Undisclosed guest arrived to pick up keys after booking guest assured me he was the only one staying

[Stephen222]

This morning a guest, a local, inquired to book my apartment to arrive later today - the same day.  Upon review of his profile I noticed he received a negative review last month from another local Host citing a party being thrown and damage.  I directly inquired about this to the guest and explained by concern detailing how sensitive to noise my neighbors are and asking him to confirm he read all my very strict house rules.  He provided a reasonable explaination and was actually quite nice.  He told me he was working until 7pm and would contact me upon his arrive.  5:30 I get a message from him saying he came by to pick up the keys from the lock box but it was empty.  Alarmed I informed him I placed the key in the lock box myself that morning, then immeidately walked over to look myself.  When I arrive, there was a girl standing near the lock box with a suit case - she said - are you brining me the key to let me in?  I asked her who she was and said the guest explictly told me three time it would only be him in the apartment.  I told her she needed to wait outside.  I went in alone and proceeded to call Airbnb.  It took 45 mins to get a rep on the phone, while waiting the guest began to text me on my personal number trying to explain that this girl is his girlfriend and he didn't think he had to tell me about her, that she was tired, is now waiting in the building lobby, and for me to let her into the apartment.  Finally, I spoke with an Airbnb rep explaining how I no longer felt comfortable hosting this guest because 1 - his previous review, 2 - him lying multiple times about the number of guests, and 3 - now the keys missing from the lock box.  Airbnb cancelled his reservation, full refund to him (thats bs, but whatever), and are reimbursing me for the full cost of replacing the lock and dead bolt tonight.  What are your thoughts?  Did I handle this properly?  Have you experienced a similar situation?

[Jeff158]

Hi @Stephen222

What is the point in hosts being able to give guests negative reviews if you are then going to ignore them.

IMO you should not have accepted the booking in the 1st place

[Stephen222]

In hindsight I completely agree with you.  I was originally thinking I would ask him about what transpired and determine if his explanation made sense - but I now see the folly in that, as clearly any guest will create an explantion to pass as reasonable inorder to secure their next booking.  No good deed goes unpunished.  Chalk it up to lesson learned.  

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Stephen222

This is EXACTLY why I do not, under any circumstance, accept local bookings. They know the lay of the land well enough to try to fool the host or lie for their convenience. I also never accept same day bookings. I personally think same day bookings are for people who lack planning/preparation skills so I don't want to host these types of people.

 I agree with @Jeff158 that you should have paid more attention to the negative review that other hosts left - OBVIOUSLY this guy will have a "logical and reasonable explanation" for the negative review if he ever wants to get another booking using the same guest user id. Don't you think he would have done the exact same thing to other hosts?

[Kate157]

@Stephen222 In over four years of hosting, th only guests I have ever cancelled were from a same-day booking. It was a terrible experience, and I was so happy to cancel and be rid of them. Still, this was in early 2014, and the cancellation policy was different. I cancelled easily and without penalty.  Since that time, I do not allow same-days. 

[Stephen222]

UPDATE :  Good news is Airbnb did cancel his reservation immeditately with no penatly to me (except my lost time and the anxiety this caused).  The following morning, yesterday, a lock smith came out and replaced both the dead bolt and door handle.  Airbnb already provided me the full reimbursement for this situation.  I'm wondering if I should leave this guest a review, although I have no direct evidence that this guest stole the keys from the lock box, there is no other reasonable explanation as no one else had the key pick up instructions.  I was surprised to even see the option to review him, I didn't think you could review a cancelled reservation.  Part of me is inclinced to just let the situation go, as with him being a local, I don't want to leave a bad review and possibly deal with some form of retaliation.  Not sure if that is a valid concern or not.