I took on a guest to host with no ratings with Airbnb as the the guest only signed up the week he booked my listing.
My room that I listed on Airbnb has a shared bathroom and I stated clearly as part of my house rules that every guest has to clean up after themselves after using the toilet/bathroom as I am not charging for cleaners in order to keep the cost down for guests. I've had a excellent experience with all my guest with over 80% giving me very glowing reviews before this particular guest moved in.
Given perhaps the fact that this guest has never used Airbnb before, he continued to use my place like a hotel, dirtying everything and uses the toilet and soiling it so heavily and simply walks out despite the fact that I provide every cleaning accessories possible plus my house rules which state guest must keep toilet/bathroom clean printed on an A4 sheet on top of the bedside table next to the bed.
On two separate occasion I had to knock on the guests room to ask him to go and clean the toilet as no one can use it because of the way he has heavily soiled it. I complained to Airbnb who asked me to take pictures and send to them which I did.
Airbnb apparently tried to call the guest but I was told that the guest has removed his phone number from the Airbnb system and Airbnb can only reach him via email which he refused to response to.
After the first two incident of asking to clean the toilet, the guest became rude, confrontational and would not talk to me even if I said hello to him he will just push past me while giving me dirty looks.
The next day Airbnb told me that the guest has contacted them and and told Airbnb he was moving out on his own volition because my hygiene is apparently to high for him and he cannot clean a toilet after use. However Airbnb said the guest demanded a refund for the rest days he has booked. I responded by saying that I have not ask the guest to leave my listing rather it is the guest choice to leave because he does not want to comply with my House Rules despite the rules being clearly stated on my listing.
The guest duly moved out slamming his luggage’s on walls puncturing holes, door frames and causing considerable damage to my property.
As the guest was moving out, I attempted to have a conversation with him but he became threatening so I backed off to avoid a confrontation.
10 minutes after moving out, I received a threatening extortion text message from the guest that states, "Unless you agree to refund me the money for the days left with my booking you will not see your keys again". These keys being 2 keys to the main entrance door and the key to his bedroom.
I reported all these to Airbnb and I was advised by 2 different Airbnb staff (whom I have their names) that given that the guest has (1) informed Airbnb that he is vacating the listing, (2) he was acting threatening to me before vacating the listing and (3) the fact that the guest actually sent me a text message threatening that I will never see my keys again, I should go ahead and change the locks to my apartment urgently to prevent any safety concerns as no one knew what the guest will do next. I was told that this would be covered by the Host Guarantee. I duly complied as I was also scared for my safety and had the locks changed.
Not surprisingly, when I filed a claim for the guest to refund me for the key lock changes with locksmiths receipts etc, the guest declined the request despite the fact that the guest never returned my keys.
I was then advised to escalate the claim so that Airbnb Support can get involve and have it covered under the Host Guarantee but I was surprised when the support staff decline to cover the locks change under the Host Guarantee giving all sorts of strange reasons and demanding for different evidences and every time I provide what she asked for, she will simply ignore it and come up with something else. I demanded for a senior Airbnb Support Staff to review the case she promised that will happen but it never did. I then pointed out to the Airbnb Support staff that it was Airbnb staff that actually advised that I change my key locks for safety. She replied me that she has forwarded it to the two Airbnb staff that advised me to change my key locks to deal with but she was not going to refund me for the expenditure.
As of today, there's more that 20 email exchange with the Airbnb Support Staff and I am no further to getting a refund than when this incident started 2 months ago. I am frustrated and thinking of suing Airbnb as I have been left seriously out of pocket by following Airbnb staff's advice. Help anyone. What can I do?
