Gulp. Here goes we are fairly new to Airbnb. I come here often to get answers for tough situations. Didn’t post what happened last weekend and now another bad situation ongoing. Here goes…. Realized I am a license therapist trained in the most bizarre but this goes above my professional resources. We are at the point maybe we will go live on other hosting sites and leave ABB behind.
Last week a guest came as a single told us visiting her daughter she hasn’t seen in two years. First she complained about the toilet paper because it’s for a septic system and we have had to pump out the system twice in one year due to previous renters prior to us buying the property. Then complained about how far the grocery store is, yet is is clearly noted on the listing all amenities provided. We added a few we didn’t have to. We disclosed in three different locations as well as in the welcome message about the alarm system and OUTDOOR cameras in public outside space for the driveway not for guests but because in our area people think it’s ok to driveway up into any driveway and hangout. We are putting up a gate soon. Anyway she got angry about something and reported us as having cameras inside in private area. Plus she let another not identified guest spend the night who I believe is local and gave the woman the private key code to the front door. We let it all slide didn’t call AirBNB yet they simply shut down our listing for 4 days until we answered their questions. We sent them actual photos of the tiny cameras on the front and back porches. We are quite rural and neighbors have complained about people trying g to stay in their crawl space so we decided it was best to protect our investment. AirBNB also told us they were noting our file if we got another complaint they would shut us down. I appealed this and eventually they acknowledged it was a false allegation. They didn’t even ask us or call us prior to making our listing disappear.
fast forward to this current reservation. The husband thinks he is a handyman. Now mind you this house received a total upgrade with all new faucets, appliances, ceilings fans we added a full en-suite with freestanding tub. The downstairs bedroom has a shower tub combo all new. We get a call the first night they burned a pan by forgetting it on the stove using olive oil and set off the smoke detectors. They admitted it got really Smokey and they left all the doors and windows open to air it out. They couldn’t turn the tv on and get the right channels but wouldn’t let me come over to show them around and help so resorted to sending them photos since I have the same tv at home. They admitted they had read any of the house rules. They are ok with the alarm system and cameras for it made them feel safer and ask me to set the alarm each night which I did no problem. Yesterday evening I get an urgent phone call the lady was using the faucet to the freestanding tub which has a brand new $500 faucet set on it. Well she cranked the handle so far it broke off flooding the floors all brand new which flooded the other bedroom downstairs. We had to turn the water off at the main because there was no way to get the faucet to stop shooting water everywhere. We cleaned it all up gave them extra water for the toilets which they didn’t use so guess what we had to do this am. The plumber we used was out on an emergency call 45 minutes from us so they had to go without water overnight. The plumber came today And took the faucet out stating it was not repairable and tapped off those water lines restoring the water. My husband cleaned out all the nasty toilets cleaned all the water up and provided small mats used to draw water up out of the rugs and wood floors. Then the husband told us he tried to fix the loose toilet seat and couldn’t get it back on. So we fixed that. Now Lind you two days ago when I sanitized this toilet the seat was as tight as it was suppose to be. The place is trashed with garage all over dirty dishes and it’s very smoky inside.
called AirBNB to see what we should do should they be relocated due to all the water damage the drywall will need to be replaced and so will the rug and ceiling fan since it had water running from it. No response. They thought I was trying to file a claim I said no I believe they need to be relocated and was told by CS they had to send it a different department. So we have water damage we cannot clean up yet we have a broken toilet seat damaged ceiling, all the bedding g was damaged not the mattress for it has a waterproof cover. And silence from AirBNB. I believe they will force us to keep guests in a home with water damage we won’t be able to start clean up until Tuesday. The plumber told us the faucet was forced off it wasn’t faulty. He knows this brand and said it’s a well made. In any case I am. Owned over by the sheer lack of support. I felt it was in the best interest of the guest to be relocated. We afe
losing money every day the water damage sits unattended.
Up to now we have had guests respectful and clean with all good reviews. The last two have honestly made me less thrilled to be renting out our farmhouse that is historic 122 year old real farmhouse and we poured so much time and money into to for short term rental.
Any insight would be helpful.
Rhonda and Mark.
