£1200 taken away, help please

[Carina369]

Hi there, recently I had a guest who booked for two weeks in March. It was for three people +2 dogs.

The person who booked in fact was not the person who stayed, the person who stayed was rather threatening male and I told Airbnb this and that I felt unsafe.

He also asked me if he could bring a third dog and two cats to which I very politely told him that this was not possible. he persuasively begged me to bring them saying they loved each other and I politely again told him that my daughter was allergic to cats and I’m afraid we could not have them.

He then bought the third dog. I had an idea. This was the case because when I was gardening And they were out there was terrible wailing coming from the property.

I therefore went to one of the windows and took a picture of the three dogs. I believe the cats were shot in another room with the curtains drawn, but of course because I can’t enter the property I couldn’t see so couldn’t prove.

The people that were staying there were out all day i.e. from about 11 am till about 9 pm and the dogs were in the house all of this time clearly in distress and wailing and therefore just stressing us as well.

 Our house is about 30 yards away from the property..

the people that stayed were unresponsive when I asked him about the dogs and politely told him that they were in distress.

Instead, they chose to leave after three or four days.

Airbnb took all the money on your way from me that they have paid for this booking.

They point blank refused to tell me why they’ve taken the money away and refuse to return it.

What are my options? 
thank you so much in advance for any assistance you can provide.

[Helen3]

If you know it's a third party booking then you can insist Airbnb cancel as it's against their T& C @Carina369 

chase up with Airbnb and ask why they haven't paid you for the booking when the guest stayed . 

do leave an honest review to warn future hosts considering the person who booked. 

[Carina369]

hi Helen,

Very many thanks for your reply, I have just spent the last two weeks telling Airbnb this but they absolutely insist that they won’t give me a refund and there is nothing they can do.

Have you any further suggestions? I really appreciate your help

[Joan2709]

@Carina369 

What is the reason Airbnb is stating they won't give you a refund?

If the guest claimed these were "service dogs" then they could have complained you discriminated against them. 

[Carina369]

hi there, thank you so much for your reply. There was no indication they were serviced dogs and they were quite little. So not traditional labradors but that said I don’t know.

I was never told they were service dogs.

Airbnb simply won’t give me an answer as to why they took the funds away from me, that’s why I’m seeking advice on this chat as I’ve asked them so many times but they point blank refused to tell me. Any further thoughts?

[Joan2709]

@Carina369 

How long was the original reservation for?

Did the guest leave a review?

[Carina369]

5th to 21st March do a long time! No review yet but we are within 2 weeks so there is still time

[Joan2709]

@Carina369 

Is it possible you were seen taking a photo through the window? If so, the guest can claim privacy concerns. Did you mention taking the photo through the window?

How was the guest "threatening"? Verbal threats? Written threats?

Was there any damage to the home after the guest left? Any evidence of cats in the home?

[Carina369]

Yes. They were out all day and their dogs were distressed so I took a photo through the window. Would this be the reason why they’ve taken the money away?

I did mention this to Airbnb.

the chap who stayed was just very intimidating and gloated rather that his Secretary’ made the booking. 

no damage to property but I am pretty sure cats were there as there was a lot of fur. Could have been the dogs tho so I can’t say for sure on that.

do you think I have a case to persue? 

[Joan2709]

@Carina369 

Your call on that, but since you mentioned taking a picture through the window to Airbnb, my suggestion would be to drop it. Do not take pictures through a window when a guest is staying whether they are home or not. Airbnb could have suspended your listing for that. It would be considered "spying" by Airbnb.

Privacy Policies

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3060

Put some additional measures in place to prevent 3rd party bookings. Your profile says "Guest" so I'm not able to see what you have under House Rules or if you have security cameras. 

If you don't have exterior security cameras, I would get some. Be sure to properly disclose them on your listing. I would add you only accept dogs (sorry no cats or other animals) to your addl House Rules. I would also state that pets may NOT be left alone at the listing unless inside a crate. I would also state that if the animal continually barks or whines when left alone, you may ask them not to leave the animal alone inside the listing (in a crate), as the whining/barking can disturb neighbors and/or violate local noise ordinances.

I would also add to your addl House Rules about no 3rd party bookings and add that that if there is a 3rd party booking, you will cancel the reservation without refund and the unknown 3rd party guest must vacate the premises. I would also add a polite sentence or two to your after booking message reminding guests about this. 

"To ensure a comfortable and safe stay for everyone, please make sure to include all guests (including children) and any pets in your reservation. Just a quick reminder that third-party bookings, unregistered guests, unregistered pets, or unapproved visitors aren't allowed. Also, the primary renter must be on property for the entire stay. Thank you for understanding, and we're looking forward to hosting you!"

Policy on 3rd Party Bookings

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/427

if can determine by viewing your exterior cameras that the guest staying is not who booked, then be prepared to contact Airbnb and advise them the guest staying is not who booked the reservation and ask Airbnb to advise the guest of this and have Airbnb cancel the reservation and ask the guest to leave. Do NOT cancel the reservation yourself, nor indicate you wish to provide a refund to the guest. Airbnb will try and get you to accept the 3rd party booking, but you see the result. Also, you may run into an issue with the review as technically the person who booked it cannot review the stay as they weren't there. However, they may still try to write a negative review and it appears it is becoming increasingly difficult to get Airbnb to remove these types of reviews.

[Lorina14]

@Carina369 

I think the reason they took the money is that you took pictures through the windows of their space they booked when they were away (Airbnb should have given you a reason why though and at least paid you for the days they stayed). This would be considered a security violation and has gotten host’s listings suspended if the guest reports they felt unsafe (unreported cameras on the safety section and on the listing description, on the CC I’ve read that one guest reported that they felt the host was “spying on them” when in fact the host lives on the property and the guest kept their curtains open when she staying there and the host was in her yard doing things.)

When things get reported to the security team it takes a while for them to investigate and they only respond via email.

The weird thing is that you felt unsafe from the guest’s behavior and you reported it to Airbnb and now the tables have turned on you. Did you tell customer service about the issues before you reported the house rules being broken (bringing in unapproved pets more than was on the reservation even after you told them it was not possible)? Make sure you screen shot all your communication on the messages with both the guest and customer service (as I wouldn’t want it to disappear for any reason). 

Just in case you didn’t know the host circle is a space where only hosts can respond. All the other topics on the community center can be freely read by anyone and responded to via guests or hosts.

[Carina369]

Thank you. I told Airbnb everything as it happened. I only took the pics as the dogs were clearly distressed. Do you think I have a case to continue with Airbnb?

[Marie8425]

@Carina369 

Just a thought.  

If you rent a property to someone and access has been given of the property to anyone.  That is the Hosts responsibility.

Invading privacy rights of anyone in the rental by looking thru a window and taking pictures is actually a criminal act by the Host. 

If the proper guest or dog count was suspect, the Host is expected to pursue a legal remedy

[John5097]

@Carina369 

"The person who booked in fact was not the person who stayed, the person who stayed was rather threatening male and I told Airbnb this and that I felt unsafe."

If Airbnb cancels a reservation on host behalf they issue refund. There is a chance you could get the two nights they stayed but think you did the right thing having the reservation canceled. 

When any reservation gets canceled on host behalf guest don't pay for nights they didn't stay. 

Airbnb issues the payout to host on the second day of the reservation. If it gets canceled Airbnb will subtract it from future payout. 

So the best you could hope for would be collecting the nights they did stay. 

hope that helps