Guest keeps threatening me with my first bad review

[Susan725]

Good morning all from a rainy Dublin 🌧

im looking for some help please.

I Airbnb a room in our family home. I do this to help with the mortgage payments.

I have had roughly 20 guests - all positive reviews.

last week I accepted a booking firm a guest with no previous reviews. I have never done this before but she was just after arriving in Ireland - had nowhere to stay and is a university student so I accepted the booking.

omg it has been a nightmare. She has tried to cancel the booking and cut it short twice (I refused the request as I need the money sadly) she has told me she will leave me a bad review because I will not a) break my cancellation policy and give her a refund b) I will not allow her to break the house rules which are clearly outlined on the listing.

she has only said this to me verbally.

she has broken every house role since she arrived.

im so stressed about her review. I have been including her in our family meals and providing her with dinners each night as I know she is a student. I really and truely enjoy being a host and meeting people from all over the world but I’m so worried about this review and how it will affect future bookings. I haven’t even been sleeping

[Gwen386]

@Susan725 Stop allowing yourself to be held hostage by the possibility of a bad review. Eventually, we hosts might get one. And in this case, I can guarantee you will get one.

I don’t understand why you won’t shorten her stay. Oh, I do. You need the money. This is not a good way to host. If a guest is unhappy and you’re unhappy with the guest, the sooner you both part ways the better.  You view this guest as helpless (arriving with no place to go—who travels like this?). Yet, it appears she does have somewhere to go, if she asked you to cancel her reservation.

So again, please understand that no matter what you do in this situation, you’re getting a bad review. If it were me, I would just shorten her stay and let her be on her way. 

[Susan725]

Thank you for your advice.

it’s just I would never have gotten another booking at one days notice.

I totally understand what you mean though. I would love to be able to cancel the stay. It seems she made a friend in college last week who is staying in a hostel and offered her a bed in her room for free (as the friend paid for the room in advance).

I have a strict cancellation policy this seems to be what she has a problem with.

im so very disappointed as I was going for superhost status on 1st October 😢

thank you again for taking the time to reply I really appreciate it.

I don’t know any other air bnb hosts here in Ireland so it’s great to be able to connect and chat with someone who understands 

[Helen744]

@Susan725 I have stayed at some lovely Airbnbs in Ireland and only the farm stay offered meals which were great.This young person does not know how lucky she is. Tell her that she is free to cancel but your strict policy is in place and she may be dissapointed at airbnbs refund policy in that case but it should be fine for her and probably better if she stays until the end of the week . all the best 

[Huma0]

@Susan725 

Firstly, try to keep discussions about things like cancellations and refunds in the Airbnb message thread if you can. I know this can be difficult when you are sharing a space with a guest and therefore normally speak face to face, but then try to follow up the conversation with a written message. 

Threatening a bad review like that is extortion and against Airbnb's rules. The guest may have been too smart to put this in writing, but a lot of guests have no idea that Airbnb can see the messages on the system. So, if she had written that threat, you would have had a chance of getting her review removed.

With a guest like this, I would probably just want them gone asap, but I understand that you need the money and it doesn't seem fair to have to refund her. So, you could do as @Helen744 suggests, or you could also tell her that if she cancels, you will refund her for any nights that get rebooked, but only once Airbnb have paid you, and that there is however no. guarantee they will get booked again at such short notice.

And put it in writing on the Airbnb messaging system. 

"Dear X, just to reiterate, you would like to leave the listing early because your friend has offered you a free room at the hostel she is staying at. You are perfectly free to cancel and leave early, but you will be bound by the Airbnb cancellation policy that you agreed to on booking. I would only be able to offer you an additional refund should some of the nights get rebooked - and only after Airbnb has paid me for them - and there is of course no guarantee that they will be at short notice."

[Susan725]

Thank you both so much for taking time out of your days to respond to my post.

I really appreciate the advice you have both given to me.

So, she came downstairs a few minutes ago and asked me when will I be washing her clothes and asked me why I hadn’t cleaned the 3 pairs of shoes she left at the front door.

im just at a loss.

I explained I don’t clean guests shoes or wash their clothes. I explained she is more than welcome to use our washing machine and I have washing powder she can use to do this and she said - just give me the powder I will wash them myself in the bathroom sink.

I showed her where the clothes airer is (it’s raining in Ireland) and she has now hung her wet underwear in her bedroom window where the Neighbour’s can all see.

she had us all awake at 4 am this morning ringing home.

im sorry for ranting and venting I’m just stressed and disappointed and to be honest a bit devastated as I was on course to get superhost in a few weeks time 😢

[Gwen386]

@Susan725  I am literally just shaking my head—wash her clothes and clean her shoes!

I guess now that you are feeding her, she feels comfortable in trying to take advantage of you.

There is not enough money in the world that would make me put up with this bull !!!!  It’s like a comedy. 

[Susan725]

Your right. I feel like an awful fool here.

I’m most upset about the knickers and bras currently on display in an upstairs window for everyone walking / driving past to see. 

I’m so annoyed with myself - I should never have accepted a booking from someone with no previous reviews 

[Huma0]

@Susan725 

Don't beat yourself up about it. There is nothing wrong with accepting guests with no reviews. I have hosted many and most have been lovely (in fact, they are often very eager to impress you and get a good review on their profile). Everyone has to start somewhere.

Also, a lot of hosts leave really generic, positive reviews even if the guest wasn't that great, so you cannot rely on reviews alone. The most important thing is the correspondence with the guest before the trip. They are staying with you in your home so you need to get a sense of what they are like and how they communicate. 

In the beginning, I hosted a few guests who were similar to this one (although no one has ever expected me to clean their shoes!) but I have since learnt to look out for red flags and it seems to work. That's not to say I never have problem guests, but I don't get this type anymore. 

It's also a good idea to lay the ground rules. I mean remind guests to read all your house rules (I include an Easter egg question to make sure they do) and agree to them in writing before they book. Remind them of some of the more important ones when you give them the house tour. You can do this in a friendly manner. It doesn't need to sound like a list of dos and don'ts 

RE laundry, yep, this drives me nuts. Hanging dripping wet laundry in bedrooms can also damage furniture and furnishings. When I still hosted short term guests, I would offer to do laundry for them (did not want them breaking the machine) but for a fee. I'm guessing this young lady comes from a household with home help and seems to expect the same of you.

It's up to you, but at this point, I would want the guest out. Otherwise, you can sit her down and have a polite but firm chat with her reminding what she agreed to when she booked the listing and that maid service is not part of the offering. 

Of course, you could also just grit your teeth and ride it out for the next few days and then leave her an honest review with low stars and 'would not host again'. That, however, won't guarantee she's not going to leave a bad review anyway as she's already threatened to do that. By the way, that threat alone would have been enough for me to kick her out. 

[Helen744]

@Susan725 if she acts like a brat treat her like one until she packs up . Simply call out to her and say remove the underwear from the upstairs window and put in on the airing rack . It is sometimes difficult to be what may seem rude to you to guests . also tell her in no uncertain terms that things are different in the real world and people need to put their big girl pants on and clean their own things ,but you can show her how. I cannot imagine how she will manage in her friends room but the sooner she gets there the better.H

[Susan725]

Things have gone from bad to terrible 😢

I went into my listing this evening to update the calendar and it has been suspended 

I rang air bnb and they said the girl has made an accusation about us but they would not tell me ehat

i am currently being investigated im beyond upset 

[Helen744]

@Susan725 i imagine the only thing that they could hold against you is your refusal to cancel . that does not stop the guest from cancelling and leaving . You are currently the victim of a scram designed to get a refund against your policy and to this end your guest has made an accusation . you are entitled to know what it is and airbnbs policy of not allowing the host to counter any accusation and to actually suspend your listing is truly abbhorent .Ring them again and send photos of the space and tell them to look at all your messages and make it clear the guest has no reason against you to leave but , only wanted to go with a boyfriend seemingly unaware that she had signed a cancellation policy which will stand unless she has a reason. ask Airbnb why she left because she only said it was to join her friend and no other reason except maybe because she wanted you to do her washing and clean her shoes. Tell them that she did not try and resolve any actual issue with you but was free to leave at any time as long as she abided by the cancellation policy. H

[Gwen386]

@Susan725 I am so sorry that things have gone from bad to worse—the suspension of your account—-but the writing was on the wall. 

So, now as you wait for the extremely slow investigation team to reactivate your account, which could take anywhere from many days to a couple of weeks, reflect on how you will run your airbnb going forward. As stated in my very first post, do NOT be held hostage by a review. And also, realize that this type of business is not a guarantee of a continuous stream of income. Many scenarios can topple the apple cart. Take for example the Pandemic. It hurt a lot of hosts financially. 

So, remember, “this too shall pass” and that you will be okay. It may be a setback, but hopefully, it’s only temporary. I’m rooting for you!

[Mark116]

@Susan725  I'm sorry this happened to you, but guests often make false accusations in order to get the refund that the host refuses to give them.  If the guest hasn't had her reservation cancelled already and left you will want to be very, very careful in documenting everything and every interaction you have with her.

You may never find out what accusation she has made. 

It is an unfortunate truth of Airbnb that, while it is unfair, it is often better for a host to cut their losses and give some or all of a refund request to prevent this kind of behavior by a guest.

People who don't follow the rules are never thankful, as you found, after feeding this person for free and she is trying to destroy your business.  Don't ever forget this lesson as a host.

Good luck and keep us posted,

[Gwen386]

@Susan725   Please read @Mark116 response twice. It is so true.

And let the next to last paragraph, and especially that last sentence, be your mantra.

You see, unfortunately, “no good deed goes unpunished.”