Recently I had a guest who stayed in my property, did not follow my checkout time and finally checked out from my property 2.30 hours past my checkout time without paying any extra charges. I had a very bad experience and I gave 1 star review to guest. The guest got pissed with the review and deliberately lodged a fake complain to Airbnb that my property had cameras. Airbnb unlisted my property straightaway. I contacted the guest and asked why he submitted fake complain to Airbnb, initially the guest said he is not aware of that probably his friend who handles his account must have lodged the complain. After few minutes the guest called me back again and started blackmailing me that he and his friends were not happy with my 1 star review and thats why they complained to Airbnb about camera and then he offered me that if I provide him a complimentary stay or refund for his stay then he will ask his friend who is handling the account to remove the complain from Airbnb.
I was shocked and did not know what to respond, I hung up the call. Few minutes later the guest texted me on whatsapp with his payment method and the amount I need to refund him if I am unable to provide him a complimentary stay. I stopped responding to any of his messages. Then again after few minutes he sent me a screenshot of a message he sent to Airbnb mentioning there was no cameras in the property and it was a misunderstanding and then started asking me for money saying that he has withdrawn the complain.
I took screenshot of all his whatsapp messages and sent to Airbnb, but it has been more than a week my property is still unlisted and every time I contact Airbnb, they are saying investigation is going on!
I just can not believe how can Airbnb believes everything told by the guest and never gives importance to hosts! I have told Airbnb several times that if in reality there were any cameras in my property then whey the guest did not contact Airbnb straightaway? Why the guest stayed in the property and lodged the complain after checking out? And even if there were any cameras where are the proofs like any images of my camera or anything that guest can provide? But still no positive response from Airbnb, still the investigation is going on and my property is unlisted, as a host I have to bear the consequences and loss due to a false allegation by the guest just to satisy his ego and blackmail me!
What can I do about this? I am really in a panic situation, this is what I do for living and I have invested a lot of my hard earned money and my savings to run this short term rental business. This is just not fair at all! This is injustice
**[Name and reservation number hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines]
