Hello all!
I have been a member as a host and guest for 4 years. Until last month we have had the best experiences on both hosting and guest platforms. I truly have loved being part of the AirBnB community! Having said that, I can not figure out why and how I have been having such extreme hosting experiences this last month. Any advise on how to avoid and traverse these situations would be greatly appreciated. I have 2 spaces: guest house and a private guest suite. These are my back to back guest experiences in the last 25 days:
1. Guest checked in for two days asked to extend two more days. I did. Her card was declined. Guest kept assuring me she was taking care of it. I was never given a payout. Guest checked out, and no payout for her extended-stay to date. She continues to claim Airbnb paid out but that did not happen. She had a great experience as a accounted in her messages to me. But no payout for me to date. AirBnB escalated team tells me this account is in collections, however I can see on the guests profile she has stayed with another host after me and it appears they were paid and reservation was completed.
2 . Guest violated rules, guest lied, guest set off my fire alarm at 2 am and lied that he was smoking in my room. I had to cancel this guest’s stay and asked AirBnB to find him a new host.
3. Guest did not communicate about checking in for 24 hours. Guest had a 3.5 rating and review and only one previous AirBnB experience.The guest lives locally so travel was not the issue. The guest is under 20 years of ages. I believe inexperience and lack of maturity is the issue here. This guest Finally communicated with me around midnight, two hours after the check-in time had ended. I was asleep. The guest claimed she had lost her phone. The guest was sending unintelligible text messages to me. I stopped communicating at that point and I canceled this reservation and asked AirbnB to help the guest find a new host.
4. Guest came to check in. We live in a mountainous and rustic area. The guest had trouble walking up the paved driveway, two steps of the deck and walking across the deck. The guest tripped on the deck and complained about the steps. We have a large 2/3 acre property. Guest complained it is dark and she is used to living in the city. She complained she could not see. She is elderly, needs a walker and cane, can not see at night and weighs approx. 300 lbs. she was breathing with heavy gasps just walking up the driveway, which is not at an incline. We have large pine cones from our red wood trees, stones and cobble stone walkways—-i felt it was not safe or conducive for someone with her conditions to stay with us. She never had asked me if I accommodated someone with disabilities like hers and I do not claim to on the platform. When I told her this, she yelled at me and told me she was a lawyer and would sue me if I cancelled this reservation. I am still waiting for her reservation to be cancelled.
All of these experiences have happened from Dec 12, 2019 to Jan 4, 2020. What is going on? Am I encouraging these types if guests? Any wisdom with this is most appreciated!
Sincerely,
Christina
