Guest cancels reservation through AirBnB after staying approximately a month and wants partial refund now no history of his stay to review him.

[Philip3560]

So this guest booked for a month.  Everything great through text and in person.  So the night before he's supposed to check out i get a message from airbnb that he cancelled his reservation and want partial refund he says because of a noisy neighbor.  I declined refund and now i cannot find his history of the stay to review him.  Has he found a glitch in the system that allowed him to cancel his stay after he has stayed there a month?

Loosing my faith in airbnb.

[Greg2406]

@Philip3560 

Keep all conversations with individual on the platform message board,...not text messages.

Change your house rules to state that "Any and all issues must be brought to the Hosts attention immediately".  

Did the Guest contact police concerning the neighbor?   One neighbor on one night?  

Again, keeping all communication on the platform message board will result in a lot less issues when trying to prove who did what when.    Also, any complaint or issue should also always be on the message board.  

[Alicia753]

Hi Philip,

It sounds like a frustrating situation. It's unlikely that the guest has found a "glitch," but more plausible that the cancellation triggered a system action, potentially linked to a chargeback, fraud claim, or compliance issue. When a guest requests a refund after a long stay, Airbnb sometimes limits access to reservation details or may remove the stay from the timeline if certain flags are raised, especially around payment issues or complaints.

Since the reservation history has disappeared, this could indicate that Airbnb is reviewing the case, and it's possible that the guest's refund request has led to an internal investigation. In such cases, contacting Airbnb support is crucial. Ask them to escalate the matter and provide you with a detailed case update. Mention that you’re unable to review the guest, which could affect your hosting standards and future operations.

It's also worth keeping documentation of the stay, communications, and any issues that arose, in case Airbnb needs further details. Hopefully, they will provide more transparency soon.

I hope this helps.

All the best,

Upfish Management

[Elisa]

Hi @Philip3560 😊

I am sorry about the situation.

Do you have any updates?
Have you tried reaching out to customer support?

Thank you @Greg2406 you shared precious suggestions, did you have a similar situation?

Warm regards 🌻,

[Greg2406]

@Elisa 

Fortunately, having a beach/fishing destination property, we have only had individuals that, early in our listing, took advantage because we did not have a well drafted set of House Rules.  Our incident / damage rate was 33% for the first two months of operations, resulting in thousands in fines and in one case, we had an entire family banned from multiple booking platforms.  Now, we always insist in the House Rules that any situation that occurs, the Guest must immediately report to the Host through both text and the platforms online message center.   

We were asked to do a long term stay, however, we will not allow stays over 8 days.   In Texas, if you allow any individual to stay over 30 days, the Hosts would be exposing themselves to Texas Tenant Rights, which means that no matter how they treat the property, it will take lengthy legal action and court orders to remove them.   I believe other states have these laws as well.   

We have seen other Hosts have similar issues and we always recommend that they include a lock-tight set of House Rules, and especially on any LTS's, we recommend a 3 week mandatory inspection of the property.   If Guest refuses the inspections or takes no corrective actions to clean and maintain the property as listed in the HR's, then the Host is within their legal right to evict the individual(s) immediately.    One further recommendation to any Host considering LTS's, make the Guest take out the highest level of damage insurance appropriate based on the property.   

[Marie8425]

@Greg2406 

Why are you posting the same answer (cut and paste) to different posts?

If you have a max limit of 6 days on your stays to then in the same response give legal and house rules for longer stays doesn't make semes to me?   

[Greg2406]

@Marie8425 

I believe you misspoke as not a single response to any post is a cut and paste.   Several posts discuss similar issues, as expressed in many Host posts, the reactions and any actions taken by ABB CS have been less than stellar.   And it sounds as if you read my posts, therefore you should then understand that besides helping a Host to avoid experiencing what we initially had to endure, then topics and learned experiences are worth repeating.  

We recently changed the number of consecutive days for individual stays based on the time of year and the festivals going on in the area.   And it will change again. The House Rules we have developed apply to any length of stay, the duration of the stay is irrelevant.  

Reading what many Hosts have experienced is troubling but also shows that less emphasis is provided to the Hosts and more in favor of the Guests and we believe that this is less than favorable for the Hosts.  Without Hosts, ABB does not exist.   Earlier posts talk about policy changes and that is an ongoing process working in the background.

[Elisa]

Hi @Greg2406 

Thank you for sharing your experience! 😊

I wasn’t aware of the Texas Tenant Rights, such a sensitive topic.

Since you set those rules, do you feel the situation has improved with your guests?

Warm regards 🌻

[Greg2406]

@Elisa 

Yes Elisa, the changes in place have made all the difference.   We hope that other Hosts will take away positive resolutions to their situations.     

Texas has very strong tenants rights and we advise any Host that is considering a LTS to read up on the rules and regulations for your state or country.  

Greg 

[Elisa]

@Greg2406 

I’m happy to hear that! 😊

Have you thought about writing a post in the community about your approach?
I think it could be helpful for other Hosts!

Here’s the link to start a new conversation, in case you’d like to share. 

Let me know! 

Warm regards🌻,

[Greg2406]

@Elisa 

Appreciate your suggestion.   Currently with individual states and countries having specific rules and regulations concerning what is considered a Tenant,  we believe each Host should check with the respective laws and regulations for their location. 

For us, any LTS over 30 days in our other properties falls under the leasing laws for the State and therefore is a completely different legal lease contract that ABB or VRBO are not party to.   We do lease to 'Snow Birds' for 2-3 months, but again, these are very specific legal leases and on specific properties not associated with any booking site.

[Elisa]

Hi @Greg2406 

Thank you for clarifying this for me! 😊

I understand and agree that each state has different rules, and Hosts should learn about them in detail.

As you know, this topic is not always easy, and the language we usually find on official websites can often be complex.

That’s why I suggest you write a post avoiding difficult explanations.

Don’t hesitate to let me know if you post something about this!😍

Warm regards🌻,

[Marie8425]

@Elisa 

As he mentioned states do vary.  My state Arizona has very strict tenant laws.  Amount of days stayed does not automatically make a tenant and force you to a bad situation.

I followed up with my local police with the state and other authorities in Arizona.  There are rules I have been advised if I follow, the guest could try and take me to court and claim residency but the police do not have the authority to force me to give residency if the guest doesn't have certain criteria unless the guest can show police a judges order.

LTS don't demand a more combative approach in my opinion.  Not a guarantee of no problems.  I think less problems if I don't make agreements that require me to define everything.  I am more likely to decline guests who seem to need me to explain common sense.

[Elisa]

Hi @Marie8425 😊

Thanks for sharing your experience with Arizona’s tenant laws!

I totally get what you mean about keeping things simple to avoid issues.

Do you have any tricks for filtering guests who seem not used to common sense?

Warm regards🌻,

[Marie8425]

@Elisa 

Sure simple things really.  I lock my thermostats.  I say comfortable temperature because if I say the degrees someone wants to waste my time on what they think is comfortable or bring a thermometer and waste my time monitoring temperatures,  Neither happens now.  Nobody argues with my thermostat and breaks it because I don't allow touching.  I say if your not comfortable tell me and we will discuss answers.  Sometimes their room is reading a little warm so I will turn up air sometimes everything is hot to them I have bought a fan  other things and they appreciate instead of days arguing why my house isn't 60 degrees. lol

Mini Fridges in rooms, when I switched to long term hosting.  I bought a separate fridge for the Guests. 

A guest idea was also the mini fridges nothing gets stolen in the shared fridge but if you buy a beer or a pint of ice cream. You have been thinking about all day at work  You just want assurance your treat is safe.  Eliminates for me any chance of referring who ate the ice cream?

I bought a nice Amazon like kitchen storage cabinet, for each room.  Eliminates me having to have 9 million rules about storage rules in a shared kitchen and what can be used.  Each guest stores in their room, anything I share like oil or spices in the cabinets, anything I don't share in my pantry.

I actually request guests not to buy laundry detergent even though long term.  I explain since maybe  1 or 2 loads a week and four of you, no use cramping up the laundry room and you don't need a lot of detergent.  In a positive way without having a rule to defend, I have made it clear I am not a laundry mat but to guests benefit. lol

I don't have set times, but with every guest that applies, I go over the houses unusual for most states but in Arizona people can start at 5 am.  So I do have a LTS that works noon to 10pm,  He is very conscientious of most in the house in bed by 9 pm  Headphones for his tv eliminates that problem.

I go with the theory that if it is easy to follow a rule then I don't waste time teaching common sense.