Shocked by Airbnb’s response

Laura1776
Level 2
Manchester, United Kingdom

Shocked by Airbnb’s response

I advertise my home as a quiet peaceful home, no alcohol on property and the house rules state quiet time after 9pm

 

Last night my guest can’t home drunk at 1.30am waking me up trying to cook downstairs. I went downstairs and he kept saying he had nowhere to put his food in the fridge. I don’t offer food storage but allow guests to use the fridge. 

 

I calmly said it’s 1.30 am, I have work I’m the morning and I’m pregnant. He continued and got quite aggressive. I was scared. I almost called the police but drove to my husbands house instead. He came back with me to check the house wasn’t burnt down and to tell the guest he must leave in morning. Throughout the night he continued to text me saying where can I put my food? Which I ignored. 

 

I had had to miss work today as I had an hours sleep, and my pregnacy is already exhausting me. 

 

I spoke to my other guest and she was quite scared. 

 

I rang Airbnb at 3am and I found the agent not very understanding. She spoke to him and he agreed to leave at 8am. 

 

He didbg lesve and my partner spoke to him many times before he left at 10am

 

airbnb are only paying me for half the night as my checkout is 12pm. I’m not bothered about the payment, but was quite upset by the agents response. She said I had evicted him, and refused to answer his questions about the food by text! Why would I engage in a volatile situation! I shocked by their tone, and their lack of duty of care towards a pregnant woman. 

 

I want to make a complaint, is it worth it? 

 

Thanks in advance

46 Replies 46
Laura1776
Level 2
Manchester, United Kingdom

Thank you Robin for such a thoughtful and kind respsonse.  I agree no amount of checking can prevent one off incidents like this.  Hopefully, I will not experience anything like this again.  I also thought that maybe it was this Airbnb individual and not representative of how they conduct business generally.  So it has given me a bit more hope in their practice.  I feel another person would have had a more reasonable response.  

 

Thanks again!  

Laura, his behaviour was unacceptable, regardless of WHERE he got drunk. I have had a couple of hairy experiences and unfortunately I had to insist that airbnb picked up their game, especially since I have a long list of very good reviews. Every once in a while a difficult guest will somehow show themselves even with constant vigilence. I had to resort to facebook to get a satisfactory response from airbnb with my last nightmare guests who had a domestic bust up and then continually harassed me by the message system until 1.30 am when I rang CS and had their stay terminated. I told them they had to be out by 8am and any further harassment would mean I would call the police. Of course CS then suggested I give them half of a refund in goodwill, well I did not feel any goodwill towards them and their behaviour. I stuck to my guns, got paid also. The couple were in their fifties, not young and no way I could have known what I was in for. I am so sorry you had to experience his episode, next time call the police, I know I will if I have anyone else go off the deep end.

Raj50
Level 2
County Dublin, Ireland

Hi Laura,

What happened to you in totally not acceptable and AirBnB should take some responsibility here. AirBnb cusotmer service is pretty useless and you cannot escalate. 

 

I found this on their site after reading your post: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/231/i-m-a-host--what-are-some-safety-tips-i-can-follow

 

Extract from the website: 

"Remember: In an emergency situation, or if your personal safety is threatened, contact local police or emergency services immediately."

 

They have this to ensure its not their problem if your safety is threatened. Which is bollox!

Soryr it happened and its a lesson learnt for everyone using AirBnB services. A boycott should be done to teach them a lesson.

Laura1776
Level 2
Manchester, United Kingdom

@Raj50Raj, thanks so much for taking the time to be kind and helpful! I wpuld love to boycott Airbnb! It’s a pity with so many users who report similar negative experiences with them, they we don’t have more collective power. I’m amazed he’s not been banned.

 

Next time I will def call the police. My husband was a pro boxer so I tend to rely on him as no one messes with him lol, and because he is the also the calmest mediator. But if I was ever so unlucky I would do that next time.

 

I’m happier news, I now have two adorable female guests, and hopefully I won’t have another experience like this. 

 

Thanks again

 

 

Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

Hello @Raj0

Rather than boycott air bnb we should be boycotting these entitled guests from entering our family home by writing honest reviews for other hosts.

I think everyone  including Laura is focusing on the wrong things here.  True it was unfortunate that Laura had the experience she did but it dont really matter whos at fault or what somebody could of done differently. From what I read they both could of done things differently to avoid the issue they had. Everybody expressing their opinions based on assumptions. For example I havent heard what this guy said or did to make Laura scared, did he slam his fist down or scream at her, call her names. Or was it because he talked loud or something else drunks tend to do that may be taken the wrong way. To me thats a big thing. All I am saying is that how can anybody place blame on Laura, or the drunk guest with the information out there.

The thing that troubles me is the fact that Lauras a pregnant women that lives alone that allows stangers to stay in the house with her. There is to many ways that can end badly. Turning off automatic booking or allowing only women doesnt change that. First off I never got the only women allowed thing. Are men the only ones who do bad things, or is it because women are weaker then men,  because if so people better take a reality pill because these days women are doing things just as horrific as men and women are not the weak, defensless people as society makes out. Maybe 30-40  years ago when women were raised to believe they were inferior or weaker then men, or they had to take mens abuse because there was nothing they could do, but now adays women have a much different attitude. They know they arent inferior and they dont have to take mens abuse and they will fight back. Ther are alot of women out there that would be able to hold their own in a fight with a man. Not because they are big women or freaks its because of their attitide. My point is that women are no longer fragile people who cant defend themselve so only allowing women is not going to guarantee safety. And as long as Laura continues to host there will be possibilitys of bad things happening. And that is what she should be focusing on. There are things that she can do to make things safer. She could rent one of her rooms full time to someone she trusts. Man or women, having that second person there will make things a lot safer. She could get a dog,(dogs can be a great deterent, they are intimidating, and very protective, they are also very good at judging people) I know guns are not legal in England but are stun guns, they are very affective and just the sight of them will change a bad attitude into a good attitude. So my advise to Laura is bad things are going to happen, there is nothing you can do about that, but you can keep them bad things from becoming tragic. Focus on that, not  the stuff you cant do anything about.

And Victoria I think I would be offended by your post if I understood what you were saying.

@Sam397   You obviously know some strong women with clear boundaries. But the notion that nowadays "they know they aren't inferior and don't have to take men's abuse and will fight back" is pretty clueless. There are still plenty of women who feel very intimidated and frightened by aggressive behavior directed at them by men. Many with very good reason.

A 5'4" 110 pound woman is not going to be able to fend off a large, aggressive man, one who may be fueled by alcohol or drugs. And guns are not the answer.

I have never personally been attacked or physically abused by any man in my life- I like men and don't think of them as essentially different in their humanity than women. I also live alone and have had wonderful, respectful male guests.

But many women, for whatever reason, be it not having firm boundaries, fear from past experience, or whatever, will feel safer hosting women only. Certainly there are some nutso women out there, but the likelihood of a female host being physically attacked by one, or having unwanted sexual advances foisted upon them, is statistically far less.

There have been several posts in these forums by women who were having to fend off male guests. I've never seen one from a male host regarding a female guest. Are men just too macho to admit that some female guest tried to rape them? I don't think so.

@Sarah977 I got off subject with the whole women dont feel inferior to men thing. I was simply trying to point out that turning off automatic booking and allowing only women does not guarantee safety. And I am not trying to scare Laura or any other host thats in the same position but I think that Laura might want to think about ways to be better prepared  in case something does happen. And I completely agree that the chances are far greater with a male guest then with a female but however slim it may be there is still  a chance.

As far as the subect of women defending themselves, Its probably not an apprporiate subjet for this forum so I will leave that alone but I do believe you may be the one thats clueless or at the very least behind the times a bit. If you are interested in hearing what I have to say send me a message.

may your angel be born very fine

Thankyou
Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Laura1776 I don't think anyone is blaming you, @Andreas-and-Anna0 wanted to just point out on some things to maybe be more carefull with in the future like choosing more carefully who you host. You can have only females at your property, just make that clear in the description and turn instant booking off. I am sorry you had to go through that but these things do happen no matter if the host is male or female, pregnant or not. It is the guests fault but our responcibility is to be careful who we let into our home especially if it a shared one. Some hosts ask for at least 3 positive reviews to let someone book, and the obvious verified ID, clear profile picture and a reason for visiting shouldn't even be up for discussion, it should be mandatory for you to get those informations.

Laura1776
Level 2
Manchester, United Kingdom

@Ana178 I didn't ask for things to be 'pointed out'.  I find it quite condescending and comes across as quite finger wagging to me.  I have never had an experience like this and have always been careful of who I choose.  As I explained I made an exception in this one circustance.  Obviosuly I won't be doing that again.  Don't really need that pointed out when I have always only excepted female guests.

 

My original question was not to ask for lots of 'should have'  and 'know it all' answers, but for advice on how to deal with Airbnb.  It seems to me that some people's respsonse is more about sounding clever than actually offering an answer to my question or any support.  

 

It is actually quite different when you are talking about the safety of an unborn child.  If it was just me I wouldn't be so upset.  Airbnb have a legal duty to safeguard, which I feel that have failed to meet.  

 

This has served no purpose but to make me feel more upset, so I won't be posting in this 'community' for advice again.

 

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Laura1776 I am sorry you feel that way. But as @Fred13 pointed out even if Airbnb tries to protect the hosts safety there is only so much they can do. When a host doesent feel safe the thing they should do is call the police, even Airbnb will give you that advice. They made him leave the property and they should definitely ban that guest from using Airbnb again, the way he acted is irrespocible and unacceptable but above that I don't see what else they can do.

@Ana1136   Airbnb's position was that she made the guest leave. This is not a proper response when a host reports this type of behavior. The host didn't make the guest leave, the guest behaved in an egregious manner and caused himself to be removed. Airbnb's response faulted the host, not the horrible guest.

As we say in Australia- " too right!", the voice of reason you are Sarah! The problem these days is that no one likes to take responsibility for their actions, and airbnb should not encourage horrible guest behaviour, do they really want to keep such people as customers. Surely they are not in need of bad customers even for a few bucks? If you are drunk and causing trouble they should have a zero tolerance attitude, people would then think twice about losing money for acting like an idiot. My Lord, I sound like an old lady. Then again, I will hit four and a half decades this weekend and my tolerance of idiots is getting less by the day!