Airbnb's decision is unfair

[Lizzie83]

Last month, we reported guests who not only checked out  late but lied about the number of guests staying in the property when asked through Airbnb message thread, violated the house rules, checked out late and while loading their car parked in front of the house (road) stole an item that belongs to the property.  It so happen my housekeeper lives next door, while waiting recognised the item and made a photo quickly from her verandah and one less than a minute video inside and they can even see the verticle blinds in the video.  Of course, caught in the act, the guests denied it and asked for a proof and I said I have a proof but will handed it to Airbnb and then turn it into us and said are you spying on us?  I said nope the cleaner was already outside since you checked out late and saw you carrying the item that belongs to the house.  We're on an instant booking so it's difficult to check guests if they have reviews sometimes that is not acceptable to some hosts.  Also, we have a ring door bell that was included in the listing; in addition,  guests are not allowed to invite people to stay overnight unless they are included in the booking- another violation of the guests and denied it of course.  The booking is for 2 people and the the layout of the bedroom is as follows:  2 Queen size beds and 2 single beds all used in two days and left a mess in the house.  We never approach the guests in person but all communication were done by Airbnb message thread since we experienced in the past that some guests think they are staying in a hotel and get aggressive and demanding.  We even provided them what was not listed in our listing to make sure they are  comfortable and always ask them if there is an issue to let me know and we will rectify it.  Never heard one says anything but this particular guests after checking out and caught in the act, suddenly demanded that they have to buy their own towels and so on.  She said nothing while her booking still on with additional guest nor communicated with us of being unhappy.  All her complain happen when I asked about the item she took when checking out.  We provided them towels for two as per our listing and of course they have to buy extra towels since they have additional guest that isn't in the booking (lied about it!)

Our current rate was even below half of what is used to be before covid-19 and we did not even receive any invite for financial assistance from Airbnb that was announced for superhost or host who rely on their listing as a source of income but to take the side of the guests who lied, steal and then  found the host is at fault, that is absurd.  I wonder what was Ana thinking about the whole situation and which rules we violated at all, it doesn't explain even when she sent the link of the rules.  

These information were all handed to Airbnb by myself and unfortunately, the guests looks like got away with their behaviour since I was the one penalised and the Airbnb Customer Safety Representative warned me if this happen again WE WILL BE REMOVED FROM AIRBNB.  That doesn't makes sense that the host was penalised for reporting guests for lying, stealing and violating the hosts house rules.  This occurred on the 6th of October and last night I received a message so sorry that you are unhappy with our decision, reitering that the right one.  So I responded to this Safety Staff named Ana you penalised me as a victim and I bet you even rewarded the lying, stealing guests for the illegal behaviour with a voucher to stay with another host to do the same!  If you are not capable of making the right the decision, then hand it over to another staff to review the complain.  

I reported it, not because of what they've stolen (I don't care about the cost, it's not about that I told one of the Airbnb staff over the phone but it's above his pay grade I suppose and cannot do anything 3 days ago and also another staff when I called  last night after I responded to the Safety Staff named Ana) but to warn them that these guests are behaving badly. and instead of warning the guests, Airbnb decided that if the guests steal, lie and violate my rules again, I will be removed from Airbnb Community...  I guess that is okay with Airbnb since they found that I am the one at fault in this instance.  

Did anyone have a similar experience with Airbnb blaming you for the behaviour of the guests?

[Jo56]

I'm sorry but not at all surprised to hear this, I'm afraid. Even when the situation defies common sense. @Catherine-Powell Here is another example for you and Airbnb to look at closely. Nothing has changed. Who are these Airbnb CS reps making these wildly out of kilter decisions to support guests at all costs?

@Lizzie83 Yes, sadly we had a situation where the Airbnb CS rep made unfathomable decisions and penalised *us* as hosts for a situation where the guests broke our House Rules regarding unregistered visitors in our home - ummm, Airbnb, there's a global pandemic, if ever there was a time to support hosts in this personal House Rule it's during a pandemic when hosts are trying to comply with Government regulations for contact tracing whilst welcoming the few guests they are receiving with open arms. "Your Home, Your Rules", Airbnb says...

Our guests phoned us to threaten blackmail when they realised we would actually ask them to follow our Rules and the many unregistered visitors they had planned to invite in and out of our building and home over their one month booking would not be possible. They told us either we could cancel their reservation (enabling them to receive a refund), or they would call Airbnb and tell them we were trying to "scam" them out of money, and they felt threatened by us. Of course we called Airbnb asap to get support.

Of course Airbnb believed their hard working, committed, very longstanding (7 years) Superhosts, right??? Nope. FULL refund to guests, despite the fact they were still in our home, leaving us to go and 'evict' them, given they now technically had no reservation. Calendar blocked for the full month by CS rep who told us it was being done to punish us for threatening our guests (remember the guest said they would make this false statement, which we told Airbnb), and make the cancellation in our name as punishment, so we lost our Superhost status. Now Airbnb allows Superhosts to cancel "less than 1%" of reservations a year (like, seriously Airbnb, very few of your grassroots hosts host more than 100 stays a year, so that means NO cancellations are allowed, apparently for any reason). 

Oh, and yes, after we got the guests out after being in our home for 12hours, we had the pleasure of having to pay for the cleaner to do a full clean and turnover, with laundry, out of our own pocket. 

I wish I had something helpful to offer, but I can only offer commiserations that this ridiculous situation has played out this way, with no way to right it. Who are these CS reps???

[Lizzie83]

Thank you for sharing your experience and so sorry too!  I cannot understand how the so called Specialist in handling safety can just ignore the  facts.  And I thought Airbnb will support us if it's well documented and through messages but looks like that the guests was ahead of us and reported us first.  But all what transpired ,I made sure it is in the Airbnb messages to read not on text or anywhere else since Airbnb will always ask do you have proof and if you say yes on my phone, well we can't verify the content since we cannot check it ourselves. 

Two months ago, we have another guests  just for one (1) night who did worse than what I recently reported and threatened us to go to Court since the security deposit was taken by Airbnb to cover part of the damaged.  It wasn't enough  (i.e. damaged stereo, ripped new curtains, 1000TC Egyptian bed sheets with blood stains, broken wine glasses, damaged floor, to name a few) since we could not claim the damaged expensive stereo or putting glue on the ring door bell camera, we just settle for whatever Airbnb will allow us to  receive as compensatioin.  Trust me it did not cover to replace/repair the damaged.  However 2 weeks after the guests left, they started sending messages, calling and threatening us to go to Court. I stayed silent and ignore the message received and take a screenshot and sent it to Airbnb.   I called Airbnb  also and the only advised  is to ignore  them despite I sent a screen shot of the text messages.  Well  Airbnb did nothing so my only recourse is to blocked the number and send them a message if you have issues contact Airbnb.

It was a nightmare but if Airbnb don't support hosts and just accept the lies from the guests, then abuse will continue.  But to threatened us to remove our listing, that's over the top the victim became the villaine. 

I also inquire about cancellation too, as I recall  we're allowed only one a year which is really not helping if you are on a instant booking and the guests' review looks terrible 😞  

[Jo56]

@Lizzie83 

I'm really sorry, but your experience is not rare. We had a friend of a 'guest gone bad', an adult male in his 60's, call my personal phone number to threaten me, and I told them Airbnb has management over all of these issues (which we all know they do, but mostly to hosts' detriment), so they should contact Airbnb if they have any further issue , and I also had to tell them I would give their details to the police for harassment. It's pretty terrifying when people who have the address of your home (as most Airbnb's are) are calling and threatening, but you only have a name, as Airbnb keeps access to all ID's of guests blocked to hosts.

@Catherine-Powell This is where Airbnb fails hosts, and why sites like Homeaway and VRBO have less issues with these nightmare guests that hit the media - hosts on those sites can see their guests' full names with an enquiry (not a problem for guests who have nothing to hide - I certainly have no issue with hosts knowing my full name when I enquire about staying in a property), hosts can actually request guests' ID before arrival (security), and can request an actual security deposit. 

[Lizzie83]

Thanks for responding to my post.  It upset me since it clearly show it's the guests who did something wrong but got away with their bad behavior and I was penalised.  I wonder if these guests did  it to other hosts as well but I can only see one review in 2018 and a 5-star.  What possessed them to take the item and violate my house rules, I have no idea!   Maybe because I message them to confirm the number of people staying in the property but they both lied about it.  It's not the first experience but some at least accept responsbility and apoligised for not letting me know. 

It's not only that  I was let down by Airbnb Safety Team but to threaten me that next time it happen, I will be removed from Airbnb is really pisses me off.  I did not even get a call or response anymore despite I called several times and was told that it was an open ticket and I will get a response in 48 hours.  It's been a while and if you think that it occurred on October 6, I don't think I will ever hear from them ever again.

What makes it difficult since most guests who stayed with us are locals or within the state, it scary when you try to claim damages and then denied the claim and asking you to just replace it and look for a secondhand item in gumtree, that sucks!  What makes me angry, guests tried to fix a made -to-order entertainment unit in real wood with a glue and left without even telling me the damaged.  So many excuses used that the children were playing on the marble table and fell on the unit.  If you have children and you're on another property, it's a common courtesy to monitor and look after your children and make sure not to damage anything.  I don't mind about the damage but to try to fix it and did not have the courtesy to tell me, makes my furious but I cannot change it since I have to replace it not to cancel the next booking.  You get penalised too if you cancel or your superhost status will be affected.  

I stop using Airbnb also when travelling.   When you call them for help when a property is not as advertised, it takes days before you get a response and then doesn't even help you.  I had enough so hotel despite is more expensive, it is less hassle.  

Enjoy your weekend!