Spiders!

[Emily1491]

Hi all, I need some advice about a guest. I live on the edge of a small town in the Hudson Valley. Recently I had a guest contact me via Airbnb messages and say that he had found a spider in the apartment on the day of check-in (he contacted me three days after the day of check in and two days after he would've checked out). He stated that the surfaces in the apt were clean but the presence of spiders made it "not sanitary" and he had to leave without staying, and he was giving me the opportunity to "do the right thing" and give him a full refund or his experience would be reflected in a review. I didn't respond right away--I wasn't home and I wanted to check out the space and see if a horde of spiders really had moved in in the last few days. I also contacted Airbnb support to notify them that I had a guest threatening a bad review if he didn't receive a full refund. I took pictures of the whole apartment and found nary a spider. Airbnb support was helpful and told me I had a case for getting a review removed if it was clearly retaliatory, and also that they had heard nothing from the guest about a refund. Several hours after his initial message he texted me the same message. I responded that I hadn't been able to find any spiders--could he send me some photos or documentation from the apartment? I heard nothing back but was notified a few hours after that that he had left me a review. 

The thing is, he could absolutely have found a spider--though I clean thoroughly, there are spiders! There are also deer, skunks, groundhogs, squirrels, and plenty of bugs outside, including ticks (and the occasional bear, though not often). We are going through a spider-y time this fall, and I've had one prior guest complain about finding spiders outside, so I've been trying to stay on top of the spiders.  Is it me, or is this whole thing insane? Who leaves because they found a spider? And why wouldn't he contact Airbnb, or me, as soon as he decided to leave? I also feel like I have to write him a review, but I'm uncertain what to say. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Emily1491 its NOT you. We used to list an 18th century place and spiders would move in overnight at certain times of year. To preempt any issues we actually explained this in our description that it is possible that spiders can move in between our cleaning and the guest's arrival. 

[Zheng49]

I feel like the existence of spiders is beneficial. 

But the reason why I'm wary of house centipedes and house spiders is because the existence of these predators indicate a much larger issue - the insects they feed/prey on. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Emily1491 I was going to add that if they leave a bad review you should come back here for help answering it. BUT having read your response to the complaint it was cold with the AC on I don't think you need any help. Your response was brilliant - basically suggesting the guest was an idiot not to just adjust the AC but without saying it - as I say - Brilliant.

[Emily1491]

Thank you 😂 I've been getting a wave of really difficult guests lately (it always comes in waves!) but this is the first refund demand I've gotten. I reluctantly had my partner use a spider spray inside the apartment and around the entrance today, so I hope people like this guest prefer active pesticides during a stay to the occasional spider. I still haven't found a single arachnid in the apartment. Honestly I have been thinking about quitting Airbnb and renting long term as I'm nearly eight months pregnant, and I'm so tired of managing people like this.

Does anyone have any experience in getting a review like this taken down? Even Airbnb support agreed with me that the guest was clearly threatening a retaliatory review.