Guests violated our “no pets” policy, What should I do?

[David-and-Annie0]

Hi all, need some advice: we are new to this and our second set of guests is there now. We have a “no pets” policy.

This guest messaged me a few days ago asking if they can bring their two dogs—one little and one boxer size. I said that although we love dogs, the answer is no. One of our own dogs tends to pee inside if she’s smelled that other dogs have been there. I explained this to him. He said he understood. 

This morning on our surveillance cameras, I see a little dog walking out the front door and coming back. I feel surprised and disappointed. 
Now what to do? I am thinking of messaging him, saying I know he brought a dog—at least one—and that I can either ask him to leave for violating this rule, or he can send me a pet fee of $150. 
Doubly frustrating is that these guests are renting our place at a very low rate (before I understood that “smart pricing” was not so smart!)—but that’s a different story. 

[Courtney698]

Yes, we just had it happen where we are a pet friendly place but someone brought 4 large dogs without listing them. We do not allow that many dogs but in fear of getting a bad review we just asked for the pet fee. The fee was 65 dollars, nothing crazy. She still refused to pay it. AIRBNB does not have the host's back! They instead said they would pay us the fee instead. Even though their policy has guests need to list pets, and let hosts know. 

The woman then left a review that had blatant lies. Like the "train was extremely loud throughout the night" the beds were "rock hard" and that we asked for hidden fees. Airbnb then would not take down the review, and said it was subjective.

They mentioned they reviewed it. 

The house is .6 miles from train tracks and when measuring the noise it is 47 decibels, outside... not inside. Also only two trains go through the hours of 8pm-7am. When I pointed this out they just kept reading their scripts. They mentioned they take down reviews that are not the actual guest experience, and I pointed out they could easily look at other houses in the neighborhood and see if train noise complaints come up, and in general houses that are this far away from tracks do not have trains that are "extremely loud." I also asked them if the guests had ever booked with pets, because that would also prove she knew what she was doing. They would not disclose. 

They expect the host to follow the rules, but do not hold guest who you are welcoming into your house to the same standard.  Your only way is to respond to their bad review. However on phone apps the guest review is easily accessible and the host response is not! They also tell you not to worry about the bad reviews sense it is only one person out of many. However, if AIRBNB held themselves to this same standard of not worrying about the minority of bad guests, they would hold their guests accountable instead of shooting for making 100% of guests happy and letting them stomp all over the hosts in the mean time. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@David-and-Annie0 

consider adding in your house rules something like:

We do not host dogs. Unauthorized pets will be charged XX US$ dog fee per night. We have security cameras in front of the entrance.

[David-and-Annie0]

Hi everyone, so it looks like this guy did leave a review. But I can’t see it until I post one for him...? What? How does this work? Am I missing something?

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@David-and-Annie0 that is how it works. You have nothing to lose by reviewing him now, then you'll see what he wrote.

[David-and-Annie0]

Yeah, but I’m thinking I should wait until the 14 days—right before it expires—because we don’t have any reviews yet (being new), and even if I respond to his probably-negative review, it will just be hanging out there for 10 days as the only (bad) review on our place. I’m assuming he left a defensive, pre-emptive review b/c he was in the wrong about breaking our pet rule.  

Or...is it possible he wrote a nice review right away, hoping by doing so, I wouldn’t write something bad about him? Maybe he doesn’t know how it works...and was hoping I’d see his first and decide not to mention his violation in my review of him...?

I’m probably reaching here. He did pay the pet fee right away, but with no apology or explanation. (Not what I would have done—I would have been apologizing up and down.) So chances are, he was mad he got caught so took a critical view of our place, and thereby wrote a critical review. 😞

[Mark116]

@David-and-Annie0   You will never see the guest review before you write your own.  You only know when they've written one and vice versa.  You might as well get it over with and write his review.  Generally, people who are caught breaking the rules or damaging items write negative reviews, depending on how awful they are, they may just give a 4 or could give worse.  

You want to make sure you spend time writing your response to his review if one is needed....to ensure it is professional, unemotional and gives the prospective guest the sense that they would want to book w/you.  Your cabin is lovely so I wouldn't really worry too much about a bad review as long as YOU do not go on a rant against this guest in your response.

I'd give him the review you think he deserves, but again, be unemotional  and non ranty.

[Emily487]

@David-and-Annie0 

Just write a review for him and get it over with. You will make yourself sick with worry if you wait 14 days. Just make your review honest and neutral John took very good care of the place and was willing to work with us as new hosts navigating the booking and pricing of our listing. For this, we are grateful. However, we are a no pets listing and we explicitly told him this when he asked, yet he still brought a dog with him. He was willing to pay a pet fee when we let him know that we saw his dog. This was very disappointing and because of this breach of trust, we can not recommend John to future hosts. 

If he writes you a bad review, the worst thing you can do it respond with anger, snark, or any kind of defensiveness. That won't be the time to go line by line with all his mistakes. Your one time response to his review isn't for him...it's for all your future guests to see so they know what kind of person you are.

[David-and-Annie0]

Thanks—yes, all good advice. But my understanding is that his review won’t be public until I write one or the 14 days is up, right?  
So strategically, it seems to me I should wait and take advantage of the fact that at least for the next 10 days, possible guests/bookers won’t see it and possibly get turned off and not book our place—Because we have no other reviews yet to contradict his probably bad review. Does this make sense/seem like good reasoning?

It does break my heart a bit to think he’s going to complain about our place—ultimately because I called him on his wrong-doing—after we put so much work and love into the place. I personally spent a whole day hanging Christmas lights in the cold to make it look festive and pretty before guests arrived. Not to mention all the other thought and hard work that we’ve done in general. I’m sure you all know what I mean. Hopefully it will get easier over time, I probably need to detach a bit from it, and hopefully we will have other guests who appreciate it. Just hate starting out this way. 

[Emilia42]

@David-and-Annie0 

I am with you on that reasoning and that is what I do. 

You could be surprised and you never know. My guess is that this guest will give you a 4 star, which is unfortunately a fail in Airbnb's eyes, but not so bad to perspective guests. You are going to feel better if you know that your review of him is factual (write it diplomatically and don't sugar coat it.) Your response will be the most important part. Guests who do not plan on bringing pets and breaking your house rules with overlook this review if they see a quick and factual response.

[Mary4849]

I feel for you, having this experience so early on. I will say, not all guests do this! Many are amazing! But of all the infractions, bringing a pet secretly is a big one. Maybe what you can do is not accept instant bookings and only accept  reservations from highly reviewed guests?

[Jennifer3267]

David and Annie it looks as if you have made super host by now!  I am a new host. My 5th guest brought unauthorized 3 young children in my home. My home is setup for 2 guest and not child friendly. I immediately called Airbnb to help me with the situation. They said I could charge extra and let the guest stay, we want to keep the guest happy they said. What about the host. This is my home that I share. I was totally lied to and they broke the rules. I was asked to refund all their money. Ha no way!! Who wants guest like that. I understand how you felt about leaving a bad review, but I would hope host and guest that read it would understand. What makes me bad is way do they think they can get away with things like this when it states security cameras. Some people just think they are privileged and don't have to follow rules. I would like to know what his review said. 

[Tracey450]

this happened to me today! No pet policy and out pops a hairy golden retriever out the house. We entered after they left (sat on the street waiting since they did not check out at the check out in time) She then was threatening me. I'm also new to this and now am a Super Host and only had 1 bad thing said so far. Need a new couch and my floors were uneven. LOL Some people you just can't please.

[Jesse-And-Quyen0]

We are facing the same thing and we feel very disappointed by this. We don't know what to do either. Fine this family for unauthorized pet or cancelation. Why?!