Nightmare Guests show up w 3 extra pp & 4 dogs including Pitbull

Nancy1588
Level 5
Powell River, Canada

Nightmare Guests show up w 3 extra pp & 4 dogs including Pitbull

Hi fellow Hosts. I am a fairly new Host. We started in June of this year and have had a dozen or so groups stay at our 2 bedroom Airbnb suite. I must first say that we have had excellent guests to date. Great experiences and reviews had by all. That was until last Thursday. We live 2 ferries aware from the mainland of Vancouver so it takes people most of the day to travel here. I always contact guests ahead of time and ask them more about their group, what they want from their holiday, what they take in their coffee etc. I recommend they contact me before coming to get better directions too because it is tricky to find. This particular guest was the first time there was NO response from my messages. It is clear on my site that we live above the suite in a house on a private property on the ocean and that we will be around.  It's ok to bring A dog if you tell me about it and it is going to get along with my 2 friendly dogs. 

 
In a nutshell this particular Guest booked the 2 bedroom suite for 2 people with no dog. When they showed up at 5pm they had 2 vehicles and brought 3 extra  people and 4 dogs including a pitbull! I should have sent them away right away but they were charming and my husband works late that night so I was alone. The said that they would pay me money on the side for the extra. I just said I would have to think about it. They had a 3 year old child with the 2 couples and it was late and impossible for them to get back to Burnaby. So the evening began...The male pitbull was very boisterous jumping and mounting my retriever constantly. Jumping on me..I don't think he was neutered.  I finally just retreated upstairs w my dogs and waited for my husband to come home around 11pm. 
 
They smoked pot in the unit and were rowdy all evening. Dogs barking, babies crying, men talking loudly...Needless to say I did not sleep well. The next day I got my husband to come with me and asked to speak to the young man who booked privately at the beach. He brought his buddy and the pitty & another of the 4 dogs with him. I worked out a high price for them to stay which I hoped they would not take and he freaked out. He was swearing at me calling me a F***ing Bitch over and over very aggressive his PB was jumping all over my dog & my husband... of course we asked them to leave immediately.  I stayed away at the beach while my husband calmly supervised their departure which was dramatized by a spin out of the driveway with rocks flying everywhere. But at least they were gone. The suite was a mess it smelled of dog feces and pot. My cleaner could not believe it was just one night. 
 
I contacted Airbnb and had a telephone chat and lodged a safety concern and complaint about them. They handled refunding the group for 2 nights and myself for the cleaning. The Guest cleverly lodged a complaint against us saying there was a gas leak so AirBnB wanted me to get a technician to confirm there was no issue. I was on that immediately and had it done is a couple of hours. We have a brand new gas furnace & hot water unit installed a few days before and it was just a bit of smell from the new unit but no leak.  AirBnB also reimbursed me for the Gas Technician's invoice. I was really hoping to put this stressful experience behind me. I have made changes to our listing and have taken insta-book off for a while until I am more confident again. I was happy with the way Airbnb handled the situation so I did not have to deal with his aggression again.
 
Then I see the Guest has left us a review which I can't see until I write one about him. GREAT! Now what? AirBnB says the review process it important. I don't want to provoke him with a bad review but if his (I'm assuming) bad review is allowed to be published I guess I will have to speak my truth. I'm not comfortable with this. I'm sure it's not the first time something like this has happened. Can you please advise? Thank you for listening to my long winded story. It still has me shaking.
39 Replies 39
Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

A horrible experience - you are correct the guests shouldn't have been allowed to check in.

If the numbers booked exceeded the numbers on the booking ,  particularly as there were also pets not disclosed on the booking you could have confirmed on those on the booking could check in.

 

 

Please leave an honest review of your experience with these guests to warn hosts considering bookings from these guests. 

 

@Nancy1588 

Thanks Helen. I have learned a lot about hosting with this experience. You are right I should not have let them stay in the first place. It was just getting late and they had a baby with them. Ugh. I appreciate your feedback. It is really nice to have the Host forum to share stories and get advice. Cheers. 

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Nancy1588 I would try calling Airbnb and explain that as the guest had a party hen their review should be removed. As this is unlikely to work then your response to their review is key. There are people on here (I don't include me) who can give advice on this if you post their review.

Thank you Mike & Jane. I tried with Airbnb. I was surprised they did not want to remove it because they were dealing with it as a security situation because of his aggressive behaviour. It makes me wonder if someone wanted to come back on  a Host and vandalize or worse after the fact. I know we have been more diligent about locking doors etc. I'm glad there are 2 ferries between us. I would or course call the police right away if he showed up but my point is that I don't want to provoke him any more. Thanks for weighing in. 

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

@Nancy1588 you have to leave an honest review. That is the only way other hosts will not be subject to this guest. I would wait until the last day of the review period. Other newer guests with better reviews will rise to the top of your page and this review will have less impact. It also gives you time to work with your wording. Both reviews are not published until 14 days or guest and host have left theirs-- whichever comes first. No need to rush.

 

I would say something like: "So and so arrived with X number of additional people and dogs on a reservation for 2. They left our place requiring a great deal of extra clean up after only one night. We had tried to work out an arrangement where we could accommodate this large group with an additional fee but the guest became very confrontational when we stated this. We had to end this reservation early due to noise, mess and pets that were aggressive to ours. This guest did not respond to any messages prior to the stay and did not communicate their intent to bring additional people and pets. House rules were not followed with regard to smoking, capacity, noise or clean up. We do not recommend these guests to other hosts and would not welcome them back."

 

Then leave 1 star across the board (they deserve it) and push the "would not host again." That will prevent them from doing instant book. They won't know that you did this as they can't see the star rating. But other hosts will definitely thank you for your honest assessment.

 

Also I would tweak your listing a bit. Less pics of the atmosphere and more of the space front and center. Remove the  extra chairs at any dining tables-- if you allow 4, you shouldn't give the impression that more can sit anywhere. Be very clear on your rules about what happens if more than 4 arrive-- are they charged extra per person? Asked to leave? I might also take off the pet friendly if your own pets are on site. I know its hard-- we are pet friendly too and believe in offering that-- but you don't want to put your pets in harms way and you have no way to know that the arriving pets will get along with yours. 

Thank you Laura great advice. I like the way you word it as well. I also like the idea of waiting to close to the 14 day expiry. It also gives more time for him to diffuse. The professional tone is the high road to take for sure. Thank you again for your advice. 

@Nancy1588 no problem.  I'm so sorry you went through this. What a buffoon. 

It felt so violating that someone would have the gall to do such a thing. I felt sorry for the 2 women and children. I'm sure it was his idea but he really was putting them all at risk of not having shelter. They could have been sleeping in their cars that night if I turned them away at 5:30pm. It is too isolated a place to travel to without a proper plan in my opinion. I hated being put in that position but you know that I learned A LOT from the experience. Thanks again for your support. It helps me have more confidence for my next moves. 

This is what we did too - wait until the 14-day period was up so better reviews would come in before and push those farther down.

@Misty66  you have great responses to some difficult feedback. Good for you. I think a lot of hosts would do well to check out how you did this. It really reflects positively on your professionalism and patience. 

Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

Writing an honest but not provocative review is the key in this situation. What that entails is neutral, professional report with few details but a clear message.  For example:  "Poor inaccurate communication,  lack of adherence to house rules resulted in early termination of reservation.  Do not recommend guest for this platform."  A review is NOT the time to vent your anger and frustration.  It is a clear warning to other hosts of the unacceptability of this guest. 

 

No matter what happens with the review posted by the guest, you can respond to it, again in a neutral, professional way as the audience for your response are potential guests and a defensive, vindictive response is a turn off.  I am glad you turned off IB.  Should you turn it back on, be sure to require no negative reviews.  

 

As to your part in this terrible situation, do not allow guests to check in that have already shown either they did not read your listing or have no intention of following your rules.  If you do not feel safe to enforce that by yourself, only allow check in when both you and your husband are available.  Good luck and I hope you will have many good guests in the future.  Linda

Great wording Linda. Thanks for the advice I will use it. When you say be sure to require no negative reviews if IB is on what do you mean by that? How is that accomplished? I appreciate you taking the time to weigh in. 

Hi @Nancy1588   Under IB requirements, select:

 

Host recommendation required
Require guests to have recommendations from other Airbnb Hosts and no negative reviews. If they don’t meet this requirement, they will send a request instead.
 
Hope this helps.  Linda

 

Definately use the wording that @Linda108  recommended.  You do not want to go into a long winded explanation of why you did not like this guest.  

 

"Poor communication,  booking count of people and animals was misrepresented.  Lack of adherence to house rules and guest aggression resulted in early termination of reservation.  Do not recommend guest for this platform."