BAD GUESTS!

[Zarah0]

We had a really bad guest in our house and left a HUGE mess and I was left with a large cleaning bill and I involved air bnb after the guest refused to pay! The guest was NOT happy form the start wantng discounts and free things and then left the house a total mess! Air bnb rejected my claim so I not only hosted this guest I actualy lost money! Has anyone else had this happen to them?! 

Thank you

[Kathleen5]

People who ask about 'how much cleaning do we need to do?" also tend to be problems. We just had guests at our Florida house who had never used Airbnb before. We went way out of our way for them, and we should have known better.
 
I don't think they get the whole Airbnb concept. They think it's a mini hotel. The day after they checked in, they asked when we were making up their rooms.

Every day, a new complaint. The mattress in one room was uncomfortable. We had planned on replacing it anyway (we replace mattresses every four years). Their response? Meh.

They complained about having to use a hose to rinse their sandy feet. We happened to have purchased an outdoor shower but had not installed it yet. We put it in place two hours later. Their response? Meh.

They complained about running out of toilet paper. (We supply 24 rolls for a week; we gave them 20 more and later watched them load all this toilet paper into their car when packing up.) .

Meanwhile, before they left, they asked if they could get a "big discount" for next year. We offered them a 10% discount -- during the most valuable week of the year in our area -- and they were clearly disappointed. "We were thinking more like 40%" said one of them. They asked us to rent to them outside of Airbnb so they could save their booking fee, which we said we don't do. Why should we? It's not coming out our pocket, we'll book these popular spring break weeks no matter what. And who knows what to expect from a high maintenance Airbnb unsavvy group like them?

I don't know if it was because we didn't make them a big enough discount for the following year or wouldn't agree to not go through Airbnb or what,  but they left the house a complete wreck. They took out the trash and did a bit of laundry. But the microwave was a war zone. Dirty diapers were left in a bag under a bed. Wet towels were everywhere. They had used aloe for their sunburns which left huge purple marks on our linens. The women had taken off their mascara with our white towels; we had makeup and "mascara marks" on 12 brand new white towels -- even though we leave black "makeup" handcloths for this purpose along with makeup removal towelettes.

Worse was our beach gear. We have rented our house for 12 years and we never saw such a mess. We ask guests to "simply hose off beach gear after use so it's ready for the guests." We keep our chairs, umbrellas, etc. in a horizontal storage shed. There must have been 20 pounds of sand in there. They poured entire buckets of wet sand in there. They left entire buckets of wet sand in the beach trolley we provide to take stuff to the beach -- along with a dozen empty beer cans, an empty whiskey bottle and loads of cigarette butts. (We picked up another 70 cigarette butts around the pool.)

We leave a stroller for guests to take to the beach - it was  caked in about two pounds of wet sand. The bottom of the stroller had more empty beer cans and a dirty diaper in a bag. The whole stroller smelled like stale beer and had multiple stains. It was disgusting.

Meanwhile, they had rented a stroller and a beach umbrella (not realizing we had both, I think). Those were carefully cleaned and in pristine condition, awaiting pickup by the rental company. So it was just our stuff they trashed.

I had to hire two neighbors to come in an clean on an emergency basis to deal with their mess. One spent hours just dealing with beach stuff, including 90 minutes to sort out the stroller.

I worked all day trying to sort out the house. They had taken all kinds of stuff, from bath wash to pillows. It was hard to sort out as they had also moved a lot of stuff around. Working nonstop, we finished up as the next guests arrived.

Just then, these awful guests called and said cheerfully, "We've agreed that if you'll give us a 25% discount next year, then we'll book your place."

I agree with other comments. People who ask for discounts are problems. And don't go too out of your way for people - no good deed goes unpunished!!

[Yadira22]

@Kathleen5 

please don’t let them back and much less at a discounted price. If they were great guests, then perfect if this is what you please but now, definitely not. 

I would also ask Airbnb to block them from ever making an inquiry on your listings again (I think they do this manually on their end) and leave them an honest but emotionless review. 

Eg.despite being very polite during their stay, i would not recommend these guests...

- bags of used and dirty diapers were left under the bed and our personal stroller which we provide our guests for the beach 

- my white towels were used for removing make up despite providing specific products for this purpose... meaning that I needed to discard these.”

This is not acceptable behaviour and if you have proof of what has been done you can even ask for some compensation for the added cleaning and replacing of towels, etc. Keep it all documented! 

Urgh it gets to me the total lack of respect some people have, this is someone’s home which they have entrusted on you to stay in and keep... respect it! But then i remember it’s only 1% of guests which represent the “bad” and life is too short to care about the minority when 99% will give you reason to smile over and over again! 🙂

Anyway- have a beautiful day! 🙂

[Mandi-S-Just-Business-Ro0]

I don't know who came up with 1 percent, but it's at least 5 now and climbing. 

These people are lowlives. 

[Jamie427]

Can I ask how the reviews then work out for this??? We may be dealing with this now, we were told our place isn’t clean and it is ALWAYS exceptionally clean. I just want to see the best way to do reviews when experiences like this happen?

[Leigh554]

Me too!  I’m at 100% bad guests with my first 2. My 2nd person found spots deep in my refrigerator.  I finally figured out how to remove the drawer to clean under there.  I couldn’t reach every spot. It will take a repair guy to take the frig apart. I allow dogs. The last people’s pooch left a stain. I washed with hot water and bleach. I had 5-6 other sheets if they wanted to change. I have now raised my dog fee. My first dogs left feces all over, their dogs tore up my outdoor furniture, it was covered in mud. 

Guests 1 rearranged my furniture. Things were moved all over the house. She got very angry when I sent a message asking where she might have put something I couldn’t find. 

Guest 2 inspected my house for a spot or stain anywhere. She was very confrontational and accused me of lying. I’m still working it out with AirBnB. She checked out on day 3 of a long stay. I’m so discouraged. 

[Anonymous]

We feel the same, its impossible to guess who is a good guest. We have problems with about 70 % -  they trash the place, steal, break things, loose keys, contact us in the middle of the night, sex parties (condoms and lube all over the floor and walls). For some reason I think AirBnB needs a deposit system. We have removed all extra services and only allow the most basic now. We dont do anything extra and try to keep communicaiton to minimum. Every time we go to check the property we are surprised if nothing is broken, no towels missing or extremely dirty (like toiletpaper not in put in the toilet)... We had free coffee and tea and we got people complaining that its not the brand they like.  Crazy spoiled people, sometimes I feel like I am managing a zoo... luckily we only have 1.5 month left... we have decided to sell the property instead of dealing with this. 

[Fabiana71]

I agree! Every time I tried to be "nicer" I got in trouble. 

And with Airbnb, they have disappointed me, it seems they are always on guest side. However if you have proof (always take pictures) and write all conversations on airbnb app, then they have to pay for the extra if the guest didnt. This is why we pay fees for them and they have insurance. 

Complain back and escalate or do a formal complaint.

You can also only accept guests with good reviews and ID validated

[Kristina192]

Wow. I think you’re right. Though one recent guest who did this ended up being a great guest. 

[Jane550]

Agreed

[Eric162]

Give them a bad rating and write everywhere you can publicly about it. Eventually AirBNB will respond. You'll get a call from a customer service rep.

[Helen3]

Why did BNB not allow your claim?

[Robert78]

@Helen3 Since when does Abnb allow a host to determine whether or not a host can determine the final outcome of a resolution? In every encounter I've had with a damage or loss request, the guest gets the final decision and then the resolution process gets closed!

Your mileage may vary.

[Danny0]

Accepting guest who ask fordiscounts up front only leads to further problems down the line. HOWEVER, you charge a $72.00 (Canadian ) cleanning fee. I would assume that would cover at least three hours of professional cleanng, so its no wonddr your claim was rejected.

[Lisa990]

Perhaps because it was not for damages. Cleaning is not the same as damages. 

[Remel0]

Recently, I am having terrible experiences with Airbnb guests.  The worst was a guest who spilled nail polish remover on the floor,  she and her guests threw an unauthorized party and were seen by a neighbor reopening the pool that was closed on the morning they arrived, damaging wire and connections from security equipment, smoking in the property, jumping off of the outdoor deck railing, trash was EVERYWHERE, burned the coffee pot and left it empty and on still burning, burst a pool water lounger, stuck gum on the walls and furniture, damaged two chairs (one with water left in a pool toy and dripping on my hardwood floors, took some tools they were using on their car, stole towels and wash cloths, knocked a mirror off the wall, removed the tiebacks to curtains (know idea where those are), oil on a bed comforter and both bed sheets that won't come out, broke some glasses and so much more!  They literally TRASHED the place!

I contacted Airbnb on the very day this happened! I filed a resolution and continued to discover more damage.  I was advised to file the claim under damage and the host guarantee would cover it or the department handling host guarantees would work on it.  Two weeks and I call everyday and no one has responded yet.  NO email. NO phone call.  I have lost immediate income and possible subsequent income because of Airbnb's lack luster way to fulfill their promises to back the host.   

I have become so frustrated with trying to be a good host and riding the thin line between professionalism and losing my cool as it relates to Airbnb not doing what it says, and continuing to give me the run-around about honoring the host guarantee.  I have provided pictures, receipts, estimates and even had a subsequent guest discover more damage and documented it in a communication on airbnb and still I wait for a response.  I called again today and asked the customer service rep about the continued delays.  Her response was that there are natural disasters happening and airbnb is focused on finding housing for people so they are apt to put their other priority issues on the backburner.  Not to be insensitive, but won't there almost always be some emergency in some area that airbnb does business in? Besides, I have been told several times throughout this that the people who handle my issue don't handle customer service or bookings.  I was told it was a dedicated department; so now, these people are handling bookings and displaced guests too?    

I look forward to seeing just how they handle this.  I have done everything they asked let's just see how much more time it will take this dedicated department to make some dedicated communication about this issue that I do not intend to allow to be swept under the rug!