Post Title: Superhosts—Need Insight on How You’ve Handled Similar Situations

[Yvonne-and-Earl0]

Hey Airbnb community,

We’re reaching out to fellow Superhosts for some insight and guidance.

A recent guest booked our listing under a strict no-refund policy, checked in, and shortly after requested a full refund. The only “cleanliness” issue they submitted was a photo of a floor vent, which is part of our central heating system and cleaned annually as part of scheduled maintenance. No photos of bathrooms, kitchens, or bedrooms—areas we professionally clean before every stay.

However, what the guest verbally expressed concern about (and what we believe was the true issue) was ongoing city construction happening outside the unit—something completely beyond our control. This included sidewalk restoration and tree planting (see photos below), part of a city beautification project. None of this was related to the condition or cleanliness of our actual listing.

Despite this, Airbnb ruled in the guest’s favor, citing a violation of their Host Standards Policy, and issued a full refund. Our calendar had been blocked for weeks, and we lost income we couldn’t recoup, even though:
• The listing is accurate
• The space was clean
• Guest check-in was smooth
• All communication was timely

We’ve reviewed Airbnb’s Host Ground Rules but still don’t understand what we violated.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation?
• Were you able to successfully appeal?
• How do you handle these kinds of external factors when guests take issue?

We love hosting and take great pride in our space, but moments like this raise real concerns about how hosts are protected—especially when we’ve done everything right.

Appreciate any advice or similar experiences you’re willing to share.

—
Yvonne & Earl
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*[Sensitive information removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

#AirbnbHost #SuperhostSupport #ShortTermRentalCommunity #AirbnbQuestions #HostProtection #HospitalityMatters

[Greystone0]

Hi @Yvonne-and-Earl0 ,

Thanks for sharing post and sorry to hear about the experience. It's tough to stomach issues like this especially when you take your hosting, cleaning, and  all-the-other-important-tasks seriously. Your care for your business is communicated well. 

Here's some insight on how we've dealt:

- exterior community construction: we had a three year project in our little area that impacted our home. At one point the construction was outside our home. You can let folks know about the project, how it might impact their time in the area, including noise, dust/dirt buildup, traffic patterns, etc. In our case the traffic patterns changes were significant and thus communicating to guests to help ease the frustration was important to us. In your case, and in hindsight, the construction caused some dirt buildup. The amount of dust and debris from a construction project is monumental and it would be difficult to maintain standards with the daily onslaught. Your cleaner could come and go and the place could be dust filled the same day - that is my general experience with this type of thing. It's just such a nuisance. Even with communicating this you may have ended up in a similar conclusion from the guest. 

- VENTS - anything outward facing, like a heat duct/vent or anything should be dusted or cleaned as part of a regular schedule, not annual. The vent part that someone can see should be cleaned. If a guest can peer inside then you might want to try and clean out the area that is immediately visible.  Keep the annual maintenance or cleaning as that is also highly relevant but if a guest can 'see' it, you should clean it. The construction you mentioned probably added to the dust in this case.

- in our market we try to stay on top of any local developments that affect the experience - we subscribe to our local notification system and are in-n-out of our property at least once a month to help keep abreast of things.  So in your case, any scheduled road work, construction, etc may have been announced to allow you to consider how it will affect your business. Obviously things come up totally unexpectedly too. If you read enough reviews you will see that guests hate encountering construction as much as they hate buying toilet paper.

Hopefully this gives some food for thought. I don't have advice on trying to appeal but am aware it is possible and suggest keeping your facts, photos and evidence organized and communicated for each encounter you have with AIRBNB support. 

And just to say it as we are thinking it, guests can be sneaky and underhanded and it may have just been this case. They looked for a way out of the contract and found one. 

Wishing you much success!

[Yvonne-and-Earl0]

@Greystone0 Thank you so much for this incredibly thoughtful and detailed message—it truly means a lot.

Everything you shared—from your real-world experience with long-term construction to your insight about visible vent maintenance—is not only helpful, but also grounding. Sometimes, as hosts who take our work seriously, it’s easy to second-guess ourselves when a situation doesn’t go as planned. Your reminder that even with excellent communication and effort, the outcome can still be unpredictable really helped put things into perspective.

I especially appreciate the acknowledgment that yes, some guests do come in with intentions that aren’t always honest. It’s a hard truth we don’t always say out loud, so thank you for voicing it with grace. It helps to hear that from someone who’s been in the trenches and still maintains a warm, professional outlook.

Your tips about staying plugged into local notifications and being proactive about guest expectations are gold—we’ll definitely be implementing more of that moving forward.

Thank you again for your encouragement, transparency, and generosity in sharing your experience. Wishing you continued success, great guests, and minimal dust!