Jekyll and Hyde Guest - a cautionary tale.

Neil-and-Debs0
Level 4
Taunton, United Kingdom

Jekyll and Hyde Guest - a cautionary tale.

We have been part of the Airbnb Community for some years now, letting whole apartments and now just rooms in our own home. So we are not rookies, or so we thought...

 

From the get go we agreed we would only host people with five star feedback, but we got a last minute cancellation, which was quickly requested by another Airbnb member. We seriously dropped the ball, as we saw he had been a member for a year or so, but had no reviews yet, so we thought he must be ok. We assumed if there had been issues with this guest in the past, he would have been reported or black listed or that Airbnb would have excluded him.

This doesn't happen, anyone anywhere can join, no questions asked, nobody is excluded. So basically any ol' Dahmer, Shipman, or Bundy is welcome here. Airbnb doesn't even reveal their surname, so their identity is protected. I understand the need for privacy, on both sides, but I think a last name shouldn't be hidden, it allows people to hide who they are, should they want to or in our case need to...

 

Our new guest said he was a professional, busy working locally, and would be out for most of the time. We accepted his booking, I and all our family and friends (including other guests) wish to god we hadn't. Initially he was very complimentary, he talked a lot, about his business, and family, and checked in, We noted no luggage, weird but not alarming.  As usual we are welcoming and always point out house rules on arrival. Where to locate the kitchen, and pointed out the coffee and tea stuff. We also informed the guest we had other people staying, we asked him what time he would like breakfast, and left him to settle in.

 

BOOM, everyone in the house was aware he starting watching TV loudly, he didn't make any adjustments to his surroundings, and obviously didn't care if he disturbed us or other guests. We had to ask repeatedly for him to turn it down, as it was past midnight, people wanted to sleep. When we woke the following morning he had sent us aggressive messages that the internet was buffering his shows, so he couldn't watch the TV, that it was unacceptable and demanded we fix it. NOW!. He sent the message at 2.30am

 

Things deteriorated from there, he didn't go to work, he only left his room for deliveries, or takeaways which he ate in his room. The TV was always playing, mainly sports. Other guests commented what was wrong with him? I really had no answers I could give them, by the fourth night of disturbed sleep,  I looked at our guest on Google, and saw his name made many appearances in court. What we discovered in just a few seconds would have been invaluable if we had the basic information about our guest like his surname, before accepting this booking. 

 

A long, painful, threatening and dangerous experience later we have learnt a valuable lesson, but there is nothing to stop this individual basically abusing another host, and another...Airbnb have been helpful and attentive to our worries, but in answer to our fears they suggest we leave the individual negative feedback. As they were not offering witness protection we will decline to put ourselves in further danger of retaliation.

 

We love sharing our home, and providing the best possible experience for our guests. We take the responsibility of hosting very seriously, and to our credit have lots of 5 star reviews resulting in many repeat guests, and have made some wonderful friends world wide. We travel and are guests ourselves, it's an unbeatable opportunity to experience life as a local, but when this rose coloured world goes wrong it can be catastrophic...

 

We have all read recent Airbnb horror stories, and thought that sort of thing could not happen on our doorstep... Our recent nightmare showed me it can, we were lucky this time, no-one got hurt, it just cost us a lot of money to fix. There are some very predatory guests out there, that can turn from Jekyll to Hyde.

So treat this as a cautionary tale to keep your guard up, be careful who you welcome into your home. Put precautions in place, enjoy being part of the global Airbnb community, but to the big boss of Airbnb, you have a responsibility to improve checks on guests and hosts and protect your community. 

 

We would ask Airbnb to change the current system so that the surname of a potential guest is shown, so that we could at least do a little research ourselves before accepting the booking. 

 

 

32 Replies 32

@Neil-and-Debs0  What a nightmare. Painfully, I can relate. I will add that even with a last name and govt ID, you still don't know exactly who you're getting through the door. We had a nightmare with a guest also. He had fulfilled ALL the verifications, including govt ID, and a quick search of his full name (only after the booking was already complete, of course 🙄) brought up nothing of interest or concern. Yet when we went to file the police report afterward, we found out he was already known to them.  At the end of the day, we should always be on our guard.

Cindy809
Level 1
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

I 100% agree as hosts we need to have full disclosure who is coming into our homes.  I see it this way:  we honor the platform values and they need to back ours.  We had a horror story after nothing but 5 stars across the board and thank God we discovered this before we left the country.  These guests were going to be staying for a few more days unchaperoned in our home and who knows what would have happened.  Needless to say, I have to defend myself, upload verifiable evidence, and prove that this guest was not fit for this household.  I too had numerous complaints from other guests, theft, house rules that were ignored, the list goes on and on.  Then the review process came... It was so retaliatory in nature.  I was under the impression that reviews were only revealed if both sides completed one.  Not the case.  It feels like the platform is more worried about protecting the guests and believing them versus protecting their hosts who have their homes, families, and themselves on the line.  It is crazy!  Try getting a phone call back.  It doesn't happen.  From reading this discussion, I have learned some valuable points.  I too, ask questions especially with people who have no reviews.  But now, I can and will do more searching such as google, etc.  It can be scary not knowing who is coming into the safety net of your home.  We have locks on every single door.  Basically, since Airbnb doesn't give me the info ahead of time, I have to be nosey.  I need safety and security to be the top priority in my house...bottom line.  Thank you all for the excellent tips.  For those of you who have experienced problem children, I can relate.  However, my experience has been few and far between, overall I can say it has been 99.9% great!  

Neil-and-Debs0
Level 4
Taunton, United Kingdom

Prevention rather than compensation after the fact would get my vote. OpenRent is an online letting agent and property service provider, founded in 2012. It is a UK-based startup company focused on providing technological solutions to property rentals. They offer a checking service that verifies a guest is suitable, if CCJ's or convictions are associated with the individual they inform you, leaving you to decide if you want to take a risk. If this check was done for all members wanting to join the Airbnb community it would go a long way to resolving current issues people are experiencing. Obviously it wont prevent the unforeseen happening, but forewarned is forearmed. 

We had a similar situation at my house. Guest arrives as a late check-in and is quite nice. At some point while everyone was sleeping, he brings two other guys into the house and they start to smoke weed in the room. At about 6.30am the next morning, they start to hurl racial insults at us and another guest . We did have to call police to get rid of them except they gave us a one star and when we reported to Airbnb about what happened all they said was there was nothing they could do and we should just post a public review on  the guest. The site should definitely do some more checks. This situation could have escalated from insults to something much much worse: the house had three women and I was 7months pregnant against three "weeded out" guys. I still shudder to think about it.

Thanks for your posting, it clearly shows more must be done. I am very thankful you are ok.

Cormac0
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

@Neil-and-Debs0 

 

I wouldn't waste my time leaving a review for this scumbag, he's already set up a new Airbnb profile to move on to his next location.

 

 

Patricia55
Level 10
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

@Neil-and-Debs0   @Cormac0 

 

It is utterly crazy that we (hosts) have just “got used to” a situation where we:

 

  1. are fearful of giving an honest* review to a bad guest, in case of retaliation, or

  2. give an honest review to a bad guest and said guest can simply set up a new profile.

 

I mean, how did this situation come about?! Why did Airbnb allow this to happen, bearing in mind their constant emphasis on the importance of the review system and “trust”? It's not in anyone's interest to allow bad guests to use Airbnb with impunity.

 

*I say “honest” but in fact I know that many hosts are bending over backwards, in the wording of our reviews, to be as diplomatic as possible, rather than brutally honest.

@Patricia55 

 

 

Because Airbnb are only interested in making money at Hosts expense, they have very little or no exposure to the down side of a bad guest and endeavour to wash their hands of problems on every occasion.

Patricia55
Level 10
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

@Cormac0 

Yes, I suppose you're right... but then again, really?! How much money does one company or one individual need to make, ffs. BC's wealth is estimated to be 4.2 billion USD - my brain just does not compute that sort of wealth, nor the desire to acquire even more. [I do wonder, with these young, tech billionaires, whether they were always in it for the money, right from the start, or whether they had some ideals, but got swept along by the money guys, who convinced them to follow the well-trodden, capitalist route.. who knows?]

And even if it was all about coining it in, surely the management have to make sure that the “product” doesn't fall into disrepute in the process, cos then people are going to step away, sooner or later.

But I guess once you've made your massive fortune, you're past caring... 😉

Aye well, there's always the example of Bill Gates, philanthropist now... maybe he realised money wasn't everything 🙂

Helen350
Level 10
Whitehaven, United Kingdom

@Patricia55 @Cormac0  @Neil-and-Debs0 & only in the last few days, host Sean has reported an incident where a guest refused to leave, then frightened the cleaner, THEN GOT HIS BAD REVIEW REMOVED by Airbnb! So where does that leave hosts who want to be 'brutally honest' to protect their fellow hosts?

Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

@Neil-and-Debs0  This guy is a bully, and when you push back against a bully, they fold - so do please leave a review and don't worry about retaliation.  Although as @Cormac0 notes he may already have created a new profile, he may not have, since the one he used for booking with you was a year old.  Really sorry you had this terrible experience and hope it's never repeated.

I'm sorry but we remain fearful, what we discovered showed this individual had progressed way beyond bully. That they had zero regard for others, and utter contempt for the law. Clearly our terrible experience was not unique. I am astounded though, there is a simple fix to some of the issues people are having, why is no one listening and putting safety first? 

Airbnb Promise to do...
"Watchlist & background checks
While no screening system is perfect, globally we run hosts and guests against regulatory, terrorist, and sanctions watchlists. For hosts and guests in the United States, we also conduct background checks." 
 
Here in the UK, there are other simple background checks that would help both guests and hosts. CCJ's, Criminal convictions involving Drugs and Violent behaviour are easily accessed. I imagine most people, would not welcome anti social guests knowingly. As a community we put a lot of store in trust, Trust takes time to build, but can be destroyed in a heartbeat.
Andrea-and-Francis0
Level 10
Mississauga, Canada

Please leave an honest review, as a host I appreciate a heads up from other hosts as to these nightmare guests. I also leave honest reviews as I would never want another host to go through what we have experienced & I would rather decline a booking, then receive money from a horrible guest & have to deal with the aftermath. 

Patricia55
Level 10
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

@Andrea-and-Francis0 

Yeah, but if only honest reviews did the job! If a bad guest has a way to outwit their bad review, what's the point?

[BTW, how many times have you had a booking request from a guest with terrible reviews? It doesn't happen. Those guests either don't use Abb again (good!) or they create a new profile (bad!)]