Stains on sheets - were not there on check-in!

[Laís2]

Hi everyone,

Have a couple of guests staying in and I personally handle the bed sheets and checked the beds as they were bright clean and spotless. My cleaner also confirmed that there were absolutely no stains on it. The guests arrived yesterday at 3 pm, slept one night, and tonight at 7 pm, they text me that they found what looks like food stains or something, on the bed sheet of one of the beds.  She took a picture of it, demanding that I change it. The stains are bright and impossible to miss. I accepted to change the sheet, but she doesn't agree that the stains were made by one of them. It can happen that you don't notice when you stain something, I'm not saying she is doing it deliberately, but we reached a dead end where I am sure they stained it and she says we gave them a dirty bed to sleep on.  I'm just concerned that now they give me a bad review for dirty sheets or try to claim something when it is 100% not true. How would you handle best a situation like that? And in case I get a bad review, how does Airbnb usually handle cases like this?

edit: looks like blood stains, actually.

[Sarah1958]

I would move straight to the Resolution centre if you have something like this. I don’t get into a to and fro with guests like this; it’s never helpful. Clearly if the stains were there on arrival they could have reported it then, so Airbnb should side with you. If you can’t get the stains out you need a receipt for the sheets or for the replacement sheets to show an exact figure or Airbnb won’t assist you.

There are very few circumstances in which Airbnb will get rid of a bad review, if they hit back at you, but in circumstances like this I just respond to their review, something brief and professional, like: ‘guest caused damage to property and was required to provide compensation for their actions.’ I’d like to think that most people looking at your reviews will see through the odd malicious one...remember you can’t please everyone! I have upwards of 200 odd reviews and you always get the odd person who writes something mad or damages your ratings. You shouldn’t be held to ransom by the review system and you have a duty to report their bad behaviour to protect other hosts - it is as important to hosts that guests are properly peer reviewed as it is for guests to see reviews of hosts. Hope that helps. 

[Laís2]

Thank you, Sarah! I will follow your advice! I swapped the sheets and i can see better now that these are fresh bright red blood stains. So i really hope it comes out, otherwise ill take it to the resolution center indeed. I took pictures of it up close myself, just in case.  Let’s see how this is gonna end up! 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Laís2 

it seems it is a new way to get a refund , other host had the same issue last week 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/As-a-Seasoned-and-Cynical-Host-Why-am-I-so/td-p/1023520

[Laís2]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 I can’t believe that airbnb is siding with guests like this! even in the case that they already checked out?!?! What the heck!!!

[David6]

As a safeguard @Laís2  i would flag this issue with Airbnb - because if the guest complains they will offer a refund for sure.  A dishonest guest can easily fabricate a whole scenario  - they only discovered the blood when they went to use the bed at night. 

And it highly unlikely Airbnb would remove a negative review mentioning stains on sheets. Basically it’s your word against the guest’s and Airbnb seem to be siding with guests more and more these days. 

[Laís2]

Thank you, @David6 . I find it absurd that they would side with the guest in a situation like this. But I’m aware now that they could and that this might be possibly being done on purpose by the guests to get a refund! They have good reviews and seemed to be nice but now I’m not quite sure. I will call airbnb tomorrow and report what’s happening.

[David6]

@Laís2 

Even more reason to get this flagged with airbnb. A guest with good reviews recently left human excrement all over my apartment. I submitted pictures. Most disgusting situation ever. Airbnb refused my resolution claim at first, allowed the guest to leave a retaliatory review and 3* rating. They refuse to remove the review and only after fighting for days did they settle my claim for extra cleaning and a new sheet. So nothing shocks me with this company. I’ve hosted for 5 years and have 600+ reviews. Superhost and it all means nothing... 

[Laís2]

wow @David6 that sounds like a nightmare, I'm so sorry. I've had a lot of crazy experiences including one where guests left my door wide open (door to the streets) for nights and attracted a thug who broke my window with a rock in retaliation to them. But human excrement is something. I'm happy you got it solved after all 🙂

I'm less worried about the review now than I am about a possible request for refund. I really can't tell if she's trying something or really thinks she didn't do it. It's at the bottom of the bed like foot height. So I guess the ' i didn't see it before I slept on it' thing could play quite well. In this case, it is really my word against hers, so it's a difficult thing I suppose. Would you say I should call or is there a better way to report the case?