Last minute booking scam?

[Yuki-Mark0]

Hi,

On Aug 15, 2020  a guest booked last minute in the late afternoon and checked in close to midnight. Shortly after arriving, the guest sent photos of a clearly dirty room with messy beds and an open Pizza Hut box on the bed. I was puzzled because the room had been cleaned earlier that day and had been inspected. Luckily I had another room to offer that had been cleaned hours before. Well guess what?  Same thing happened again. The guest entered and found a dirty room. I had no other choice but to tell him he could cancel and I would authorize a full refund. I reviewed the video footage and found that no one had entered the property earlier that day. 

Last night, (one month later) the same exact thing happens again…guest checks in to a dirty room with messy beds and a Pizza Hut box on the bed, gets another room that is also messy even though it was cleaned hours before. I scoured the video footage and discovered it was the same guy as last month. 

Clearly, this last minute guest dirtied the rooms but why?  I authorized Airbnb to refund him so there was nothing lost on my end…that I know of.  

thoughts?

[Huma0]

@Yuki-Mark0 

Did the guest leave or did he stay and basically get a free stay? If it was the latter, then it's pretty obvious what the scam was.

If he didn't stay then yes, that is very odd. Sometimes guests make up problems to get a refund because they have changed their mind about the booking for some other reason, but that doesn't make sense here as the guest booked last minute and then booked again the next month. What's in it for him? 

Did he leave bad reviews? If so, perhaps he is a local competitor trying to sabotage your business. 

Did the guest use the same profile or different ones to book? If it was the same profile, how come you didn't know it was the same guest when they booked/tried to book? Did you check out his reviews from previous hosts? If he's done this to you twice, maybe he's done it to others.

If I was you, I would not accept last minute bookings. There are so many reports on the CC about problems related to these. Also, if you don't need to use instant booking, turn it off and properly vet guests before you accept them. You should have some sort of conversation with them and look out for red flags.

When the room is being cleaned/inspected, whoever is doing that can take time stamped photos as evidence of its cleanliness. You already have the video footage to prove no one else entered.

You can also report and/or block the guest to prevent him booking with you again (unless of course he just creates a new profile to do it). I have no idea what this guy is up to, but I am sure you do not want him back.

If he does manage to book again and do the same thing, I would definitely report him to Airbnb. You should also write an honest review to warn other hosts about him. Don't mention the refund because, apparently, Airbnb sometimes removes reviews that mention claims/resolution disputes. Just factually state what happened.

"X made a last minute booking. However, when he arrived, he sent photos of a messy room with a pizza box on the bed. He was offered another room, but made the same claims about messiness. It is not possible that the rooms were messy on his arrival as they had been cleaned and inspected earlier that day and the external camera shows that no one else entered in between. Bizarrely, X booked again the next month and did exactly the same thing! I therefore cannot recommend this guest."

[Yuki-Mark0]

The guest booked the stay using a different name. It’s after I reviewed the video that it was the same person both times. What could be the motive for this?  He didn’t stay at the property. 

[Helen3]

Why didn't you block him after his last stay.

also ne er refund guests without checking there was an actual issue at your STR @Yuki-Mark0 

[Yuki-Mark0]

The guest used a different name when he checked in yesterday.  He left the property after 5 mins when I had no other rooms to offer him and then I blocked his access immediately.  He definitely did not stay at the property.  What's also creepy is that he acted like he'd never been there before.  I wonder what his game is?

[Mark116]

@Yuki-Mark0   Have your cleaners take video of each unit before the guest arrives.  This way you will  have proof against scammers that there was no pizza hut box [lol] or other debris and you will not need to be giving these scammers a refund.  You should block this guest from future bookings.

[Yuki-Mark0]

My cleaners took a video of the rooms after cleaning yesterday. That’s how I know the rooms were cleaned before the guest arrived a couple hours later. 

The guest booked the stay using a different name. It’s after I reviewed the video that it was the same person both times. What could be the motive for this?  He didn’t stay at the property. 

[Mark116]

@Yuki-Mark0  Maybe he wanted a place to crash/do drugs/use wifi or something else for a couple of hours.  Are you sure he's not spending the night?  If not, that makes the whole thing even stranger.

[Yuki-Mark0]

The dude definitely did not stay overnight. What's also creepy is that he acted like he'd never been there before despite pulling this stunt a month ago.

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

@Yuki-Mark0 said that, this time at least, the guest left after only five minutes. I suspect that would only give him time to mess up the room, place the pizza box on the bed and take photos. That's a lot of effort to go to for a few minutes in a place.

Also, acting like he had never been there before when he was there only last month?

Perhaps there is a personality disorder going on here...

[Yuki-Mark0]

I sent Airbnb support the videos showing the same person going in a month apart and faked the messy rooms.  They agreed it was the same person in both videos that used different accounts.  I find that a bit troubling since all accounts are "verified."

It's even more troubling to think that someone spent all this effort to book a room, go in and dirty it up and not stay there...twice.  I agree that it could be someone with a personality disorder but what disorder makes a person do that?  

I confronted the guest via text and told him there was video proof that he was at the property both times but he denied it.  

The good news is that I was refunded the booking.