Instant book story

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

Hi there community just thought that I would share an amusing (at least to me it was. So the story begins with me waking up in the morning to a reservation through instant book. She is a first time user and her communications to me were in very broken English, no reviews on her profile, no photo and wants to bring a tot al  of 5 people. No info about why they were coming to our neck of the woods or who the other four people are that she wants to bring. Now a little backstory: during the Christmas season I ended up hosting someone else from China basically same scenario. Their profile picture showed a nice family of 4 which  by the way was exactly the number they booked for. The minute they show up at my door things start to deteriorate quickly. The two adults standing in my doorway did match their profile pic but again there a just two of them so I politely asked them where the kids were. Imagine my surprise when they told me that they are not their kids but friends kids (here is where I find out there will be eight people staying) and THEY are mad that it is only one bedroom (clearly listed on the page). So I went upstairs to call the Airbnb helpline and told that they would reach out to the guest and get back to me.(never happened). So I go back downstairs to see if they had heard from Airbnb yet (they had not). So now the two that actually registered for this trip have decided to go stay somewhere else because of too many people. Ok they were the only ones registered with Airbnb. SO at this point I am left with 4 adults and two infants (one of the infants was six he should count in a head count)

And not one of them have an Airbnb account. Once again upstairs I go to call Airbnb, once again I'm told they will call back. NOT!!!!!!! Back downstairs I go to see if they got a call (they did not). Back upstairs I go to all Airbnb again! (Keep in mind these people are in my house and I don't even know their names nor are any of them members of Airbnb). So result of this phone call is to tell me he is not going to do anything and he wouldn't be calling me back because he was off shift in a few minutes and he was going home. Needless to say I ended up stuck with this group overnight (thank God it was only a one night stay. When they left the house was trashed, half eaten food everywhere. Let's just suffice it by saying that the apartment was filthy and I had a guest checking in same day. Fast forward to the more recent one. I was really hesitant to take her as she was new and had no reviews.  So I asked her to put a photo on her profile, she did. I asked who the extra people coming were (turns out she is studying at the University in Seattle as an international exchange student and the extra guest are her mother, father and grandparents). So she answered all my questions and I went ahead and kept the reservation. So I have 2 couples and one single coming to stay. They show up when they said they would with the right amount of people. So far so good. They were only booked for one night. I give them the welcome tour they were very friendly and nice to deal with. Now our airbeds have a never flat secondary pump that kicks on in the middle of the night so it does not deflate on our guests. I showed them where everything was for both airbeds and how and where to set them up! After they checked out I discovered that neither one of the airbeds had been set up and used. So being the superhost that I am I sent out a message that said sorry about the airbed but as I told them when they checked in that I would come down and set the air mattresses up for them if they felt uncomfortable  or just wanted to not do it by themselves. Well I sent her a message after they checked out saying that I would have come down to set it up for you. The response back made me laugh so I thought I'd share. The parents and grandparents came straight from China to see their daughter. Well she said that they do not have much carpeting in China. I on the other hand have several very plush area rugs. They liked them so much that they wanted to have a little slumber party fun. Used all my  extra blankets to build beds on the floor so they could sleep on the plush carpeting. I think this was great fun for them! And yes they folded all the blankets they used and left the apartment in great shape! I am still curious about one thing that I didn't ask about and that is they were here less than 24 hrs and ate 6 bagels and an entire loaf of bread. And yes they ate it all wrappers were in the garbage. Things that make you go hmmm!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Mary-And-Kelly0

The way homes are set up in Asia (broadly speaking) and the US are extremely different. I can't speak for China specifically, but it is true that carpets are rare in most Asian homes. (Same in Korea) Also, many of the older generation (60s and above) are used to sleeping on the floor (on floor mats/pads, which are folded up every morning and put away in a closet.

Also, I know some families that like to sleep in one big room together (like a slumber party) - my dad's side of the family is like this a bit while my mom's side of the family would never do this 🙂

Eating all the bread and bagels...... either they were really really hungry or they did not want to be rude (in Asia it is usually considered rude to leave leftovers (leftovers imply that guests did not like what was provided/served))

Some other things that are different are that dishwashers and dryers are still rare in most Asian homes (considered a luxury). We hand wash dishes and air dry clothes. Also bathrooms are "wet" bathrooms and many people do not have shower curtains. We always take shoes off in our homes.  

I've always found it fascinating to see how the perception of "normal" differs between people from different cultures/countries 🙂

[Ange2]

@Jessica-and-Henry0  "Also bathrooms are "wet" bathrooms and many people do not have shower curtains."  Ah! I figured that one out when a number of my guests left the bathroom swimming in cm's of water and didn't see it as a problem. Luckily mine is completely tiled from floor to ceiling and waterproof (except for the bathroom mats!) as long as the water is not left standing for hours.  Wet rooms are a great idea, would love to have mine converted to be 100% water tight.

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0, Thank you for reminding me that that is a typical way for Asians to sleep. I knew that but had forgotten. The food I was unaware of so thank you for telling me that. Next time I will know! 

Sincerely,  Mary

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Mary-And-Kelly0

Thanks for sharing your story..... it reminded me of my grandparents and their first trip to the U.S. to visit their children (my parents, and aunts & uncles) and grandchildren (me & my sister, and cousins) more than 30 yrs ago 🙂 Good memories!

[Huma0]

@Mary-And-Kelly0

I'm glad the second set of guests worked out. 

What struck me about your story though was the shocking lack of support from the Airbnb rep. I would have been furious and, if I were you, I'd put in a big fat COMPLAINT about him. Maybe I'm just being grumpy though!

It was nice of you to take in the first set of guests given the circumstances. I'm sure you must have been very worried. Like you, I would have called Airbnb support ASAP if this happened to me, but not sure what I would have done if I got such a useless response. I think I would have not been willing to take the risk with unregistered guests, but it is difficult to turn people away (especially those travelling with children) when they have nowhere else to go.

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

@Huma0, Hi Huma hope you are well. We were extremely pleased with the second group great people. the first people not so much. First asked for cleaning fee discount and I said no but she kept the pressure up. Profile picture was two adults and two toddlers (not infants like she claimed on her booking. ) Her booking stated it was for four people. So the two adults who made the booking show up at my door at about 9:30 at night but to my surprise there are no children with them I of course ask "where are the kids")? Her response to this is a comical look on her face she tells me they are children of their friends and that the friends will be bringing them later. Ok so I figure maybe they are babysitting so their friends can have a kid free weekend. So I proceed to show them the apartment. Next thing I know they are mad because it is not a two bedroom apartment. My listing is clearly one bedroom. So now my brain kicks in as I think to myself  "why would you need 2 bedrooms for 2 adults and two infants." So I ask some more questions. After this Q and A session I discovered that actually there would be eight adults and two infants. So I informed her that I simply cannot accommodate that many people. So I immediately go upstairs and call Airbnb Superhost line. I go through the whole story with them and they tell me that they will reach out to the guests and get back to me.( ha ha). So back downstairs I go now there are eight adults, a child about 3 and a 6 year old. (Do you think that counts as infants?). So now the couple that made the booking are going to leave and stay somewhere else. I March myself back upstairs because now I have six adults and two children (children not infants) not only are we still over my maximum occupancy but not one of them an AirBnB member. At this point I still have not heard from AirBnB. So back to the phone to call them back and funny I had to completely explain what was going on AGAIN! Once again I am told that they will reach out to the guest and get back to me. So this time I wait an hour, surprise, surprise you guessed it no call back. So for the third time I call the Superhost helpline only to have to repeat the story from beginning to end. Now his response was definitely not what I expected. He said and I quote " I MIGHT reach out to the guest but I won't call you back because I am going home. At this point I am confused, frustrated and pissed off all at once. So these people stayed in my house all night. (I hardly slept) When they checked out half an hour late they left the place absolutely filthy. Half eaten food everywhere, spills not cleaned up, stolen towels, took all the juice in the fridge with them. At this point I have gone beyond pissed off and straight to livid. I did write the guest a very honest review and gave them thumbs down. Also reported them as scammers. But as far as AirBnB  being any kind of help or support DID NOT HAPPEN! I called them for two weeks afterwards to get the answer as to what to do if it happens again. I never got an answer. I also reported the representative that told me he wouldn't call me back. Guess what? Nothing happened that's what!!!!! Sorry for the book just wanted to get the whole story out.

. 

[Robin4]

@Mary-And-Kelly0

Yeah CS are fine if the problem falls within certain guidelines but every now and then an issue comes along that they will simply run away from because they have no idea how to solve it.

I had a guest here a few weeks ago, booked for one night! As soon as he walked in he asked if he could book a second night using a coupon. As the next night was free I said he could, but he would have to attend to it as another booking in order to use his coupon! That was 2.30 pm.

At 6.00 pm I got an IB from another guest for that same night and I when down to my current guest in the cottage and told him someone else had beat him to the next night. He said it was all ok, he was talking to CS in Manilla and they were sorting it out! Next thing I get a call from CS in Manilla telling me he was in the process of extending a current reservation when he noticed an IB come through and he wanted my permission to cancel the IB. I told him there was no way I would cancel a confirmed booking or allow Airbnb to cancel it on my behalf. CS told me it would be a neutral cancellation and would not affect me and that my existing guest was confirmed for another night. Next afternoon I got a call from same CS telling me other accommodation was aranged for the IB and not to worry about it any further.

Three hours later I have a German tourist who had a wife in the car and two stroppy kids walk around the corner into the back yard wanting to know where the listing he was booked for that night was!!!! what th! Here I am with two confirmed bookings for the same night. A hurried call to same CS in Manilla and when I told him I had the said IB on my property wanting me to honour his confirmed booking CS just sat there blank as could be....I think the mouth opened a few times but nothing coherent came out of it!

What had happened the German tourist had used his wifes phone to make the IB booking because he didn't have an Aussie sim card in his phone, but the cancellation information Airbnb were sending was being sent to his phone and so was not being received....so as far as the tourist was concerned, he had a valid booking. He is probably a bit at fault for not making some effort to contact the host once his booking went through, but he didn't think it was required....he was travelling and he had a confirmed booking!

I had to make some hurried calls to other hosts in my area to get one to accept this family, we fed the kids, got them relocated, all the while Manilla CS still mouthing undistinghishable statements....it was up to us here to solve the problem!

So @Mary-And-Kelly0 I can totally understand how this came about for you and on the strength of your experience, and mine, I have started another thread where I have taken the liberty of tagging a comment of yours.

All the best......Cheers.....Rob

[Huma0]

@Mary-And-Kelly0

I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds like a nightmare. I have to say my experience with Airbnb CS has always been positive, both since I have been a Superhost and before that. It does make me wonder what I would do if a similar situation arose for me. 

I am not sure I would be as kind as you and let the guests stay. I cannot see how they misjudged the size/occupancy of your property so drastically. Sounds more like they were trying to pay as little as possible. My main concern though would have been the fact that none of the guests staying were registered. As this is totally against Airbnb policy, it baffles me that CS were unwilling to even try to deal with the problem.

Other hosts on here have suggested that social media, particularly Twitter, is the best way to get a response from CS when the usual avenues aren't working, although I've never needed to resort to that myself. Did you try that in this instance?