Guest lighting campfires on our cedar deck!!!

[Heather1086]

I am going into year 3 of hosting and 99% of the guests have been great. My last group upon leaving left a garage full of garbage, damage to towels & blankets (which I look at as normal wear & tear) but the kicker was they were setting fires on our cedar deck near the hot tub. As the snow has started to melt the evidence is quite clear that there were multiple fires with kindling lit and going during their stay. I took pictures (we happened to come this weekend to reset for all the skiers the next two months) so are able to deal with what they left behind. I took pictures, called airbnb to let them know this happened. This is a huge safety concern. Have any of you had guests do anything that is dangerous to the property? How did you handle it? and I'm curious how airbnb handled it?  I'm guessing it will be escalated to their safety team... just don't want some weird retaliation on the platform for reporting them.

[Sarah977]

@Heather1086  OMG. That is so totally brain dead. Who in their right mind would built a fire on a wooden deck?  They must be incredibly stupid people. I mean, that's not even in the same category as being disrepectful and leaving piles of garbage and ruined bedding. They could have burned your whole place down.

You certainly did right to report them, I can't imagine what sort of retaliation you are concerned about.

Guests and fire are a really bad combo. You shouldn't leave any kindling or firewood for guests, if that's at all possible. It's just too risky.

Do you not have cameras? If not, you should. I'm not a fan of surveillance myself, but for a remote place with off-site hosts, it's pretty necessary.

How do you write accurate reviews for guests if you don't have a local co-host checking the place and don't go there after guests check out yourself?

[Heather1086]

@Sara977  yeah I think it was a mix of alcohol and fire. We do have cameras, upon arrival he asked if he could cover it for privacy since it points at the hot tub. I’m fine with that… considering he had multiple 5 star glowing reviews. The front camera was going the whole time and looked completely normal. When they uncovered it I could see a guest pick up something, which I now know is kindling. 

we do have firewood since our house is in a resort area with skiing and 90% of the houses have wood burning fireplaces. Actually every house on our street does. Haven’t had a problem in 2 years, not even a burn spot on the carpet.

I have a fantastic housekeeper who is my eyes and boots on the  ground. She usually does the outside and bbq, but knowing we were coming and she was cleaning up their mess until 1am she wasn’t in her regular routine. We come monthly and make sure everything is as it should be and restock any supplies. Have had things here and there, but nothing to this level ever.

I will look at it better tomorrow and we will move all the melting snow to look for additional damage. When they left there was a fresh layer of snow that covered all their evidence… but since it melted off we can see what happened. I’m curious aircover will come into play if there is permanent damage?

[Helen3]

You need to submit a claim on Airbnb's guarantee making sure you follow their guidance for how you submit the claim (see Airbnb Help centre for details). @Heather1086 

Obviously make sure you leave a factual honest review to warn future hosts about their brain dead dangerous behaviour.

[Heather1086]

Once this is all complete on the part of air I will leave a very honest & factual review. I’m curious if this negligent and very dangerous behavior will result in removal from platform? I know they can just make another account but there needs to be some stop gap for guests who do more than leave a dirty house and break random things.

[Helen3]

Do remember you need to leave the review within two weeks of their check in date. By the way I wouldn't care how many good reviews a guest has - your camera's are there for a reason. If the guest hadn't been planning on doing anything wrong they wouldn't have needed to have them turned off.

They booked knowing the cameras were in place.

[Heather1086]

@Helen3  I absolutely will leave a review. I am working with airbnb now... thankfully after my husband spent the day yesterday cleaning it up washing it down, etc. it didn't burn the decking. There is still charcoal remnants ground into the deck, but since it is winter and very snowy there we can't get the deck fully dry until probably spring to see what it really looks like. I will most likely come back to this thread as I get ready to write the review to put eyes on it and make sure that it doesn't leave any room for being removed by airbnb.  

This was the first group who asked to cover the cameras out of I think coming up on 60 plus groups. The only other group I had trouble with who ended up getting my listing suspended pending investigation tampered with my cameras.

[Colleen253]

@Heather1086 “We do have cameras, upon arrival he asked if he could cover it for privacy since it points at the hot tub. I’m fine with that… considering he had multiple 5 star glowing reviews”

We can’t put much trust in reviews, because too many hosts are afraid of reviewing honestly. Asking to cover the camera was a red flag. But the request was cloaked in reason, given the camera was pointed at the hot tub. You might look at adjusting it’s angle, going forward.

Looking back, was there perhaps any red flag at all when this guest was booking? It’s all too easy to dismiss or overlook them. On Airbnb, though, preventing sketchy guests from gaining access to our space is key. Once they are in, the host is always going to be at a disadvantage. 

[Heather1086]

@Colleen253  Yeah I went back through their reviews to see if I missed something. All 3 were 5 star and glowing about following house rules, leaving the place clean with language of highly recommend. During his stay he was highly communicative and our front porch camera showed nothing out of the ordinary at all… was fully expecting to not have any issues.

I do think there are many hosts who when have a bad experience just don’t review which puts all of us in a bad position. I always leave reviews good & bad and if it is bad I usually wait until day 14 to limit potential retaliation.

[Colleen253]

@Heather1086 There’s more that one can employ in screening out problematic guests than just looking at reviews. 

Do you think this might have been a third party booking? Perhaps the guest who booked wasn’t the one who stayed. Just a thought. Extremely positive reviews with words like ‘highly recommend’ don’t match the behavior. Hosts who dislike being honest in their guest assessments are more likely to either not review at all, or be bland, not full of praise. 

[Sandra126]

@Heather1086 , I had a guest take a cup of hot chocolate and a candle to bed. Candle set fire to bedside lampshade,  hot chocolate put it out. Mess. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sandra126 I had a girlfriend once who put toast under the cooker grill plus eggs boiling on the stove and then went in the bath. Exploding eggs and scorch marks from the burnt toast welcomed me home from work!

[Heather1086]

Received a message from Airbnb support asking for pics. Etc this morning. Sent my initial ones along and now that it’s day we will fully document everything. 

[Colleen253]

@Heather1086 “….just don't want some weird retaliation on the platform for reporting them.”

Any time you mix sketchy guests and Airbnb together, you are at risk of some negative outcome. Add in security cameras (pointing at hot tub no less) and the risk increases. Proceed with caution, and thoughtfully, if you wish to avoid triggering the guest to claim a privacy violation over the camera issue, which will result in Airbnb suspending your listing. It happens all the time, even when we follow the rules and disclose properly. Airbnb snap suspends, without even getting the host side of the story or considering proper disclosure was made. In no way am I suggesting you shouldn’t report or honestly review the guest, but do proceed carefully to best avoid getting the short end of the stick.

Thankfully, it doesn’t look like there was much, if any, damage. Note that you have 14 days to submit a claim now that Airbnb has updated the process. Unfortunately, this is still within the review window. 

Refer to the review guidelines when composing your review, to be sure you write one that won’t later get removed. 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

[Heather1086]

That is what I am referring to. Had a guest early on who left damage which o claimed and in turn they reported me to Airbnb where my listing was then suspended under review. I don’t want to go through that fiasco again. 

that is why i had no problem letting him cover that specific camera during his stay with the understanding it would be uncovered after so I can monitor while the house is vacant.

I am doing all communication with air through the messaging so there is a paper trail should it come to something like that again.