Improved protections for Hosts and guests or how you can be scammed by the guests and lose all your money guide

[Alex-And-Kate0]

We've just lost 2000 euros in the 2 similar cases that happened this week. Be ready that you can be scammed anytime and, as the host, you will not be protected by the Airbnb at all, if the guests find something cheaper and don’t feel satisfied with the amount of money they booked your place for, because most of the time there are other cheaper last-minute deals on the market, or they just want to cancel free of charge.

So, speaking shortly here's the guide on how you can possibly lose all the money on your future bookings as the host + will be left unprotected or how you can receive a full refund anytime you find something cheaper as the guest:

There are Improved protections for Hosts and guests and Rebooking and Refund Policy which literally says, that the guest is eligible for a full refund if the accommodation is not reasonably clean and sanitary, including bedding and towels. It doesn't say anything about you having the option to solve the issue or change the linen/ provide extra cleaning.

So the guest can just put his hair on the bed or mark something with lipstick on the pillow, for example, then take a photo and send it to the Airbnb and you will receive the cancelation with the full refund provided to the guest.

You won’t be given the opportunity to solve the issue, you will just receive the cancelation and be ignored by the support managers.

We have over 100 apartments, it happened to us 2 times this week with a loss which equals the 50 nights to be sold right now, since both of the bookings were on the most expensive dates in Prague (New Year's eve). The first time, we were not even contacted by the support and the guest, the second time the support manager sent us these links they are relying on, where you as the Host are not protected by Airbnb at all, so be ready this might happen to you anytime.

@Shinya0 @Robin4 @Sheila646 @Bea2137@Robin129 @Soraya19 @Heliana2 @Till-and-Jutta0@Deirdre122 @Daniel1651@J-Renato0 @Alexandra624 @Solveig0 @Ester1 @Pascale144 @Marlene76 @Gillian166 @Linda3273 @Kelly-And-Dan0 @Marc9206 @Essaouira-Beachlife-Moro0 @Martine1157 @Rebeca70 @Clara116 @Claudia331@David9478 @Laurelle3 @Airbnb  @Emilie  @Sybe  @Jenny 

[Till-and-Jutta0]

@Alex-And-Kate0 , such a mass tagging is not necessary. The CC frequent users have their own individual ways to get informed about new posts (e.g. specific subscription) and to decide which discussions they want to follow.

Additional unspecific tagging can result in unwelcomed double traffic. While specific mentioning of individual members for a certain purpose could make sense, we should avoid unspecific mass tag spamming with the purpose of just drawing attention to one’s post.

[Alex-And-Kate0]

Dear Till and Jutta,

I agree with your point and am sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused.

First time using the Airbnb Community Center and found in other posts that mass tagging is a common thing, so decided just to copy that,  now I see that was a wrong decision. 

Please accept my sincere apologies everyone was tagged.  Will never use that again, just wanted to get feedback from other hosts or Airbnb administrators on that, since it may happen to every host in the community. 

[Robin4]

@Alex-And-Kate0 

I wouldn't be too concerned about tagging multiple users, it is after all up to us to decide if we are going to respond or not. It doesn't put other contributors out by tagging them!

But, as @Till-and-Jutta0  has said, the downside of it is, it can lead to a lot of off thread conversations which are not helpful.

But in this instance, I have a lot going on my life at the moment and I am not randomly scrolling through the CC as I did for years. But I will however always respond to a direct message, or to a post that I have been tagged in.

So, if you hadn't tagged me with this post of yours, I would never have been notified of it, seen it or responded to it! Don't feel bad.....

All the best!

Cheers.........Rob

[Robin4 · Accepted solution]

@Alex-And-Kate0 

Alex, or Kate,  this is nothing new, this has been going on for years!

We (as hosts) have had to put up with......

A/......a 'guest' who would carry a supply of bedbugs with them, and on the 11th day of a 14 night stay lodge a bedbug complaint to Airbnb and get, not only a full refund but, have the unfortunate hosts listing closed down until a satisfactory exterminators certificate could be produced.

B/.......a 'guest' would book a 14 night stay for a 20% discount and, 6 nights into the stay cancel the remainder of the reservation, get a pro-rata refund and the host would get stiffed into providing a 6 night stay at a 20% discount with little chance of re letting those remaining 8 nights!

C/......a guest books your listing for a one week stay and the day before their arrival discovers they have booked a listing which is in a different state to the one they required, cancels and gets a full refund! 

Do I need to go on.....there are literally dozens of these scenarios and in every case, the outcome almost always favours the guest.

Alex, or Kate, my worse fear is that an incoming guest will find an unattached human hair somewhere in my cottage.....a left over from the previous guest! I go to extra-ordinary lengths to make sure my listing is not just clean but, seen to be clean. It's very hard to list in an old building....to a lot of guests, 'old means dirty'....you can't make it look like it was built yesterday.

What you have found out is, support from Airbnb might be difficult to obtain, and from experience over the years I have adopted a strategy to avoid these problems.

1/....... Potential guests fall into 2 categories....

a/.......Passive/complimentary: "Hi, my name is Rachel, my partner John and I love the look of your cottage and are looking forward to spending a few days away from the kids, can't wait to stay"! They like what they see, they have named themselves, have given me a reason for their stay, just want to pull out their credit card and book! I just know they are going to be great guests, I don't want to check on their background, I just want to welcome them.

b/.......Aggressive/demanding: "we are coming to your area for a wedding, is there off street parking, can I have a few friends over for for a pre-wedding drink, what kitchen facilities are available, what is the earliest we can check-in"......Hang on, I don't know you from Adam, and you have all these requests of me before you have even booked. Nah, I want to do a bit of checking, see what their last reviews have been like.

2/.......Give the guest something they were not expecting:

Have a little surprise up your sleeve, I have that 8 ft electric bed with a mass of 6 pillows, a $30+ cheese plate and a cupboard inbuilt drying rack in the bathroom for women to dry their personal clothing! They are not expecting these things but it gets the hosting off to a good start and when the review process comes around they remember these bits they were not expecting!

By using these 2 strategies I not only avoid a lot of potentially unsuitable guests.....those I might have a problem with but, I get the non-committed guest on side by giving them value they did not expect.

Don't expect Airbnb to insulate you from poor guests and reviews, in fact Airbnb are getting worse each year as far as protecting their hosts is concerned. Over the last two months I have noticed that a potential guest no longer has to send a host an introductory message when they Instant-book any more! All I get is a notification that a totally anonymous package is booked at my property on a certain date, no message, no nothing. And I am noticing that a lot of these anonymous bookings who refuse to answer even a welcome message have a very high reservation cancellation rate.

Each year Airbnb make it that much harder for us hosts to do our job.

@Alex-And-Kate0  I am sorry you may have lost revenue here but, if I can offer you some advice, tighten up your procedures, be a a bit more discriminating in who you accept.....it never hurts you to tell a potential guest your listing may not be a good fit for them....and it can save you a lot of heartache.

I have had a great relationship with Airbnb but, I don't expect anything of them other than to send me guests I feel comfortable accepting. In a couple of months we will hit 600 Airbnb reviews.

So my advice to you is, don't expect Airbnb support, make your business work for you, not Airbnb

Cheers.........Rob

[Fred13]

 @Robin4 - where you been? You know we worry about you when we don't hear from you. 🙂

[Robin4]

@Fred13 

Hi Fred, I am still in the background, as I said in another post here I have more on my plate than I have had for a long time.

* The festive season always plays havoc with ones spare time!

* Each afternoon since Christmas day I have had to take Ade back to our local hospital for an allergic reaction treatment. She is now on the improve.

* We are mad busy with our hosting commitments.

* Regular guests of ours are 2 professors from Helsinki University in Finland and they have bought a plot of land over on Kangaroo Island. They have asked me to help them over there next week to string up and tension their block fencing.

There are not enough hours in the day just now.

I don't randomly scroll the CC any more Fred but, I do respond to DM's or a question directed to me.

Hope all is good over there on Bird Island and in Placencia and I wish you all the best for this year mate.

Cheers.......Rob

[Fred13]

Good to hear all goes well at your end. It is amazing how health, which we hardly gave it a thought when we were young, later in life  it becomes the most important aspect of life.

[Gillian166]

@Robin4  I'm back living f/t on the farm just past Nairne, but also been crazy busy with the school hols and bookings, and settling back in to farm life (SO much to do). 

What a dream to go "help a friend" on KI! I'm the only one in my family who hasn't been so I'm hoping to squeeze a trip in this summer. 

stay well. xo

[Robin4]

@Gillian166 

Thanks Gill, one of the main reasons I accepted their request to help with their fencing was to get my hands on some more of that fabulous Lavender Ice Cream from the Emu Bay Lavender Farm!!

Unfortunately it is only available at the farm on KI, they do not sell to the mainland....and it is fabulous. I am taking over a portable fridge freezer and I am going to bring back as much as the credit card will allow!!!!!

People say....'What the, an ice-cream that tastes like mothballs' but I can assure you Gill, it tastes nothing like mothballs, it's an ice-cream to die for. I will put aside a small tub for you!

Great to hear you are full time at Hay Valley, would love to catch up for a coffee some time, take care possum!

Cheers.......Rob

[Gillian166]

@Robin4  Actually I have had Lavender ice-cream, at the famous lavender farm in Tassie, and I loved it. I actually have some lavender in the pantry for cooking, I put it in the cream to go with scones and that is wonderful too! But I will accept a small tub of lavender ice cream! 

Pretty sure all lavender is edible (like roses) but there are some varieties that are better for culinary use. or perhaps it's a certain part of the flower, can't remember now, and I'm pretty sure the internet has no clue about our Aussie varieties.  

[Maris-Stella1]

Thank you so much for all the advice.

[Marlene76]

I’m writing to say Thank You for the tag; personally, I appreciate it. I would not have seen this post and the response, both of which I find to be so helpful. I have not experienced this kind of highway robbery as a host, thank heavens, and it makes me aware of the unfortunate possibility. I am so sad to hear that these kinds of circumstances happen, and I hope @Robin4 ’s response was helpful for you.

Wishing you good outcomes this year.

- Marlene

[Fred13]

@Alex-And-Kate0   Best to be very explicit with one's description on the type of guest that fits one's listing, because it helps to accomplish two things:

1. You lessen the wrong person from even knocking at your door in the first place.

2. You give the CS 'Santa Claus' types not much wiggle room to come up with a plausible  reason to reward the complainer (oftentimes a hustler) with a refund. Even when they add on to their claim any of the 'standard' bs angles (noise, mold, bug,  smell, et al) it sticks out like a sore thumb.

 Nowadays, I go a step further, during introduction if I suspect I have a potential problem child in my hands, I tell them right out, IF they think it is not for them please stay elsewhere now or at any time and I will refund them any leftover days. No takers yet, but haven't had a hustler since adopting this new approach.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Alex-And-Kate0 

This time I have rented the NYE outside of Airbnb, guests have paid 2 months in advance and after reading your post I will certainly do the same next year. I am sure you will too.

As you said - NYE is too expensive for taking a risk