The guest is not responding

[Muslim4]

The guest isn't responding to my messages. His check-out is tomorrow, we agreed to contact on a previous day (today), so that he can confirm the time. He also told me he would think about extending his reservation and he'll let me know, but he's totally silent today. I wrote him in the Airbnb chat, to his Telegram, WhatsApp, called him a few times, but there is no response from him at all. That's the first time the guest is not responding during more than year of active hosting. Not really sure what to do, we agreed I come over tomorrow by 12 o'clock, however, he also told me he was going to confirm it today. 

Did you have same weird misbehavior? What do you usually do if a guest is silent? Any suggestions? What would you do in my place?

[Muslim4]

Thank you very much @Bhumika@Lorina14 @Mike-And-Jane0 @Alex1485 @Lodge102  - very helpful information!

@Bhumika, I already asked the support manager, is it possible to involve any Russian speaking support team members as they can better communicate with the police if anything will be needed (Russian is one of the official languages in our country)?

I would also be glad if someone can provide more detailed information on how to claim Aircover for reimbursement, what information to include, what dates to specify etc.? Perhaps any links to the Airbnb policy rules? 

[Alex1485]

I would recommend you also report the guest on the airbnb site and block the guest as well, on your booking page, take screen shots of these actions so that you have additional proof for the police; to indicate you have no relationship with this person that rented your place.

Please find a lawyer immediately. 

[Muslim4]

Couldn't do that because the guest profile has already been blocked by Airbnb. His messages in the message history are not seen now because of this. Only my messages to him.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Muslim4 clearly this guest is a criminal. I would immediately message (so you have a record) Airbnb and instigate an Aircover claim. You have 14 days but the sooner you start the better. If you have guests planning to arrive before the police will let you back in then ask Airbnb to cancel them under the extenuating circumstances policy which should get you a free cancellation.

[Muslim4]

No upcoming reservations. Would it be better to close the dates or temporarily deactivate the listing until it's resolved? 

Only used Aircover for property damage claims before. How do I apply for reimbursement in this type of situations?

[Lorina14]

@Muslim4 

Since you are a superhost, then it would be best to block off some dates (maybe 3 weeks) until you can resolve it. Remember that Airbnb will penalize hosts if you cancel reservations (unless it was extenuating circumstances; which I would think this qualifies for).

You could also temporarily deactivate it until it is resolved but then you risk losing people who may want to book out in advance (I don’t know how far your calendar allows people to book for). 

The hardest thing in your case is that you don’t know when you will be allowed in your space and you don’t know the condition of your space. I haven’t been in this situation or heard of it, so it’s difficult to troubleshoot without a point of reference. The only thing I know is that in the US in the state I am in, if the owner of the residence knows that someone staying at the residence was engaged in illegal activity then I could be liable for for their actions and could lose the property if I don’t try to stop it.

You have documentation that you tried to communicate with the guest and that you had no idea of their actions so you should be found innocent. Just cooperate with the authorities, explain you had no idea what was going on and tell Airbnb.

Let us know what happens. I’m so sorry for all the stress you are going through.

[Lorina14]

@Muslim4 

I’m so sorry to hear about what happened. Did you call Airbnb support and not just message them in the app? 

@Rebecca @Paula @Bhumika (community managers that moderate these boards) could you assist him with his case to send his concern to the right team for support? 

[Lorina14]

@Muslim4 

Did you contact the 24/7 support for Airbnb via a phone call? You should be able to open a claim for Aircover to see if you can get reimbursed for the nights you are not able to rent because of this problematic guest. 

Do you have home insurance? You may want to look into coverage for this situation if your home policy covers it.

[Muslim4]

Thank you so much for your support!

I can't access Airbnb support via phone call because it is an international phone calls which are very expensive. Even non-English Airbnb support team, as far as I know, can't be accessed by phone in our country. However, the support team members can call me, they called me yesterday late at night - I was already sleeping.

I've already asked the support about the reimbursement. Thanks for letting me know. Is there more detailed information on how to apply for it in this kind of situations ? I've only used Aircover to reimburse property damage before.

No, this apartment is not under insurance. We don't have an obligatory insurance system for real estate in our country. I haven't even thought about it before.

[Nadia1321]

Hello! You definitely have great suggestions and we try a lot of those as well, but we also go through a similar situation (more often than we hope to) where no matter what message or how many messages you send on the app after they book our place, they just don't seem to respond. No indication of check in time (so we have an idea when they are arriving in case they need help or have questions so this way we are ready to assist, especially when they arrive late night and some people aren't able to follow basic guidance on checking in easily with the door code or finding the parking spot, etc, so regardless  of the time difference, we try our best to be there for them IF we know approx what time they are arriving. Some guests (despite us asking kindly and sending reminder msgs) don't even tell us that they have checked out (even though it's in the house rules, policy, reminder messages etc). I do understand we get a lot of international guests and sometimes language is an issue, but the translator feature is there so then at least a short response would be considerate, no? 

I just want to know what would other hosts want to know about such guests, or how do you assess them? Do you let it affect the review if they don't respond at all to any messages, or don't bother to give you an arrival or check out confirmation, etc?  Or as long as everything is great with the suite when they leave you just ignore it and let em be? Because I feel the worst is when you try to reach out to them, let them know you are available, yet they never acknowledge or respond, but then all of a sudden at review time they mention this or that, and they didn't even give you the opportunity to address it or assist them because they didn't even communicate with you at all? I don't think that's fair. And you ignore their lack of communication or briefly mention that you wish that they were more communicative as you didn't receive any responses from them and still give them 5 star and recommend them to other guests, but then they ding you for whatever reason (sometimes even communication, even though we communicated from booking till after check out in a reasonable manner, and they give a low rating for communication or leave a comment that is not even applicable ? Language barrier perhaps?) I don't know. I just feel we get some who communicate and others who don't at all, and it seems to be more of those who don't.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we could better ourselves or what you do in these situations? Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! 

[Lorina14]

@Nadia1321 

I think it would be best to start a new post/thread asking other hosts for suggestions on getting a guest to communicate.

I know there is a post recently that a host says he puts a joke in there to catch their attention like let me know when you’re coming so I can come in from feeding the alligators. Another host mentions she sends a hello in WhatsApp and general checking instructions and refers them to the Airbnb listing for more details.

I personally don’t communicate outside of the platform for liability reasons but have sent a text to a guest asking them to please check their Airbnb messages as I’ve messaged them there. If you do communicate outside of the platform, some hosts have recommended to keep a log of communication just in case something comes up with the guest. 

I have once reached out to customer service asking for help in contacting the guest to fulfill a request I had as they were not able to complete it and were not communicating about the status. They did and helped fulfill the request. 

Some guests don’t check messages after checking in while others don’t want to be bothered much during their vacation/visit. You can always say I don’t want to bother you but can you please let me know you got this message by responding to it?

[Lodge102]

@Muslim4 When a guest isn't responding to messages and check-out is approaching, it's a tricky situation. Here's a concise strategy based on @Lorina14 advice.

Firstly, I 'll advice you keep a record of all your attempts to reach the guest through Airbnb chat, Telegram, WhatsApp, and phone calls.

Secondly, I'll say Inform Airbnb of the situation, providing details of your communication attempts. Ask them to reach out to the guest on your behalf to confirm check-out arrangements or any extension of their stay.

Thirdly and equally important stick to the agreed check-out procedures and times unless you hear otherwise from the guest or Airbnb.

Fourthly, For future bookings, ensure all guest details are registered according to Airbnb’s policies and your homeowner's insurance requirements. If guests are unresponsive, involve Airbnb support to ensure compliance.

This approach helps protect your interests and keeps Airbnb in the loop, potentially avoiding misunderstandings and ensuring policy compliance.

[Lorina14]

@Lodge102 

That’s a good summary of things to do. I however would not recommend communicating outside of the Airbnb website or app. This is for liability reasons and also so Airbnb can see all communications you tried to do to resolve things with your guest. Many times when communication is outside of the Airbnb platform, one may not get the aircover or support as you are supposed to do all communications through the platform (except phone calls).

[Muslim4]

The most embarrassing thing about it all is that Airbnb support hasn't provided clear instructions on what I should do. How exactly do I start a reimbursement request in this case? I can start reimbursement request, but due to the blocked access I've no idea if there's any damage to the property. Their response to my questions was that they are "investigating into the report and will reach out to you within 48 hours". I also asked about it here, if anyone experienced similar issues before please let me know.

What if the police won't let access after 2 weeks? I won't be able to start reimbursement after it? The utilities must be paid till February 25th, but I can't pay because the water counters are inside the apartment. 

[Lorina14]

Hi @Muslim4,

I would suggest you to contact the police and kindly inquire about the status of the case, access to your unit (as you need to pay the utilities and see what damage is done to file a claim with Airbnb).

I think there is no policy for situations like this but they probably should create one for future reference. I would assume if they had a policy, then they would have known what to do and get back to you sooner. 

@Bhumika Could you direct him to an article on how to claim reimbursement and direct his comment to the right team for better support?

He is asking for guidance on what is needed to file a claim and if it’s possible to claim for potential lost revenue due to circumstances incurred from an Airbnb guest. I know property insurance for businesses do have clauses to reimburse if something happens that impacts the ability for a business to be open for operations (ie if a water leak happened). But I don’t know how Aircover would work in your case.