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
