This experience was a doozy for us and sharing so others can learn from it.
We rented one room to two guests. Our payout was $56, guest paid $80.
Within hours of their arrival we noticed countless people coming and going. By around 10:30pm he messaged us he was cold. We went down to give him a heater for his room. We observed someone passed out on our living room couch. The train of people coming and going continued. By 11:30pm I messaged the guest asking who the other guest was and why we were observing so many people coming and going. No response.
After observing more people coming I went down to see what was going on. 7 people were in my living room. One passed out, one 1/2 naked, 2 cursing and swearing in the phone. I told the guest these people had no right to be in my home. He rented a room. He said “oh don’t worry, they are just visiting”. I said no they are not. This is my house, my living room, you rented a room with a bed for two people. No one else is allowed to be here.
They couldn’t wake the drink guy up. The 1/2 naked man went into the other room they didn’t rent and closed the door. I went up, called Airbnb, took videos of all the people coming and going and sent them all to Airbnb.
The Airbnb guy support guy called me to tell me the guest cancelled. I said if he cancelled why is he still in my house. Airbnb support guy negotiated with me to allow him to stay till 11am provided everyone leaves.
The extra guests left but by 2am they all returned. I spent the entire night stressed these people were in my home. Airbnb support told me he was willing to leave when he cancelled provided I refund him the second day. I said I would deal with the issue after he checked out provided he follow the rules and not let strangers in my house.
at 11am I submitted a request for payout for the extra 7 people that slept in my home. Airbnb denied it.
I had my cleaning lady come in and clean my living room and I promise you 7 smelly men doesn’t smell great! I sent the invoice for cleaning.
They concealed themselves by wrapping my towels around their heads and they jumped the fence of my neighbor because they parked their cars around the corner. I sent an invoice to replace the towels they stole.
Airbnb sent me links and info on how to file all the complaints and fees. I did that. I escalated the complaint after Airbnb said I can’t get reembursed because they can’t get in contact the guest to collect the money. I told them I want the contact information of the guest since I planned to take them to small claims court. Airbnb won’t give me the information.
I then hear back from Airbnb and they walked back the decision to refuse to pay. In the end they sent me $280 for the extra guests violations. They told me the resolution department dealing with the cleaning invoice and stolen towels is separate. The next department contacted me saying he wanted all the invoices and the videos. I told him I already sent everything and he said he can’t find it so asked me to send them the videos of the guests leaving. So I sent this new Airbnb person (Carlos) everything again. I just got an email from them saying they won’t pay to replace the stolen towels and the cleaning fees because that happened outside of the window of the reservation even though the whole thing happened because I found 7 people in my house.
Naturally the guest gave me a bad review. I was able to get it removed because everything they said was false.
So three weeks of back and forth, 3 weeks of being told completely different things from all the different agents and in the end I am SOL for the extra cleaning and stolen towels.
What a nightmare. If a guest violates a rule KICK THEM OUT! Call the police and KICK THEM OUT!
