Inappropriate Guest

Jennifer1897
Level 10
Irvine, CA

Inappropriate Guest

Hi everyone,

 

I am fairly new to hosting on Airbnb (started in August) but have had amazing guest up until this weekend. I rent a room in my three bedroom home, which I live in. I had a guy come in on Thursday and everything seemed fine, he was friendly, polite, and quiet. However last night he texted me from his personal phone (not through airbnb) while in the house, at around 11pm. He began by asking me if he could give me a massage followed by describing a fantasy he had of us being together and suggesting we make it a reality. I immediately informed him that that was not ok, and I maintain a strictly professional relationship with my guest. He proceeded to defend himself telling me it was simple because he thought I was "Sexy, and he meant no harm." I let him know I was uncomfortable and asked him to leave. 

 

Short of asking him to leave and providing an honest review, is there anything else I can do? Would airbnb consider suspending or deleting his account if I provided necessary information. I would hate to think he would do this to other females he may stay with.

 

Thank you in advance for your replies.

14 Replies 14
Danielle728
Level 2
Charlotte, NC

Please report him to AirBnB immediately. 

1. There needs to be a record and paper trail of his behavior and your action, regardless of whether AirBnB deletes his account or not. 

2. This man knows where you live and how your house is laid out. Not to scare you but again, there needs to be a record of what happened. 

3. If ABB does nothing at all... there needs to be a record that this was reported and they did nothing. 

Report him and note this in your review of his account. He can always delete and recreate or use another email, but this should definitely be noted. I'm sorry this happened to you. 

Thank you, I did end up calling airbnb and reporting him. Luckily he lives outside of my state (so he says) so hopefully he will never return to my area. 

Marta794
Level 6
Portland, OR

Definitely report him. In addition to being highly inappropriate, he may feel entitled to continue with this behavior with other similar hosts. 

Yes, definitely. that was my concern as well for other female hosts. I might not have been the first and probably not the last sadly. 

Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

@Jennifer1897, omg, this is a single female host's worst nightmare. How dare he disrespect your boundaries like that, knowing full well that it is inappropriate and would probably make you feel threatened? Please report him (by clicking on the red flag next to his name in messaging). I would also call Airbnb directly. Interestingly, I had a similar experience recently (nowhere near as bad as yours, just some inappropriate flirting), which I wrote about here. I didn't contact Airbnb or report the guest, but based on my post, Airbnb contacted me and told me they were going to investigate the guest. I was very surprised by this but they seemed to take it really seriously, so you may find they have your back on this one. You also might want to consider changing your locks. And please do review him honestly - in the #MeToo era, guys like this deserve zero breaks.

Sorry to hear about your experience, any form of unwanted flirting or advances can be uncomfortable, especially when they are in your home. I also contacted Airbnb. I wasn't aware of the red flag, but I will definitely do that as well. Thank you. 

@Jennifer1897 We're with all of the others here. You need to report him to make sure that he doesn't do this to other female hosts. This is creepiness going far beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable. Would this guy try the same thing in a hotel with one of the receptionists? Not likely.

 

You also want to make sure that he doesn't give you a bad review, which could affect your placement in the algorithm and chances of becoming a Superhost. If Airbnb has the record of his behaviour on file and then he writes you a bad review based on your having reported him, then they will almost certainly delete it. However, if they have no record of what he did, then it leaves you vulnerable again. 

 

Sorry this had to happen to you. 

@Rich-and-Yan0  Oh, I can totally see a guy like this doing the same with a hotel receptionist. He has no sense of propriety- Airbnb host, hotel receptionist, the girl behind the check-out stand at the supermarket, the babysitter, they're all fair game as far as these guys are concerned.

@Sarah977 Yeah, you might be right. A creep is a creep, and often they have no sense of just how creepy they get. All the more reason to call him out on it, so that he (hopefully) is kicked off the site and won't be doing this to other women hosts. 


@Rich-and-Yan0 wrote:

@Jennifer1897 This is creepiness going far beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable. Would this guy try the same thing in a hotel with one of the receptionists? Not likely.


As someone who worked in hotels all through college, let me assure that men like this hit on the front desk clerk always knowing that they were the ones with the money and power. I would be hard-pressed to count the number of times that I was approached with this kind of creepiness. It was bad enough that when I became the night auditor, working the 11pm-7am shift all alone, the hotel management allowed me to bring my 90 lb German Shepard to work, where she would sleep behind the counter waiting until she was needed for protection. . 

I was a bit worried about the review, as he did leave one this am. I have not yet wrote him one though so I have no idea what his might say. Airbnb responded pretty promptly and requested screen shots of the conversation and additional info. Hopefully they remove him. 

 

 

Mary996
Level 10
Swansea, United Kingdom

@Jennifer0 Oh that's great that Airbnb responded swiftly to you. May we have an update? Hope you are ok xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hiya @Jennifer1897 ,

 

So, so sorry to hear you were put through this. Glad to hear you are getting on well with Customer Support - I've pinged this information over to the team also.

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie

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Mary996
Level 10
Swansea, United Kingdom

Thanks Stephanie... xxxxxxxxx