Airbnb investigation and bad guests

[Neil408]

Hello all, just need some help & advice as I'm stuck with an issue that seems to be going round in circles.

I had two young girls check in to my apartment on the 13th of January and they stayed for 2 nights (they'd booked for 4). These were some of the noisiest and lease respectful guests I'd ever hosted.

First issue - the booking was for 1 guest but 2 turned up and they said they were new to AirBnB (no reviews), didn't know how to change it so could they pay me in cash for the second person. I accepted - I shouldn't have - AirBnB are aware I accepted part of the booking in cash since the guest complained and told them and my listing is currently no longer available since AirBnB are investigating this matter. When I ring AirBnB to ask what's going on, I just keep being told that it's being looked into and nothing more.

Ongoing issues during the stay -

On the first night they washed their underwear in the bathroom sink & left water all over the floor, I had to clean up. Later that night they said they were cold - the heating was on but the windows were open in the room - I said that they can't have both the windows open and heating on. The next day I was working from home in the lounge, they came in & started playing music. I explained I was working and they needed to be a bit quieter so they went back to their room. Later that day then went out & came back at 2am. When they got back they were slamming doors, talking loud & banging about in the bathroom. I texted the girl who had booked explaining that I had been woken up, could they be quieter & possibly go to bed. She replied saying that she had to get showered right now - I suggested she do it the next morning. I then went to speak to her face to face and all I got was abuse. I then said she can be quiet or leave. I then called AirBnB who seemed to resolve this and cancelled her stay, which she left the next morning. She then put a complaint in to AirBnB and told them she had paid half in cash.

Now AirBnB are investigating the matter with their safety team and have suspended / temporarily deactivated my listing. 

What I want to know is - what are the likely outcomes of this? Will AirBnB permanently ban me for accepting part of the booking in cash? Or will it just be a temporary suspension? How long will it take them to investigate the matter?

I appreciate it's totally my fault for accepting cash and I figure this is partly why AirBnB have suspended my listing but on the other hand I had a lot of issues with these guests who now seem to be playing the victim card.

AirBnB makes up around 20% of my income so without the income I get it's going to make things a little tough.

Some help and advice would be greatly appreciated here.

Yours sincerely,

Very upset.

Neil

[Neil408]

Many of my guests don't speak English as a first language. I only speak English and German.

99% of my guests I don't have issues with and I am almost a superhost. The only thing holding me back from that is that I made 2 cancellations last year which were unavoidable.

It's probably not 20% of my income, probably more like 15% but still a substantial chunk. I wouldn't be sunk without it but it certainly helps. I'm self employed as a consultant engineer in oil and gas but my income is seasonable (Jan-October) and can be unstable so airbnb is a welcome relief in the low months (Nov & Dec)

[Neil408]

And yes since the problems I have better familiarised myself with airbnb's rules and processes and updated my guest / house rules (no washing of underwear in the sink!) and other such things.

[Helen350]

@Neil408 You can't always win tho'.... Yes, clearer rules may help guests act appropriately in a different culture, and dissuade those who can't comply from booking - but then some bright spark will ding you for too many silly rules! - Andere Laender, andere Sitten!