ClaireandOli
8:25 PM
We have guests who have arrived this evening, they have made us feel unsafe and have broken house rules, we have asked them to leave, they are refusing
Thanks for your message - Airbnb Support is connecting you to a chat agent. Your chat session will begin in 1 - 2 minutes.8:25 PM
Airbnb Support
8:25 PM
Hi ClaireandOli, my name is Elmer P and I'm with Airbnb support. I'll be helping you today. Give me a moment while I look into your case.
I'm sorry for the inconvenience that you had on this reservation, can I have your reservation code please so that I can check it further?
ClaireandOli
8:27 PM
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Airbnb Support
8:28 PM
Thank you, ClaireandOli.
Unfortunately, I'm unable to resolve your case so I'm forwarding you to a team that can better assist you. While response times may vary, we do our best to respond within 24 hours. The next available specialist will review our conversation and reply directly to you here. Thank you for your patience.
16 FEBRUARY 2019
Airbnb Support
12:31 PM
Hey ClaireandOli ,
My name is Aidan, I'm a Case manager here at Airbnb, I hope all is well.
I just wanted to reach out to discuss your reservation with Leah, I tried calling however I was unable to speak with you.
I'm sorry to hear that your reservation hasn't gone as planned, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me a little more about what happened?
If you ever need anything Airbnb is happy to help.
ClaireandOli
12:42 PM
Hi Aidan,
thanks for getting back to us. The main issue was that the guests arrived smelling strongly of alcohol and were being argumentative and difficult from the start. At the time they booked we still had a wood fired hot tub, and since we have changed over to an electric one. This is all in the email exchanges; as is the fact that we were offering special offer of 'a free night's use of the hot tub'. Our house rules regarding the hot tub have always been very clear (no under 16's to use the tub) -for insurance reasons, and guests have to agree to the 'house rules' as part of the booking policy. They wanted to take their children and baby in the tub, and kept arguing that they didn't see the rules. Later in the evening they used the tub, and took all their children and baby in the tub. By then they had both been drinking alcohol and when we asked them to take their children out, I was verbally threatened, with physical violence. Despite talking to them calmly and politely we felt unsafe as they were being both aggressive, and had broken various 'house rules'. We sadly had to ask them to leave and offered to either book them a cab, or to drive them 10 mins drive to a travel lodge, which I had phoned to ensure they had a family room available. After much argument, and stress (and time to pack), we eventually agreed to drive them to the travel lodge, with all their possessions so they wouldn't have to return in the morning. My wife has been in tears, and we've barely slept as a result of the confrontation, and aggressive behaviour. Guests like this should be banned from Airbnb, but I'd imaging once they have sobered up they'll still have the opportunity to ruin our business by leaving terrible feedback; and to make matters worse get a full refund? My wife is sobbing here next to me as I type, and I really hope we get some proper support from Airbnb over this awful set of guests. Many thanks, Oliver Woolley
ClaireandOli
1:36 PM
I would also finally add that some of the exchanges were independently witnessed by a retired police officer, who can make a statement if required.
Airbnb Support
3:03 PM
Hey Claire and Oli,
Thanks for explaining the situation to me in greater detail, I know issues like this can be frustrating and Airbnb does take them quite seriously, I will be reaching out to your guest to discuss the issue directly.
My role here is to treat you fairly and to help you and your guest reach a resolution, My aim is to ensure that it’s fair for both of you. I will update you as soon as I can.
If you ever need anything Airbnb is happy to help.
Airbnb Support
9:50 PM
Hi Claire and Oli, my name is Glorija and I'm a case manager at Airbnb. I hope this message finds you well.
I'm terribly sorry to hear about your experience with Leah, and I understand why you've asked your guest to leave as your house rules weren't respected. I've personally spoke with Leah to educate about this, and she now understands that children under 16 year only are not allowed to use the hot tub, and why and I've also explained this was listed in your house rules when she booked this reservation.
I understand this was a very upsetting situation for all, and we're here to find a solution supported with our policies. As your guest was asked to leave, and they didn't spend any nights in the property they've booked, they are entitled to a full refund. We have cancelled this reservation to open your calendar. This will give you an option to potentially have a new booking for the dates.
Since the check in occurred, an option to leave a review will be there for both you and your guest, and we can advise that you contact us if your guest leaves a review that is in violation of our Content Policy, or to leave your response.
I want you to know that we're here to support you, and that if something like this happens you should contact us strait away, as we can mediate between you and the guest and try to resolve the issues and save the reservation.
If there is anything else, or if you simply have question, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm always happy to help.
Kind regards,
Glorija
ClaireandOli
11:58 PM
just what we have come to expect from your despicable company's treatment of hard working hosts. these guests broke our rules and made us feel threatened and yet are allowed a full refund and to remain on airbnb. this is why we shall be leaving as hosts asap.
17 FEBRUARY 2019
ClaireandOli
10:03 AM
Dear Glorija,
I would like to add to my wife's previous response that I wonder just what would have been an acceptable reason to ask guests to leave? Did we need to wait to be physically assaulted before it would be okay to ask them to leave? I'm imagine your policy would be that if they'd assaulted us and spent a night in a police cell, they'd still have had a full refund -since they wouldn't have slept here! If this was your family home, would you be prepared to put up with abusive and aggressive guests under your roof? If this had -for the sake of example- been a hotel, and I'd checked in and had been told it was a no smoking room, but had gone to my room and lit up -breaking the hotels rules, and had been asked to leave; at which point I'd threatened hotel staff, I would have expected the police to be called and be ejected from the hotel. I wouldn't expect a refund as I would have been in the wrong and voided any 'contract'. This is just an example, but basically it's just what has happened here; and yet despite 'being happy to help' it seems Airbnb's policy is to only ever help guests. Hosts are less than unimportant and can be treated like doormats, and as long as Airbnb gets their money they couldn't care less. The idea that at 11 pm on Saturday night we'd suddenly get a booking 'because you've reopened our calendar, is a joke as we've lost out on Friday night already and the possibility of finding a guest to book at that time of night is probably nil. We had an independent witness (the retired police officer), and yet you've taken their version of events over ours. We feel totally unsupported by airbnb yet again and the tag line of 'always happy to help' seems as hollow, shallow and totally meaningless as the crass 'have a nice day' phrase, which employees are forced to say, as they earn a pittance. Still at least they get paid, which is more than can be said for airbnb, who gives full refunds for any reason at all. As Claire already mentioned, we shall actively be looking to go with a better class of agent asap, and one that actually cares about their hosts! Perhaps a 50% refund would indicate you're impartial, but the 100% refund these abusive and aggressive guests got is just an insult to us as hosts. Needless to say we will henceforth be active agents to spreading the word of how appallingly hosts are treated and to avoid all dealings with airbnb. Oliver Woolley
Furthermore we did contact airbnb at the time, but there was no staff available to advise or assist. What possible help is 'we'll get back to you within 24 hours'?? If the same thing ever happened again, I still wouldn't hesitate to eject guests who make us feel threatened. If there is any failing here, it's down to your systems and lack of support!
