy the unit.

 

I'm thinking of something like this..

 

Airbnb:

 

I am writing about reservation XXX.

 

It has come to my attention that this reservation is a third party booking, which is not allowed under Airbnb's TOS and therefore neither the guests nor the host are entitled to any of Airbnb's protection.

[cut and paste Airbnb TOS on third party bookings] + evidence of the third party booking.

 

As you can see from XX evidence, this is obviously a third party booking which is not allowable.

 

This booking puts the guests and the hosts at risk.

 

Please provide a neutral Airbnb cancellation for this reservation as soon as possible.

 

_____________________________

 

Something like that, which is very straightforward and see what happens.

 

Your other alternative is to just cancel them and then spend the next weeks and months trying to get Airbnb to open your calendar and remove the host penalties that they will inevitably lodge on the listing.

View Best Answer in original post

54 Replies 54

@Mark116  “Your other alternative is to just cancel them and then spend the next weeks and months trying to get Airbnb to open your calendar and remove the host penalties that they will inevitably lodge on the listing.”


Spot on.

 

@Lee353 Judging by what you’ve told us about these people, and given it’s a long stay, in your shoes I would just cancel them immediately and deal with Airbnb after the fact to remove the penalties. You may be in for a world more trouble than penalties if you don’t get them out NOW.

 

Good luck, and do be more vigorous in your guest vetting efforts going forward.

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Nick @Liv @Quincy 

 

Any help you can provide here would be useful. 

 

The host is stuck with guests who have threatened him, left the door open for an entire day, admitted they have lied to him,  and are booked by a third party, yet Airbnb customer service won't assist him with a neutral cancellation.

Nick
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Lee353 I hope you are your partner are ok. I've forwarded this to CS in the hopes it will speed up their response. I will update you when I know more. Thank you 

 

Thank you @Mark116 for the tag

It appears no one during the day will pick up my case.  The overnight shift (wherever they live) only message me after 1am.  They literally sent a message at 1am this morning asking if they could call because I had sent a message at 10am asking for a call from a supervisor.  

 

Anything you can do to get someone to call me or message me at a reasonable hour would be greatly appreciated!

@Lee353  Try calling Airbnb's HQ 415 number in San Francisco.  At one time, that number wasn't routed through their regular call centers, but it may be now, I'm not sure, worth a try.

thank you!

Nick
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Lee353 Customer Support told me they can't see an open case from you at this point and told me to ask you to get back in touch with them regarding this so they can update a new ticket and move forward. Thank you again 

@Nick  I know this is out of your control, and I appreciate that the staff at this forum do their best to inform Airbnb of such issues......but if  you ever wonder why so many hosts who post here are extremely jaded...it is stories like this. 

 

A host who has been verbally threatened, has extensive evidence that the guests at the property don't include the guest who made the booking, and not only has he been rebuffed by multiple CS reps, now it turns out, there isn't even an ongoing case.  That is really disappointing.

 

Airbnb works well when hosts and guests are reasonable and honest, which thankfully is most of the time; and/or when hosts are able to absorb minor damages as the cost of doing business and don't make any claims for reimbursement.  In other words when Airbnb isn't asked to get involved in anything.  Sadly, it seemingly works the worst in the most egregious cases, where there is a real safety issue, a party issue, e.g. an issue that needs immediate resolution.  

@Mark116  And if it were the other way around, and the guest called Airbnb saying the host had threatened them and they feel scared and unsafe, and the unit isn't the one that was advertised, I highly doubt Airbnb would be responding like this.

 

Instead the guest would be cancelled and refunded and told to leave immediately and the host's account would be suspended.

@Sarah977  Yes you're right. Like I keep saying:  weird company.  Truly, it isn't that hard to set up some decent protocols and whatever you call it, a message tree, that tells the rep who and where to go if something needs to be escalated.  It can't be that hard, as an example, that when a guest claims undisclosed cameras, that a CS rep spends 5 minutes reading the listing and then bumps up their findings to a supervisor who will also read the listing and confirm the judgement...something like that should be able to be done within the same working day, but at least w/in 24 hours...instead Airbnb suspends the listing and gives themselves days or even weeks to perform this basic 'research'.

 

It also can't be that hard, since Airbnb knows exactly how the percentages break down in terms of most frequent problems..to ensure that the reps are giving out factually correct info. such as how reviews on cancelled reservations work.  

 

 

 

 

YOU ARE KIDDING.  What in the world do I have to do?  

 

How do I actually get someone to call me?  I've been requesting a call for 48 hours and only get responses at 1:00am ET.  The last ambassador message asked if I would please let the guest stay because they're sorry?  Like, what in the world is going on?

@Lee353 

 

1) Send them a written message on the app.

2) Call them and ask if a) there are any open case numbers, that you've been informed there is no open case, then b) ask that a new case be opened.

3) Go back through the evidence of the issue, KEEP IT SIMPLE, I would focus on the third party issue since it is has already been acknowledged by the guests.  Keep restating Airbnb's policy on third party bookings.

*Some people say they get a better response if they contact Airbnb also in their twitter and their facebook pages.  So, do that too.

*For twitter and facebook I would also mention the guests verbally threatened you, especially if there is a witness or anything is on camera...this might shame them into being more responsive.

 

 

 

 

 

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the input on this.  After 3 days, Airbnb finally canceled the reservation last night based on the the 3rd party booking TOS breach.  

 

The guest had not been at the property for 24 hours by this time, so now I just have to deal with figuring out if they still have belongings there and getting them removed.  The ambassador who finally took care of this for me unfortunately left when his shift ended without giving me guidance on whether they have belongings there and when they would retrieve them.  

 

I will definitely have law enforcement there if they still have things in the property.  The ambassador said they may be gone for a couple of days (away from the city my listing is in).  Am I expected to hold onto their belongings until they're back?  

Well, this just keeps getting better.  I just received this message from the guest.  Any idea on Airbnb policy for this? I can't find anything about it, and I can't get a hold of Airbnb on the phone.  I sent them a message, but it normally takes hours to get a response.

 

"my belongings are still in the apartment because I have been out of the apt since Tuesday and XXXX since Wednesday due to family matters. We are discussing this issue of the apartment being canceled on us without our consent and without refund with Airbnb and our attorneys. Our attorneys have advised us to give you notice to stand on hold and don’t touch or remove any of our belongings until further notice."

@Lee353  I would tell them it is unfortunate that they were booked by a third party, voiding all  the guarantees and protections for guests and for the hosts, and that this is the reason that Airbnb cancelled the reservation.  Cut and paste the TOS that applies.

 

Check the law in your state for whether or not they stayed long enough to have any tenant rights and what the law says about abandoned property.  Then I would that are you are willing to work with them to schedule a time within the next XX days or whatever is legally appropriate here for them to remove their belongings, but that they will need to be removed within XX days, again whatever the law says, or it will be legally considered abandoned property.

 

I would also plan to be on site, bring friends or family if you feel you need numbers in your favor to supervise them when they come back and get their stuff and give you the keys. I might consider changing the locks after they have left.

 

Then I would add some kind of paragraph that its unfortunate the stay has not been smooth for either you or the guest, but that you believe they will be happier in a different location.  I never ever apologize in these instances, especially if someone is threatening legal action, because it can be seen as accepting responsibility/liability.

 

I think now that the reservation has been cancelled Airbnb is out of the equation, you will need to follow whatever the law in your state says about people leaving their property somewhere.