Ever wonder if your guest is Satan himself?

[Krystal16]

On the 29th of November my guest whom I lovingly refer to as Satan and his family have checked out.  Praise to the heavens, or so I thought.  Have you ever had a guest where the madness seems to never end, this guest seems to be it. 

They checked out on the 29th a day early from their 11 week reservation, I knew I was getting a bad review, so I waited for the days to pass to see if he would review me first, and he did with 2 days to spare.  I wrote his review, my 499 word review left only 1 word to spare but so much more could have been said.  I tried to be as fact based as possible with very little personal emotion, wrote my review hit the submit button anxiously awaiting while the page refreshed to show me his review, and boy was it worth the wait.  (Feel free to review it under my cozy and convenient listing)   I of course responded and tried again to be very fact based with little emotion.  

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/16899834?preview_for_ml=true

Now some highlevel review of this guest as I have already posted twice on here about them, was the first issue was when I found a stain on the carpet of my upper level unit that they were temporarily staying.  They were in this unit because my bsmt level unit renovation was not completed when they arrived, and yes they were made aware of this before they checked and they got to stay in a 3 bdrm unit instead of a 1 bdrm for no additional cost, feel free to review that previous conversation here.  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Coffee-amp-Food-Stains-on-the-area-rug/m-p/827508#M20013...  I was warned by other hosts on this post not to give in that it will get worse from here, boy were they right.

So the next thing that happens is their baby came earlier (tourist baby I think is what they call it) so they no longer needed their 11 week reservation and tried to end the reservation early with a refund.  Airbnb told them they could end their reservation but the longterm cancellation policy would apply.  They then proceeded to tell Airbnb a long list of defienacies in my unit and that they should be able to cancel without penalty because of this.  Of course, I am schooled in the art of CYA and was able to prove otherwise and the guest was told by BNB that the long term policy would apply.  If you are interested in the long tale of this you can find my post here, https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/What-would-be-considererd-harrassment-from-a-guest/m-p/8...

So now, come 13 days after their check in I thought my nightmare was, boy was I wrong.  So when they checked in I told them I would be installing surveillance cameras, they had no object to this and were installed in the first week they were there.  Well guess what I wake up to an email from the Trust and Security divison of Airbnb and Satan has reported me.  My listing is delisted and I am getting threats that my account could be suspended if I don’t respond in 48 hours.  Well again I live the motto of CYA and sent all documentation to BNB and the listing is now reactivated.  However I really refrained myself in the review of him, as well as my responses to his review of my unit so I have come here to my fellow hosts to blow of some steam (insert whistle engine here).

So anyone else have a guest this bad?

[Pete28]

3 months is too long for,an Airbnb style set up.

For my long term rental I usually interview 8-10 applicants and pick the ones I like the best and are most qualified with income and job. Usually another couple of meetings face to face to make sure we are all happy. Then background check, deposit of $3k etc.

I wouldn't do Airbnb guests for more than 5-7 days.

[Sarah977]

@Krystal16  Oh, I am so sorry for you, dear. No, I am lucky that I have never had even one nightmare guest, but my listing tends to attract a certain type and it's the type that works for me. When I read some of these horror stories about the outrageous guests hosts get, I'm amazed at how resilient you are and that you can actually keep hosting. Good for you for sticking to your guns and not letting CS shaft you. 

If I got guests like this, and had to waste so much time dealing with unsupportive reps trying to screw good hosts on the lies of a Satan guest, I think I would have packed it in a long time ago.

I have always had a 2 week max stay. I figured if they were a pain, I'd maybe be able to stick it out that long.

[Krystal16]

@Sarah977

I have hosted over 100 guests so far and most have been delightful, I have to say Airbnb was speedy in fixing and my original customer support person was fantastic and fully understood what the guest was trying to do.  I have a few days blocked in my calendar for the holidays and am certainly taking it easy over December I need a rest and recharge.  

Thank you for listening to me vent

[Helen3]

@Krystal16

Sorry you had such an uncomfortable experience. Personally I don't think long term guests are a good fit for Airbnb and would want a deposit, credit checks and references from long term tenants ie careful vetting to ensure a good fit.

Having said that, I think you should have asked the guests to leave when you had the opportunity.  Their personal circumstances are not your issues. 

And sorry but I think your comments about the couple insuinuating they choose to have their daughter deliberately in Canada makes for rather uncomfortable reading and is irrelevant to their stay with you.

[Krystal16]

@Helen3

I agree with you on the long-term tenants and Airbnb I need to slight change my settings however the tenants’ rights are so heavily protected in Canada you almost need an act from god in order to evict tenants with Airbnb you at least have an end date in sight.

Regarding the guests choosing to have their baby here in Canada was deliberate and I do not have an issue with that, this couple is my 5th couple whom I hosted with this scenario.  In this case it was relevant for 2 reasons, 1 my unit is not recommended for children and they choose to book it knowing that.  2, the father left the country and was returning mid-November for the birth of his child, the baby was born Oct 23rd, 3 weeks earlier, they were then able to get their paper work now 3 weeks earlier and wanted to be refunded if they left early.  When Airbnb told them they would not be refunded due to the LT booking policy they started making complaints saying the unit was not as advertised and was lacking in basic necessities.  Their original booking was based on a delivery date of mid-November.

[Alexandra316]

@Krystal16While I agree that the Landlord and Tenant Act in Ontario is ridiculous and is a major reason I won't have a traditional tenant,  be aware that hosting on Airbnb does not protect you from it. You may want to take a look at this hel article:  https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/805/what-are-some-things-i-should-consider-before-hosting-long-te...

I don't host guests for more than 21 days, because after 30 days, they are considered tenants. 

[Kath9]

@Krystal16, sorry to hear this. More and more I agree that Airbnb just isn't suited to long-term tenants - it just seems to come with so many problems. Long-term tenants, as @Pete28 suggests, should only be confirmed after interviews, proper tenancy agreements, etc. Airbnb is not a real estate agent operating under normal tenancy laws, so if things go wrong, there is very little support for hosts. Anyway, glad to hear they are out of your life.

[Niel3]

The silver lining is that as this was such a long booking the review seems to have been filed in chronoligical order from the date it started .....so has gone straight to the second page of reviews where hardly anyone will see it. 🙂

[Cor3]

Hi @Krystal16,

I’m really sorry to read your story.

What started off, with an administrative omission, ended up in a true nightmare.

It’s a classic example of Murphy’s law.

And Murphy never strikes alone, you know!

The whole thing (at least to me), has unfortunately red flags written all over it:

• Calendar not up-to-date/blocked, during ongoing construction
• Dubious reason for guest stay
• Delivering a child, while staying over? (Just think about all the safety and health hazards)
• Entitled guest(s)
• Long term booking
• Partial third-party booking
• Relative cheap listing (attracting certain guests)
• Initial temporary free of charge upgrade (In my language, we have a saying: Beer after Wine, leads to venom. In my language it rhymes).
• Damages and associated discussions
• Demand for refund, due to shortened stay (it wouldn’t surprise me completely, when this would have been the whole plan from the beginning).
• And I could name a few others.

All resulting in a very big/bad review and associated lengthy response.

Which will be waving: “Hello! Here’s the bad one”, to your future prospective guests, for some time to come.

Hopefully for you, it will soon be buried under loads of other very good reviews.

From what I’ve read here in the community, on average 1 out of 40-50 guests, is a less desirable guest.

And you simply cannot please everybody 100% all the time (what's good for one, is considered bad to another).

Whenever that Airbnb chime sounds:

• On one side, I’m happy: Most likely money in the bank from our investment.
• On the other side: What do I have to put up with, this time.