DO NOT RENT LONG TERM

[Heather64]

I have a current guest who rented my home four months before his arrival. He stayed 20 of his 92 day booking before asking if he could cancel the remainder of his stay. It is low season so I rejected his change request. Today, his credit card was rejected. AirBnB contacted him and he said he has left the property and he's not paying. 

My calendar is still blocked because if I cancel I incur host cancellation penalties. I have requested AirBnB collections department engage but I don't have much hope. My only other alternative is small claims court.

DO NOT BOOK LONG TERM GUESTS until AirBnB changes their policies to better protect homeowners. At a minimum they need to collect the entire amount upfront from the guest so owners aren't surprised by no income on the day they expected it!

[Catherine232]

Yeah, we found to our detriment that a long stay booking can basically cancel any time after the first month. A family blocked up our listing months ahead with a long term booking and then left a month early! We had no recourse since Airbnb collects month to month and therefore if the guest decides not to pay/leaves early, you're SOL. That experience soured us on long term stays (not to mention every long term stay we had left our home in bad shape- always very dirty, broken items not mentioned, and the last ones let their kids scribble on our tables with indelible pen).

[Gary1152]

+did you get any reimbursement from Airbnb for damages?

[Elizabeth438]

I had the same issue with long term booking.  The individual asked to get a discount for two months rental and i agreed since she was enrolled at the University near by.  After two weeks she started to complain about the accommodation and requested  to leave early, like next week.  I contacted ABB and the answer was she has to pay for at least the month.  Long story short, she has cancelled her credit card and they couldn't collect and I was forced to get her out the next day.  A week after, I received mail from Medicaid that she fraudulently applied  using my house as her residence.  I alerted the authorities but learned my lesson.  I do not accept long term and do not expect ABB to collect from   people with intent to defraud

[Charles380 · Accepted solution]

Hi Heather:

Thanks for the note. I usually advise against renting long-term due to the legality of it. Once you engage in a rental above 30 days, it allows guests to qualify for more rights than a typical vacation rental. If any of our guests want to rent above this time period, we reach out to the homeowner to see if they wish to engage in a typical tenancy agreement. Otherwise, we decline the reservation. 

Best of luck with this situation!

Best,

Charles at HostGenius Property Management

[Kevin1056]

You guys are dancing around the issue... the issue here is that the guest didnt want to stay and the Host felt that she could force them to stay. I would not want to be forced to stay at a place that I was unhappy at any more than a disgruntled guest. 

This happens all to often on AirBnb, where a host will try and force a person to stay when infact they should attmpt to mediate the situation and get the guest out, with some sort of cancellation fee. AirBnb will typically side with the guest in these instances.

[Shelley424]

You are absolutely right! I started my air BNB having looked at a picture. I walked into a nasty, disgusting, unkempt house, with broken toilet seats, and bugs crawling everywhere. I took pictures. I asked for assistance very kindly, and ended up cleaning, spraying for bugs, and buying items like new pots and pans, that I shouldn't have had to. Now, the home owner is acting like she's doing us a favor by allowing us to stay in this nightmare, even though she has collected $20,000 for our stay here. As far as I'm concerned, she should never be allowed to rent anything, much less what's supposed to be someones home, or someones home away for home!

[Valerie-and-Alex0]

I am  also  in a situation  unbelievable .  The  Guest  checked in  after  few days , has decided  to  move in another  place  canceling  the   full reservation ? How  can he  do that , when  he is  inside  the apartment ? My calendar  is totally  opened  when  he is  there ?  any one  can do an instant  reservation  and i will be  in a big S.! The way  it works , it seems that  he never  checked  in !!! and of course , people  at airbnb  said , it is  his fault  he should  not  do a cancelation !!!!! 

come on  , assume  the system is wrong  for  once ! especially  that in the morning  i called  airbnb  and  asked  what  he has  to do  and  the answer  was : cancellation  and  give the date  he wants to check out  .... perfect . But  nor perfect , the date  is never  requested  so  when  the guest  do a cancellation  it seems  that  he already left !!! 

i called airbnb  to resolve  the  problem , i am still waiting  after  more  than 48 hours  , with a new request  waiting  for my answer . I had  to block  myself  my calendar  to avoid   a double   reservation . I already  lost  the occupancy  of my  unit  for  two months  and i can't  even  open  the  reservation  because  i cant  get  airbnb  getting  me  with a solution 

i just received  my  20  consecutive  gold key  of super  host , but  just  have the feeling  that i will  not be all to continue , it is  too much stress  not getting  the right  person  to help  you  right away .

[Mark-N-Erica0]

We are currently *trying* to deal with Airbnb over $888 they have been holding for the last three weeks.  We have a family of 7 who originally booked the house for 3 weeks (December 14 - January 4), and they paid for the full three weeks upfront.  On December 29, they asked if they could extend for two additional weeks (for a total of 5 weeks).  We made the alteration request and gave them a slight discount.  The guest accepted the alteration request and paid for the additional time (he has a receipt showing the money was taken from his account).  Airbnb never released A SINGLE PENNY of the additional fees to us, stating that it would all be released on January 15.  We spent 45 minutes on the phone this morning with a couple of CSRs who "can't do anything about it".  They have "escalated" the call, and now we have to wait SEVENTY-TWO hours for a call back.  They told us that this is "an ongoing problem" that they are "working to correct", BUT.....

We have now changed our maximum rental to 14 days, and will be renting OUTSIDE OF AIRBNB for any future "long term" rentals.  We are also opening a small claim against them.  Airbnb has NO BUSINESS acting like a property manager.  They should simply NOT ALLOW long-term rentals through their platform.  Period.

[Carol5327]

@Heather64I just had a similar experience with long term guests who booked for 4.5 months. From the day they arrived (1 week late) to the day they left, they did not stop complaining. I attended to all their issues but I could see that these people were not going to be satisfied, so I suggested to them that they cancel if they were not happy, and finally they did 10 days later.

The booking is supposed to be covered under the long term cancellation policy which means that they would be charged an additional 1 month after the cancellation date. What the guests did, however, was cancel or change their payment details, so that Airbnb has not been able to withdraw the final amount that is owning. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Airbnb have told me that the matter is with the collections department

If this is an ongoing issue with Airbnb then they should be deducting 2 months in advance for long term bookings, to protect hosts from this type of behavior.

[Nancy1545]

I am going to treat them like a tenant, which they legally are: they need one month's rent upfront, one month security deposit which will be retained in a bank account, a background check, and I need three referrals. I'll have them sign a lease agreement, too.

[Laura2592]

I know this is an old thread but I think renting long term on ABB is a disaster waiting to happen. So many hosts don't seem to understand tenancy laws and just think it will be a great pay day.