I am devastated, AIRBNB don't take Security Deposit from Guests, its false.
This is what happened to me. I am a supposed Super Host. I have a large home. 98% of my Guests have more than the allocated Guests and the guests don't tell me.
I had 10 guests book. recently Ended up with about 20 people at my house staying. I was alerted to this by my neighbor and my CCTV. My CCTV is documented on AIRBNB for all who want to book my property. I have no parties or events, No contamination of Rubbish as the Council dont' allow extra bins and also have placed stickers on my bin telling me they are contaminated and the Council refuse to take them. These guest had 18 pairs of shoes out front. Most of the group invited by this so called guest who booked, made sure the guests were staggered on arrival and made sure the extra guests left the day before departure, to avoid dectection.
I have rules everywhere in the house, including in every bedroom, on the fridge, on the outside bins and also the guests must agree to my rules before accepting the booking with me. The guest who books, don't always tell their party about the rules. So that's why I have House rules in every bedroom and every guest must read them. Upon their departure it took me 2 hours to go through their maggot infested and contaminated bins. I had to sort out both bins and place the rubbish in my car for a drive home of 90 mins. Great smell and I couldn't get the smell out of my car for ages. The guest bin was already emptied half way through their stay. I have a $100 fine if bins are contaminated. The extra rubbish which was mostly alcohol bottles, party hats, party plates and boxes of drink that wasnt flattened and left whole. I felt ill going through the bins. My neighbour reported seeing 20 people on my property. So I took picture of the contaminated rubbish, I took a picture of the council refusing to take my rubbish and the sticker they placed on my bin, I took pictures from my cctv showing 18 shoes and showing some of the guests leaving the night before and taking 8 pairs of shoes leaving 10 pairs of shoes left. This guest is also a host and guest. So she will know its her I'm talking about if she reads this. So she wasnt happy to receive my bad review about her. She was threatening via me via messages. Saying she is going to the police and so forth. I decided instead of charging her for the extra 8-10 guests for the 8 days, I will charge her half of what the payment is for contaminated rubbish (normally $100) that she and her group left when they had their party which they werent supposed to have, including the extra guests. But no, she was not even copping a $50 charge.
Airbnb don't take a bond, so you have to try and get the money out of the guest yourself. If that doesnt happen, you have to try resolution and fill out a form to ask AIRBNB for help. After the guest got abusive and threatening to me, I told her not to contact me again. We will let AIIRBNB handle it. Well this guests wants pictures of the rubbish, so I sent them into Airbnb, then Airbnb ask me to share with the guest, I said yes. Then she wants more evidence, so I had to send more info information in to Airbnb to show to the guest who did the wrong thing. So we are looking at around 2 weeks of every day the guest requesting something new. The guest now wants an invoice of what it cost me for the disposal of the rubbish. I said I will get a quote. I am not paying for disposing of your rubbish with the party you had, when clearly states no parties, and with all your extra Guests making more rubbish for the host. I said unless you pay me first. I should have dumped the rubbish at her place to clean up when she got home. Not that I would actually do that, but I certainly would love to do that. So I sent in my quote, that was $100 quote to dispose of the contaminated waste, which I sorted out. I then sent an invoice for my time of sorting through the infested rubbish, of $50. Still nothing. All I asked was for $50 extra. Now its $150 extra. The guest is refusing to pay anything.
So if your guests trash the place, don't expect Airbnb to get the $500, as they probably won't, as they dont' take it in the first place. Therefore the guests can have parties, the guests can trash your place, the guests can have more people who don't have to follow your rules, they can contaminate the garbage, because the Guests just refuse any request for conpensation. AIRBNB must be held accountable, this needs to go to the public, to the Police and to 3AW. This needs to be talked about. No wonder the guest are getting away with things as AIRBNB don't do a thing. No wonder AIRBNB dont' respond to the media regarding parties, as they never comment as they don't care. So just because you put extra charges of $500 for Security bond, doesnt mean Airbnb holds they money, it means **bleep** all and you're on your own. As Airbnb don't hold the Guests security deposit.
So now I am now looking at selling this property or the one I'm in now as it's not worth being on AIRBNB. I lowered my rate by $100 a night and the guests can have who they like or how many people they like as house rules do not apply. The way Airbnb has put it on their website, it looks like hosts are covered by the $500 security bond, but there is no bond taken. So don't be fooled.
Maybe us host have to ask for $500 ourselves. Or kick guests out when they have a party or have to many guests. But Airbnb said I don't have permission to kick guests out. I need to contact AIRBNB first.
Is there anyone who feels strongly about this? Is there someone that wants to speak to the media such as 3AW or perhaps a current affair? I am not good at this otherwise I would jump at the chance. Everytime there has been an issue with another AIRBNB property on the news, parties that get out of hand, or trashing of the Airbnb house, Airbnb will not speak to the media, now I know why!!!