Guest Checkout Out Without Cancelling In Tool (After A Ton Of Drama)

[Graylynne0]

I'm a first time ABB hoster who is traumatized by my first experience hosting.  I'll spare folks the details but short version is Guest booked a long term stay (9/1/20-11/24/20).  After a major incident with another guest he had invited (and who left ~2 weeks into their stay) apparently the primary Guest reached out to airbnb (without letting me know at all) and told them that he decided to leave early.   However this guest has NOT cancelled his remaining stay officially using the AirBnB tool.   Additionally, AirBnB informed me that the payout for the primary guest is not able to be collected (even though this guest agreed to my "strict policy" which gave this Guest a $7000 discount for his 84 nt stay...Originally $12,000 and I gave it to him for $5000).  

While I am extremely upset by this guests action and behavior which included (attempting to sub-lease my home, apparent violent death threats between him and his guest, and now backing out of his committed payment of 84 nights) I'm concerned that if  I cancel the remaining ~65 nights that AirBnB will not allow me to book my home for the months of October thru November.   

BTW, attempting to call AirBnB's Community Support (and even email back and forth with them on so many issues with this entire incident) has been an absolutely HORRIBLE experience.  Their staff, replies, and ability to communicate with clarity and actionable next steps has been totally unacceptable.   

Any advice for a brand new, first time host like me? Here's a few photos/discussions for the record of this primary guest (Chris) who I would absolutely not recommend ANYONE  to host.     **

**Private conversation removed

[Sarah977]

@Graylynne0  Yes, truly outrageous. Tell me something- did this guest book last minute, day before, kind of scenario? Because one thing that appears to be true is there are a lot more non-payment issues with those. I myself have a 2 day advance notice (and have never taken long-term bookings) so that if there is any problem with a guest's payment, they aren't already in residence when Airbnb finds out they don't have funds in their account to cover the booking. 

You said Airbnb originally told you they couldn't collect payment from the guest, now they're telling you "Junior" actually refunded the bad guest? Both of those things can't be true. One or the other is a lie.

[Graylynne0]

@Sarah977 After I posted this coincidentally the ABB rep (Junior) called me.  Mind you is was 11:30pm Pacific Daylight Time and I just happened to be up as I was applying a ton of everyone’s advice from this thread.  Let’s just say I did not get off the call with Junior until around 1:44am PDT.  I thoroughly walked him as precise as possible with all the evidence and documentation related to this “so called guests” stay.  

Here’s where things stand as of now:

-airBnB has suspended any refund back to Chris from my account 

-airBnB has cleared my listings calendar for future bookings

-AirBnB’s case management team is evaluating all the information and documentation in detail that I have provided to assess if Chris will be forced to pay the remainder of his day per my no refund strict policy since I followed all guidelines and he broke several

- I have integrated a ton of the feedback from all these amazing hosts to my listing.

[Graylynne0]

Apologies as I forgot to mention no it was not a last minute booking.  It was ~1 month prior.  

[Laura2592]

@Graylynne0  please don't take any more long term stays until you are more familiar with hosting. Shorter term will help you build up your reviews and allow you to get the hang of dealing with guests. There are a lot of people who target new hosts to pull shenanigans. If someone is difficult, a short term stay allows you to get them in and out.

Also Airbnb will NOT help you to collect past the first payment if a long term guest suddenly disappears. And you might get a squatter if you aren't careful and have a lease in place. This platform is not going to be sufficient to protect you after your guest turns into a tenant at the 30 day mark.

[Graylynne0]

Great stuff and on it indeed @Laura2592 !!!  Thank you bunches for dropping this knowledge and I’ve been all over re-configuring the backend hosting tools.

It’s been a long night <sigh>