After going through the worst Level 5 Covid Lockdown globally, South Africa moved into Level 1 recently and we received our first much needed and appreciated request from an Airbnb guest that later turned out a competitive host, requesting to make payment outside of the platform.
We find it difficult to comprehend that there are members existing within the Airbnb community that attempt to transact outside of the platform, for should we all agree to this circumvention of the platform, then surely there will not be an Airbnb platform to list on.
In the meantime, we just regained our Super Host status and my husband had to depart on urgent business leaving me home alone.
Airbnb Policy re ‘Transactions outside of the platform’ was pointed out to this 5 star rated guest / competitive host and the booking was confirmed resulting in us having to reluctantly accept the reservation that we unfortunately pe-approve after viewing his 5 star guest profile without noticing the 1 star negative Hosting profile.
My husband at the time having communication problems in a rural area in the Eastern Cape insisted that this same guest was hosted on a previous occasion, but the guest profusely denied this.
The booking ended up as our worst hosting experience ever with our property hi-jacked by this guest / host and his unannounced and unpaid for boyfriend locking themselves inside our Residence and causing extensive damage while abusing substances and getting heavily intoxicated on a daily basis, this all against our House rules. With me fast approaching the 70’s and being home alone, locked out of my own residence with 2 abusive guests inside was extremely traumatic to say the least.
We did not contact Airbnb to cancel at the time in fear of losing our recently acquired super host status and after 4 dreadful days the guest departed and we subsequently received a text book case of an outlying and bogus review with lovely false content and a 1 star rating that devastated our listing once again leaving us with zero bookings for the last 3 weeks and with definite signs of a slow recovery on the cards prior to the booking.
On my husbands return he pointed out the guest’s now completely revised Profile when comparing with the 2017 / 2018 versions on the system and this complete with an all new obscured profile photo. My spouse even traced the previous attempt by this same guest / host to circumvent Airbnb policy when once again requesting to make payment outside of the platform, this obviously being this guest / host’s modus operandi.
So now we are left with extensive damage to our furniture and fixtures, a phobia to host again after the Residence was hi-jacked and a devastating untrue and bogus review complying with Airbnb Content Policy making it virtually impossible to get removed
What makes this really absurd is where it all comes from; a 5 Star guest being a 1 star competitive Host with a fake profile that apparently resides in Roodepoort with an Eastern Cape address that is a professional Ballet dancer working from home and insisting on free Wi-Fi that we do not list as an amenity.How and why a professional ballet dancer work from home while insisting on free Wi-Fi remains an absolute mystery especially with listing content stating and we quote: “ Campbell's Boarding House is not suited and do not consent to guest’s working or studying from home during a stay, kindly refer to the platform for more suitable venues without a daytime curfew in place” and Not included Unavailable: Air conditioning, Unavailable: Wifi also in our House Rules: FREE WI FI: • As per listing content do we not offer a general Free Wi-Fi Service.
