Challenging guest experience despite them having great reviews - any advice?

[Michelle2214]

I'm currently hosting a young woman who had 6 glowing reviews about how kind, friendly, and respectful she is.

My guest started out by smoking pot inside the unit which I could smell coming into mine. After reminding her to smoke outside in the shared yard area, she did comply but has been non-responsive when I have entered the yard and greeted her, even turning her back to me.

The only word she has sort of directed towards me were to ask my dog to get away from her. It's his yard too, but I immediately joked that he thought she had treats and ushered him into the house.

She has now begun slamming the exterior door loudly and frequently throughout the night as she comes in and out to smoke. I sent her a message suggesting that if she was not happy with the booking I would be happy to refund her for unused days.

She has now been either ranting to herself or talking loudly on the phone (not sure which) inside and outside of the unit under my and my neighbors bedroom windows for several hours. I asked her to quiet down from my window but I am afraid to go down and address her in person as it is just me and my toddler And it's the middle of the night. I did call Airbnb and they suggested waiting until the morning to have them contact her for relocation so that she does not further escalate.

Side note, I am in California where pot is decriminalized.

Six glowing reviews. One of them even mentioned how kind she was with the host's dog!

[Jenny]

Hi @Michelle2214 

Sorry to hear that things haven't worked out with this guest - would you like me to make this into a new post so that you can get some advice from fellow Hosts?

Jenny

[Michelle2214]

Sure Jenny. Last night Airbnb said they were just waiting until morning to remove her, but now they are saying they want to call and get her side before deciding what to do. I feel like I may need to call their police to get this resolved. So yes, please do post it as a new topic. Thank you!

[Jenny]

Hi @Michelle2214 

I've updated this to a new post and clarified the title to see if we can get you some advice from fellow hosts.

If you feel that your safety is at risk or that a crime is being committed, it'd be best to contact your local law enforcement.

I hope that Support contact you soon with an update - can you let us know?

Jenny

[Huma0]

@Michelle2214 

Sorry this has happened to you. It does sound like a really uncomfortable situation. Although I have experienced every one of these behaviours, it's not often that one guest does all of these things! 

Have you updated your listing based on this experience? I feel like you might have done, and that is a good idea. However, if you haven't and it is the same as when the guest booked, she is violating a number of your house rules. She smoked inside (even if it was just the one time) and is ignoring your quiet hours and your request to behave respectfully in the back yard. If that is the case, you have the right to insist that Airbnb tells the guest to leave.

I have only called Airbnb twice in these situations and they were very helpful. The first time, they told the guests to follow the rules or leave without a refund. The second time, I just wanted the guest to leave and offered to refund remaining nights. They told her to leave, but it took about 24 hours to get through to her as she wasn't responding to them. 

However, both times, they looked at the correspondence with the guest and at my house rules. So, I really hope you have this documented in messages to the guest (you just mention messaging her offering to refund if she leaves) and that your rules were already in place when she booked. 

For the future, if you are a non-smoker, I would suggest that you do not allow guests to smoke anywhere on the property, inside or outside, and make that clear on the listing. Or, is the problem that others who share the yard smoke there too?

Also, on a side note, I noticed in your house rules this statement: "Guests who violate house rules forfeit their right to leave a review." I don't think that is actually true at all. As far as I am aware, even if this guest is evicted, she will still be able to review.

[Michelle2214]

Hi Huma.

Airbnb support was actually pretty unhelpful. They said that they sent her an alteration request but she wasn't responding. Then they stopped responding to me. I kept calling and calling and they were not at all helpful. Some reps even went so far as to tell me they would personally call me back in 5 minutes or 30 minutes, and none did. 

Since I could not see their alteration request, I finally sent my own. She of course didn't respond to that, so I had to involve the police who were actually very helpful. 

As for smoking, I'm in California where pot is decriminalized and I've never had an issue with anyone smoking ANYTHIG in the unit before. The yard is fully fenced and people seem to like it. 

As for the wording I added it after reading another thread where a host mentioned having success at getting reviews from guests who had broken house rules removed with that added to their house rules. 

[Gillian166]

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As for the wording I added it after reading another thread where a host mentioned having success at getting reviews from guests who had broken house rules removed with that added to their house rules. 

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I can't imagine that's true but can't hurt to have it there.  @Michelle2214 

also, and I'm not great at remembering this myself, it's always good to get photos or videos of bad behaviour so you have some evidence on your side. 

[Michelle2214]

I thought of that later. I should have been having my friend record when she refused to leave and was screaming at me, and I certainly should have recorded the extended episode that happened in the night but I was too freaked out and overtired to think of it at the time.

[Helen3]

Did you record all her infringements on Airbnb messaging so there is a record of the various house rules she has broken @Michelle2214  I do hope so as this provides evidence of the guests behaviour.

I'm afraid you need to get back on the phone to Airbnb you don't want them to send an alteration request which she can ignore. You want them to cancel the booking. Remind them again all the house rules she has broken. Say the guest is also disturbing your neighbours. Confirm you want them to cancel the booking as the guest is not responding to them and is making you feel unsafe.

[Michelle2214]

For some reason they wouldn't do it. They said they would cancel the booking but then they changed shifts and they just didn't do it. I called all day I called crying, I told them that I would have to get the police involved eventually, they kept saying they'd get back to me. It was a terrible experience. Airbnb does not care about its hosts.

[Huma0]

@Michelle2214 

So, when you say you involved the police, what was the outcome? Has the guest gone?

RE smoking, if you have no problem with it and it doesn't disturb the neighbours, then fine. It was just a suggestion as some guests take this to mean they can smoke ANYWHERE, even if it's clearly stated in the listing. 

I have a garden and a roof terrace so there are options for guests who want to smoke. Apart from a couple of times in the beginning when I had guests smoke cigarettes in the bedrooms and one attempted to smoke pot in the living room but was told to go outside, I've also not had issues with this in years because I made the wording clearer on my listing, i.e. that it was strictly prohibited to smoke in the guest bedrooms.

Still, this year, I have had two different guests smoke pot in the bedrooms (one cigarettes also) and try to hide it. One of these guests was totally respectful in all other ways, so I don't get it, especially as it was the middle of summer so it's not like he had to go out into the cold to smoke!

I suppose it's okay to leave the wording about house rules/reviews in if you like, but it's totally not true. Airbnb CS does not remove reviews for rule breaking. They only remove those that violate their own content policies. What you write on your listing makes no difference. Airbnb, not the host, dictates the review policy!

I guess some might be naive enough to think it's true, but I doubt rule breakers are that concerned about about their ability to leave a review. They should be more concerned about the review you leave for them!

[Michelle2214]

Yes. The police encouraged her to leave and to accept the alteration request. They walked out with her. Honestly they treated both me and her pretty respectfully and I appreciate them.

[Huma0]

@Michelle2214 

Wow. 

Well, I am glad it's sorted, but it really shouldn't have to get to that point.

I see this as another major failure on the part of Airbnb CS. They told you they would do one thing, did precisely the other, and then gave you the silent treatment in a situation in which you felt unsafe. They put the onus on the rule-breaking, hostile, unstable guest to decide if she would leave or not. That to me is unacceptable. 

I doubt that the police here in the UK would have been willing to help in this situation as no crime had really taken place. I guess it's lucky that where you live they are willing to help out with that kind of stuff. My brother used to live in Florida, and when a racist neighbour threatened to harm his two young daughters (both under 10 at the time), the police basically said the equivalent of 'no harm, no foul'. My brother ended up having to sell the house and move elsewhere to keep his kids safe. I think it very much depends on your location. 

So, what can you do next, other than leave an honest review? Well, it would help if Airbnb had a complaints department or procedure like most other companies, but I have yet to find one. Has anyone else?

@Catherine-Powell @Jenny @Stephanie @Sybe @Quincy @Emilie 

I've posted this question here over and over again. Does Airbnb have a complaints department and, if so, how do we reach them?

[Michelle2214]

I plan to leave an honest review once my next booking starts in a few days. Since she accepted my alteration and not theirs, she can still review me, so I'd like it buried down if she does. I have asked AirBnB to cover the cost of a locksmith for the outer gate codes, and so far they have been unresponsive.

I have also begun migrating over to VRBO. I've always thought AirBnB was the better option because I want guests who understand they are staying in a guest suite and not a hotel, but I'd like to see if VRBO does a better job with customer service.

The crime, technically, at that point was tresspassing. Regardless of booking status, if someone has not resided somewhere for 30 days, the local laws consider them a guest vs. a tenant, and they can be asked to leave. Our officers have received a significant amount of sensitivity training in the last few years. They were very respectful in their treatment to both me and the guest. 

[Emilie]

@Huma0 If anyone has a complaint, we'd recommend they get in touch with Customer Support so their complaint can be directed to the right department and dealt with appropriately. 

@Michelle2214  I'm really sorry to hear that you've had such a challenging experience with this guest. If you've not had a satisfactory response from the Support team yet, please let me know and I'll raise this with them for you!

Thanks, 

Emilie