Review guidelines and Host protection

Fabian6
Level 2
Miami, FL

Review guidelines and Host protection

First of all, let me start by saying thank you again, Airbnb. I took over an hour to write an extremely long text and it got erased over some internal error. Wonderful!

 

For the most part, I enjoy being a (Super)Host on Airbnb. 9 out of 10 (or so) of my guests are great people and they are extremely pleased with the service and property I provide. The other 10% is the one that takes every desire of hosting away from me and every single time I contacted Airbnb, I was not provided with a real solution.

 

First situation: Guest agrees to meet me at a property (I live 1 hour away from) at 1pm. I arrange my entire schedule to accomodate for this, and at 12.45 as I am arriving to the Property I get a message that He is running late. 5 hours late. I explain that I have a check-in on a different property far away from this one at that time and that I can either provide instructions over the phone or hire a greeter at her $25 expense to cover for this and help Her family check in. She chose the greeter and was late again. She then wants to have the reservation charged under an NGO and I tell her that She should arrange that with Airbnb. Two nights later She asks me for the key to access the owner's supplies of cleaning products because She run out of napkins. I explain I am a property manager and have no access to it but that She can get napkins at the convenience store downstairs. Upon check-out, she leaves a negative review claiming that Her arrival was bad and that the carpet was dirty and that She met friendlier hosts before (contradicting over 30 reviews). I call Airbnb, explain that She didn't even stay at the property but Her family did, prove them that there's not a single carpet there and point towards the rest of the reviews, as well as explaining that Her arrival was not great because She made me drive pointleslly for 2 hours and I had to hire someone (who also waited an hour for her at my expense) because I had another check in. Even when it was a violation of the guildelines that it needs to be Her experience, not Her parents, and explaning it was clearly false, Airbnb did not do anything.

 

Second situation: I have a guest that broke a 5 month old, professionally installed shower door. When I place a hold on Her security deposit, She claims that Her experience was great (I'd consider great 4 or 5 stars) but she's disappointed that I claimed $299 (when I also paid for handyman labor, cleaning fees and had to cancel a reservation) and proceeds to leave me a nasty review claiming that all my furniture was poor quality and that the shower door was loose and that's why it broke (despite not a single guest or Her ever mentioning that) while there was an ongoing investigation. I call Airbnb and explain that She left me a 2 star review as a retribution for claiming Her deposit and that She also referred to an Airbnb investigation which is a guideline violation. Again, the review stands. Conclusion: Hosts, don't ever collect security deposit. The amount you'll make (they even brought it down to $275 and had me absorb the rest of the loss, because it only covered materials apparently) is far less than the loss of revenue derived from a poor review (which will reflect in the listing positioning, appearance, and completed booking).

 

I also had a guest that agreed to meet me at 6pm outside the lobby so He would not get lost and after waiting for 2.5 hours (His international phone number was down) He called me claiming that He was lost on the street on His way here and had problems with the GPS. At 10.30 He still had not shown up so I called the phone number He provided and much unlike a cellphone, the call was made from Walmart. I call Airbnb explaining the situation and how the guest decided to go shopping instead of meeting me and how I've been outside waiting for almost 5 hours. They tell me to hide the keys somewhere which is something really irresponsible and against condominium rules and their alternative was to cancel the reservation, but I'd lose 100% of the money, which I couldn't do. They say that no other options are available and that I should wait then. Guest showed up almost at midnight, didn't apologize and told me how He decided to go shopping and dining instead (second time this happened to me this month).

 

Today I contact a guest asking at what time was She checking out and ask her for $100 for the cleaners (out of the amount agreed for cleaning and registration $125 and listed on my property) and She says that She feels like she should pay less because she had to buy toilet paper and kitchen rolls (on a 3 night stay, which I left some behind). I explained that I already gave her a $25 rebate and that if that wasn't enough to cover her expenses to let me know so I refund her the difference. She agrees to the $100 with the following message:

"That's fine I will pay the $100, but my review will include the lack of basics and the fact that the bathroom is sub-par"
Based on my previous guidelines I knew I had to do something else to prove extorsion, so I ask what would happen if I gave her a discount and immediately call Airbnb explaining that I am being extorted and if She agrees then it is clearly a guideline violation. The customer representative instead of addressing the issue, goes on to claim that requesting money outside Airbnb is a clear guideline violation and that I am at fault and I tell her that She is absolutely wrong. After explaining that those fees are payable to the building and reading Her Airbnb's policy guidelines which admit additional fees in cash, as well as taxes collected in cash, She talks to Her supervisor which clears me and proceeds to address the situation. Once again, they are unsure if this is actually an extorsion. I explain that this is EXACTLY the legal definition of extorsion (Most states define extortion as the gaining of property or money by almost any kind of force, or threat of 1) violence, 2) property damage, 3) harm to reputation (...).Other types of threats sufficient to constitute extortion include those to harm the victim's business or (...) and still nothing is being done). I respectfully end the call with Airbnb and inform the host that will be collecting the $100 through Airbnb's resolution center and that She is free to leave whatever review she deems appropriate. She answers childlishly stating that she stayed at nicer airbnb's before and that she wasn't charged for cash fees to which I answer that the agreed to such charges prior to booking and wish her happy thanksgiving.
Now I am bracing for another 1-2 star review, jeopardizing my Superhost status and so on, over an undecent guest.
 
Has anyone been on similar situation? What was your experience on this matters?
6 Replies 6
Zelda4
Level 2
Austin, TX

Im going thru this right now and I am Waiting to see how Airbnb will handle this as I have been reading a few things on this forum that make me wonder if they will even take care of me,, superhost or not!  This crazy guest is not posting hate stuff on social media.. I just now informed her to remove it or I will call the lawyers and ask airbnb to remove her from using or hosting with them.. The saga continues!!

Z

Ken28
Level 10
Newburgh, IN

This all sounds too familiar. It's not just you.

 

After (super)hosting many people for a year and getting only stellar reviews, I've now been getting the worst guests as well. Since I moved into my new house, I've had 3 horrible reviews from guests retaliating because I reminded them of the Rules that they were consitently breaking. I also had two guests in the same time period (who shared the house with these other three guests) that gave me 5-star reviews because I provided them with excellent experiences. All guests were treated equally... so what gives?

 

I'm done putting up with guests that break rules. I usually let things go for a while (thinking it's just me, or that it might resolve itself) and then gently remind them of the rules when it doesn't. But they always retaliate with terrible reviews, referencing the 'strict rules' and how I'm a good person but I make their stay uncomfortable.

 

I need to just start cancelling when they break the rules the first time, before they can leave such horrid deceitful reviews.

 

I had the same problem various times. Airbnb guests are often of very poor quality, I even had vandalic acts (broken WC) without reason except for obtaining undeserved refunds.

The trick of complaining after check in about cleanliness to obtain a refund, despite clear rules, is becoming frequent. A guest invented that there were ants in the kitchen putting in jeopardy my business reputation.

Another checked out at 3 am causing serious complaints from neighbors.

My actual guests overplayed a small leak from the kitchen which had no impact on usability (as seen by pcitrues and the plumber too) and talked about it as it was a sort of flood. I was contacted by an Airbnb "case manager" who was extremely rude and literally ranting by anger. He menaced to withdraw $130 if I did not repair the small leak immediately (which was not easy in my area) and pretended that he had refunded them 350 US$, more than half of their stay, because guests 

These guests, who also pretneded that I rush in late evening to bring them mops already present in the apartment will most likely leave a very poor review.

Airbnb is spoiling guests with their easy refunds and guests have learned the trick at the expense of hosts' reputation.

It is a common problem, Airbnb does not protect or support the hosts. We had a guest check in and right away they wanted to cancel and get a refund because there was a cat in the neighborhood in Hawaii (not in or near our unit but elsewhere on the grounds). There is no place in Hawaii that does not have cats roaming around. They filed a dispute with Airbnb to get a full refund which they were denied and you know very well they will leave a bad review in retaliation. In addition every day they tried to complain about something even maintenance doing weekly landscaping chores. Airbnb should never allow a guest in this situation to file a review but they do. VRBO blocks both parties from a review when there is a dispute like this but Airbnb refuses too.

That is absurd they would allow it violating their fiduciary responsibility to the hosts and shows lack of common sense.

Teresa780
Level 2
Lebanon, MO

read details if you want but here is my question: We want to NOT WRITE A REVIEW ON THIS GROUP due to the details below. WE ARE PRETTY CONFIDENT THAT HOW OUR HOME WAS TREATED THAT WE WILL NOT RECEIVE A KIND REVIEW AT ALL. We believe we should not write a review at all. Has anyone done this and what are repercussions?

 

We had a group come who - although our provisions stated room for 2-3 cars - arrived with six cars and they called like it was our fault, asking what they were supposed to do. We came and found places for them to park, but they seems very put out. We reminded them how important it is to read the entire provisions of the property, and now to please read the house rules.  We did have one mishap though, by our "professional" cleaners as they sprayed two ovens with cleaner - but alas they did not clean the ovens! Owner went and cleaned immediately. Everything else was exactly provisional and above.   So the thank you we "received" was they tore a page out of our guest book to use as a notepad, they wrote nothing in the guestbook. They left us with a missing propane tank, very nice, brand new carving knife from the brand new set, took decor pillow, left our elegant wood furniture from the indoor dining set OUTDOORS and it rains every day in our mountain town.  

@Teresa780 why would you not write a review to warn other hosts of the behaviour of your guest? If you think you will receive a negative review, if the guest hasn't already reviewed you then i wait until the last day to review them as they may miss the message that you've reviewed them & not write a review in response.