Guests not following the rules

[Olivier970]

Hey people,

I just hosted a group of 3 sports guys coming to town for a sports competition.

It is written in our rules that smoking is prohibited in the house and I never had any problem (especially since there's a huge patio to smoke outside).

But when they left, you could see that they smoked everywere.

I find it unacceptable. Obviously, I can give a bad review, but that'll only be useful for future hosts (which is good), but useless to me.

Any advice on what I could do?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Olivier970  If removing the smoke odor meant you had to spend extra money on cleaning, and you have receipts to show for it, you could try sending the guests a resolution request for compensation. Of course there's nothing stopping them from disputing the charge and retaliating in the review, and Airbnb may or may not decide in your favor on the claim.

That's about it, though. Your only real recourse when someone breaks a rule is to terminate the booking. If you only discover it after checkout, what's done is done. 

[Judith812]

I have just discovered that a current guest is smoking in the property against house rules and it is not cigarettes ,what can I do about this ? Can they be asked to leave ? This is Strictly against our rules 

[Jenny]

Hi @Judith812 

Sorry to hear about this.

You might find some more information here - it confirms that smoking of any kind is against Guest Reliability Standards unless you've expressly said they can smoke - which doesn't sound like the case here.

The article suggests speaking directly to your guest, if you are comfortable doing so, and you can also contact Airbnb directly.  If you scroll down after following the above link, you'll see a "reporting a violation" section.

Please come back and let us know how you get on.  I hope it's resolved easily.

Jenny

[Helen3]

Hi @Judith812 

You don't appear to have a listing so I don't know what your hosting set up is. Or what evidence you have that they were smoking.

If you want them to leave contact Airbnb and ask them to cancel the booking so you can ask the guest to leave. If they accept your evidence will cancel penalty free BUT the guest will be refunded for any nights not stayed. They may well contact the guest for their side of the story before making a decision.

If you're a homeshare host that might make it more difficult to evict the guest.

[Huma0]

@Helen3 

Where here is where it gets tricky...

What evidence do you have that they were smoking? Well, it's pretty hard to provide evidence of a smell.

I am a smoker myself and pretty lenient about it. There are areas in my listing where guest are permitted to smoke, but it is strictly prohibited in others, like the guest bedrooms. Still, occasionally (and its happened way more often recently than ever before), so do just that.

Of course, you can tell, especially when it's something more pungent that cigarettes. Even as a smoker, I can smell it! 

Proving it is quite another thing...