Guest brought more people to stay without my approval

Haiyan7
Level 2
Stoughton, MA

Guest brought more people to stay without my approval

I have a guest who told me it is only her family (2 adults and 3 children) staying at the booking. She stayed for five days, during the time we exchanged text messages and she was always polite and nice. After she checked out, my cleaning lady went to clean the house. She told me the house is left in a disgusting state, trash everywhere, no damage though. And she also got complains from neighbors that there were a lot of people in and out during the stay. I followed up with this guest, she told me her extended family members were in and out for her mother's memorial service. I am guessing that means she held the service in my house which is not allowed. Her brother's family couldn't find a place so they stayed in the house as well. So she had total 8 people lived in the house. I explained to her that the max capacity is only 6 and she couldn't bring in additional guests without getting my approval. She ignored my text since then. Not even an apology. I am super frustrated about the disturbance to my neighbors (our house is in a very quiet neighborhood) and the extra cleaning work my cleaning lady has to do but not sure what to do.

 

I am also hesitating to leave a review. I know Airbnb would keep sending emails to her letting her know that I left her a review. She knows I am upset, so there is a good chance she would say something negative about me as a defence, which inevitably will affect my rating. Am I overthinking this?

 

Thanks for any advice. 

-Haiyan

12 Replies 12
Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

@Haiyan7 the stay is over, so the only option you have is to leave an honest review and rating. A review like the following:

 

"Guests did not communicate the correct number of individuals staying at our property and had trouble following house rules. A significant amount of extra clean up was needed. We would not host this group again."

 

Mark below 3 in all categories and hit the "do not host again" button to prevent others from having this issue. Sorry this happened.  

You are right. That is probably my only option. But how do I prevent her from leaving a bad review for me as a defence? Somehow I think Airbnb's review system is flawed. Am I the only one feeling that way?

@Haiyan7 you can't prevent it, but you can respond to it. I would wait until day 13 to leave the review. Maybe she won't leave one.

 

ETA you have 73 reviews and a good overall score. I wouldn't worry about one outlier. 

You are right. Thanks for your advice.

Guests aren’t able to see your review until they’ve also posted a review or 14 days passes since their stay. And you can’t review after 14 days. So she wouldn’t be able to wait to see your review before posting.

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

@Haiyan7 

 

Yes, it happens.

 

Unfortunately, the guest can simply close their account and create a new one. Hosts would never get away with that. 

S31
Level 3
Boston, MA

Dear @Haiyan7 

 

 

Sorry you are going through this and feel helpless that Airbnb will do nothing about this. You are likely going to get a bad review from the guest. And Airbnb will do nothing about the review and will respond with their classic message that the review do not violate their policy. 

 

 

 

But if you have evidences that a lot of people or photos of how messy the place was, please get some money back from the deposit. 

 

 

 

Airbnb review system is flawed. And you are not alone in feeling this way. Please write an honest review. 

 

 

 

Good luck 

 

 

 

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@S31 What deposit? Airbnb do not collect a deposit.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

@Haiyan7  It sounds like you are hosting remotely so do consider CCTV so you can 

monitor your listing to ensure only those booked are using your listing and your guests are not upsetting your neighbours 

M199
Level 10
South Bruce Peninsula, Canada

@Haiyan7 

 

Just another thought.  You should likely get your neighbours on board with subtle support.  They may have then advised you of the situation before it became an issue.

 

For example, one of our neighbors used to run a hotel business locally.  He loves to keep an eye out for our place and has made it quite clear that if anything is amiss he'll be on the phone to us real fast. To be fair I do give my guests a heads up and it really keeps them aligned to house rules.

@M199  our neighbors are the same way.

That's a great idea. I will talk to my neighbor and will let all my guests know in the future. Thanks for the advice.