Hello, I found this when I googled dealing with a similar issue. I am a Superhost with 72 reviews and 4.9 rating. I care greatly about the experience my guests have.
Recently I had a booking two months in advance with a firm cancellation policy. I disclosed all facts about the house up front. She "decided" she didn't feel safe with ANYONE ever walking outside in the yard to get to an external gate (although I disclosed ahead that it was a sole pathway to access a private space).
She knew this in advance, and knew it in great detail when sent check-in instructions two days prior. Yet after check-in she told me it was "not safe" and was leaving, and for two days did not cancel.
She tried to get all her money back and when I explained that I was sorry she was unhappy, but that my cancellation policy was to protect me from going to great lengths to set up a booking and clear the space for the guest and then be canceled.
She was so mad she couldn't get her money back that she called Airbnb with a "safety" issue.
No one did anything but walk across the lawn at 4 in the afternoon, as disclosed on the listing she booked. She pressed the call option "if you feel your safety is at risk, please press one"
She did this a day after being in the listing for no more than 30 minutes and made sweeping accusations about the accuracy of my listing. I have called Airbnb no less than 10 times. Agents take notes and go off their shifts and then the next time you call, it's a new agent taking new notes. The troublesome bullying guest (who has one review) got someone to cancel the reservation and it was notified publicly as "host canceled" when I did not ever cancel. Its now been 48 hours and Airbnb without ever calling me, took her accusations at face value, didn't allow me to provide documentation of my due diligence and refunded her all the payout due to me. All because she said she "felt" "unsafe".
For several days I feel like I've been socked in the stomach. I worked so hard, as I always do, to make a beautiful setting and home welcoming. I don't have a housekeeper go in and do it all for me. I feel like I'm welcoming someone I want to truly have a great experience. This guest
burned me to get her money back and the only way she could do it was to find something she could blame me for.
I have always loved the Airbnb community. If you would've asked me before now, I would've said Airbnb support is fantastic. I feel utterly betrayed and abandoned by support in this instance. An entitled guest treated me and my son like we were hired "help" at a Hilton
and when she realized her preference was to stay elsewhere, she put the blame on me and accused me of dishonesty. But really, difficult guests now and again are to be expected. Where I feel the most gutted is the total lack of support from AirBnb for the stress of having been wrongly accused, never having any action taken on my behalf. I was docked for canceling when I did not cancel, I lost an entire payout -not even covering minimal losses,
-and she's free to write all her false claims against me on my site. What has happened to AIRBNB and what's the point of Superhost status if it doesn't build a relationship of trust with the platform and afford me support when I need it?