Reservation for 8 for 30 days, guest brought 16! Airbnb sides with guest.

[Olivia240]

I am hitting the ceiling.

A business in Boston reserved my house for a month while their ship was in dry dock. They made a reservation for 8 adults.  My house holds 8 with an extra 2 air mattresses for a total of 10. Any guests over 8 there is a $15 fee.  

The day they were to check out at 12, we arrived to clean. No one was in the house.  It was trashed. They had moved my dining table into the living room and had 2 mattresses (not mine) on the floor in the dining room. Upstairs in the master bedroom was two more mattresses on the floor (one mine) and four more mattresses on the floor of our three seasons porch!!! There was junk everywhere and liquor bottles all over. No one home.

I called Airbnb right away and walked through the house taking pictures while talking to them, sending pics to messenger. The Airbnb lady was shocked and said it didn’t even look like my house!

As the crew was arriving they confirmed to me that 15 people were staying in my house during the month with all their gear.  Airbnb, the guest who reserved, and the crew all admit that 15 people stayed in my house over the month. Now, the owner and crew say that they circulated 8 one night and 8 another, so they shouldn’t have to pay the extra person fee. Which, by the way, would come to $1700.

Airbnb is siding with the guest, and says that maybe I should get an extra cleaning fee, and we can close the issue.

What should I do?!?

[Helen3]

I am so sorry this happened to you.

But I really don't understand hosts who host remotely, who don't have CCTV to monitor their properties.

Had you done, you would have quickly and easily seen they had more people using the property than had booked and could have cancelled the booking immediately before any serious damage was done.

Unfortunately because you don't have CCTV you can't prove how many people were there each night.

I would say it is worth putting in a claim for the extra guests using the extra matresses as proof that more than the numbers booked must have stayed. And of course extra cleaning and any damage.

I do hope you left an honest review and reported the guest.

I really am sorry this happened to you. It is highly unusual but hosts can protect themselves from these sort of guests by making sure you vet guests carefully and use tools such as CCTV and weekly cleans for longer stays to check the condition of your properly.

I

[Cormac0]

@Olivia240

It may be too late now? but you can check your Wi-Fi modem/router to see how many connection were made to it, while this is not an exact science it is a good rule of thumb.

[Sarah977]

@Olivia240  Sorry this happened to you and it's terrible that Airbnb is siding with the guests, but6 I just can't imagine having a remote listing and not bothering to check out what's going on at the house at any points during a 30 day booking.

[Giedre-and-Andre0]

@Olivia240 Very sorry for this...

BUT perhaps you still lucky that it happened now, and it seems

other than a lot of extra work and cleaning trash, nothing really bad happened...

Your listing is a recipe for future (more serious) desaster!

- Beautiful BIG house

- 10 guests paying around  $13 a night (pP)

- Close to zero house rules

- No CCTV

- You leave a ship-crew of 10 unantendand for 30 days

I strongly recommend to update your house rules...

...or your place will be soon more popular than Cancun.

[Olivia240]

Do you have any recommendations? I have only just started hosting and I appricate advice!

[Giedre-and-Andre0]

@Olivia240 Prevention is the key...

Look through my "house rules" (copy what you like).

NO ONE ever would try this with me after reading my house rules. In your case I don't need Airbnb CS, this would be trespassing and I call 911!

I try to scare away the "crazy ones"

BEFORE they book, and regular guests don't have a problem with my tight rules (my booking rate is close to 100%)...

Here example out of my HR's:

- Be aware of all "House Rules" as part of the contract.
- The booking guest needs to have a fully verified account (ID, Email and Phone-Nr.) and to register EVERY person staying at our house with full name at day of booking but not later than 5 days upon arrival. Ignoring this rule will result in cancellation. 
- ONLY with full name registered guests are allowed on the property. (short visual ID check at arrival)

- Between 12pm and 5pm: Essentials will be checked on daily base and the host will vacuum guest space / remove garbage every 2nd day.

- ALL guests have to TRAVEL (from outside NYC) or fly and check-in/arrive TOGETHER.
- We are NOT HOSTING NYC LOCAL'S without explicit written agreement.
- NO LOCAL MEET-UP'S AND STAYING OVER with any persons not previously registered/booked and agreed by host.

- Changes or adjustments of listed "House Rules" has to be agreed by host in writing via Airbnb App.

- It is mutually agreed that any violation of house rules will terminate the rental contract and the host can/will takeover the guest-space. In this case, the guest(s) will get a refund as of Airbnb policy and waives all rights to stay.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Um, how does a "business in Boston" reserve a place when Airbnb is a person-based reservation system? Who ACTUALLY rented the space?  File a claim for damages - it sounds like Airbnb hasn't made a final determination of what should happen - only that they are asking you to take an easy option.  

[Olivia240]

The owner of the company was the one to book the house. And I know he was not here some of the time, I am not sure how much.

Whenever I file for damages, I must submit recipients with Airbnb. Since I do most of the work repairing and cleaning the house, I do not have any receipts. 

[Olivia240]

This is the reply from Airbnb

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**[Private conversation removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

[Olivia240]

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**[Private conversation removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

[Lisa723]

@Olivia240 even if you do the work yourself, what you need is a written bid/estimate for repair/restoration from a qualified professional; you can submit this, and photos, with your claim. I agree with others that with a remote listing it's crucial to have a local co-host who can check in regularly, especially with long-term rentals.

[John1080]

They have admitted to a total of 16 (or 15) people total, meaning that there were 8 other people there that shouldn't have been - whether you can to count them as guests of the paying guests or whatever, isn't it against the policy for other people to be there, who aren't booked? Shouldn't this alone be enough to be able to make a claim to recoup some of the expense?