Hi, I'm new to Airbnb and am looking for some advice. A recent guest rented my home for a couple nights while attending a conference, I can tell by the security camera's he threw a party (which isn't allowed per my rules.) We haven't exchanged reviews yet, and I haven't been able to get my property manager into the rental yet (they said they'd check on the house tomorrow morning.) If it's relevant, this is a rental I own in another city and don't have an on-site property manager.
He and his friends left Thursday, I just got this note from him toight (Friday) and don't know how to handle it. "Hi, the stay was great and your house deserves certainly a five stars. There were wine glasses missing and we fixed that (we left a few from the conference), also, we left a wine opener. The only bad part we have to discuss is the sink discharge. It was plugged and we had to call the plumber that told us it wasn't his first time there and that the sink was plugged 20 feet in. He also had to replace the sink trap. As you can see in the picture it costed me 320$. We can settle this easily if you want to refund me or give me a discount for the next time. What do you think? Also, Airbnb normally doesn't make people taking out the trash. I would have done it if we didn't have our dinners and lunches on Wednesday. Other than that I'm very pleased with the place. Ciao!"
He then sent me a bill for $320 from Roto Rooter. First, I understand Airbnb is run by reviews and a bad review is very hard on business. Second, the wine opener and 8 crystal wine glasses were there the day before he and his friends arrived. Third, I don't understand why he didn't contact me as he had my cell and I could have sent my handyman over (which would have charged me a lot less.) Fourth, Roto Rooter was at my property the previous month for another unit at the same address, where the tenant had broken something in the garbage disposal...nothing with the plumbing. Fifth, since I'm not on-site, I ask the guests to put the trash cans on the curb for trash pickup and ask the guest to return them back to their storage space (I'm trying to figure out how to get someone else to do this, but my property manager isn't available on trash days.)
The thing is, with this $320 bill and the cleaning, it will 0 out any profit on the booking, which I understand might be the price of doing business. But, I'm wondering if this is normal. I kindof feel like I'm being taken advantage of, but am very cautious of a negative review. I can't seem to contact Airbnb to ask that the review for this booking be surpressed. And, don't know what to do about the plumbing bill. Any advice? What would you do?
Thank you so much. 🙂