Advice

[Imogen23]

I am having a lot of problems with a guest who is staying with me while his property is being renovated . He doesn't understand how airbnb works and doesn't seem to listen or read my explanations. Originally he requested a month.. then wanted to extend to 2. His bank wouldn't authorise reoccurring payments. He asked me to refund a week and then three days later he would make a new booking to cover the remaining days.. I said I would block the days for him until he was ready to rebook. 2.5 weeks later he claims not to have received the refund.. I have sent a request to extend for a week..the guest is claiming not to be able to make payment. I have tried explaining that he cannot remain at the property if I don't receive payment.  He has then suggested that he pay once a week for the remaining time meaning I will have to keep the dates blocked until he is in a financial position to pay.. this has been going on for 3 weeks now.. its so stressful.. the refund that I gave him on my account is blocking future payments due in next week..  does anyone have any suggestions how to move forward.

Thank you in advance

[Anonymous]

@Imogen23   The fantasy solution would be to hop into a time machine and go back to the first time the first time the guy screwed around with the booking and change your answer to "NO."  Here's a game to help practice:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf7YrsMR2ws&ab_channel=Nintendo

The real-life solution is to unblock the calendar and grant no further changes or refunds. If the guest has a currently active Airbnb booking, he should vacate on his checkout date. If he no longer has an active booking and is staying at your house unpaid while your calendar is blocked, you've been scammed and he should start packing his bags now. Either way, I think he better call Tyrone.

[Imogen23]

Love the no game... made me chuckle thank you 

[Debra300]

@Anonymous,

....but he can't use my phone.

[Pat271]

@Anonymous I hope you realize that you are seriously disrupting my day by enticing me to click on your clever links and videos, but somehow I can’t stop!

Thanks for the laugh therapy.😁

[Anonymous]

@Pat271   Glad you enjoyed!  Turning on Ms Badu has always improved my work days 🙂

[Colleen253]

@Anonymous I was going to post a link to @Ute42's NO! tutorial but I can't find it now. No matter, you've done one better. Still laughing.....

[Imogen23]

Thank you guys for your help.. and laughs.. Will look at YouTube later.. so what happened..  I unblocked my calendar for him to extend the stay.. but someone else swooped in and booked.. I explained to the new guest.. then called difficult guest who said he had a job to do.. would complete booking later and how inconvenient it was for me to ask him to leave within a week... almost losing the will to live called airbnb superhost.. explained it all.. I suggested to difficult guest it would be better if he left if he cannot pay.. so it all seems fine..except I need to find a cleaner..and I hope the guy leaves the place in a reasonable state...  the review will take some time to get right.. I wouldn't wish this guest on anyone.. did I mention he managed to order stuff via my amazon firestick..  couldn't understand why it was going on my personal account.. 

Well at least it's nearly over..thank you all again..

[Helen3]

Why on earth are you blocking dates and refunding this troublesome guest. @Imogen23  his problems and inability to pay are not your issues but his.

I really hope you didn't cancel the new guest who booked in good faith.

Please message the problem guest and clearly confirm his final check out date. If he has been there a while you will need to allow for a deep clean. Say that you will be over at XXX time with your cleaner and confirm your check out expectations around how he should leave the property (reference these from your house rules/listing information). 

And of course leave an honest, factual review.

[Imogen23]

Thank you for your answer.. I don't know why I was bending over backwards to help difficult guest.

All confirmed with lovely new guest.. she's great.. I explained my situation..and my scramble to sort the clean.. managed to sort it all out..  deep clean sorted.

I've given difficult guest clear instructions re check out and also involved airbnb who are going to keep an eye on everything.. 

Thank you community..what a day..

[Imogen23]

Dear community.. now the guest has  left and I am waiting to hear how he has left the place.

I wonder if anyone has any advice how to review this person.

The issues surrounding blocking dates, not honouring his word to extend etc etc. Along with issues about his misuse of the amazon set up and unauthorised transactions despite my repeated patient explanation.. 

The guest yesterday was offering me hosting advice.. in 4 years I've never had a problem.. and then he said He would not post a bad review and hoped I wouldn't either.. he has absolutely no reason to give a bad review if he is honest.  I did everything I could to be patient and understanding..

You guys were helpful before so I am reaching out again.

Thank you in advance

[BenkaandKeith0]

We were contemplating much at the beginning of our hosting career how to write a review of difficult guests. Since we've made many friends in the hosting community, the answer came on it's own: very HONEST and factual. No avoiding the truth, no playing it down, no making it anything than what is was. If we don't follow this simple rule, we are basically protecting bad guests and sending them straight into the homes of our friends. We would not like this being done to us, so we make sure we honestly and always review anyone. Being honest shouldn't be a matter of calculation. Best of luck and hang in there, fortunately there is still plenty of great guests, but those terrible ones are surely hard to be forgotten 😞

[Imogen23]

Dear Airbnb

I just wanted to let you guys know.. maybe of interest..  following on from previous emails.. the guest checked out.. I  found considerable damage and neglect- he had left the place unclean,  I have claimed a minimal amount£100- airbnb are not responding to claim despite pictures and testimony from the cleaner etc... but here comes the kicker..  on 13th July I have received a complaint now from my building manager as the 'guest' had spent almost 24 hours screaming inside the apartment on the 27th July, many complaints from neighbours.. later i had testimony from other residents in my building.  The porter tried to make him keep quiet but until midnight he was actually screaming and shouting.   I have been asked to close my listing and have a late night noise penalty sent to me.  I have passed this information on to airbnb.. they have still done absolutely nothing..   shocking.  @BenkaandKeith0 @Debra300 @Helen3 @Colleen253 

[Colleen253]

@Imogen23 Sorry to hear of all the trouble this guest has caused and is still causing you! Now you've been asked to close your listing. Oh dear. Hopefully you can assure the powers that be that you've got a good handle on things going forward and can sway them to let you keep it going.

Have you actually reported this person? Have you reviewed them yet? If not, I suggest simply "This stay was a difficult one for me. The house was left in a bad state, X was difficult to communicate with, and had trouble following my house rules.  I had many neighbor complaints as well. I cannot recommend X to any host.

Going forward, watch out for the red flags when someone is still a 'potential' guest. Better to sniff them out and decline or get them to just go away, if an inquiry, rather than accept, and deal with fallout. Also look at only accepting stays of up to two weeks max (or less, even) so you are not stuck with a bad guest for an extended period of time, should you get another stinker, despite your best preventive efforts. 

[Imogen23]

@Colleen253 thank you for taking the time to reply with such great advice and comments.  I left an honest and full review the day after his check out (you can probably find this on my profile). I had asked him about damage and he refused to pay. I have escalated the claim to airbnb with all the comments from my cleaner along with photograph evidence, but they haven't been helpful.  when I received the noise disturbance/ violation complaint I forwarded the details to airbnb who again have not replied about this.  I have been hosting since 2014 and superhost for a number of years and am extremely careful who i accept in my property, clearly explaining the importance of a quiet respectful guest living within a community. I have never had a violation such as this. I have had the odd issue of forgetting keys or someone breaking a lock but never had a complaint such as this.   The guest was a retired investment banker with a few brief but positive reviews- no red flags whatsoever.  I am now going to honour my current booking and then think I will have to stop for a bit. It has been a very stressful and difficult few weeks and I do feel that airbnb are unsupportive both from the damage to my property but more importantly to the complaints raised about him during his stay.