I had to close my Airbnb accout because of a psycho.

Lorena-Y-Jose0
Level 2
Puebla, Mexico

I had to close my Airbnb accout because of a psycho.

I know that there is always two sides to a coin. After a few succesful hostings, we hosted a lady that stayed over a month and then she renewed for another month. It ended badly, I am not going to go into the details. But just point out two things. Airbnb paid of my insurance claim (which was great) but allowed this "psycho" to write about "3 pages" worth of toxic, negative, insulting comments on my profile. I disagree with this policy. (I also left a negative comment on her profile, but made it short and tried to be just factual and objective). After that, I decide that Airbnb was just not for us.  Rented the apartment the traditional way. 

8 Replies 8
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Lorena-Y-Jose0 

I do not understand how the confusion about the check-out date could have happended.

 

A extension is made by changing the reservation and has to be confirmed by the other party.

So why did you accept a wrong check-out date set in the extenion request ?

And if so, why was it not changed again to correct it ?

 

The review you recieved is extremely long and IMHO should be removed by Airbnb as it violates their  review policy :

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

 

Your comment on the review also violates their policy, as it is not allowed to mention how Airbnb intervened or payed for damages.

 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Emiel1 

 

I am not sure how the confusion happened either but, reading between the lines, it sounds like the guest entered the wrong date for check out, i.e. a day later than was agreed with the host (maybe she was pushing her luck), but then the host accepted that on the condition that the cleaner would come at 10am and she would check out before then. She did not honour this agreement and that is what led to the confrontation.

 

I could be wrong. Like I said, I'm just guessing.

 

Now, I don't know who is in the right or wrong, or if mistakes etc. were made from both sides. However, the fact that this guest has more reviews (mostly positive from the ones I have read) and this is the host's very first review, doesn't necessarily mean that much. The worst guests I have ever hosted happened to have the most positive reviews of any guests I have ever hosted. They were horrible. The thing is, when someone stays for a short time, it might all be fine. When someone stays for longer, it can be another case altogether.

 

Who knows. This really seems like a 'he said, she said' type of scenario. 

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Huma0 

 

To avoid "he said, she said" situations, it is recommended to follow the rules of the platform, otherwise use the messaging system to document/confirm deviating agreements. It seems these basic rules were ignored here.

 

I "developed" my own strategy for "long term stays": guest can make an initial booking like 1 or 2 weeks and if things go well, they have option to extend.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom


@Emiel1 wrote:

 

 

I "developed" my own strategy for "long term stays": guest can make an initial booking like 1 or 2 weeks and if things go well, they have option to extend.


Yes, that works fine in theory, except when you get a lot of bookings (I used to prior to the Summer Release). So, by the time the guest comes, it's impossible for them to extend their stay because someone else has already booked the dates directly after.

 

In the past, I have had to turn down lots of lovely guests who wanted to extend because there was never the availability. Prior to the Summer Release, my guests needed to book months in advance if they wanted the dates.

Thanks for the note, yes the date of departure became an issue (I wanted the cleaning lady to start at 11am and she would not let her in, bla, bla, bla). My point is: she left my department in a crazy mess, burnt things (pillows, duvets, etc - Airbnb paid under the insurance scheme), smelled bad (rotten food), and so on. My cleaning lady started at 11am and finished at 10pm, she had to get her mother to help.  She usually starts at 10am and finishes at 2pm. 

 

This lady/host was however able to leave a 3 pager insult on our profile page. I disagree with this Airbnb policy. That is why I closed the account. 

 

 

There was no confusion. She asked for an extension. I said no to a specific date (as I had an Airbnb host arriving the next day), but she booked it that date anyway, and she indicated that her flight was that day etc etc. So I accepted it, but left a note that she then let my trusted cleaner in at 11am, whilst she got her stuff ready and let her start cleaning. She refused to let her enter the apartment. That is when the fight started. The reason she refused her entry was because the apartment was damaged and a true pigstile. From there it just went from bad to worse. But as you correctly indicated that long comment she left, I felt that Airbnb should not have allowed it, that is why I closed the account. Noted what you indicated about my comments as well.

 

@Lorena-Y-Jose0 did you do a changeover of linen and general clean organised with the guest ,once a week over that eight week period?  , because it is important that in a short term stay even up to eight weeks that you maintain the property . This should be be negotiated with the guest before arrival.and a cleaning fee be negotiated but not for the first week if you already charge a fee..H

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

While a coin has two sides, they are not equal, as with humans. While the host here sounds absolutely normal to me in his thinking and intent, the guest comes across exactly 180-degree opposite. These types of rabid 'reviews' do not do Airbnb any favors, on that basis alone if I was Airbnb, I would have eliminated the whole exchange immediately.  Heck, would have never been posted in the first place.