Suspicious Guest

[Dave1025]

My wife and I are fairly new to Airbnb. We currently have a gentleman as a guest who behaves very eerie. At night he stands lurking in the dark corner of the entry way with the lights out, or in the dark corner of the dining room with the lights out, or in the middle of the dark hallway for long lengths of time. He often wears a hood looking down, staring at a door or wall. If we walk into the room he gets very nervous. Often he will go in and out of the house several times in the middle of the night, just loitering in the driveway or sidewalk. We want our guests to have freedom but we are not comfortable with him lurking in the dark or loitering in our neighborhood in the middle of the night. His behavior has made my wife and other female guests uncomfortable, as well as many of our neighbors very uncomfortable. He is very quiet but he just hides and lurks in the dark corners, or loiters outside and refuses to turn on lights. He has loitered outside during the day time just looking at the ground in front of our neighbors' homes. Everyone complains that he is just acting very freaky and suspicious.

He has complained about many of our posted house rules. He argues about obeying them and simply disregards some of them.

Once he left the front door wide open in the middle of the day (disregarding the sign that said please keep door closed - we have a new puppy), no one knew he was outside, but when we noticed the door was wide open we closed and locked it. Several minutes later he knocked - complaining we locked him out - when he was given a key.

We do not trust him. His behavior is so suspicious, The ladies in my home never know if he is lurking in a dark corner. If we turn on the lights he turns them off. I am constantly walking around in my own home with a flashlight at night.

He has 10 more days on a 28 booking but do we have options? We have complained about his behavior and yet there is no change. 

Suggestions? 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Dave1025 

this is really strange behaviour, I am not a doctor but it reminds me of one of my friends who is on medications (Methadone) as an ex-drug user. As well as your guest, he could sit at the table with his hood or a cap on his head, without telling a word, clearly in his own world.

If he instant booked you can call Airbnb and say you are feeling uncomfortable hosting him and you can ask ABB to terminate the rest of his reservation. He will have to leave and he will be refunded by Airbnb for the rest of his stay. Don't confront him by yourself, ask some of your male friends to be present just in case he doesn't want to leave. In case he becomes aggressive call the police and an ambulance

[Andrew0]

@Dave1025  Just to add to @Branka-and-Silvia0 's advice, if the customer service rep asks why you wantt to terminate the booking, I'd suggest that you focus squarely on the fact that the guest is refusing to obey your House Rules and disturbing other guests. The lurking behavior in the common areas is weird, but if the guest is doing this without a mask on, it's also a violation of Airbnb's Covid policy.

In the future, anytime a guest refuses to obey your rules, you need to put your foot down and insist that they leave. This goes for every type of host, but especially those with multiple listings in a shared home. Your other guests expect you as the host to be in control of the household and will not feel safe there if you appear unwilling to enforce the rules.

[Dale711]

@Dave1025 

As a matter of fact, the guest is certainly not a good fit in a home shared environment accommodations.

You stated,

                        “His behavior has made my wife and other female guests uncomfortable,

                                                                                  as well as many of  our neighbors very uncomfortable.”

As in this point of your view, definitely are correct to ask the guest to relocate without hesitation.

Well communication with guest about your concern, do contact Airbnb Support Help Center in the Hep page, “live chat” [ not an Airbnb bot], there is always someone here to respond within few minutes, acknowledge by urgently the incident to the support team.

I’m surely the team with report to the case manager, and they will contact you soon, do always keep your phone beside you and often to check your in box in the Airbnb message.

1.Requirements  the case manager to cancel on Airbnb behalf

2.Refund the payment of remain night to the guest, which’s the nights not spend in your home

3.Relocate the guest to a new entire place by his own with his budget

From my personal experience, It’s very important to request Airbnb to find a new place for the guest immediately. Therefore, the guest could conveniently and agree to leave. Indeed, the host is not wish to have the situation get worst during any cancellation booking with the guest, the host and Airbnb are necessary to resolve with a great and fairly solution to settle in the both side. 

I really hope you can solve it out with the guest and get the Airbnb to involved as soon as possible.

Good Luck and Stay Safe! 

[Colleen253]

@Dave1025 https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/259/what-should-i-do-if-im-uncomfortable-hosting-someone

As you’re a new host, I recommend you have a good read through the Airbnb help pages, where you’ll find articles such as the one above. It’s vital for a new host to be well informed.

[Angelina45]

I am a AIRBNB HOST also.  I have had issues with a few guests that have strange behavior.  I have ended calling AIRBNB EMERGENCY support or even 911 to resolve the issues.  I was totally stressed out and so were my other guests. I now ensure my guests have good reviews before I allow them to book.

[Dale711]

@Angelina45 

It is good to know that you can take care of the incident and controlled it well.

I had much to learn from you and from other host.

As in some cases, local enforcement refused to remove the guest if the reservation still in active. 
I hope it won’t happen to me again.

As link below one of the examples,

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Guest-threw-a-party-during-Corona-Virus-Police-Called-Airbn...

[Jessica-Jay-Dee0]

I am not sure if this is a late reply or not, but I make it very clear in my house rules that guests agree to forfeiture of entire deposit and to cordial compliance if asked to vacate the property due to non-compliance or disrespectful/implied rude behavior towards me, my community/neighbors, or staff (maid/sanitation crew). I always confirm that guests have acknowledged and AGREE to ALL house rules prior to issuing check in instructions. I’ve had around 5 cancellations last minute who refused to agree due to this premeditated policy I’ve put in place. It really helps me weed out the ideal guests, the less ideal guests, and the “Thank goodness they cancelled” ... guests. I certainly hope this helps! 

Blessings and regards, 

Jessica 

[Andrew0]

@Jessica-Jay-Dee0  That sounds like language that might be effective as a deterrent - as long as you're aware of the fact that Airbnb does not actually charge the so-called "security deposit," and in the actual situation where you have to terminate a booking early they will refund the guest for the remainder of the stay. 

[Jessica-Jay-Dee0]

I should also mention, that I have ALWAYS reached out to the guest to initiate cancellation on their end- using our message thread as my promise/guarantee for any partial or full refund if there are issues DURING the stay that require them to vacate my property. Simply standing my ground and being reasonable, but firm and articulate as a host  has served me and my guests well thus far. Involving local authorities has never been required. 

[Sarah977]

@Jessica-Jay-Dee0  I also wonder what you mean by forfeiture of entire deposit. Do you mean their booking payment? If so, that's not a "deposit".

If it's the security deposit, as Andrew stated, that's not a real thing on Airbnb.

[Jessica-Jay-Dee0]

Thank you for asking for clarification. The deposit I ask for as a host is separate from the booking amount. The booking amount collected is determined AFTER the cancelation policy option and usually during or after guest check in. The deposit is completely forfeited for my property, if a guest breaks even a single rule. 

[Sarah977]

@Jessica-Jay-Dee0  You still aren't being at all clear. Are you saying you collect a cash deposit from the guest outside of Airbnb? If so, you don't state that in your listing, you just mention forfeiture of deposit. So what deposit are you talking about?

[Andrew0]

@Jessica-Jay-Dee0  Sorry, I'm also confused here. Are you collecting a separate deposit fee outside of the Airbnb platform from your guests? This is not technically something you're allowed to do.

[Jessica-Jay-Dee0]

No, and apologies for the confusion. I utilize the same verbiage across all short/long term rental platforms. 

Airbnb verbiage is unique and omits the “deposit forfeiture” in question. It instead requires guests to acknowledge all rules prior to check in, and they agree to forfeiture of all booking fees. This helps me with negotiating any issues during resolution.