Here's my dilemma. We have smoke free properties - and are very clear about this on our listing(s) and welcome message. We just had some guests check out for a weekend who: 1) smoked pot inside (residual left throughout the space), 2) left cigarette butts on the window seal and 3) stained multiple towels, a chair, as well as sheets - it appears that they were tattooing each other in the space as they left those types of supplies in the trash / etc. Anyways my question, anytime I have to request keeping any / all of a security deposit is this:
I understand that neither party can see a review until both parties complete theirs - or after 14 days. The issue occurs when I have to request a security deposit within 7 days of check out - we are dealing with guests who are certainly not trustworthy guests to begin with - what keeps them from turning around and leaving me a bad review after I request the security deposit? This seems to discredit the entire review process in my eyes - hosts work extremely hard and rely on positive reviews to grow their business / revenue - I feel that it is reasonable for the guest to lose review rights if the host provides concrete evidence of items like the above - but Air bnb doesn't seem to see it this way. Am I missing something here?