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.

[Marie8425]

@Emily1491 

It depends if he just leaves a negative review that he seen a spider and you didn't refund that's true not much can be done.

Similar to your other stupid guest about cold you can also respond with the truth guest didn't notify you until a significant amount of time had passed. You have more options to remedy a situation if the guest communicates so you can participate in making decision.

Personally I don't like to have my arguments online but I would give probably a 2 or 3 star for guests communication.  I just state guests lack of communication caused a major inconvenience and additional costs to prepare apt for next guest.  Again all true.

Sa to switching to LTR instead of STR, it has to be a business decision not emotional.  LTR can be irritating to just different issues.  In either Renter it comes down mostly to vetting.  You have to approve or disapprove someone based on your business knowledge of your rental and your market.  If you usually rent 7 days per  reservation and someone looks good but wants 1 day or 30 days, why?    For me when I have approved the unusual because they seem nice, it always burns me.  

[Cheri354 · Accepted solution]

Just wanted to say, if guest does complain about a spider causing him to not stay, anyone reading that complaint will smile at the audacity. Some folks are super scared of bugs, I get that. And it would be sad to leave accommodations due to seeing one small spider. But where can one go where there's a guarantee of not seeing any sort of wildlife ? One spider does not reflect a lack of care or cleanliness on behalf of the Host. One has to open the outside door to enter the dwelling, thus leaving a 30 second window for a critter to enter as well. Def. would be retaliatory if the review states anything like he threatened.  Best wishes~

[Emily1491]

Thank you so much! The guest did leave a very bad, truly unhinged review. Airbnb agreed that it violated their review policy and took it down. I ended up not leaving him a review as I wasn’t confident I could leave one not based on his threatening message and compounding the retaliation. 

I have been impressed recently with Airbnb superhost support, who have actually listened and helped me. In the past I’ve had to calm them down and been hung up on several times, but the last two issues I’ve had have been dealt with politely and fairly.

I’m closing down the airbnb for a while and doing a longer term rental—less money but less angst hopefully. Thank you all for all the help you’ve provided!