Guest who booked dumps elderly mother at my listing who doesn’t understand the concept of an Airbnb.

[Priyanka7]

I had a guest book a 3 night stay, however it was for his mother and not him. His mother is really old, probably in her 80s and upon her arrival I could sense that she was confused and a bit fussy. I spoke to the guest and offered a full refund if they wished to look elsewhere, the guest assured me that he is happy with the accommodation- however his mother is just old and not used to this and I should be patient. So I was patient when I heard his mother going through all of my cupboards downstairs and I was patient when she ate food that was not hers. I’ve repeatedly messaged the guest asking him to explain the house rules and the whole Airbnb thing to his mom so there are no misunderstandings. The next evening, another guest who is in the same listing but different room asked me to come look at the bathroom. I was horrified to see that the toilet wasn’t flushed after being used, two pairs of underwear was left in the shower and a towel was draped over the shower floor (almost like a covering) and soaked in water. This was in addition to the mother leaving all her hair products all over the counter. Another issue is that the mother arrived over 72hrs ago and has never switched off the bedroom light- I’ve also brought this to the sons attention but nothing has changed. There’s been times where she is downstairs watching TV but her room light is on and visible from the outside. I then messaged the son to tell him this was not on and it’s affecting my other reservation. I also suggested that they cut their trip short by one night and I would refund them as I didn’t think this was suitable for his mother. It’s over 32hrs later and he is yet to respond to any of my messages nor over Airbnb or text (so his mother stayed the full trip). Today is checkout and I’ve asked multiple times what time I should be home to collect keys and I’ve also not gotten a response. I’ve spoken with Airbnb case manager regarding this and they have also unsuccessfully tried to contact the guest. Speaking to the mother is a waste of time- she is extremely unfriendly and looks at you like you are speaking a foreign language and replies in short answers instead of conversing like “I know” or “oh”. This has been one of the most stressful three days of  hosting I’ve probably lost money from keeping the reservation due to the excessive consumption and also the fact that I had to offer the other guest the cleaning fee back due to the mess the mother left in the bathroom. What is my recourse in this situation? What should I do to prevent this from happening again?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Priyanka7 

there is one very easy solution for this type of situation - call Airbnb, say you got a THIRD PARTY BOOKING and ask them to cancel this reservation.

Airbnb TOS forbids third-party reservations but Airbnb TOLERATES it if the host agrees to host the third party. In other words - the host is not penalized for accepting it but the reservation will be canceled if the host calls Airbnb and ask for it. In such cases, the host is not penalized for cancellation.

Link to Airbnb TOS

https://www.airbnb.com/terms

make sure to leave an honest review, something like:

" xxx booked for his mother so this was a third party booking which is not allowed by Airbnb TOS. Lady was not a typical Airbnb guest and not familiar with Airbnb concept. She would be better suited in hotel environment. Unfortunately, I can't recommend her to other hosts"

[Priyanka7]

I did contact Airbnb, unfortunately the son who booked did not respond to Airbnb nor me and therefore they couldn’t cancel the reservation from their side until they got a response from the “guest”. The mother stayed the full trip and I got a nasty message from the son essentially saying I’ve misrepresented the listing (they thought it was a whole house) , I lied about the bathroom being private, and I was unaccomodating- all of which is untrue. I’m just waiting for the bad review from them and hopefully Airbnb will remove it for voilating their terms of service as he never stayed at the listing so he cannot have a “subjective experience” 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Priyanka7  it's a lie that they can't cancel if the guest doesn't respond. Just to know - if you are not satisfied with one CS rep then ask him to close the ticket. When he does, you can call again and you will get another rep who will hopefully be more helpful

[Priyanka7]

The CS rep I was dealing with was Ren, he was actually extremely understanding and helpful and definitely one of the better Airbnb CS reps. I think the main issue was that I wanted to not only cancel the reservation but also get an additional cleaning fee from them as I believe it is only fair for me to refund the other guest who was affected by their behavior- and I do think they needed his go ahead to process this. I also didn’t want an issue where the reservation was cancelled but the mother was still in the house? They seemed to have just dumped her here as of the three nights I only saw them at checkin and the mother never left the house. 

[Natalie725]

That sounds like such a frustrating and unnerving situation. Especially seeing as you had another guest in the house it was affecting. I actually felt so anxious reading that! In my own personal experience, I've also had guests (who tbh, are strangers!) - rooting around in your cupboards despite "no kitchen use" being plastered everywhere in Airbnb rules and in print. It definitely puts you on edge, and I can only imagine the pressure you felt! Hopefully Airbnb will delete your review if it is negative. It seems that you never know with Airbnb support, whether something will be removed or not. Depends on the agent you're talking with. They don't seem to all agree on a policy

[Priyanka7]

Thanks Natalie, this gave me so much anxiety I actually had to go take a walk outside. It’s one thing to have bad guests but it’s another when they try to turn around and manipulate the situation- after checkout they actually complained to Airbnb about the listing not being “accurate” (basically they wanted an entire house and private bathroom). It’s very visble on my listing (both in title and description) that it’s a room to rent. Luckily the CS rep I was dealing with told him his claim was invalid and he can’t really complain about things after completing the stay. I’ve also been told that since this was a 3rd party booking- the likelihood of me getting it removed is high because it does breach the TOS. All in all I think this CS rep was on the ball and I don’t think I’ll have a huge hassle getting it removed since he never stayed in the listing. I’m also lucky that my other guest was understanding and didn’t want to cancel. Hopefully this will be my last bad experience with a guest.