What are some known Guest Scams?

[Anthony608]

I have been hosting for two years now and have seen my share of shady and suspicious guests.  I am wondering what actual scams other hosts have seen committed by potential guests.

The most serious scam I ever saw was what I believed to be a key-copying scam.  A man in Boston booked my room, then on the first night of the reservation, an unknown woman came to the residence and was knocking on the door, apparently unaware that the door had a keycode entry. She did not have any of the check-in instructions and had only been sent on her phone a screenshot of the home’s address. Once in the residence, the woman began asking repeatedly to be given an actual key. After several minutes of explanations, she finally understood that there was no key but rather a keycode for the door which would expire at the end of the stay. This clearly upset her a bit and she became visible nervous. She then went outside and was on her cellphone for a minute before walking away towards the local bus stop. She did not return to the residence on the first night, but closed the door to the room and left the lights on as to give the appearance that someone was in the room. Upon checkout, the room was found to be undisturbed and it did not look like anyone had slept in the beds.

Another, more complicated scam, involved a guest who was trying to gather information about the property without actually booking.  Over the course of six months, I received  three pre-approval booking inquiries - they all said the same thing - mainly that a guest wanted to book the room for a large number of days, was "moving into an apartment" and needed the room right away. The first of these I agreed to, since I thought I had a good opportunity for a booking and there were no real warning signs. However, the pre-approvals would then expire, and then the guest began sending numerous messages through AirBNB asking for extensive details about the house. More messages followed, asking details about did I live alone in the house, who else would be there, and also they wanted the specific street address prior to booking so they could come and see the house before booking. When I explained this was against AirBNB policy, the messages suddenly stopped. Then, several weeks later - pre-approval request again, asking about the room, moving into an apartment, need it right away, etc, etc. An obvious script which was being repeated.

To a lesser degree, I have received numerous questionable messages about same day bookings.  Typically strange vague messages, speaking about emergencies and needing the room right away.  Of those I've approved,  20% of them never show up and of those that do about 30% don't stay the night.  Obviously something going on.

What scams have other hosts seen?

[Brian2036]

@Robert-And-Charity0 

I wonder when they first started feeling unsafe: Before or after they peed the bed?

If someone treats my house that way they have good reason to feel unsafe.

 I hope you got pictures.

This business of locking accounts for IMAGINARY COMPLAINTS has got to stop!

[Sarah977]

@Robert-And-Charity0  Sorry this happened to you. But race has nothing to do with it. You think white guests don't trash white hosts' homes and black guests don't trash black hosts' homes? House trashers don't discriminate as to the skin color of the host whose home they abuse. They are just disrepectful, disgusting jerks, and they come in all colors, and nationalities, just like good guests do.

Some of the house trashers will even claim they were discriminated against because of their race when they get booted out or reported, not knowing that the host is actually married to a person of the guest's own race.

[Robert-And-Charity0]

We suspect that if the guests were black and hosts were white, the account would not have been immediately suspended without gathering evidence.  There’s a FB group that is discussing this, and the consensus is that black hosts are treated differently when issues arise than white hosts by Airbnb.

[Sarah977]

@Robert-And-Charity0  I suggest you search other threads on the forum re listings being suspended. Airbnb has been doing this to all hosts, white, black, Asian, male, female, whatever- it seems to be the new thing- guest makes up some bogus complaint, host gets suspended without notice.

Don't make this about racial discrimination- the only discrimination that is going on in this regard is Airbnb's outrageous treatment of all hosts. That's what we need to complain about and demand that they change. Don't let them divide and conquer. All hosts are in this together.

[Tomas396]

It sounds to me that airbnb needs to publish this data so that it is measured. Only then can guests, hosts, and airbnb alike can be all be held accountable. I am not on the FB group discussing this, so perhaps you can float the idea there and see what other hosts think.

[Sarah977]

It's starting to sound like anytime a guest makes a complaint to Airbnb, the response is to suspend the host's listing. This is completely unacceptable.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

I am surprised nobody mentioned the good old "bedbugs" and "hair-on-the-sheet" refund scam. The good thing is, it seems Airbnb doesn't accept it anymore so the fraudsters will have to be more creative in the future 🙂

I mean, how difficult it is to place a hair and a few crumbs on the sheet and take a photo? Anyone can do that and demand a full refund. I am surprised these scams lasted at Airbnb for so many years.

[Stephanie365]

I am hoping more hosts catch on to photographing their places (including detailed photos of the beds being made) with time- and date-stamped photos.  Not only do they go far in proving someone is trying to scam you, but when someone damages something, they are all but irrefutable proof that it was THIS particular guest who did it.

AirBNB replaced my bedroom rug under the Host Guarantee after a guest ruined it and refused to pay.  The local 5* rug cleaning place that is certified to clean Oriental rugs could not get the stain out.
Time and Date Stamped rug photo before guest arrivedShowing damage after guest left.

[Rita2154]

I have been hosting 3 years through a friend who handles the Airbnb part. Scams I see are people checking in with more guest than they say. Or checking out late and saying they have approval, but the best one I came across this year was a couple complaints was the driver was not big enough for there over sized Truck and they made other complaints as well. A bit of research on my part found they there  are Airbnb hosts not far from us. So my guess is maybe they were giving out bad comments about other Airbnb places close to them so the bad reviews would drive customer toward them? So keep an eye on who is posting complaints, things like this have been done before. Maybe AirBnB can start rating out customers as well it would help weed out the bad one's and keep the honest one's.

[Stephanie365]

My most recent scam is someone trying to get out of his booking and get a refund. 
First, he complained about noise. He said my cats were too noisy. When I countered with, "My cats were sleeping with me all night as I laid awake with a knee ache", he changed his story to "a bad odor". Something that cannot be proven or disproven so it's Host's word against the Guest's.

[Don-And-Emily0]

One scam I encountered on a similar platform (not Airbnb) was a person sending in an inquiry “on behalf of a group” and asking for my bank info so they can do an “immediate money transfer”. Of course we reported them and they were dealt with right away.

[Kisha43]

I'm relatively new to Airbnb and I'm noticing guests will complain about silly things (i.e. the stove flickers twice before igniting or the refrigerator's icemaker takes too long to make ice) then ask for a partial refund for the trouble. The "issues" seem to be ridiculous, but I assume any complaint results in a partial refund  so they ask.

[Sarah977]

@Kisha43  No, any complaint doesn't result in a partial refund and you should not succumb to agreeing to or offering one. Trivial complaints like you mention should be met with "Well, yes, it does take a half hour or so for new ice to form if you use up all of what is there. Water doesn't freeze solid in a matter of minutes". 

Or "Yes, that's how it works". Or "Oh, thanks for letting me know, I'll take a look at that at some point, but I think that's normal".

[Helen744]

Hello Kisha , yes some guests do that , the best response is either to say you will pop down if it remains a problem ,or talk them through it and reassure them that all is well. They cannot get refunds for this type of thing at all but sometimes all it takes is to communicate with them . We had a number of guests, in the early days ,bring their own , thank goodness , dead bugs , with them and sprinkle them around the doorway .They mentioned bugs in their private remarks and I followed up with them as to where and how these bugs appeared . They were in fact not endemic to our area but had travelled with their owners from interstate . I told the guests that these particular  ones did not occur in our area and we have regular inspections and if they saw any live ones I would be very interested because I would have to have a serious word with the cleaners, I heard nothing further but upon examination the bugs appeared to be dessicated elderly and way past there use by date. Some people will give it a go , the nicest seeming people too.  I have studied insects etcetera so the idea that any old bug will do did not work for me . You have to laugh H

[Jeff-and-Julie0]

I had what I think is a scammer today. They asked if they could book for 6 months. They asked for my personal phone number to discuss and so his financial department could discuss payment. 
I said no to any personal information but they persisted. So did I. 
then they volunteered their phone number. Did he think I was an idiot with caller ID now?  
i reported him. He is new with no reviews. Red flag city!!!