It happened- guest had a party

Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

It happened- guest had a party

I have made a few posts about me "catching" guests and narrowly escaping parties but one finally outsmarted me. I attribute the wave to cold weather in Chicago combined with a very slow streak that left a couple of weekends open, something I do not usually have.

 

There were no red flags. He booked in advance for a sleepover for a 14 year old son, 5 friends and 2 chaperones. Not a last minute booking (flag one scratched off the list). He was from Illinois but far out for a trip to Chicago for a teen's birthday to make sence. I told him about no extra guests at least three times and that I have a counter installed (Party Squasher) and he acknowledged it. I almost felt embarrassed to keep saying it because he had such well put together responses. He produced a list of minors prior to check in.  I checked ID when he arrived. The second chaperone was not there so and was not lazy came back at 9 pm to check the second ID (even though my daughter JUST got home after three months away and this was the last activity I wanted to be engaged in). I could not possibly be more thorough. When I came at 9, there were happy kids running around, there were cupcakes on the table. No alcohol, no cars lining the street, no trays of food. No signs of trouble.

 

Party squasher counts devices. By 10 PM it was showing 40. I came up with an excuse- may be each kid has a cell phone, an ipad and a gaming device and maybe the tenant downstairs has a couple of people over. By 11pm it was showing 50. 

 

When I called the guest, his response was: What did you think was going to happen? Of course I am having a party! I was floored.

 

I called Airbnb. I was suspecting for a while that there is no Santa, starting to doubt existence of unicorns, at least fully pink ones. But finding out that there is no SWAT team (Stop Wild party Airbnb Team) and the picture was a product of @Cathie19  imagination was the biggest blow of the night. That handsome guy was not coming to save me after all. Those of you not familiar, this is a reference to another thread here. I talked to regular rep, then got transferred to the special party department. 15 min on hold and I am told that the guidelines have not fully come out so they do not know how to help me. But he will talk to the guest and let him know that if extra people do not leave now, they will be evicted with no refund. The only thing I could think of asking in the moment was: are you saying he is eligible for a refund if he does leave right away?? It is a one night reservation!

 

I am now stuck with a one star review, smoking remediation bill and trying to figure out what I did wrong. By the way, if the guest were to be removed from the platform immediately following the incident, he would not have been able to leave me a review.

43 Replies 43
Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

@Inna22 I am so sorry. I think your response to the review and the guest's review you left are as much as you can do right now. This seems to be happening more and more often and Airbnb really needs to do something. If they NEED to make money off of parties, why not create a subset of Airbnb called Airbnb Event or something like that and filter guests there? Hosts who do NOT want parties should not have to put up with this!

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Inna22  So sorry this one got by you. What a jerk. 

"then got transferred to the special party department. 15 min on hold and I am told that the guidelines have not fully come out so they do not know how to help me."

So how many more wild parties and shooting deaths are they waiting for to institute the guidelines? They now have a special party line, yet that resource has no guidelines to follow or authority to do anything about it? You couldn't make this s**t up.

@Sarah977 what can they do though? I think there are no guidelines because there is nothing to put in them. This person was in California, I am in Chicago. A call or a slap on the hand are meaningless. The guest is not going to ask everyone at the house to leave because Airbnb called them and they suddenly realized the error of their ways. My thinking is they should have an on call off duty police or contracts with security firms that can be dispatched immediately. That is the only real time solution

@Inna22 @Cathie19's SWAT team idea may have been tongue in cheek, but it's actually something that could be organized and a reality.

There is an organization in Mexico of farmers from all over the country. There are millions of members and if any of them are hassled in any way by the authorities, they have some phone tree system where every other member in their area gets immediately notified and within 15 minutes there are scores or a hundred of them there to support the one who is being hassled. What if hosts did something similar. "Hey, there's a rager party going on at my place- address xxxx" and suddenly there are dozens of other hosts there at the house to confront and assist in evicting the guests.

Lynette57
Level 10
Gladstone, Australia

In your comments you stated that there were no red flags. My 1st red flag would have been "travelling a long distance to host a 14yr old birthday party for 4 or 5 kids with 2 chaperones. That in itself is a huge flag in my books.

How many chaperones do you need for 4 to 5 kids, OH sorry we need chaperones to legally purchase alcohol.

I must be old fashioned , Teenagers needing private party venues never happened in my growing yrs.

Sorry for your issues,

1 message guest and ask them to leave immediately, (do not wait for response)

2. Cancel booking with no refund on ABB app (message them to deal with it also message that you will be attending eviction with local law enforcement.) Then

3 Call the local law to attend with you to the house to supervise eviction,

4. Once they are all out collect keys change lock code (or whatever you need to do to secure your property) Arrange for a security company to monitor the house for 24 hrs then go home and try to sleep 

Next Day:

Go on App and read ABB response to your request, tell yourself that they a a heap of no hopers and get on with life.

PS, There is no SWAT , there is no Host Guarantee (well maybe a little after you have pulled all your hair out , jumped through multiple hoops, and paid out of your own pocket just for your sanity.)

 

Have a great day a wonderful christmas and New Year, 

PS Dont host any more parties.

Be your own boss, dont let ABB incompetent staff  and algorithms control your business.

 

 

@Lynette57 I have a 14 year old son and a 14 year old niece. This made perfect. Sence. They were an hour away from Chicago so close enough to come for one night and far enough not to be a local party with everyone just randomly showing up. The chaperones were step dad and mom. I will stand by this not being a red flag. 

Also, why do you think I need to cancel the reservation? I will just lose my superhost status and the money with absolutely no benefit. 

@Inna22 

Sorry you got stung, @Inna22! I too am gutted to discover that @Cathie19's glorious vision, turned out not to be a reality! 😉

 

@Lynette57 

"3 Call the local law to attend with you to the house to supervise eviction"

Could be a very long wait. Unless there's a genuine emergency (and a party doesn't count as an emergency), local police forces in many jurisdictions are now refusing to attend Airbnb call-outs (or at least shoving them right down to the very bottom of their priority lists), as a result of their time, manpower and resources being drained by constantly being called to attend incidents at Airbnb rentals, that all too often turn out to be civil, rather than criminal, matters.

Lynette57
Level 10
Gladstone, Australia

@Susan17  You may be right there

In australia, you can register your property for the night  if you believe there may be a party no matter how small or large, with your local precinct and the officers patrol on a very regular basis.

You let them know the address, how many invited guests etc and your phone number so if something goes wrong and they miss it on their regular patrols they will attend immediately they see your phone number pop up in a call.

Unfortunately not many young people utilise this service. Mostly responsible mums and dads who want their children to have some freedom to host their own party but still have supervision.

 

 

Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

It’s unfortunate but ABB will never be the one to help with this. I think probably police won’t either. 
knowing what bouncer sized friends you can get to appear at a moment’s notice and/or how to cut utilities to the house are the two things that come to mind. 

@Inna22 the new review guidelines should probably get that review removed. I’d try it. 

Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

@Inna22, sounds like you could not possibly have done any more to avoid this and the guest was obviously completely disingenuous. His review, however, makes little sense and your response and your other glowing reviews will be what people focus on. But I agree with @Kelly149 - maybe try getting the review removed under the new policies (and let us know how you go!). 

Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

IMO, people who so blatantly disregard the rules should not be allowed to leave a review at all. His review was clearly retaliatory, which, under the new policy, is grounds for removal.

@Kath9 @Kelly149 I asked it to be reviewed. I am corresponding with someone from that party department. But she repeatedly told me I should not have my hopes high. I am waiting for their decision

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Inna22 Well that sucks! When I was little my mother used to take me and 3 friends to a hotel room for a sleepover for my birthday. So why wouldn't a family rent an Airbnb now a days to do this? I would have been fooled too. But my questions is, at 10pm when the party was starting where were the kids and cupcakes? How did they switch so quickly to a full swing party with 50 people?! Was that all for show?

@Emilia42 @Sarah977 that part is puzzling to me as well. I was not there but I am thinking it was all relatives and friends?  Perhaps it was really a birthday? I personally would never celebrate my kids birthday with 50 people in an airbnb, smoking and drinking but I also would not lie to my host either. I can't even imagine