Mother Worried After 1st Stay

[Madyson0]

I convinced my mother to use Airbnb for the first time. However, after her first experience she’s said she won’t use it again. 

She had had a big family rental for a week of ten people including 3 dogs. Host said he was nervous because he never rented to groups that large before and wasn’t super comfortable with three dogs. He allowed her to book anyway without charging pet fees. 

After my mom wrote a glowing 5-star review, he told her he was leaving a bad review (which he claimed he never does). He lives out of state but he said the cleaning team said the house was incredibly messy with dog hair everywhere and the humans were messy too (with no specifics). He now wants to charge my mom additional cleaning fees. 

My mother stripped all the beds, washed all the dishes, washed most of the bath towels minus a few used on checkout day which she left in a tub, swept all the floors, took out the garbage to the dumpster, and wiped out the inside of the fridge and the gas stove top. 

My mother feels terrible but cant understand why he would treat it as if she left the place a wreck or damaged the property. She now thinks every host will be like this going forward and since this is her only review, she’ll never be able to rent again even if she wanted to. 

Any advice on what I should tell her? 

[Alexandra316]

@Madyson0 Extortion is very much against Airbnb policy (i.e. saying that he will leave your mom a bad review if she doesn't pay the fee). I would consider telling her to contact Airbnb, provided that he is making this threat via Airbnb messenger.

Was this an experienced host, or was he new to the platform? I would tell her to try and book with Suprerhosts or hosts with lots of reviews, if it was the latter.

Was the number of people your mom wanted to bring within the number allowed for on the property, or was she asking for him to host 10 people when the listing only allowed 8? Again, if the latter, tell her to choose properties that already allow the correct number.

Finally, I'd say that if the host seems nervous during the booking process, maybe just move on to another host rather than trying to force a square peg into a round hole. It seems like there was a mismatch from the beginning here, and she probably should have looked elsewhere when he started making objections.

[Madyson0]

He was made aware there were 10 people which is why he said he was nervous about the group size before the booking was accepted. Great advice though about future hesitation being a warning sign though. I’ll let her know even though she still thinks no one will let her book again. 

[Alexandra316]

@Madyson0 Is the review posted at this point? Whether it is or it isn't, I would still get her to call Airbnb and report the attempt at exertion. If it's posted, that should be enough to get it removed.

Regarding the number of guests, though, that doesn't really answer the question: if the property said 8 (or however many) and she asked for 10, it might still have caused an issue. Hosts, especially newer hosts, sometimes feel pressured into accepting guests they don't want for fear of Airbnb doling out a punishment , or because they need the booking, or because they're afraid that if they tell a guest no they will get a bad review. Asking for something that's outside what the host normally offers is problematic. I have no idea if that was the case with your mom or not, but if so, I would tell her to bear it in mind for next time.

[Sean433]

Hi Madyson, being a host, I can tell you that as a host, he should not have accepted the booking. Perhaps he did not know that 3 dogs can cause a mess but that was a his decision and probably a lesson learned. Any hotel or most hosts would not accept dogs and he should have exercised better judgement.

At the same time, I have also mentioned to guests before concerns I had based on certain things such as the size of the groups or their poor reviews and was promised that they would take care of the home which I later discovered was a broken promise.

Most hosts pay cleaners a certain amount on the understanding it may take for example 3-4 hours to clean a home. We have had cases where the cleaners would take 6-8 hours to clean after extremely messy guests and ofcourse we have to pay them extra for that. In some cases we would charge the guests this.

It all depends on the circumstances but the fact that your mom was allowed to bring 3 dogs without an additional cost was a nice benefit which she would not likely have received in several places. Maybe look at it that way.

[Paul154]

@Madyson0 

Leave it be.

Your Mother didn't want to use Airbnb.

She used it improperly and got burned.

She doesn't want to use it again.

So be it.

[Mark116]

@Madyson0   I would ask the host what was left messy/unclean according to the cleaners.  It depends on how negative his review was whether it would impact her ability to rent in future.  But, I agree w/the others who said this was a bad match from the beginning, the host was uncomfortable because he was breaking his own rules and so started on a negative note.