How do I deal with Guests breaking house rules

How do I deal with Guests breaking house rules

Hi, 

 

I could use some information or feedback about a guest that broke house rules. My problem right now is that airbnb won't give me the deposit. We rent out our whole house on the beach. One big house rule is No weddings/parties. One quest clearly had a wedding and I have lots of pictures to prove it. By having the big party they also made the plumbing flare up and there was literally crap in the shower and toilets because too many people where using the bathrooms and clogging everything up. One reason we say no parties. It cost about $1000 to call a plumber and a septic tank guy, plus cleaning up some elses crap in a shower and having to put things back were they belong. 

 

Anyway, if we have house rules and they get broken why doesn't airbnb compesate for that? I mean whats the point in having house rules or a contract if it does nothing? 

 

Thanks

94 Replies 94

How does one "remove" a disruptive (bad) guest? I just posted that question separately, and am still searching for answsers. Do you just call the police? I'm a single female and unfortunately had my first bad experience with a male guest a bit ago (and I'm even afraid to leave a negative review, that he might return and do damage)

Inform them verbally and in writing, stipulating their violations of your house rules, that the rental is terminated with immediate effect and that they must leave the house at a certain time. Have a witness with you, if possible. Then hand them the letter and if they don’t leave by the prescribed time, call the police and have the guest(s) removed.

 

Regarding the review, they don’t see your review before they have written one too, so no worries. If I have bad guests, I really hammer them with a negative review.

 

You need to remember, hosts are pretty sick and tired of guests who abuse the house rules and do not allow instant booking. They only take booking requests and review the guest’s reviews before making a decision. If I see even one bad review for a guest, I refuse their bookings.

 

My peace of mind is more important than the piddling sums young paupers here on Airbnb are prepared to stump up.

How do you get the guest to sign a rental contract?  After booking you have the guest sign? Please advise if you know. 

 

That's very scary. I have people in just now and I can sense there will be problems. They are going to smoke in the house, I just know it and what do I do? If I ask them to leave ill get a bad review from them, they can make up whatever they like. Does air b and b leave me completely exposed here?? 

@Allison123 it is entirely possible that you could receive reimbursement for hiring a company to do smoke remediation (however, one of the stipulations for claims is photographic evidence. no way to prove via internet that your place smells... even if you have proof of smoking: butts, photos of people smoking, ashtrays,etc, that still isn't proof of bad smells.)

I know I've seen quite a few hosts saying that they were unhappy that ABB was unsupportive of their claims for damage for smoke smell. Perhaps all the hosts who have been reimbursed for smoking guests just haven't been online to tell the rest of us about it.

 

Full disclosure: I've been paid fully by ABB three times for guest damage (these were: broken door, broken lamp, ruined towel) so the process is capable of working if you get the right CS person and you follow the claims instructions to the letter.

 

Again, please come back and tell us how it turns out

@Kelly149 hi I have had issues with spoilt towels as well. May I know how to I proceed with such claims ? 

@Anne642 when you need to pursue any guest for damage of any item

 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/264/what-do-i-do-if-my-guest-breaks-something-in-my-place?topic=...

 

best of luck, pay attention to all the different if this, then that clauses & the needed proofs and timing required. Many folks have found that if you miss one detail the whole claim is derailed

Kelly,

 

   I would love to know how much of your time it took to get Airbnb to reinburse you for the damaged items, especially the towels. My experience is that Airbnb asks hosts to settle with the guest. Since each guest, even the nicest guest, claims "It wasn't me', it is almost impossible to get monetary compensation for items broken or damaged. We have accepted that these losses are a part of the risk of hosting. 

   On another note, it is an incredible weakness on Airnbnb's part that a guest who breaks rules and is gently reminded of them, gets to write a negative review or rate the space not based from their experience but rather with face saving pettiness.

Almost one year ago today, we hosted two young women from China. Most of our previous guests were visiting from abroad, some from China and until then we had mostly amazing experiences, with only minor slights, mainly from the younger than 22 guests, who were less traveled and were prone to treat our home like a hostel, but even then, we were patient as we expected this would csometimes happen and most of the guests appreciated our patient demenaor when we had to remind them of our house rules, the ones that are clearly listed and of which they are urged to read BEFORE they book the room and are reminded of during the welcome walk thru. The majority of guests are lovely and good humoured when gently reminded of house rules or house culture. But there is a significant amount of guests that do not like to be reminded. One guest, after having to be reminded not to eat in the room more than 4 times within his first 2 days out of 5 nights, snottily remarked that as hosts we most bend to the will of the guest.

Another guest, a young man traveling with 2 friends, complained that he saw a palmetto bug in his room. That is strange as guests usually remark on how clean and pest and bug free our apt is. Upon entering the room, guests had bags of store bought food, two boxes of pizza, one box of donuts, 3 bags of McDonalds and about 2 dozen cans of beer litterered in the room. The Airbnb ad clearly states no eating or storing of food in the bedrooms and again guests are reminded of the house rules and mores during the walk thru done after their arrival. Guest were drinking beer and alcohol. The kid who booked the room became belligerent and his girl friend did not seem to mind that he was being aggressive towards a woman as she joined in. The 3rd guest was sober enough to recognize they were being inappropriate and gross. He apologized yet his friends thought nothing of getting in my face to tell me their rights as paying guests etc etc. I never did find that bug but I am not surprised it was attracted to that room. Still, I remained calm yet firm. Next day, they apologized. I let it go. I had the cleaning lady vist and clean their room. We continued being gracious hosts, assisting them plan their trip and getting them steep discounts on car rentals and tourist attractions. We were rewarded with  less than 3 stars for cleanliness, even though the apt was kept spotless during their stay as we live there and clean the common areas daily., and less than 5 stars in areas that clearly merited 5 stars. 

     Basically, guests who are forgetful but ethical appreciate our low key and discreet reminders that are not scathing but instead gentle reminders. The house rules are not only rules but a window into or guidance of our way of life. And just as when we travel we are respectful of our hosts, we expect the same from guests into our home. Total strangers are given keys to our home, other than the doors leading into our building and the doors of our apt, we do not lock anything within our apt. Our feeling is since we allowed you into our home, we are trusting you, just as hosts from our adventures around the country and globe have welcomed us into their town and or home. We are not into the habit of writing reviews that highlight minor forgetfulness nor have we outed the guests who brought strangers they met the night before on Tinder. Some guests mistaken our generous spirit and open mindedness to mean they can bring strangers into the home. Yet, most of the guests were fair and wrote incrdibly nice reviews precisely because we as hosts did our part fairly. So, why does Airbnb allow guests who have no shame but whom are worried host might write about their misconduct, to write a dishonest review that is based more on saving face or on pettiness than on truth? Truth is, if we conduct ourselves in a fair and gentle manner but we remind gusts of house rules, our space is as listed and we provided exactly what we advertised, a misguided guest should not have a platform to express spitefulness or pettiness to save face. That is not what the review platform is about at all. And yet, there it is, a review from 2 women who claim my insistance that they finish cleaning of the puddles of water they left in the bathroom, that claims I am a racist. A woman in her 40's posted a photo of herself or someone else in their 20's. Afer arriving, she asked that the price be reduced if she extended her stay. We had to decline as ours was the least expensive in the area, cheaper than a shared room in a local hostel. She is an Airbnb host in Germany and received mixed reviews but we gave her the benefit of doubt when we asked about these. She seemed not the most grounded person and we mentioned that the photo is not only misleading but that it starts the hosting experience with a lie which isn't the most reassuring for a host. We are not ageist and host people of all age groups but to be so misleading is not the best way to start at a home share. She brought in filthy boxes she got from a yard sale, whenre she purchased items. After being asked to get rid of those fithy boxes, which smelled of mold, and we replaced them with new boxes, she seemed to turn on us. Bottom line is, she gave us the least amount of stars possible, even though she was polite to us in person, especially when asking us to assist her obtain discounts, and a disvcount on an extention of her stay. We politely declined to extend her stay as we had already chosen to stay with family nearby during her stay becuase her aggressive manner made us feel uncomfotable in our home.

      Airbnb knows these things happen. Yet, it seems that they have no intention to weed out the bad apples who are dishonest with their rating and review. 

That is a major flaw in the system. Our vetting process is now even stronger. Airbnb will now deactivate a hosts ad if we decline 6 requests in a row. We declined a few of those requests because potential guests were asking us to contact them off the grid or if they can pay off the grid. Sometimes we had to decline a request because some requests had no profile, no photo and no significant detail that assists us in determining who it is who wants to stay in our home. We will ask for more info but the potenital guest can take ovre 24 hours to respond so we have to decline with a note that reads, 'This is not an official decline...."

Again, vetting carefully, not based on cultural biases or racism but on whether a person's profile and prior reviews, helps to indicate if a guest will be  respectful is a hosts prime concern and thus responsibilty. 

     It is sad to read that there are so many hosts experiencing this same recourse from a guest who lacks manners and ethics. 

A significant part of my story was censored.

Let's try again

      Almost one year ago, we hosted 2 young travelers from China. They spent some months in the USA studying and were now finishing their visit with travels around several cities in the USA. Guests booked a 2 night stay, had few reviews and none from home share but we had great experiences with other students from China so we accepted the request. Before anyone books a room with us, we request that they read the House Decription and Rules BEFORE they book the room. And, although it is clearly stated that there is a cat in the house, we still remind guests during the inquiry stage. 

       The young women arrived late a night, past 11pm. They were greeted with refreshments and snacks and given a quick tour and introduction to the space, a walk thru with reminders of some of our requests of guests. They asked if there was a washing machine on the premise. There is. On that same night while turning off lights in the apt, I saw one of the women shooing my cat out of the apt. I did not say anything then as I thought maybe she was tired and not thinking straight.

         Next day, I was called down by the main host. The women decided to hand wash a lot of their travel clothes. They were, as are all guests, specifically asked not to hang wet clothes in the bathroom or on any of the furniture in the apt and were shoppwn where wet clothes can be hung outside in the fenced in garden area. Suri, the guest who booked the room, respected our guest but her friend ignored our instruction and request. Hence, the bathroom floor was flooded with water. The two rugs were completed drenced and there were still puddles. Suri was apologetic, her friend not at all. Suri respected our instructions, her friend did not. We cleaned up ythe rugs but asked Suri and her friend to finish wiping up the rest of the water before they went out for the nuight  Her friend started to yell in Mandarin and Suri translated that her friend insists that they should not be asked to clean as they paid a cleaning fee. I explained the notion of the cleaning fee, and reminded them that that had been there less than 24 hours and we already had to clean the bathroom earlier because they somehow made it look like it hadn't been cleaned in 10 days and we up until hen said nothing about it. We figured, they are leaving the next day, anyway, so why bother?

        I called Airbnb that night to express my concern about these girls general attitude and for a recommendation on how would I go about writing a review. It is not our custom to write negative reviews and we are reluctant to do so as it is considered rude to slight a guest in public. It is something we struggled with the last 2 years as we have noticed a stark change in the quility and mind set of guests, since we first joined 5 years ago. Since we did not feel threatened by the women, just appalled at how her friend yelled and gestured, including ramming into me as she left the room and we chatted..... we felt we can endure them for the little time they had left. 

         Suri's review gave less than 4 stars for cleanliness which was of course, not a truthful rating. But worse is that Suri wrote in her review that her friend asked her to include that along wih an unpleasant stay, our interaction indicated I am a racist. That is correct. Her friend decided to say a most provocative and insulting slander because she could, not because anything said or done gave the slightest indication that asking her to finish cleaning up the water was due to me or anyone here being a racist.

         There women had less than 8 minutes of interaction with me in total. Neither ntionality nor race, nor religion factored into the request that they help to clean up the mess they created. We did not mention that in less than 24 hours, the bedroom looked as if they had stayed with us a week, the mirror was streaked with what looked like an oil stain, garbage was strewn everywhere, yet we said nothing about that. All we asked was that they finish cleaning up with puddles in the corner after they finished using the bathroom as a wash room. The woman was asked to remove her dripping wet clothes from the bathroom and hang it outdoors.

         False statements of fact that harm the reputation of an individual or business aren't protected under Constitutional Free Speech provisions. Slander is subject to possible recourse. And yet, here we are 11 months and many calls to the call center, over 12 reps from the call center agree that based on our history and previous reviews from people from all over the world, including other visitors from China,  and the way the review was written, seemed to indicate the review was based on emotion and untruths, meant to hurt thehost who insisted that a cleaning fee does not cover us having to clean up a mess we deem they should help to clean up.

Some of the reps from the Phillipines have been so adamant that they believe this review was written by misguided woman, out to make a nasty and petty point that they will get back at the host, that they have opened the case countless times. And yet, there it is. 

         Naturally, this opend our eyes to the possibility that guests can make any claim they want, out of spite or to get a refund. It has made us realize that we really must vet even more carefully than we were. Calling someone a racist without any actual experience or hint of racism experienced menas that a guest can claim we are thieves, if they lose something but claim it was lost in our home, or that we are ageist, or worse things. 

          We decline more requests than ever, mainly because so many people ask us to receive payment off of the grid or ask us to contact them out of the grid or they have no photos and nothing written on their profile to give us an idea of who they are. Airbnb then deactivates our account for 5 days with a lecture about the amount of declines we made. When we point out the reasons we declined the inappropriate requests, we were told, "you are right let me see what i can do" and yet the ad was kept deactivated for 5 days.

          It seems we are not the only host experiencing retaliation for simply asking guests to respect the house rules and culture. That is sad.

 

 

@Mauricio---Andy0, I looked at your reviews and couldn't find a single negative one - I  think maybe the Airbnb CS people have granted your wish to have those bad reviews removed!  You have great reviews and I wouldn't worry about a thing - just move on.  Seems like you have pretty steady bookings too!  Good luck - Susie

Susie,

  Your positive energy is appreciated. It seems you are right. Thankj you for informing me of the absolute decent gesture from Airbnb. Removing that review was the right thing to do.

We weren't concerned about the review being negative as most astute travelers would deduce that it was a rare thing. What concerned us was that a guest can use slander in a review that has no base in actual experience or fact. Being declared a racist is not something we take lightly. It was hurting bookings significantly especially from Asians, in spite of the fact that we have hosted guests from several Asian countries and had great experiences as hosts and they as guests. But more significant was the fact we were branded racists, which is rather disconcerting.

  The concern we have is that guests and sometimes hosts, can and sometimes do use the review platform inappropriately. It took 11 months and many many calls, countless hours, writing letters and making calls to Airbnb asking them to review the case.  It was the only review we have ever challenged. We were absolutely certain the review was written specifically out of malice. The guest wrote, "My friend wanted me to write this, "The host was racist" Nothing racist was ever spoken. It was simple. We asked the guests friend to clean up some of the mess she created. Period. Her nationality did not factor into the situation and in fact is and was totally irrelevant.

   Our general feeling is that the quality of guest has changed. Airbnb used to cater to a niche market of travelers who enjoyed the bed and breakfast or house share environment and as such, they appreciated receiving a clean and safe envorionment at a reasonable cost. 

    Anyway, this discussion thread is helpful. Thank you Susie for your encouragement and positive energy

    

Thanks, @Mauricio---Andy0 for your kind words!  I wish you the best in continuing your hosting and maybe soon enough I'll get the chance to visit you!  The temperatures are falling here in Boston so I'm ready to pack my bags!

Ahhh. It's always a beautiful day in Miami

I look forward to meeting you

@Mauricio---Andy0

 

It did take multiple calls back and forth. Less than a week tho I’d say. In all 3 cases, the guest did not respond to the claim but abb CS did pay the claim. Either by charging the guest or paying it themselves, i do not know

It seems like the problems of too many guests or serious rule breaking could easily be mitigated by AirBnB if they just added a couple features to the booking.  Why not allow hosts to set fees associated with specific infractions?  For example, a host could simply say,  If renter has more people in the house than allowed, $X will be charged after the stay.  OR if guests disturb the neighbors (such as jumping on the roof of the neighboring house (don't ask but I just had this special experience with a recent guest) they will be fined $X.    The guest could agree to this before booking and the hosts could submit claims through the resolution center just as they do know with damages.  Thoughts?