Want to cancel for free? Just trash the place!
This guest books for 15 nights for himself, wife and daughter. His wife and daughter arrive two days before and are shocked to find out it's a shared apartment with a shared bathroom. Never mind it's clear on the listing and that it's impossible to find a private apartment at that price. The husband messages me asking for free cancelation and it was just an honest mistake to which I tell him that the nights booked are too many and with the moderate policy in place they can get half of the money. After learning this the wife proceeds to harass my house manager and get very loud and in his face, even invading his personal space by barging inside his private room uninvited and without knocking on more than one occasion.
After I refuse to budge (and in retrospect I wish I had) and demand that they respect my house manager and his privacy, they accept the housing arrangement and calm down. The morning after the arrival of the husband I receive a message about an 'unacceptable state of the apartment' and that they have 'photo proof'. After a long back and forth with the Airbnb team they allow me to see their "photo evidence". I am able to show that most of the so called evidence is fabricated by sending the clean up photos from the day before, thus proving that the dirtiness of the bathroom was their own doing. I am able to prove that the blankets and towels thrown in the closet are the ones provided and that a poster discarded and left on the floor was ripped and put there by them. A single piece of fabricated evidence would make any court of law dismiss any further claims but not for Airbnb. Since I wasn't able to prove another piece of likely fabricated evidence they decided to side with the guests. The senior case manager even had the audacity to say, "thanks to the kindness of the guest, they're not asking for a 30% compensation for the nights stayed". Not that it matters, but both of the guests staying in the rooms before their check in and the guest staying in the room beside them had no complaints and all left stellar reviews.
I’ve accepted the financial loss, the stress, the pathetic attempt at slander, but the idea that I just have to accept a 1-star review from this person is what really breaks me. And not only that, when I called and my first claim was denied for "not breaking any rules" I told the Airbnb representative I would like talk to a senior case manager. I was lied to and told that in order to do that I need to file another case. I was wary but he insisted and assured me that I could still contest it even if the second claim is denied. Now all three case managers have told me the same bull about how it was already denied twice, how they are powerless and how they can't even get in touch with the relevant team, which in all honesty I find hard to believe.
They keep saying the review talks about their experience and the listing and doesn't break any rules. Does the review have to clearly state "The host wouldn't let me cancel for free so now I am writing this" in order to be considered retaliatory? Just an overall unreal and saddening experience. I feel completely treated as a fool and as a mere chicken to be plucked.
Is there an actual escalation path when frontline Support keeps insisting they “can’t contact the relevant team”?
