How do I report a guest?

[Heather13]

We have just said goodbye to 2 guests who have been difficult. 

Firstly, they arrived a day earlier than their booking!  When I asked why, they said it was a mistake.  I received the booking around 21.00h and they called me at 22.00h asking me to pick them up from the station.  

Secondly, they expected lifts into town each day and to be picked up in the evening.  When we asked for a small contribution towards transportation costs, they strongly objected.

Thirdly, the second night, they made an execessive amount of noise.  Screaming and laughing at top volume from their bedroom.  There was no reply to the text I sent asking them to be quiet.  

I know it could have been worse and in the end they left a night earlier than planned as we refused to take them to the station at 6.00 am on Saturday morning.   The guests were Iranian although the booking said the guy was from Rome, Italy.  He also said they were both students attending a medical conference in Geneva.  Only one of them was a student Dr and the guy hung about the house all day until I dropped him off at the bus.  We were so relieved when they left!  I don't know if I should leave a negative review as I don't want to receive one in return or is it better to report him?  Any advice appreciated!.  Thanks!

T

[Monica4]

Please leave an honest, negative review. It is so much appreciated by other hosts and I am sure that you would not want such a guest again. Also, I would report them to Airbnb and they may take off the negative review that you may get in return. If it is not honest, feedback doesn't work and Airbnb is the only site that has reviews from both the host and the guest.

[Ana113]

How do I report  a guest to airbnb? mine is simple my guest house only accomodates 6 as stated in airbnb. the guest said they were 6 and they sneaked in 5 other people during their stay. when confronted they refused to leave.

[Ann116]

My answer is a question. Where was AIr bnb in all of this? Did you call them? Because they have the ability to call the guest and ask them to leave if they are breaking house rules. I am very concerned that Air bnb does not back up the host when they need it. This needs to be discussed more fully and the rules need to be clear.

I had a woman who came here with her daughter. I have a pool. The daughter was 10 and could not swim AT ALL. The mother sat by the pool texting as her daughter got dangerously close to the deep end. I was a prisoner in my own home because I could not leave the house fearing the child would drown. I called Air bnb every single day she was here. I spoke to the mother every single day. The mother claimed she did not understand english. SHe was japanese. I got a different person everytime I called Air bnb. They said they would call the guest and tell her she needed to not be on the phone and actually IN the pool when her daughter was in the pool. Nothing changed. There was no follow up phone call from the resolution people at Air bnb. I will never know if any one actually called her from Air bnb. Then I came home one day and my house keys that I gave her were dangling in the door of her guest house, fully visible from the street. I put them inside her door and saw she was in the backyard again, texting, while her daughter walked around the shallow end of the pool with a float she had bought at a drugstore that is literally infant size. I got a phone call and by the time I got back to ask her to be more careful with the house keys, they were gone. She eventually lost both sets of house keys. I don't know where, could have been stolen from the front door, she could have left them at the amll, or the beach, who knows. The next day she saw a dead centipede in my yard and called her japanese Air bnb people and she left two days early, leaving a mess in my guest house, and got her money back from AIr bnb and I was not reimbursed the 300 dollars for having to re key my guest house. Air bnb has a system where they can loose all your information and not use it to protect you and your property. I think in politics they call it plausable deiniability. Everyone I spoke to at Air bnb expressed my right to be concerned about the situation and promised to get on it right away, then NO follow up, no trace of those discussions. But with one phone call and some phoney pictures of my guest house being a mess, and the noise being overwhelmong and the bugs, omg, the bugs were everywhere according to this lying guest! SHe gets her money back, she reimburses me nothing for the lost keys and does not even pay the cleaning fee. I just paid for her vacation. 

[Stephen313]

Hi i have a lot of trouble with guest( japanese). they are lying son of @&$%#@ one complained about the beding he sleeped on top of the donna and he was itchy  it was a band new donna with sheets that day  he recond it was was not washed

 They do this to get there money back. But i have backing of the local police, as you wont get it from air bnb

[Lani14]

I agree. I currently have a guest who misrepresented himself and is not actually staying at my house. Instead, there is a family who had additional guests stay over which is strictly against my house rules. Then the guy who made the reservation called the police who called me because he was afraid something happened to the family since they were blocking his phone calls and didn't know what was going on.  I contacted Airbnb three times. Twice they said they would escalate it to some department who would contact me within 24 hours. The second time they did not respond after I waited 30 minutes. I want them to leave immediately as they lied to me and are breaking my rules. Airbnb has been a huge disappointment and cannot be relied upon to confront guests who are lying and misbehaving. There is little to no host support. Grrrrrrrr.

[Deborah0]

Hi Heather

First, I suggest you stick to the boundaries and parameters of your reservations and house rules. If a guest arrives a day early, you should not let them in a day early.  Insist that they either arrive at your check in time on reservation start day and no earlier, or do a reservation change to add a day to their reservation.  

Second, do not offer extra services for free, particularly if you dont' want to do this and feel pushed into it.  ALl hosts need to learn to say "NO" very clearly and emphatically, or you will be railroaded by demanding guests and can easily burn out on hosting.  

Third, if guests are screaming in your house and will not comply with requests to be quiet, they should be evicted the very next morning.  Hosts can contact Airbnb to get Airbnb's help in "re-homing" guests who are causing problems for you -- sometimes Airbnb will find them another Airbnb listing to stay in, or put them in a hotel.  (Hosts should not try to evict guests in the middle of the night as it can put the guests at risk to try to evict them at night).  YOu can also call the police if they are causing a serious disruption such as you describe, and get a police report about this.  

You absolutely should state the truth about what happened in the review.  Write a concise review using a professional, emotionally neutral tone, stating just the facts.  Eg, "Guest X arrived one day early -- we made the mistake of letting them in a day early.  Guest insisted on being driven into town and back each day.  During one night, guests were screaming at each other in their room and ignored our requests for them to be quieter.  I cannot recommend these guests.  THey are not suited for a shared home and would fit better in a hotel."  

You need to warn other hosts about these guests' behavior so that other hosts can avoid them.  Keep in mind the guest will NOT see your review until he has completed his review - this is done so that guests can't retaliate in their reviews.  

[Heather13]

Thanks Deborah.  I've now left a bad review and reported him to Airbnb as someone who should not be allowed on their listing.  Yes, my mistake was taking them in a day early.  My husband told me not to but I took pity on them.  Things did not add up from the start.  He said they were from Italy but they were Iranian and implied that they were both student Drs coming to a conference but only one was and he hung about our house all day until I took him somewhere.  Lessons learned!  Also, they didn't have any reviews.  I was pretty desperate for guests as it is so quiet right now but in retrospect I should not have take them!  Thanks again!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Heather13

I would suggest you to change your profile picture and put one where you are with your husband. It seems to me that profile pictures of young hostess or woman with a child are attracting bad guests as they seem vulnerable

[Cassandra22]

great idea, I am going to do that!

[Dave-and-Deb0]

(comments deleted)
Looks like @Deborah0 and I were commenting at the same time so deleted my post as it was the same advice.

Dave

[Marit-Anne0]

@Heather13

Reviews are "blind" - they cannot see yours until they have left one for you.  Did your guests have a verified id on their profile ?

[Heather13]

Hi, yes the guy was verified but he didn't have any reviews!

[Marit-Anne0]

@Heather13

I have had guests with quite a few ok reviews and still left my place in a mess ....

[Monica4]

@Heather that is quite possibly the result of other hosts not wanting to leave honest reviews. Also, many of my guests have been verified but had no reviews - actually - most of them! About 80% of them were great guests. All guests have to start somewhere so it isn't really fair to judge a guest on whether they have reviews or not. It is much better to set up a dialogue with them before accepting the booking and that way you can "feel" if the guest would be a good fit for your listing.