Guest claiming they contracted scabies

[Normen0]

We had a nine person rental for the house over the weekend Sat - Mon.  On Monday morning the booking guest (0 reviews) advised that they were about to leave and they had a great weekend. The only issue is her mother believes she was bit by bed bugs in the one room. Photo was sent - pustules on chin and neck.

When I arrived to clean, I pulled off the bedding and mattress cover and checked the mattress thoroughly. No evidence whatsoever of bed bugs. The mattress is pristine.  I took photos of the mattress. It looked like the guest had also looked as one corner of the mattress cover was pulled up.

I messaged her to say, no bed bugs and sorry to hear about her mom. Hope she feels better soon and let me know what it is.  

Last night the guest gave us a 5 star review. I did the review, not as great. Issues with a dog that I was  not advised about and 6 bags of garbage that was mostly recycling that I had to pick through because we have a garbage limit and I think they put a child in the hot tub against the rules.  Generally not clean after their stay but not the worst we have had. 

Today she said her mom went to the doctor and he said it was scabies and he also said she got it from bedding. So how does a doctor know this?  I advised her yesterday and today that no one has been in that room since Feb 3 or even in the house since Feb 13 except me to clean.  They arrived Feb 19. So that bedroom was cleaned and was empty for two weeks.  And the house was empty for six days. 

A quick search of CDC website says scabies can’t live without a host for more than 72 hours usually.  

Now she days her dog is scratching and they are taking him to the vet.  (This is the dog she didn’t tell us was coming even though I reminded her to tell us if she has pets coming in her check in detail message three days before arrival. And no pet fee collected). 

I have closed the house until Saturday when we have the next guests. All the bedding was washed in hot water as usual.  

I’m sure the mother has something whether it’s scabies or not. Now I have to monitor myself for 2 months!  

I’m furious and I’m just waiting for the message from AIRBNB support and for them to close the listing.  

Anything else I can do?  

[Normen0]

@Gillian166 The good news is that AIRBNB pays for the Pest inspection and in fact they have reimbursed that already. If you have pests they won’t pay for the treatment which makes sense. Kudos to AIRBNB for at least paying for that. It is very maddening but I do see why AIRBNB would make you get the inspection. I’m sure there are cases where people have them.  Of course it’s more complicated which what the guest claimed but then we don’t know what she told AIRBNB exactly.  

[Colleen253]

@Normen0 Very good to know that Airbnb only required an inspection first and that they payed for it. Last I heard, a host was required to have pest control services come in to treat the space even with no proof it’s needed. Of course, how Airbnb deals with anything seems to depend entirely on who you get handling your case, and results may vary. 

[Gillian166]

oh ! that's wonderful to hear. we keep hearing too many stories of abb completely disappointing hosts so this was nice. 

[Sue2245]

Absolutely no lie if the customer had a rash.  Perhaps she stayed in other ABBs.  It's good yours was inspected.  I suspect I have scabies from an ABB in British Columbia, Canada.