Being threatened by a guest, what would you do?

[Jian-Hui0]

Hi everyone,

I am a new host and I have hosted a couple guests recently. They are very satisfied with my smoke-free and pet-free house. Also, I have stayed in the house for about a year, putting descriptive photos and info for my listing for my guests.

A week ago, there was a guest (and his mom) made a reservation (30 days of stay) and wanted to take a look of the house before moving in on Mid-Aug. As the booking was confirmed, I want to make sure my guests have the best stay so I let him to check the house. Throughout the conversation, he asked me whether my place is 100% smoke-free and I told him yes. During the visit, I gave him a tour and asked him whether he has any problem or questions regarding the room, please feel free to ask me so I can make it better before he and his mom move into the room. He said everything was great and neat. He then checked the rooms and asked who else will be staying in this house. I told him that my fiance will be back to stay with me after a month (which wont be here during their stay) as she is working in other state. He said cool cool. Before he left, I asked him again whether he has any question or issue. He said nope, it is great.  So I sent him off and said see you in Mid-Aug, he answered see you soon.

2 days later, AirBnB contacted me about the guest wanted to cancel the reservation and get back the full refund because he said my house has smoke and mold odor which makes an unsafe and healthy environment. I was surprised because the guest did not mention anything during the meet-up! I then told the representative everything. The rep was trying to help him at first but I explained nicely why I would not refund the guest due to the long-term cancellation (strict) policy. I set this policy because I have seen some before. Then, the rep instructed me on how to solve the problem. I followed and responded the guest that I cannot make a refund. Then I thought things are settled.

The next day, the guest threatening me that If I don't refund he will report to police or make a lawsuit to sue me because I keep his money for nothing (excuse me?) I gave AirBnB a call and a representative told me do not worry because I have the cancellation policy, and AirBnB wont refund to the guest and will protect me if the guest is going to file a lawsuit against me. I felt relieved because I got assurance from AirBnB that they will protect the host. 

Few hours later, another representative (let call her K) called me with a rude tone, kept insisting me to refund the guest. K did not even listen to whatever I explained. Kept asking me "If there any possibility you would refund the guest full amount of money? We will cancel the reservation on your behalf without penalizing you. ", I was driving at that moment and kind of pissed because I did not do anything wrong, the rude rep wanted to close the case very badly, as this thing has been emotionally affected me, I told K that I would refund 50% and cancel the reservation. That's the best I could do because the guest has the responsibility to read before booking, he needs to learn a lesson. K said okay and the conversation was ended. 

During that night, the guest sent me another threatening message that he will check in to the house on the first check-in day with lawyer and police if I don't provide a full refund. My fiance and I couldn't fall asleep, we couldn't understand why this guest wanted to do so? why wouldn't he address the issue during the meet-up but 2 days after? Did he find a better place so he made excuse? Why is he accusing my place has mold and smoke odor when he did wrong?

 Lastly, my fiance and I decided to give him the full refund due to the mentally tortured. I called AirBnB to refund the guest. K then called back for confirmation with her happy tone (because she can close the case). The case is then closed.

This is my first time facing this issue and I am kind of disappointing because I expect AirBnB to protect me when circumstances like this happen. Now I feel that, as a host, no matter what cancellation policy you have, flexible, medium, strict or super-strict for your listing, it will become ineffective when guest makes false statement and request to refund. I learned a lesson and will be a better host in the future. Learn to protect myself before someone protects me.

If this happens to other host (you), what would you do? Please feel free to share your advice and suggestions, so everyone will be alert and knows how to handle when it happens. Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I appreciate it.

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@Jian-Hui0  I'm sorry this happened to you and I think this guest asked to come over before his booking just so he could pull this scam.

This is one reason why you should never let anyone preview the place. Other reasons guests ask to pre-view are: checking the place out to do a burglary at some time in the future, and attempting to make some private deal with you to circumvent paying Airbnb fees. A few may legitimately want to check out a place they have long-term booked, but still, it's not okay.

Guests don't need to pre-view the place in order for you to make sure they have the best stay- they can read all about your listing in your ad, see the photos, message you to ask any questions they have, etc. You make good stays for guests by being an attentive host and providing the things you say you provide.

You got treated badly by not only this person, but also Airbnb. They seem to be doing this all the time now- haranguing hosts to refund in contravention of their cancellation policy. I read they keep bugging you in the hopes that you'll relent- K's behavior was rude and they should be ashamed of themselves.

Please do not give in this kind of pressure from Airbnb in the future- every time a host relents, it just emboldens Airbnb to keep doing it, more and more. It's pointless to have cancellation policies if they aren't upheld. And rewarding scammers by refunding all their money- that just makes me livid.

[Jian-Hui0]

Dear @Sarah977,

I let him preview the place after the reservation was confirmed. Actually he has "X" reviews on his profile and about 20% of the hosts mentioned this guest was the worst guest they ever met. However, I usually don't judge a book by its cover. Since he and his mom would be my 30 days housemate, I thought it's better to do so. [Now I trusted the host who gave him bad reviews.]

Thanks for your advices, you stated some good points of why not letting incoming guest previews the house. I will keep in mind! Although the case has been closed, deep in my heart I felt sad (Which is why I wrote at the forum to express my feeling.) because i did nothing wrong. I refunded the guest not because I am wrong, I just don't want to stuck in this issue. I do hope Airbnb takes action on people like this instead of letting them do whatever they want. 

[Niel3]

From what I can see there is a little bit of unreasonoableness on both sides here.

Guest by committed to a 30 day (£780/$950?) booking and then asked to inspect for suitability. They should really have asked to check suitability before booking considering the length and value of the booking in question.

However they pretty obviously they did perceive a smell of something and/or smoke (whether there was one or not) as they did specifically ask about it during the visit which ultimately has put them off enough to want to cancel. Now if you seriously expected them to say "Oh well, keep my nearly $1000 30 days worth of booking money, that's fine" then that is incredibly naiive of you - and just as incredibly unfair of you to try and keep the full amount so I can totally understand the person being angry and looking at legal avenues to recover their payment. How would you have expected it to have gone like had you effectively forced them to go through with the booking and spent 30 days living with them in your house with such an atmosphere of resentment & unhappiness on their part?

Re: The smell they didn't like, no-one can really comment on that but I will say from personal experience living in a home you can get 'used' to odours so that they just don't notice them but other people will. Is there a chance you do have mold/dry rot/similar somewhere in the house that you are not aware of and simply have become conditioned to not noticing the odour? I have cats and had become immune to the odd time they used the litter until a guest mentioned it & I never considered that it was something I had mentally filtered out as "acceptable". Perhaps it may be an idea to have a friend over for an independant opinion - pick a friend who will be honest not one who will tell you what you want to hear.

@Sarah977not sure why you sare saying the potential guests are scammers though, there's no evidence that the potential guest has tried to scam anything out of the host. If anything it's the host trying to scam money out of the guest by expectng them to pay for (or forcing them to use) a 30 day stay they want to cancel.

[Sarah977]

@Niel3  I say they are scammers because yes, they most certainly were trying to scam something out of the host- getting all their money back when they agreed to the cancellation policy in place when they booked. @Jian-Hui0 said the guest asked if the place was smoke free and his answer was yes. What evidence do you have that the host is lying about that or that he simply doesn't smell some smoke smell because he's used to it?

What the host could have done, but maybe didn't think about because he's new to this, was offer to refund the guest if he managed to rebook the dates. That's a fair compromise for both the host and the guest.

[Jian-Hui0]

@Sarah977   "Offer to refund the guest if he managed to rebook the dates. That's a fair compromise for both the host and the guest." 

I never thought of this!! But according to my situation, I believe the guest will keep threatening me and the K will give me a couple calls too.

[Allison2]

If the guests wanted to ensure the suitability of the place, they could have booked a short stay or asked for a preview before reserving for a long stay.

They didn't.

They entered a CONTRACT that says their 30-day stay was not refundable.

Sorry, but these people are competing for housing. If they'd been so lucky as to find a furnished rental with less than a 3-month lease, they wouldn't be able to cancel that contract without a penalty. In the US, it is typical to pay a significant fee to buy out of a lease.

[Jian-Hui0]

You are right. It is rare to have 3 months lease at my place, it's either 6 month or a year lease, and you have to pay a first month deposit. (I thought the long-term cancellation policy is kind of like my security deposit, but I was wrong.) 😞 

[Mark116]

@Jian-Hui0   Wow, what a psycho, you should at least be glad that such a terrible person didnt' stay in your place,imagine what a month with him would be like!

I don't think the guest could have ever won any lawsuit, because the terms are clear that he agreed to, and similarly, I can't imagine on what basis he could get the police to come to a place that he has never rented, I suspect those were empty threats, but I can understand you decided to be done with it and give him what he wanted.

@Niel3   Why shouldn't the guest have to abide by the rules?  Those were the rules he agreed to, a strict cancellation.  I am sorry that he got his money, which is just rewarding this person for being an aggressive and threatening jerk.

[Jian-Hui0]

Dear @Mark116 ,

Yes, I am glad he did not stay in my place now. Because I am not very familiar with hiring lawyers and all the procedure (which I need to learn for future.), I was afraid if he made false statement or created fake documentation at my place (like putting cigarette at my place and take photo) while I was away, etc. It was an awful night for me and my fiance. Thanks for your understanding! I am glad you feel me.

I thought Airbnb would do something when they saw this threatening message (Airbnb can check all the conversation between host and guest) but in facts, they did not. 

[Linda108]

@Jian-Hui0   I tend to agree with  @Niel3  about your not refunding the guest.  In this case you just appear greedy which I think does not actually represent you. 

You are new to this site and your listing could use more information.  For example, I do not see a rule for no smoking, so since this is important for many, you might want to add.  Once you book a listing over 29 days the long term cancellation rules do apply, but since you are just getting started, you might stay with short term guests so you can understand how all this works.  Long term is like having a roommate and in this case you were expecting two adults.

A booking is not a guarantee of income.  Just like buying a sweater, there are many reason why you would return it and most stores now allow a return.  In the long run, you will be more successful if you are more flexible.  Finding  balance between sticking to your guns and allowing flexibility is not simple or easy.  Good luck in the future and welcome to Air BNB.

[Mark116]

@Linda108  What is the point of anyone even having a cancellation policy of any kind if hosts are supposed to feel guilty and be called greedy for enforcing it?  If people want free cancellation up until they check in they can go to a hotel or book a place that has free cancellation, otherwise, they need to stick to whatever policy they agreed upon.  

[Jian-Hui0]

Dear @Linda108 ,

I did list "no smoking" at my house rule. Your recommendation is really helpful and I really appreciate it. Thank you! 

[Niel3]

All these messages calling the guest a "psycho" and "scammer" are a pretty sad indictment of how us hosts are knee-jerk seeing guests without considering the possibility that guests can make genuine errors of judgement. Is this really what AirBNB are turning hosts into.

Has anyone considered that perhaps this guest is a first time AirBNB user and in error didn't read every T&C and every caveat relating to making a booking with ArBNB. Then, obviously naiively, assumed the laws of common decency applied when in effect they have ultimately simply made an honest mistake in the way they booked/inspected? (Edit, reading updates I see a post from the OP claiming he is not a new AirBNB member so maybe this does not apply but at the time of original refusal the host did not seem to have researched this)

The guy made a booking to the tune of nearly $1000, that's a lot of money by most people's standards. Granted we have already agreed that he should have asked to inspect the place before making the booking but that aside when he inspected and found that it didn't suit his needs due to his own perception of an odour & asked to cancel he was told that his mistake was going to cost him his $1000 & the host seemed to think he's just shrug his shoulders and walk away - really? How many of the people criticising the guest here would honestly walk away from $1000 were they in the guests' shoes.

The guest then has 2 options - stay anyway, in the hosts home with the host where there would be 30 days of bad feeling because they have been effectively forced to stay there by the host - or lose $1000 due to an honest mistake and the hosts's greed. No wonder the guest is threatening legal action to recover his $1000, I would too.

Yes the room was blocked from AirBNB's calender for about a week while this was going on which may or may not have prevented another booking but for the hosts to want to take $1000 for this, then presumably have the room freed up and try to take double money from it via another booking is pretty shocking behaviour to me I am sorry. Strict cancellation policy being enforced for short stays of 1-3 nights is fair enough but for a 30 day thousand dollar stay is a bit excessive.

[Mark116]

@Niel3  The guest made threats, threatened a lawsuit and to bring the police to the house over his refund.  Yes, this is a jerk and maybe a psycho.  

He made an agreement and then wanted out of the conditions he agreed to when he changed his mind, that is not anything that anyone, let alone another host, should be championing.  

I will say again that enforcing the terms of a contract that was made between two consenting adult parties is not greedy.  The world is full of houses, apartments and rooms so that a person can find what they are looking for under the terms they are happy with.  Also, the reason that the strict cancellation policy applies to long term rentals is because the host is apt to lose thousands of dollars and unlikely to be able to rebook at the last minute.