Guests send 'minor inconvenience' pictures directly to Airbnb to get 30% discount

[Thomas-And-Rachel0]

After 100 excellent reviews with an 4.89 average rating, I had a new situation today. My guests filed a 'cleanliness' complaint directly to Airbnb. They took pictures from stains on the outside BBQ, they removed the covers from the chairs to take picture of 'discoloration' underneath the covers, they found spots of rust on the outside cement floor where chairs with iron stands are located, etc. All IMHO very minor issues that no guests ever complaint about, and that are a common occurrence in every house near the beach. Airbnb immediately subtracted 30% from my payout. They probably did not even look a the pictures. Very unsatisfying experience and a first. I wonder how many people 'game the system' that way to enforce a discount ? I feel now completely exposed to future guest practices and wonder if I should remove the listing. Does VRBO have a similar policy?

[Paula]

Hello @Thomas-And-Rachel0, I am very sorry about this situation.

Did you contact the support team to get their assistance? Have there been any updates since you posted here?

I look forward to hearing from you.

[Thomas-And-Rachel0]

The answer from Airbnb was: 'Regarding our policy, they are eligible for a refund of 30%'. I had not even the opportunity to counter....

[Lorina14]

@Thomas-And-Rachel0 

I’m sorry to hear about your recent guest experience. This sounds minor as metal furniture can cause rust stains on the cement, a bbq will have wear and tear and the like. I’m surprised that Airbnb did not give you a chance to remedy the situation. From my understanding as being a guest, we were comped the cleaning fee (there was hair in the bedsheets and pet hair on the carpet, mold in the bathroom, leaking toilet, and more) and they also gave a discount for one day of our mid term stay. When we were leaving we found dried out dog feces behind our kid’s bed (I was checking for clothes or toys that fell under the bed) and I was not given any additional discount - dog in the bedroom - really? 

I am not sure how many days the guest stayed in your case. It is unfortunate that people read Reddit or even these community forums to find ways to work the system to get discounts or free stays, sometimes even lying about issues to cause disruption and stress to the host to get a discount. 

I would make sure to address any commentary in any public review if they dock you there and write about those issues there too. You can privately message them saying you are sorry about the issues and wish they would have reached out to you so you could have addressed it but sometimes it may only cause more issues - making them perhaps write a bad review. 

[Elaine701]

@Thomas-And-Rachel0 

*sigh* 

This is getting stupid. There's probably a law that requires them to give you the opportunity to have your say, but you'd need to hire a (good) lawyer and take it to court,  and that would cost far more than whatever you lost. It's very disheartening. Worse yet, the more guests get away with this, the more they'll do it. Watch your back!

Having said that, to answer your VRBO question; no, their support are equally as brain-dead as AirBnb, and they don't ever bother to "intervene" like AirBnb does - so they're less dangerous to hosts, but they don't have anywhere near the market reach that AirBnb has, so if you plan to dump AirBnb and move to VRBO, expect to have your place sitting empty for much of the year. Also, we've had more bad experiences with the handful of VRBO guests we did get, which should also be considered when making that decision. 

With ANY platform, the best remedy is always prevention. And no matter what they say, that will always be your problem, not theirs.

Good luck and happy hosting!

[Thomas-And-Rachel0]

You are 100% correct. AirBnB always sides with the guests. I am just frustrated, because AirBnB could have at least tried to allow us to find an agreement with the guests before intervening with their 'strict' rules. The danger is that a lot of guests can 'game the system' that way.