used to be a huge bnb fan.. not any more. i leave with a word of caution for all other hosts; if it has not happened to you yet,, it will. but before i go any further.. let me start by telling you i am not a novice.. i have (had) been a bnb host now 4 years and have hosted somewhere around 700 guests.. life was a bowl of cherries till guest #300 (?) arrived and started pimping out his girlfriend in my back room.. that was my first lesson on how unavailable airbnb help is.. at that time bnb had a contact number to call so i did, after 3 days of calling and no response i figured maybe it was a glitch due to the holidays.. revenue was coming in so i simply turned a blind eye till they moved on. when my second problem guest invited a dozen of his friends over i was really desperate.. by then bnb no longer posted a help number so e mail or the police my only options.. when the cops came the guest simply showed them his paid bnb receipt and i was told there was nothing they could do.. this created numerous complaints from the neighbors which resulted in me having to buy a special rental license. i can't really blame the neighbors as they were already grumbling due to the fact that many times when a guest (especially the international travelers) was lost the common practice was (is) to start knocking on doors and asking for help (we answer our phone 24/7 so i can not explain this). shortly after that nightmare i had the unpleasant experience of hosting a guest who would not leave. after (once again) no help from bnb i wound up putting this person on my couch for a few nights (my rooms were booked) till she finally left. sound bad? it was. but the best part came when bnb started telling me (us) that we can no longer decline unless we notified them as to the reason.. i won't lie to you folks, i did not fill out the forms, i simply typed that when bnb starts to force me to accept guests i do not feel comfortable with i will drop them like thay are hot. this worked for a while, but after a short time i found my account was "suspended" due to "declining too often". when i complained to them i was the one who was dropped! to this day they deny i am on their poop list, but yet they have no explanation as to why my 4 year average of december rentals went from hosting 30 to 45 guests (i have 2 listings) to 0. i'll repeat in case you missed it.. 0 rentals. i am now going back to longer term tenants and relieved to be doing so. in closing i would like to state that i am an open minded person who does not discriminate, if you look at my reviews (most of which are extremely positive) you will find i have hosted people of all races and nationalities.. the only guests i have ever declined were the folks who did not have enough (or any) reviews or verifications.. or whose schedule did not compliment mine. good luck to all.. but beware and cautious in your hosting. mlo
