I am a superhost. This summer has been rough. I have gotten guests that have stayed at our property and go over occupancy and having large gatherings/parties. I feel helpless because I know if I say something to the guest about violating house rules, they will give me a bad review. So here it goes. I had a guest check in to the property. His reservation was for 3 guests. Our ring camera went off (plus I have a neighbor across the street that counted cars) and the guest had more than doubled his occupancy! I reached out to the guest and asked him how many to stay there. He stumbled over his words but said the place was so nice his mom and sister and two kids wanted to stay there too. Occupancy now (at 8pm at night) is now 7. I really had no choice but to allow the added guests since they were already inside the property. I did remind the guest he could not go over 7 folks there during his stay. He agreed. Two days later, our camera showed multiple cars out front with lots of small children (under the age of 5) running around in the front yard near the street and then running to the back. The property sits on a body of water. The camera picked up also a dog being brought to the property and about 10 more adults. The guest had invited unapproved guests to the house to have an after wedding party. Instead of attacking him in a message thread, we requested to do some maintenance work. He was fine with it. The maintenance guy did need to do some work there in the backyard and he confirmed what was going on. The next morning the guest checked out. My cohost inspected the property and found the arm of the recliner had been either jumped on or sat on as it was broken off of the frame. I later came in and found that damage plus ruined towels, a soiled futon, etc. Trying to stick with Airbnb guidelines, I informed the guest right away of the damaged property. I even sent pictures. I also informed him we would be making a claim for damages and the extra guests that came to the house for the afterparty. I explained the disappointment etc as he violated our house rules. That night I informed him of missing towels and we learned of a dog coming to the house. The guest did not respond to my messages. Instead, I was alerted the next day he wrote his review (he gave the property a 1 star review). I had to later compile our receipts to make the damage claim. I didn't want to do my review until after I made my request to the guest. He refused to pay (of course) and then went as far as made a report to the safety team. ugh. I did finally got my recliner paid for by host damage policy (pictures and receipts speak a thousand words.) Today I posted my review. I was very honest and detailed and did not speak of anything except what damages were done and house rules violated. After my review posted his review came through. He went on about the neighbors watching him and his guests, the co host was in disguise as a worker just a bunch of garbage. The property is a 5 star waterfront property so I requested a removal of the retaliatory review. I was denied twice. I had documentation showing the message thread I sent him on Aug 4 with pictures. I said to support "How is it not retaliation when he posted his review a day after I sent him a note of our claim for damages, violating house rules, having unauthorized guests?" As a superhost I am beyond words. We put the house up for sale. We just feel like we can't seek damage claims or enforce house rules without the fear of getting a negative review. It is just not worth it. I am a superhost with 4 listings and I strongly believe that airbnb has gone down hill and care more about the guests than their hosts. I have 112 reviews for four listings; my guests 98% of the time give 5 stars for all places. I have been a superhost for three years. This last guest has about 6 reviews in 7 years being on airbnb.
