Long term guest ask one third of total payment after check out, Airbnb refunded without telling me!

[Jessica469]

Dear Host,

this is the 1st time i posted here. And i desperately need some advice here. I had been a host for 2 years and hosting more than 1000 guests, never had this problem before.

A guest booked my apartment for 57 nights. 

After she checked in, she complained the sofa was not the same as shown in photo, and there was stain, so she asked if i can change it if so, she would be "happy to stay"

New sofa was purchased and exchange after 2 days. No complaint heard from guest after, but some text message was exchanged back and forward for some small matters.

After her long stay, she submitted a case against me, claiming $1500 of the total $5600 payout. saying the apartment is not the same as shown in photo(the sofa) , along with minor issues

she took photos of one pillow without pillow case, claiming it has mark. while my other 4 pillows are all brand new.

anyway, case manager sent me 2 emails, which i did not receive at all! not in spam folder or inbox (has this ever happened to other host before?) i can get airnb notification, guest inquiry, payout statement, alert with no problem, except the email from case manager!

after 1 week, guest got her refund. and i only realised that when i saw the payout statment. (resolution center doesn't show update of the case at all) except emails, i would have no other way to know the progress of the case. Last but not least, the case manager never tried to call me! when my number is correctly regiestered on airbnb.

in my opinion, the guest is just looking for a bargain. she never told me she is not happy with the apartment, so she just carefully collect photos and manifying small issues to submit her case.

so here are the question,

1)that was a long term stay, not short stay, if she was not happy, why she didn't move out or submit a complain at the beginning of the stay? can't airbnb see it? should airbnb has some kind of ways to avoid some free loader who just try to look for a bargain at the end of the stay?

Now my case manager said it is final for the desicion. I am exteremely disappointed and lost all my security on airbnb, all the hard work and mortagage and service, can just vanish with the claim!!

2)Is there a way to appeal? or change the case manager? as my case manager has been so lazy(didn't call me in the 1st place) and rude (on the phone call while i was trying to speak, she is giving me the sound of kissing her teech.

thank you for your help 

[Marzena4]

Hello @Jessica469 I will not go into details how guest-friendly Airbnb treats hosts and guests. Just on how cases are run (from my experience): after receiving "a solution" you still should get an email/query asking about your satisfaction with the reply of the manager.

[Jessica469]

Thank you for your reply Mazena.

I think the questionaire is sent by the airbnb agent, so if she knew she would not get a good review, i doubt she would send me one .

thanks

[Helen3]

Hi @Jessica469

What a terrible situation.

There is a way to appeal against airbnb decisions. But I don't think they make this clear.  Why not ask them via twitter/FB?

What reason did the case manager give for making such a large refund? I know they do look at previous reviews to help them make a decision. So if you have mainly five star reviews and no complaints and a guest stays your place is awful they are less likely to believe them.

It was a shame you didn't receive their emails and the message from the guest with her complaints following her stay.

Your listings look amazing in the photos  but I notice that some guests have complained at being swapped at the last minute to apartments they hadn't booked, about the quality of the furniture or furniture not being as advertised and difficulties getting into the apartments.

Your profile shows you as in London but your accommodation in Australia. Is it being handled by an airbnb management company?

If so, it might be worth when you can going over a personally checking each apartment to ensure they are of the standard you want for your listings. Or getting a nearby friend or relative to do this for you.

To be honest, I would be really worried about getting some many reviews like this - it indicates something isn't right around the management of the apartments and the quality of the furniture so do consider what you can do to improve this.

Good luck 

[Jessica469]

Thank you so much for your reply and your time Helen

When I first registered I was in UK , have now relocated so I should changed it now. Although my number is up to date.

the one that the guest stayed was this one below, which is brand new---

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/18905347

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The amount of $1500 refund was requested BY the guest, Airbnb just granted the refund without a guidline/indicate how it calculated.

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here is what the case manager wrote me:

-As per further investigation and reassessment of the case where your payout was adjusted, it is deemed correct due to violation of hosting standards and Airbnb's Terms and Conditions specifically accuracy.
As per section 7.1.4 of the Terms and Conditions, "Pictures, animations or videos (collectively, "Images") used in your Listings must accurately reflect the quality and condition of your Host Services"
This would pertain to the furniture, particularly the couch and how the listing looks like in actual compared to the photos in the listing page.
The amount was the minimum computation based on the number of nights of the reservation.

So be very careful , all other hard working hosts!!!The case manager told me on the phone, every little detail on the listing photo, should be extactly the same, otherwise guest can complaint any change of your furniture, including the colour of the duvet covers it shown in photos.

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When i pointed out, the guest's clai did not meet the guest refund policy. 1) was not reported within 24 hours when issue arises 2) did not used reasonable efforts to try to remedy the circumstances of the Travel Issue with the Host prior to making a claim for a Travel Issue.

The case manager replied me:

-The reason why the guest did not let you know she was not happy with the listing was because she did not want conflict between you two during the stay.
She feared that you would let her leave the listing and it would be difficult for her to find another accommodation that would be available for 50+ nights.

What she replied is totally contradicted to the guest refund policy d)

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Sorry for the mixed bag of reviews from the start, it seems the old reviewes from 2.5 years ago would shown at the front. It has been a learning curve from beginning, we have listened to all the reviews and make adequate change of furniture:) reviews has been great since.

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I think the guest reached out to the case manager first, and since I felt that my voice is never been heard. The case manager just totally biased and never listen to me

Would definitely try facebook and twitter as suggested

Thanks again!!

[David126]

I also have a long term rental but would never consider using AirBnB to rent it, risk of this and quite a few other things going wrong is far too high. The system has too many holes in it for the canny Guest to exploit as you have found out.

You need a conventional short term rental contract.

Obviously not the first time such a case has been seen on here and you may be the odd one out but unlikely you will be able to get the situation reversed.

[Kimberly54]

@Jessica469, with all due respect, if your interactions with the case manager were anything like, "...I had been a host for 2 years and hosting more than 1000 guests..." ?  Really?  It would be hard for anyone to take your side seriously unless you rent by the hour... which you clearly do not.

As soon as you use inflammatory language/wild exaggerations, you lose credibility. 

[David126]

@Kimberly54

I do not rent by the hour and must be close to that, 3 rooms in my case, 50% occupany would do it.