Tried to create this post earlier but apparently it never posted. Sorry if the other one shows up too.
Memorial Day weekend last year. Disastrous group that probably damaged us so bad that we can never trust people/Airbnb enough to host again. We have the calendar blocked, but recently, despite it being blocked, have been getting inquiries and that's bringing back the memories of all that happened. Went through the Airbnb resolution system for MONTHS, and while a lot of it was dealt with after we did everything by the book, there was still no satisfactory resolution to one area: invasion of privacy, mental and emotional distress. Let me explain some, not all, of what we found.
1. Illegal drug usage in our home (we found remnants and turned into police)
2. Theft of our personal belongings (we have video evidence of the guests wearing our 13 y/o daughters' clothing the very first night! Other video of other clothing. Visual evidence that they took who knows how many other items of clothing as closets were disheveled, drawers gone through)
3. Rifling through the underwear drawer belonging to our 13 year old daughter (we take still shots of all underwear drawers before we leave our house when we have guests staying). WHY ON EARTH WOULD SOMEBODY GO THROUGH THAT?? She is a CHILD!
4. Neighborhood noise ordinance and neighborhood lake safety violations as well as complaints/comments we had to field from our neighbors
5. Gross negligence of personal property, and violation of check-out procedures (bent freezer door open which allowed food to thaw, untied faux curtains in attempt to lower them, spilled red liquid in multiple rooms, hid soiled pillows from us, threw away our personal items, spilled a gallon of milk which soaked multiple levels of our main refrigerator, lit fireworks on our main deck (video evidence of this), wrote derogatory notes and left them in our refrigerator, etc).
6. Lied to us about how many people were going to stay (booked for 4, 9 adults stayed).
7. Checked out 1.5 hours late after staying an extra night.
8. Used our personal hygiene/ self-care products which were stored away under sinks and out of sight from guests.
9. Consumed large amounts of our personal food and drinks from multiple refrigerators and two pantries (in addition to the food/drinks clearly marked and left out on the counter for GUESTS). Completely emptied one refrigerator except for the 1 can of Coke that was spilled and left.
10. things were broken, damaged, etc.
Most of what we encountered, through many, many, many phone calls and emails and providing documentation and pictures and screenshots of videos were little by little, dealt with. But, the issue of invasion of privacy, violation of normal human decency and boundaries, and gross negligence based on complete disrespect left us emotionally and mentally destroyed. From the very first time we talked to an Airbnb agent, I stressed this and asked how it would be handled. The lady told me then to include a $$ amount for mental and emotional damages (all calls recorded to prove it, right?), because there was a dept that would deal with that. I was assured at every level that it would be. After pretty much all else was settled after I kept badgering them from not returning phone calls, emails, and silence, we were left with this one issue. I honestly don't think Airbnb knew what to do with us. One of the agents I spoke with, I do still remember his name but won't say it, even said to me there definitely should be punitive damages paid for this level of violation, and that he, having a daughter, was wrecked at our story as I told him on the phone so much that he nearly had to hang up and take a break and call me back. Every single agent I talked to couldn't hardly believe the story of what we experienced, all wanted to help, some did (and some didn't), and certainly their system of internal communication is ridiculously flawed. No one could even tell me the names of the people, or the dept that would deal with it, nor did they know how to contact them directly. They only seemed to know that it would be so they typed entries over and over and promised someone would get back to us. I waited, and then called back when it didn't happen, over and over and over.
In the end, after several months of trying to find the right person to handle this issue, and seemingly chasing a ghost department, I was finally contacted. Airbnb offered to let us go to counseling. That's it. No addressing of the $$ I had included that seemed reasonable. No "we hear you, here is $____Airbnb credit to use to hopefully get you to feeling better about us again", nope. Even the months of trying to resolve it (to the tune of probably 80+ emails exchanged and countless phone calls) weren't sufficiently addressed. That was it. Oh, and "we have removed the guest from our database." Welp, there were 8 others that you don't have a record of, so what's to stop one of those clowns from renting?!
It's now nearly February and we still have never reopened the calendar. Don't know if we ever will. Lots of potential revenue gone, and faith in humanity and the Airbnb system is vacant. We are getting inquiries though, despite our calendar being closed! How could we possibly subject our kids to this risk again, knowing that if things go REALLY wrong, too bad.
