AirBnb refund without my approval

[Jerry391]

I had a guest enter my property via my lockbox three hours before the check-in, before the cleaning was completed.  

In other words, the guest had illegally entered the property.

The guest then complained to AirBnB about the house being dirty and AirBnB gave the guest a refund without consulting me.  

AirBnB says that this is my fault, because I should not have let the guest onto the property without the cleaning being done!  How am I supposed to do this if I have a lockbox?

Can someone please advise me on what recourse I have to recover the money paid to the guest and to prevent an adverse review?

[Alexandra316]

@Jerry391 it's going to be very difficult to get your money back from Airbnb. I would keep hounding them though: try them on Twitter @Airbnb help if you haven't already. Ridiculous that they would blame you for the guest's behaviour, which is absolutely wrong. 

Unfortunately, there is no way to pre-emptively prevent a bad review. Hopefully they just won't review you. Be sure to review them honestly: tell your side of the story both in your review of them, and if they review you, in your response to their review. As a fellow host, I would absolutely want to know how they had acted in this situation.

For the future, is it possible for you to set up a smart lock so the code doesn't become active until the reservation has actually started? That's what I've done on my property and it works very well. 

[Jerry391]

Thanks so much.  AirBnB have actually now offered me a partial refund of what has been paid to the guest, which seems to me an admission on their part that they have acted improperly.  So, small victories.  The suggestion about the smart lock is helpful, but I'm afraid in my case it would make things impossible since cleaners and repair people also use the box.   

[Alexandra316]

@Jerry391 Just give the cleaners and repair people their own codes and remove them once they're done their work (if needed). You can add and delete codes in a few seconds from your phone. It's way more secure than a physical key that can be lost or copied. 

Glad to hear that Airbnb has offered to give you some money back. I definitely think they're in the wrong in this situation. I'm not sure how they can justify offering the guest a refund: they broke your rules by showing up hours early. 

[Jerry391]

Yes, I think they realise they've made a mistake but don't want to formally admit it.  I've asked for the person's supervisor to confirm that this case has been handled properly and that it is AirBnB policy to side with a guest who enters a property illegally.  Stay tuned ...

[Kelly149]

@Jerry391 Its up to you to control access to your property.
If guest codes are set ahead of time then your best recourse is to not share the code with a guest until you are ready for them to use it. 
If you aren’t changing codes btwn guests then that is one concern. bc not only could they come in before they should but also after their stay is over. 
your systems should safeguard your property rather than relying on guests to behave correctly. Glad you got at least a little correction from ABB. Start reading up on review removal in case a bad review follows this as well.