Guest who breaks rules and sneak in extra guests should not get to leave a review.

Raquel24
Level 10
Gibsons, Canada

Guest who breaks rules and sneak in extra guests should not get to leave a review.

I am a super host with over 146 - 5 star reviews and I cannot understand how a guest who breaks the rules, disrespects your home, sneaks in extra guests and leaves past check out time, is allowed to leave a review.  If a guest breaks the rules they should not be able to leave a review.  

58 Replies 58
Patricia55
Level 10
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

@Cormac0 

"Where has it all gone wrong?"  Greed.

Patricia55
Level 10
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

If anyone can come up with a foolproof system to prevent badly-behaved people getting access to Airbnb listings, I'd love to hear it. (I don't think there is one.)

 

Yasmin88
Level 2
Largs Bay, Australia

That's not true, you have every advantage and there are easy solutions to the problems that you and others have mentioned.

 

You are not at the mercy of airbnb because you are their business. They need you as you are their income. It's in their interest to work for you. If you have shown you have been a good host with a good track record, bringing them plenty of income,  they are more than willing to assist and they do have affective resolution processes that work!

 

I have always been able to solve a problem with a guest through the Airbnb Resolution Centre. The Airbnb customer service has been the best I have ever dealt with.

 

One bad review never hurt my business and hosts shouldn't be afraid of receiving one. The Airbnb community are well aware of people who write untruthful reviews out of spite- your business won't suffer unless most of your reviews are bad.

@Yasmin88 

It is great that you have had such a great experience however this has not been mine nor many other hosts. It seems being a superhost or even having 9 listings on airbnb like I do does not make a difference. Customer service is robotic and does not seem to look into those factors like how much money i bring airbnb and I bring them ALOT of money.

 

How many times I can tell you where guests cancelled at the very last second and airbnb refunded them fully even though they were supposed to be charged a cancellation fee. Often times, I think airbnb sides with guests because they fear chargebacks on guests credit cards which creates more work for them.

 

A guest can always issue a chargeback if airbnb does not side with them and charges them for damages or a late cancellation.

 

You are truly on your own. The key is mitigate risk and avoid scammers to the best of your ability.

Marcia318
Level 2
Bonsall, CA

We have just finished a very stressful situation. Two families rented our home: 4 adults and 6 children.  We have a pool and each parent signs a standard waiver that they will be with their children at the pool etc..we  have very specific rules that no one else comes or stays on the property because of pool liability and also for the fact that uninvited guests obviously don’t pay..  the guests arrived late, I greeted them and the next am at 9:00 I stopped by to bring them some items for the pool.  There were now 4 cars at our home.. I heard lots of noise from backyard and I entered backyard where there were many children in pool and other people. There are now probably 25 people.. The main guest came out and I asked who all these people were and basically they were having a family reunion at our home.  

after calling Airbnb , it was all very murky . I think our verbiage in our rules needs to include more specifics but how do you fine the main guest for all of this? Could use some good counsel here from community..

I then went to front door and main guest said they no longer felt comfortable being here. And they were going to leave. I told her that she didn’t have to leave, just ask all these people to leave and honor our rules..nothing was resolved at that time. 

I then find out she called Airbnb and said the owner made her feel uncomfortable and wouldn’t let her and her guests swim in the pool even though she paid for it! Haha...also that she was confronted by the owner and how terrible that was.. 

Finally she decided to vacate but wanted her money back. At this point I don’t care just give it to her so we refunded money.. so she now has canceled reservation..she said they would leave in the afternoon . We are so happy, but alas, she said that Airbnb can’t refund money till next day so they’re staying till the next morning.. so now we have people staying in our home with no contract.. kids swimming and not covered by Airbnb... just a nightmare...

my mistake was going in backyard without knocking on front door, but you think it’s your property and they are violating rules but still would have been better to do that. Also, I should have fully analyzed our Ring videos as it shows many people coming at midnight to stay brining luggage  and many people coming in and out...

throughout all of this stressful situation we did not hear from Airbnb for hours after calling and trying to get help when they canceled and they are  staying without a contract.. in fact, we still have not heard from Airbnb even though the situation is resolved as the guests left..

we are shaken from this situation and also feel let down from Airbnb.. 

how can we impose any rules or just wait it out till guests leave and then take it out of deposit?  We are really thinking about is this stress worth it...

 

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

@Raquel24 Here's my (very strong) feeling on the matter: If a host can prove that a guest violated Airbnb's terms of service, policies, and practices, the guest should not have the right or privilege to leave a review - which is usually malicious and damaging to the host. Period. End of story. 

Edward364
Level 1
Demarest, NJ

Regarding “sneaking in additional guests”  this has happened to me and Airbnb could put a stop to it immediately by simply putting a statement in “their” rules which states...”if any guest is caught sneaking in unpaid guests they will be subject to a $100.00 fine PLUS must pay the nightly fee for the number of guests that were illegally allowed in to the HOST or they will be banned from AIRBNB.  THAT WOULD SOLVE THE PROBLEM IMMEDIATELY.

Bob40
Level 10
Montevarchi, Italy

This is probably a stupid question but where do hosts clearly state what their rules are for a property?

If you go into Edit your Listing, Click on "Booking Settings" you should have  How Guests Can book, Guest Requirements and then House Rules. 

Yasmin88
Level 2
Largs Bay, Australia

You can cancel your guests booking at any time and so can they. If you can identify a rule on your listing and provide evidence to support a breech, your host rating won't be affected.

If you can't, then you risk waiting 12 months before your rating improves, and losing some privileges.

 

If you have trouble getting the guest to leave, the police can remove them once the booking has been cancelled.

 

The police have the power to do this if you are the property owner and there is no longer a legal contract. 

 

Ensure the guest leaves soon after cancellation because airbnb insurance won't cover property damages if the guest is there without a booking.

 

 

Olga388
Level 3
Málaga, Spain

Hola en España es obligatorio recoger los datos del huésped para enviarlos a la policía. Cuando mis huéspedes llegan, al responsable del alquiler le hago firmar un contrato en el que acepta todas las normas de la casa y una de ellas es la prohibición de traer a la casa a personas que nos estén registradas y ademas se hace responsable del mal uso de la casa y por tanto cualquier incumplimiento de las normas me da derecho a echarlos de la casa. Si me entero que han metido a otra persona me presento en el apartamento y van todos a la calle y si no se marchan llamo a la policía y por haber cometido una ilegalidad van a la calle.

Kat84
Level 10
San Pedro, Philippines

Catching and getting a Proof is close to impossible. Getting police involved? You must be kidding. In my country police will not even entertain, because guests are not doing anything wrong. Police was created to fight with the crime, not face the people who are law abiding but it happened that due to "Airbnb policies" they were 5 instead of 3.

 

Even if I will write complain to police, it will be solely my opinion and nothing else. Police will not open the case for extra peaceful people, who (when seeing authorities) will say that the "host allowed".

Alexander472
Level 2
Ainslie, Australia

This is a reoccurring issue where guests sneak in extras. In some cases, they blatantly setup additional beds and leave it for us to clean. If I mention the extra fees, they usually protest and leave a bad review. It's a lose lose situation. 

 

I do believe guests who break the rules should not be able to leave reviews conditional on the host submitting evidence. Or at the least tthese rule breaking guests' reviews can be hidden and not count towards the superhost statistics.

Yasmin88
Level 2
Largs Bay, Australia

My appologies, I forgot the police system is different in other countries... I am from Australia where the police can assist in removing people from your property.