I had a scammer tonight!

[Denise80]

We Airbnb our holiday home which is 2 hours away from where we live (not that our guests know how far away we are) and we have a lovely lady who cleans for us.

Today's guests arrived and contacted us to say the house was not clean. I replied immediately to ask what was wrong with the house and that I would send our cleaner around. 

Our cleaner was mortified, and she went round immediately to see what she had not cleaned. It seems our guest did not expect our cleaner to turn up and started back-pedaling almost straight away. The best she could come up with is that the remote control was sticky....um, no it wasn't!

Oh well, said the guest (by email on the app) we will cancel but will stay tonight and leave tomorrow. Oh no you won't, I said, you can cancel as I would never want a guest to be uncomfortable in our house, but you will be leaving now. Like right now! By this time, our cleaner had arrived to find them still UNpacking. They had pulled all the duvets and sheets off the beds looking for faults, and all their food was in the fridge. 

I told them if they wanted a refund, that they would have to cancel which they have. But they were not moving out until I rang them and told them that they had to leave immediately. 

Anyway, I just wanted to thank the community. By reading other people's posts I know that these people would have stayed a night or even all 4 nights and then claimed a full refund. OK, it's upsetting that our house is empty for Christmas and Boxing Day, but I would rather be empty than give these people a free holiday!

Thank you!!

[Sarah977]

@Robin4 No, that is not my experience. I'm in that age bracket myself, as are you, and I would never be a guest like that, nor , I imagine, are you. And luckily, my guests of that age have not been complainers or nit-pickers.

Maybe some of these older guests need to get their eyeglass prescription updated, as they don't seem to be able to find what is right in front of their eyes 🙂

[Kira32]

@Robin4 

I go trough the listing description with those kind of nitpicking parasites  so that everything is clear to them. 

I tell them that everything what is not mentioned in the description, we just do not provide. 

One guest asked me if I had smaller grains of seasalt and I told him that we have a very fine one 1minute away at the supermarket.

Salt is not mentioned on my listing by the way but I don't bother if they use mine as long as they don't insult my fresh local salt flakes😂. 

[Rebecca181]

@Robin4 I remember my very first guest (not through Airbnb - but referred to me by a nearby Airbnb host who, I realize now, was threatened by the perceived 'competition' I might pose).

The guest made my life a nightmare in most every way. At the end, she asked for money off of an already discounted rate (never again!) as she "could not hear the ocean." I have storm windows, mind you. I asked if she had opened the window. She said, "No". 

The trick nearly worked - I considered never hosting again, based on the weekend-from-hell this guest put me through. I decided to continue and never regretted it - but I do screen particularly well as a result of this most odious 'initiation' (practically a hazing), courtesy of a jealous neighboring host.

[Ange2]

@Robin4   

I have finally discovered an upside to not having an elevator!  Maybe.

Guests I have had in the top end of that age range have been among the best guests ever, on-time to the minute, good communicators, well-traveled and thus realistic about expectations, responsible, respectful, have done their research, super interesting and fitter by far than many younger people who have complained about lugging suitcases up the stairs even when I have warned them from the get-go.   Two examples of my over 65 guests: a high mountain alpine rescuer; a couple who were off on a daunting two-week bike trip in the wilds of beyond, they have been biking all over the world  for decades.  All my top age range guests have been charming and appreciative of everything, the only downside is they do not write reviews. Other than that a perfect 10. Welcome back anytime!

As for any particular age range being a pain I have not discovered a pattern.

[Lori1934]

Can you actaully change settings so people don’t get an email to do their review? I am super tired of the whole review process 😞 

I’ve had people use 5 rolls of tp over two days, and they were gone half the time. They may have just taken it. I had people take whole boxes of laundry soap (i only leave one pod now), take  a weeks worth if condiments for one night stay, and steal artwork ... that had been stored in a zippered locked compartment! I hadn't noticed until I went to get it for a buyer and they were all gone - could have been any of the guests as I didn't even think to look. I had one person stand on one of my easels to get a look at something (??) and broke it - I didn't see it until she was long gone. I no longer allow pets because, well, its obvious. Most people are great and grateful but the ones that aren’t - yeesh...and then they get to review you. Its kind of rubbish. I thought it ended once you received ample evidence that you are a good host, but it doesn't, it grows...I think Im going to close it down 😞

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

same here @Robin4  😄

yes, young millennials are sometimes careless... but guests around 60-70 are grumpy complainers. I even wrote in my studio apartment description: "This listing is the best suited for younger guests" after one old grumpy couple said in their review how our place is a bit better than a hostel 😄  They didn't read the listing nor our messages, were unreachable by phone, were late and lost at arrival and really unpleasant people. I am not sure anymore but I think they were from Australia

This note you received... Jesus! No comment....

[Pat271]

I haven’t had to kick out a guest yet, so I was wondering...did you have to cancel online as well; how is that handled?  Do you call Airbnb and explain the situation, so that you don’t get dinged for cancelling?  Did you give the scammers a full refund?

[Ange2]

@Pat271    If the guest won't cancel call Airbnb. Never cancel online and never click yes to an email asking you if you want to cancel you will be penalized even if the guest has asked you to cancel and/or they have created the problem.  In such cases Airbnb invariably overrides a host's cancellation policy in the guest's favor and refunds them, at the least for nights not spent.  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990/as-a-host-what-penalties-apply-if-i-cancel-a-reservation-for... Fingers crossed it never happens to you.

[Pat271]

@Ange2 Thanks - It’ll probably happen to me at some point - thanks for the tips on how to handle it with Airbnb.  I wonder if the Airbnb guest fee is refunded as well?  Seems that would at least be some retribution for this type of guest.

[Paul154]

@Denise80 

You gave yourself the best Xmas gift of all - A piece of mind.

You protected yourself and fought for this protection.

I'm impressed your cleaning lady was so proactive. Very necessary with a long distance listing.

I hope you remember her with a nice Xmas bonus.

[Ange2]

@Denise80    Good for you. Best way to address this type of person, call their bluff.  Now you can have yourself a very merry Christmas and relax during the holidays.

[Yulianna0]

@Denise80, did your house keeper take the pictures? That can be useful if they will put nasty review. For sure they will not be happy that they could not play their game and get great stay for free. Let’s wish them to spend fantastic holidays in dirty motel with roaches:) 

I think that if any will complain about my place being not clean, I’ll suggest to give me master class and I will refund them. After checking their work with white glove😆😆😆

[Denise80]

Thanks for all the moral support @Pat271 @Susan17 @Yulianna0 @Ange2  (sorry, I cannot seem to tag more people)

Yes, I slept very well indeed last night knowing that I hadn't given in to these people, and woke this morning to a booking request, and a 5-star review from my latest guest with a lovely comment. Yay!

I hadn't noticed that the age of the guest correlated with the grumpy ones, except that there is a country where I hate getting older people booking from as they are my two bad reviews...back in the day when I just reviewed everyone straight away. These people were not from that country, but from another one far, far away and were my first from that region. Funny, but I love the Kiwis and the Aussies as guests best 🙂

L (cleaner) videos the house after each clean on her phone, so we have that if needed. I presume being on her phone that it will be dated. Yes, she received a generous Christmas bonus last week to show how much we value her. 

I looked on the website last night to see what houses were available in my area. There was one for nearly twice my price, with an average of 4.7 stars (mine is 4.9) which is no longer available so maybe that's where they are now. 

[Sarah977]

@Denise80  Congrats on handling the situation with finesse.

FYI only 5 names ever appear in the original tagging box. To tag any other poster, just click on the @ symbol and start typing in their handle. Other boxes will pop up and once you type in the poster's name and number, that should appear, then just click on it. If you type too fast, sometimes it doesn't work and you'll get "No matches", then just type it again, slower.

[Denise80]

I forgot to say, hubby and I kept checking the cameras last night to make sure they didn't sneak back. They had the code for the gate but L took home the key so they had no way of getting back into the house. 

I have told L that she is doing a great job if they could only come up with a sticky remote as a complaint even after pulling all the beds apart obviously looking for something to complain about.