Guests show up a month early to "tour the property"

Maggie277
Level 5
Hartwell, GA

Guests show up a month early to "tour the property"

We recently had a guest show up to tour the property one month in advance. They didn't let us know they were coming and proceeded to walk around our home and onto our covered dock. We had other guests staying in our home at the time and were taken by surprise when we were informed that this happened. When I contacted support they told me that whenever someone makes a reservation they are provided our address, and have the right to come to our property anytime as long as they don't enter the home. 

 

Is this true? This is our primary residence and if so I feel very uncomfortable with not being able to control when guests can come to visit my property. Has this happened to anyone else? 

48 Replies 48
Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Maggie277 I guess nothing stops them legally to walk on the street by your house but they definitely have no right to enter in your personal space. I  would call Airbnb and have them cancel their reservation immediately. It is one thing to ask if they can come but it is so inconsiderate to just drop in unannounced. 

I called Air BnB and they told me that any guest can come to tour my property anytime after they book regardless of the date they made a reservation for. They also told me that as long as they don't walk through my front door I can't report the behavior because it's the guests right to come and look around. 

 

Doesn't this sound crazy?

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Maggie277 no they definitely can't do that without your approval, I guess you got some clueless employee on the phone. What would happen if every guest that booked just went roaming through our yards at any time they find convenient? It is unsafe and such behavior shouldn't be supported. You can definitely cancel, just tell Airbnb that you feel really uncomfortable and keep calling until they cancel for you penalty free. Also if a guest wants to come and look at the property the considerate thing to do is inform you and set up a time if you allow them to come in the first place. What did you tell them about their behavior? 

Our house is on the lake and we have a large yard and covered dock. I told them the guests were walking around through our yard (and our neighbor's yard because they didn't know the property lines), and even out onto our dock without permission. Not to mention we had other guests staying at the time who actually paid for this weekend.

 

 I even spoke with the "supervisor" of level one support and she informed me she didn't feel there was anything to report because the guests had done nothing wrong. I told her how uncomfortable this made us and she said, "if a guest has paid to stay at your house they get your address so they can come anytime and look at it"

 

She also said we could cancel but there would be penalties for us as hosts. 

 

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Maggie277 you need to talk with another employee who will understand the situation and cancel penalty free. But you will of course need to refund the guests fully. 

Thank you so much for your advice! I was able to get the reservation mutually canceled. 

Yes, it does sound crazy.  it also sounds like they are going to be a pain in the rear.

Amen!

@Maggie277  Yes it sounds crazy and is almost certainly both wrong and illegal, because I'm pretty sure that trespassing laws are going to outweigh any airbnb 'guidelines'.  

Yes! Booking a night on Air BnB does not entitle you to free access to the property around my house. It was an unbelievable conversation!

@Maggie277, that doesn't just sound crazy, it sounds completely insane! Guest's absolutely do not have the right to come onto your property outside of their booked dates. Um, that's called trespassing. I would be making a complaint to Airbnb about that advice. I would also be asking them to cancel the booking immediately. How unbelievably rude and disrespectful.

Thank you for your response! We were eventually able to get the reservation canceled but not before being spoken to pretty harshly by CS. I have had such a great experience in the past with them and was so sincerely disappointed in their defense of what these guests did today. I hope to be contacted in response to my emailed report of the incident. Hopefully, we don't have any other future guests in our backyard unannounced anytime soon!

Flag the guest too. Security issue if you ask me

@Maggie0 277 

You have a setting where you can have your location held untill 5 days before arrival, Im not sure if 5 days is mandatory or if you can shorten that time. Just keep phoning Airbnb untill you get someone who can help you with those settings.