Leaving ABB-- what is next?

[Laura2592]

After 3 years and about 200 total disparate stays with a variety of colorful guests, we recently had one who killed wildlife in the yard with a pellet gun and left them in a pile as well as spent casings both indoors and out, smoked indoors and left the windows open in January and then claimed the "AC" didn't work in the review and the space wouldn't get warm. There was a mess that looked like he was trying to redecorate my space (pulled down curtains and then said I didn't have any, moved the sofa and dining table, chairs) and the lingering smoke smell mixed with body odor was a pain to remove. This is the last straw which is making me seriously consider removing my listing from this platform. I have pulled back my calendar availability from 6 months to 3 and am mulling over if I should wipe my listing completely.

For those of you who have left or are considering leaving, what direction are you going in? We would not rent long term on this platform but might become landlords. Our area is hard to find short term lessors so I am contacting some realtors. We really don't want a 12 month lease as we prefer to use the space ourselves when we can. But we may go that way. We are also considering selling but have bookings into April so we couldn't do it immediately. 

What are your plans after ABB?

[Laura2592]

@Sarah977 I am tempted. I sincerely doubt they would care.

When I didn't get my payout for months I wrote to a few local news outlet about the problems hosts had getting paid for services they provided. I had some interest from someone who does a travel blog. I tweeted to ABB that I was doing that. It made zero difference. I did eventually get paid but it had nothing whatsoever to do with threatening them with embarrassment. I think unless someone dies, they don't act. And when they do its a feel good "thoughts and prayers-- we are making changes!" statement that amounts to nothing.

It IS illegal as its not hunting season. But I did not catch him in the act which seems to be what ABB wants me to do before they take action. All the evidence is circumstantial. Its totally dangerous. He should NOT be allowed on the platform full stop. I left him the lowest ratings I could and said I would not host again. But I did not want to accuse him in the review as I thought it might be taken down. I did not catch him but I know full well he did it. 

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  I would guess that between 'guns' and 'photos of dead squirrels' you would get more media interest in a story about how Airbnb doesn't care and will not even react when someone comes to a person's house and illegally shoots wildlife, leaving them in a pile on the property.  That  has a lot more sensationalistic value than 'Airbnb doesn't pay their hosts'.  

[Sarah977]

@Mark116 @Laura2592  I agree with Mark- this is totally different from not getting paid. This is a safety violation which Airbnb purports loudly to take seriously. They certainly have no qualms about immediately suspending a host if a guest reports a supposed safety violation, without any evidence.

In fact, they delisted a host a few years ago (she took Airbnb to court over it and won her case) based upon a guest's report that the host had a gun by the front door. It wasn't even a proper gun, but something she had used on a practice range sometime in the past and had been relegated to the dog toy box, which is where the guest spotted it.

[Laura2592]

@Sarah977  They certainly have no qualms about immediately suspending a host if a guest reports a supposed safety violation, without any evidence.

Excellent point!

[Arnie89]

I am new so I don't understand how you weren't paid.  I thought when they booked they provided payment to AirBnB which gets passed on to you after they check in?  Like I say we have only had three bookings so far and  its been good,  sorry for your horror story.  That would make me think about quitting too.  However a long term renter might just be as bad.  I would raise prices and have bookings be required to be approved by you.   

[Sarah977]

@Arnie89  Yes, that is how payments are supposed to work. And hopefully most do.

But there are lots of threads on this forum where hosts have been waiting months to get paid for thousands of dollars worth of completed booking and Airbnb just keeps giving them the run around.

[Summit-View0]

@Sarah977 @Laura2592 @Arnie89 @Dimitar27 @Lisa723 

I am owed thousands of dollars for a 28 night stay that was completed successfully and completely in March 2022 !

I recommend to stay away from Airbnb. It is a fraudulent company.

I am in touch with 19 Airbnb 'support'team members in the past 2 months. 

All I get is apologies and the lame excuse there is a technical issue and their 'engineers' are working to fix it !!!!

[Lenore22]

For what it's worth, I would consider raising the rates and counting on less occupancy, as @Colleen253 suggested... At least as a first step.

Our rates are on the higher end of our market and we prefer to only book 4 stays or 10 days/month, partly because we stay here ourselves, but partly because of the work of turnovers and "emotional hardships." (Nail-biting during questionable guests). We've been pretty happy with our guests since we made that move.

We also don't shy away from turning potential guests off by seeming like overprotective (overly communicative) hosts. Like many hosts, we ask who is coming with them (friends, family, etc) and the purpose of their trip. Every single guest who says it's a group of friends, we give a big message about how it's a residential neighborhood and if they make noise after 10 (just drinking beers outside) the cops may knock on the doors at 10:15 and if that doesn't seem like a good fit, we're happy to recommend places either in the center of town or out in the forest. No one gets their door code until they've jumped through all my hoops: confirmed numbers, agreed to our pet policy, etc. It's a bit of work--- but I'm willing to do it 4x/month to cover the mortgage & utilities. And like you, I'm happy to lose income or a reservation if it spares me a headache.

Based on what I had seen here with listings being pulled, etc, we set up a website to direct book, that we only share with guests we like (all others are directed to book through Airbnb & VRBO so we have a measure of vetting, etc). We've actually had great luck with VRBO and were interested to see that they helped us match our average market price, which was significantly higher than what Airbnb suggested. We now have equal bookings on VRBO & Airbnb.

You might be surprised what the right kind of guests are willing to pay...

[Arnie89]

@Lenore22 So I assume you don't have instant booking turned on?  Right now I do but they have to have identity verified and a review.  My current guest had a good review and was able to book instantly, she said she was a party of two but I see she probably has a family of 6 staying.  I don't know if that should bother me or not and am wondering if I should be more involved with the vetting like you do it.  I am not in an area with high tourist demand.  So usually it is families coming for reunions, weddings, graduations and the such.  Airbnb warns me my bookings may go down if I turn off instant booking.

[Sue174]

@Arnie89 , I have done both instant book and send an inquiry. You get way less bookings with instant book turned off. It’s true. Maybe that’s ok for you because it definitely leaves you in control. You MUST vet your guests more carefully, however. Even when I had instant book turned ON, once they booked, I always asked for the guest list “for my booking file”. So there are no surprises and no one gets offended, it’s actually in my house rules that they may be asked for a guest list to confirm occupancy. You would be surprised how this cuts down on 90% of the people not being honest about who will actually be staying in the space. Even if your listing allows six guests for the same price, and they booked for two, I would still want to know that the cleaning at the end will involve more laundry, etc. In seven years of hosting, I have only had one guest get slightly offended that I asked who would be joining her. I explained that it was for liability reasons, which is true. Imagine a tragedy and you are asked who was in the home or how many and you couldn’t say? Extreme, yes, but plausible. 

[Andrea2752]

I agree with @Colleen253 on the pricing strategy.  Raising prices not only helps mitigate your risk as a property owner, but serves as a filter of sorts.  In my case in the Seattle and NY markets, I found that my guests willing to rent at a slightly higher price point placed an inherently higher value on the property and the experience overall.  Price is one way I've handled risk.  Typically, I haven't offered one-night rentals (unless as a favor for repeat guests), even though that would boost occupancy.  The lower occupancy at a higher price point has paid off, in time, materials & concern. 

[Lenore22]

Omg--- just. Wow. I'm so sorry this happened to you. 😥

[Laura2592]

@Lenore22 I am really depressed about the animals. Sincerely so. I love the fact that our property is typically such a safe haven for all kinds of creatures. I love bird watching and seeing new four legged visitors at our space. 

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  I'm not surprised.  It's a huge violation, a violation of the law, but more so, a huge violation of your trust in allowing someone the use of your home.

[Lenore22]

Can you file a police report?