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[Gemma5]

Hi,

I am after some advice around how to handle what has been a really awful experience with a guest.

She arrived yesterday and immediately sent me an SMS complaining that the place smelled of cleaning products.  Our airbnb is in our back garden so I went round to have a chat with her to explain about the enhanced cleaning protocols we have committed to and that we are cleaning thoroughly for our guest's benefit, to protect them.

However somehow this made her more angry and she said she "doesn't do cleaning products".  I said to her that the last thing I wanted was for her to stay with us if she wasn't happy with the place so I offered to refund her in full if she wanted to find somewhere else for the night.

This then set her off again, and she said I was kicking her out (which I was not!).  She just kept saying that the other airbnb she stayed in managed to be clean without smelling clean and I should be using eco friendly products.  I explained that actually I do use eco products where possible but that I was also following airbnb's protocols, I had the cleaning handbook in my hand.  She started to use profanities and called me a 'pathetic person who shouldn't be in this industry at all', hit the book out of my hand, slammed the door in my face so hard that a picture fell off the wall.  My 5 year old daughter could hear her shouting and has never heard language like this before 😞

My husband came out to see what was going on, she looked at him and said "at least he's got the common sense to stay silent like a man should".  At this point  I asked her to leave and gave her all her money back in cash.  I was just desperate to get her out of our home.  She continued to shout and swear at us.

I called airbnb afterwards to explain what had happened.  They told me that they completely understand..however basically said there was nothing they could do. 

Despite being very upset and angry that someone should come into our family home and treat us like this I still would not want anyone to not have a bed for the night so I called a nearby hotel and checked they had vacancies, they did and the price was the same as our airbnb so I messaged her to tell her she would be able to stay there if she needed somewhere.

I caught some of the abuse and profanity on video and still when I watch it back find it hard to believe anybody would behave in such a way.

I think the person is new to airbnb as she only has one (good) review.

I don't know what I should do next.  How to review her?  I am sure she will review me badly and I'll probably lose my superhost status because of it.  How can it be OK for guests to be so abusive and get away with it?   It is not fair on me and not fair on future guests that may be treated this way.  I am especially upset that my daughter heard this.

How would others handle this horrible situation?

[Gemma5]

Edit to add that she did leave eventually when we asked her to and we gave her money back.  It's just that I don't know how to handle the situation with reviews / reporting her etc

[Sarah977]

@Gemma5  So sorry you were abused like this. You certainly did the right thing by getting her out ASAP.

Just leave an honest, factual review, reiterating what you've said here, but keep it brief.

"Guest became quite verbally abusive towards us immediately after her arrival, objecting to the cleaning products we have used to comply with safe COVID cleaning protocol. We offered to refund her in full, which prompted another verbal onslaught, including profanity, in front of my 5 year old. She physically knocked the COVID cleaning booklet out of my hand and then slammed the door of the Airbnb cabin in my face so hard a picture fell off the wall. This guest cannot be recommended by us."

My guess is that whatever review she leaves will be so crazy that it will only serve to make her look bad. But of course, she can tank your star rating. Give her 1* across the board, so she can't Instant Book anything.

Although CS is very hard to reach lately, I would pursue this with them, and send them a copy of the video. This guest should be banned from the platform and perhaps they won't let her leave a review. Ask them to do those things, anyway, although they may or may not. Be clear that you are following the Airbnb cleaning protocol and have been abused by a guest because of it. And flag her profile.

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  Sometimes that is easier said that done, I've said that I would never leave a positive review of a bad guest, but there are sometimes reasons why putting the full list of their actions in a review is not the right answer either.  We're struggling now with how to review our most recent guest, who there is not a single rule she didn't flout, 6 people on a reservation for 2, smoking, very odd behavior while hanging out on the porch, and one of her unauthorized guests relieved himself on our house! In the daytime!!  He was caught in the act!  We still let her stay as her apology seemed to be heartfelt, but when she left the most minimal check out actions of putting all the trash in the kitchen, hanging towels on the bathroom door and leaving the keys on the table were beyond her capability.  And yet, some of those bad behaving people are local to our area, that means there is a chance for some type of retribution, especially if we air all of this dirty laundry in her review.  I fully expect a 1 star rant from her, but I am not really comfortable telling the full truth of what happened and am inclined to say something simply along the lines of 'It was stressful to host XX, and she may be a better fit for a hotel'.  Anyone who reads any of our reviews knows this is code from us for don't rent to her. 

[Gemma5]

Thanks @Sarah977 for taking the time to respond.  I really like your suggestions and what you've said makes a lot of sense

Thanks again

[Christine615]

Easy - 1 star review. Guest was asked to leave on the first day. Unfortunately we would not be comfortable hosting this guest in the future.

------

Keep it simple and objective so Airbnb doesn't have any reason to remove it.  Hosts will understand the subtext.

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  What kind of retribution do you fear? You really think a guest is going to come burn your house down because you left a honest review of their stay? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm seriously asking.

Of course, I don't live in countries where everyone is packing a gun and might shoot you for asking them to please put on a mask. 

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  I don't really know, but someone who comes to visit their friend and urinates on the house they're going to visit on a Sunday afternoon might be capable of many kinds of mayhem because they're clearly operating on a different level than most people.  

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  Off topic, but years go when I lived in Canada I used to board teenagers from a island near me where the school only went up to 10th grade, so the the kids had to board off-island during the school week. 

One day I was walking down the alley alongside my house and noticed a long fluorescent greenish stripe from my boarder's window down the side of the wood-shingled house all the way to the ground. I asked her if she'd spilled something and she got so embarrassed. She admitted that if she had to pee in the middle of the night, instead of going downstairs to our only bathroom, she would just hang her butt out the window and pee. I wasn't all that upset about it, but I was really concerned that she could have fallen out the second story window.

In any case, she was so mortified that she never did it again.

[Helen350]

You've picked the wrong person @Mark116 , when it comes to urination ethics! @Sarah977 's previous postings have revealed a more liberal perspective!

(Actually, I don't think peeing against the wall is much of an issue either.... so long as it's outdoors, not indoors.)

[Mark116]

@Helen350  Really?  I didn't realize I was such a prude.  Peeing on someone else's house in the middle of the day?  Other than outright destruction and vandalism I can't think of anything more disrespectful.

[Helen350]

@Mark116  - I suppose it depends WHERE..... And how much rain is expected..... By the front door in full view of the host WOULD be disrespectful..... When I (or my ex)bought my current house, the seller lamented the lack of a downstairs bathroom & volunteered that her husband & 2 small sons peed in the garden...... (Funny how that gem has stuck with me 15 years....!) - They are now local hosts too! 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Helen350  To be clear, I wasn't happy about the urine stripe down the side of my house, but there was no use being angry at the girl, as what was done was done. She was a super sweet 16 year old and she had no idea that evidence of her laziness in going down to the bathroom at night was on public display. It eventually faded out in the rain and the sun.

[Inna22]

@Mark116 @Sarah977  the door of one of my Airbnb’s was kicked out last year. Clearly with a foot- big foot dent on the metal. Door was broken off the frame. Nothing taken. Nothing moved around. I still don’t know what it could have been. Guest looking for a previous guest? Looking for me? I couldn’t even make a police report because in Chicago any Airbnb police report puts a “mark” on the property and license might not get renewed. 

[Mark116]

@Inna22  Maybe they were locked out?  Yeah, I agree the regulations are problematic.  All  it takes is a noise violation notice and your permit won't get renewed, even if it could have been a false report.  I'm sure here too that if police reports are attached to an airbnb that would also close the listing.  We applied for our permit in August, so if we're approved, that will give one year to see how things shake out and whether we can continue with short term rentals at all or not.  Right now, it looks like probably not.  The way the travel industry has changed is just not conducive to our listing, hosting a lot of locals who drive in and want to hang out is not the guest type we want.  Previously, probably 90% of guests came to sight-see in NYC, they were out all day, came home tired, no trouble, most flew here so no issues with cars/parking, etc.