How to deal with an aggressive guest?

[Stuart26]

After our last guest left our apartment I noticed our bottle of Saumur Brut which we put in storage, plus a fair amount (30cl) of Strathisla 12 year old malt whiskey and a bottle of red wine had all been drunk with no note or apology! In fact the Saumaur Brut was still in its red bottle-cover so some of the last remaining wine spilt as I extracted it from the storage.

Naturally I claimed on the Resolution Center for the cost of replacing the drink. A few hours later after claiming for the loss, the guest started calling me repeatedly so I decided to answer at which point he abused me verbally . He followed up the next day with a more polite text asking to meet which I didn't respond to, not surprisingly!

My question is (1) whether people think it's worth me dropping the claim if he decides to oppose the damages claim in the Resolution Center for the sake of keeping the peace? Should I also (2) avoid leaving a review, as I am worried he will turn aggressive again if I write what happened?

Thanks in advance for your practical suggestions.

[Jonathan6]

You may want to think about the way you are handling this from a hospitality standpoint.  If you do not want something used or consumed, then I don't think it should be accessible.  Why would this guest not think that anything is fair game that you have given them access to?

Did you first try to contact the guest before going to the resolution center?  Good customer service is based on good communication.  If you did not first try to contact them or chose not to answer calls or e-mail, then I would understand why the guest would be upset.  It may have been a mis-understanding or perhaps someone in the guests group drank it without their knowledge or perhaps you are actually mistaken about the incident.

As far as reviews, you need to be fair and accurate as other hosts will pay attention to them.  If you laid out clear rules and the guest abused those rules other guests should know.

Part of hosting is that there are going to be things that happen, stuff gets broken, things dissapear, this is part of the cost of doing buisness, you need to protect the best you can against loss by making sure that anything out is expendable.

[Stuart26]

The drink was stored away out of sight in a storage area, which is only accessible if you made a considerable effort to reach it. No mention was made of it, or note left following consumption. 

Fair point, I did not contact the guest before adding the claim to the Resolution Center. However, its also worth pointing out that the system of resolution allows just that, for both parties to present their sides of the issue and to allow a judgement to be made in that more impartial setting.

Normally I would agree about review, but what I am highlighting is the specific case of an aggressive guest, in a scenario where a host is worried about further retribution. 

I have over five years' experience hosting, with everything from toilet seats being broken to guests demanding references for forward apartments, to base my approach on!

[Roderick8]

I disagree. It is only common sense for the guest to ask before they drink the bottle.

In fact, I am more than a bit puzzled at your attitude towards guests. Any guest should be expected to behave responsably.

Let's get over this fair game nonsense.

[Helen3]

Hello @Stuart26

Your place looks stunning.

Unfortunately there are some unethical guests who will steal from a listing even where items are hard to find.

I would consider having a locked cupboard or similar for valuable items/alcohol, if you want to leave them in a whole listing.

Under the Airbnb guarantee it actual says you should contact the guest first about damage/missing items and only make a claim through the Resolution Centre if you and the guest can't come to an agreement.

Unfortunately you didn't do this.

Having said that it was completely inappropriate for the guest to verbally abuse you and why on earth would he want to meet to discuss his theft?

I can't see why you wouldn't want to purse a claim in these circumstances. If you don't you are letting this bully get away with stealing from you and are letting him know if he bullies people he will get away with bad behaviour.

Please leave an honest review, with three stars and a thumbs down so this guest can't IB with future hosts.

Block him on Airbnb and your phone so that he can't verbally abuse you going forward.

[Stuart26]

Helen, thanks for your response, actually it's not 100% clear as to the process you should take with a guest regarding a depsoit claim:

How it works - https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/140/how-does-airbnb-handle-security-deposits

"All security deposits are paid through Airbnb. A host can request some or all of the security deposit within 14 days of when the guest checks out or before a new guest checks in, whichever happens first.

"Security deposits aren’t collected automatically. A host uses the Resolution Center to upload documentation of the damages (like photos or receipts), and request money from their guest to fix those damages." <<That doesn't state that the host should contact the guest first from my reading, but uses the Resolution Center.

[Roderick8]

I don't care about the AirBnB guarantee that the host should contact the guest first. Guests that would act like don't deserve it.

[Sandra856]

I agree with you @Helen except I would give him 1 star across the board 😄

I'm sorry @Stuart26 that you had this experience. He stole from you. Horrible guest!!

Make sure to have a conversation on the airbnb message board. Maybe you can trick him into admitting he stole/drank your alcohol? That way you provide proof for airbnb to read. 

I don't think you can expect anything than a bad review from the guest. But you have the opportunity to leave a reply. So definitely leave a review.

Make sure to write an honest review so future hosts will be warned. He should never be able to be a guest again at least not when using his own profile.

[Ange2]

@Stuart26   I agree with @Helen3  writing a review  for the sake of future hosts, but do not mention alcohol or theft or Airbnb resolution, because in all likelihood Airbnb will delete it and then no one will be forewarned.   Some hosts run their reviews past other hosts for input on how to word tricky reviews that are factual, but won't suffer deletion by Airbnb. If you are thinking of doing that I suggest you use Host Circle - it's not publically accessible or searchable to everyone on the internet like this forum is: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/bd-p/host-circle

[Mark116]

@Stuart26   My guess is, if the guest has already basically ransacked the unit to find some booze hidden away and drank it all with no notice then verbally abused you, that you should prepare yourself for a bad review no matter what you do.  You may as well stick to your guns and try to get the $$.  I would also agree w/others who said you need to change your storage practices, either move that stuff out or lock it up.

[Stuart26]

Thanks Mark, totally agree your point and others, with storage change - we have moved the remaining malt whiskey to a safer location. 

From a learning pov, with any business you learn from mistakes as you go along. We have rented the place for 5 years and no one has bothered to go searching for hidden alcohol up until now. And as they say "don't fix it unless its broken". No we know, now someone has made the effort to find the hidden alcohol, now we have changed its location to somewhere safer...

PS: Funny thing is we didn't really mind losing the wine or even some of the whiskey. I just dislike folks breaking stuff or whatever, and they saying they didn't do it. My fav example is with the aprtment's toilet seats. Twice folks have broken them and on both occasions when raised, they say they didn't do it. Who did, the 'toilet fairy'?! Lol.

[Claire475]

@Stuart26 

Sorry to hear your story. It’s disappointing when guests break ones trust. As hosts we put in so much time and effort into making guests feel welcome and it’s  disheartening when you feel taken advantage of. I have also had the odd dishonest guest, but I always think that it’s sort of a wake up call in case I have become a bit complacent. 

Actually I am with you in contacting the resolution center before the guest, anyone who has been dishonest enough to look through your private things and then take them is never going to be reasonable when confronted. 

I would leave your claim with the resolution center and leave a review saying The stay didn’t go as well as I would have hoped perhaps the guest is best suited to a hotel.  

[Stuart26]

One thing I have installed on my phone is the ACR recording app, so I have the 4min conversation with the guest recorded as proof of their negative response. If necessary I will share that with the Resolution Center! 

[Sandra856]

@Stuart26 That's great! Please keep us updated.

If you want to reply to someone specific then tag the person using @ otherwise the person won't know/get notified that you made a comment. 

[Stuart26]

Thanks @Sandra856