i have a guest that booked for a month and after 3 days wants to leave because a near home repair noise ..

[Obed25]

after debating with airbnb ambassador she concluded that guest had a valid claim and therefore they will allow them to cancel , in reality the guest were caught smoking in the property few minutes earlier while conducting a schedule cleaning that we offered them included in the rental price , my plan wasnt to cancel them but to have them stop  smoking in my house, but i guest he gets pissed and he called airbnb asking for a cancelation that they have a baby and she couldnt sleep , now the noise bother them but no before, we have strict cancelation policy for long term so the ambassador didnt allow me to see the evidence the guest presented, neither i was given the opportunity, to correct the problem, ( it was my neighbor sanding the pergola to paint it ) maybe i could have talked to him and he would have stopped, maybe no but why airbnb didnt give me the opportunity to correct the issue? all i got as a response is,  the guest had showed enough evidence . and on top of that she altered their reservation instead of canceling , now the guest can leave me a bad review as well. any ideas please ?, i dont think the ambassador followed all the airbnb rules,   this was done by a senior case manager , is there a higher person i can have this claim review?

[Graham490]

Hi @Obed25 .. not a great outcome... sorry.

The best thing to do is to mitigate the longer term problem.

If you are highly likely to get a bad review...then do NOT review their stay.

I understand that the reviews only go public if both parties submit a review within 14 days.

This will raise the ethical issue around reporting a bad guest or not.  By not reviewing the guest's stay, you are failing to  warn other hosts.

Commercially... the impact of a bad review takes a long, long time to recover from.

I will leave that decision with you....

Regards, Graham

[Joelle43]

Hello @Graham490 @Obed25 

I feel I should just point out that even if only ONE side leaves a review, that review will become public at the 14 day cut off point anyway. 

So Obed, when you leave a review for this guest, do it at the very last minute to limit the risk of having a retaliatory review left by the guest.  Guests can't see the rating out of 5 you leave them for House Rules, communication and Cleanliness so you can be honest here.  They only see your comment.

However, if you get the message from Airbnb that the guest has left you a review within those 14 days, then no need to wait until the last minute and remain factual and professional in your review to warn other hosts of your experience.

Good luck and let us know how this goes
Joëlle

[Joan2709]

@Graham490 

This statement in your post about reviews is incorrect as @Joelle43 points out:

"I understand that the reviews only go public if both parties submit a review within 14 days"

Either party can leave a review. If the Host doesn't review the guest, but the guest writes a review, the guest's review WILL BE published after 14days:

Reviews

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/13

@Obed25 needs to write a review. This guest will most likely retaliate with a negative review because they were caught smoking in a non-smoking listing. The guest review WILL BE published, even if @Obed25 doesn't write a review.

[Obed25]

thanks Graham490 i didnt know that, so if i dont review the guest it wont show their review either? thanks for the tip

[Joan2709]

@Obed25 

No.. @Graham490 is NOT correct.

Airbnb WILL publish the guest review even if you don't write one after 14days. You need to write a review for this guest. See my other response on how to do that.

[Joan2709]

@Obed25 

Unfortunately, not sure there was anything you could do here. This guest was caught breaking your House Rules and obviously wanted to smoke in your non-smoking listing. Then they retaliated by contacting Airbnb about "noise". They could have made up any other complaint as well and most likely would have been awared a free cancellation by Airbnb.

As @Joelle43 states, write your honest review. If they did something correctly state that. If you have proof they were smoking, then you could add something like:

"unfortunately this guest broke an important House Rule and smoked inside our non-smoking listing. They only contacted Airbnb about canceling their stay due to "noise" only after being discovered  (my neighbor was sanding his pergola). We had to perform specialized cleaning to remove the smoke odor."

File a Resolution Claim

I would wait to see if this guest leaves a review FIRST. If they don't and the 14days is almost expired, I would file a resolution claim if you need to do specialized cleaning only if you have proof they were smoking (video/photos/receipt from cleaning company)-of course this guest won't pay it, so Airbnb will only pay if you have proof. Then write and post your review right before the cutoff of 14days (there is a countdown in the message thread of the hours/minutes you have left to post a review.

Prevention

I would install a Minute Noise and Cigarette Detector in the unit and disclose that properly in the Guest Safety Section and on the listing. This gives you proof the guest was smoking in an App on your phone (take a screen shot) and along with video/photos you should at least be able to get a smoke odor removal resolution claim paid by Airbn. BTW, Airbnb is offering a FREE Minut cigarette smoke detector along with 3 free months subscription from Minut. I would jump on that. Even if you don't qualify for the free offer, I would still get one and you should consider installing them in all your units. You could also use the proof in the App that the guest was smoking and contact Airbnb and have them cancel the guest stay WITH NO REFUND, for breaking house rules. Be SURE Airbnb cancels the stay and not you. Even then, they have tried to say the Host cancelled after the fact and not pay them. Keep pressing until they do it right. You have the right to have Airbnb cancel the stay and you should NOT be dinged for it and should get paid in accordance with your cancellation policy. The guest broke your House Rules which is a violation of Ground Rules for Guest. You might even try to get Airbnb to pay you since they broke a House Rule, but that will be an uphill battle due to the noise complaint.

Ground Rules for Guests

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/ground-rules-for-guests-554

Minut & Airbnb Offer

https://store.minut.com/airbnb/host-offer/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=AirbnbInt...

Allow Guests to Smoke - Outside Only

Even with the smoke detector, some are still going want to break the rules. Some Hosts keep the listing as non-smoking, but add in Addl House Rules and in your after booking message that smoking inside (of any kind is not allowed). Guests may smoke [then list the designated outside area] and add some ashtrays and appropriate trash can (metal) for butts there. I would also add a NO SMOKING SIGN near the front door or inside the unit. This might have resolved the situation for you and avoided this cancellation and retaliation, plus the hassle of having to do smoke remediation inside. 

[Obed25]

thank you joelle43 and joan2709 i understand now 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Obed25 , I am truly sorry to hear of this situation with the guest. As @Joan2709 and @Joelle43 suggested, it might be best to leave honest review for the situation. 

Has the guest left a review yet? How's the situation currently? 

Please feel free to keep us updated!

Kind regards,