I previously had a guest who physically threatened me when I filed a claim for destroyed furniture and linen. I called AIRBNB and they said they blocked her but they allowed her to leave a slandering one-star review. To add insult to injury, she said in the private comments, "I was going to give you a five star review before you decided to charge me for the furniture". AIRBNB did not find this "against policy" although the review was clearly biased. While I wasnt happy with the review, I felt comfortable because AIRBNB customer service said she would no longer see any of my listings or be able to communicate with me.
Last week, I had a couple stay in a room and the next morning the boyfriend and girlfriend got into a screaming match that ended with him phsyically assaulting her, breaking a chair leg in the living room during the rumble, terrifying the other guests and them running out the back door when the police arrived. I've reported the guest but could not seem to block this guest no matter how much I have tried. Then tonight (one week later), his girlfriend tried to book and we declined...telling her "sorry we are unable to accept your request" (she's not instant book eligible). Then 5 minutes later, HE WAS ABLE TO INSTANT BOOK for immediate occupancy!! Can you believe this?? I let him know via message that we would not honor his reservation and called AIRBNB that very second.
I'm on hold for 45 minutes and still waiting while a manager's manager tries to figure out what to do in this situation. What is going on?!?! Finally, Roxanne (the AIRBNB rep) comes back from hold to tell me she will cancel the reservation. We hang up. Two minutes later, she calls back and asking permission to give him a full refund - I gladly obliged. She said she was going to "give him a full refund and help him find another place to stay" ?!?!?! I asked if she were going to tell the next host what happened during his previous stay - she said no because "that's not policy". Can you imagine AIRBNB willingly putting a guest known for assault in your home? I am shocked. I'm not saying criminal checks should occur for guests, but when guests (or hosts) are on bad behavior, there should be a mechanism in place that triggers an alert to future guests & hosts. At minimum don't let them instant book!
I am terrified to discover AIRBNB is not following up on reported users AND not allowing hosts to block guests such as this. AIRBNB, your policy is putting hosts and guests at risk by allowing guests such as this to continue using your platform. Furthermore, you completely strip a hosts ability to protect themselves by not allowing us to block! We (hosts) need changes ASAP.
I would recommend AIRBNB put a big BLOCK button for guests such as this. AIRBNB should take these matter extremely serious and ban guests from the site.