Mix ups with guests

[Sherry35]

Hi. I’m Sherry and have been a host for a few years and have enjoyed it for the most part. But. Recently my Sister and brother were visiting from out of state. I was not home and A neighbor dropped in and said relatives of his were planning to stay here in a month or so and that there were too many people living here and that he was going to tell them not to stay here. My sister and brother said he barged in and insisted that he see the entire house and was very rude to both of them. He left saying his relatives would not be staying here. I contacted Airbnb to make sure they had canceled and saw no indication of a future stay so I thought that was the end of it until his whole family showed up one evening demanding they stay. It was a real nightmare!  I could not accommodate them as I was not expecting them  so they contacted Airbnb and thankfully they took care of it. Later I learned they took money from me for their refund and I lost my special host status. I stopped hosting until last week and thank goodness my guests were stellar. It will be a long time before my enthusiasm returns if it ever does, though. 

[Ana1136]

@Sherry35 you should never let future guests or their friends check out the place before check in. Secondly, if the reservation was canceled they had no right to come to your home. I don't know why you lost your superhost status, you didn't cancel their stay right? And also they shouldn't take money from you since you never got their momey in the first place right? It is very unclear what happened here, if they canceled nothing of this should have happened. 

[Inna22]

@Sherry35  I am also not very clear about what happened. It sounds like when you called Airbnb you were the one to cancel the guests? I have no other explanation of why they would take your super lhost status.  I never let guests preview the place before booking, but a couple of times I have let them walk through after.  Both were wedding  related reservations and they just wanted to see the layout so they can assign bedrooms. All were very happy.  If a guest is going to hate the place or find something wrong with it, I would rather resolve it long before arrival.  In any case, it sounds like you did not have a choice of letting that neighbor and he just barged in. One thing you should’ve done differently was to begin communicating with the actual guest and through the Airbnb system. That way it would’ve been no miscommunication with the actual paying and staying party.