Airbnb Cancels Guest's Booking Because I Don't Redecorate Between Every Booking

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I had a guest check in on Saturday who was happy with the flat until she went to work on Monday. I received an angry call from her about the length of her commute to work. Obviously it’s her fault for not checking how long this would be prior to booking.

A few hours after the call, I received a message from Airbnb informing me that the guest had made a complaint, claiming that my listing was dirty. After discussing it, I was informed that they didn’t know what it was about as the guest hadn’t submitted any evidence and hadn’t given any specific information either.

I reached out to the guest and she said ‘You are required to repaint the flat whenever a guest checks out and this has clearly not been done.’ She also sent a couple of pictures showing some tiny flecks of paint missing from the wall.

I replied informing her this was not one of Airbnb’s requirements for hosts. I also offered to send another cleaner round to clean anything she was unhappy with, while also touching up the two tiny patches with paint.

She claimed that this was impossible as touching up two tiny specks on the wall would cause her to inhale paint fumes. I explained that there would not be paint fumes from applying two tiny dabs of paint to the wall.

She then claimed that the fact that I wasn’t repainting the walls between every booking posed a health and safety risk to guests and I was putting several people’s lives at risks by failing to do so.

I stopped replying at this point as it was clear that any time I attempted to resolve the issue, she would become worse and worse, making even wilder statements.

Around 20:00 on Monday night, Airbnb ruled in her favour and shortened the length of her booking to two days, so that she had checked out on Monday morning (giving her 10 hours for free in the flat).

The open case I had with Airbnb on the issue was automatically closed, so I am unable to reply to it.

I have called back several times, but am told that they don’t know why they ruled in the guest’s favour as there are no notes on the system explaining the decision. I have also tried escalating to a supervisor, but have not managed to get anywhere with this.

Does anybody know what steps I can take next?

It is obviously not Airbnb policy for us to redecorate between each and every booking and, if Airbnb genuinely wanted to enforce this rule, then they will see a significant loss of revenue as hosts would need to dramatically increase costs to cover the new expenses for bookings through the platform.

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It really depends on how much time you want to invest. I really do think you have been mistreated and it’s possible if you escalate it and show that no evidence was provided and her expectations were not reachable that you could win but I also think you could be looking at hours of time trying to get to the correct person who will listen.

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This whole timeline from check-in day to “complaint” day, spanning over three days, should be a dead giveaway to Airbnb that this guest has lost their marbles.

So the apartment got mysteriously dirty over the course of three days? How unbelievable! Well on Saturday it must have been clean - no complaint. On Sunday it must have been clean - no complaint. Out of a sudden, on Monday, the apartment is dirty :joy:

Just alone this fact - verifiable by Airbnb via the chat messages should entitle you a full payment as the guest is clearly a scammer.

What I learn from your experience is that I shouldn’t answer the guest’s phone call or insist to explain their inquiry via the Airbnb chat to cover my a$$. Too bad that their ‘issue’ of having a commute which is too long has not been documented. That’s just ridiculous.

As long as there is no damage to your apartment, I would chalk it off, as the aggravation and lengthy process to get this into Airbnb’s heads might not be worth it.

Still, best of luck.

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The guest is obviously trying to get out of the agreement due to the unexpected commute time … no complaints over the weekend; only after going to work on Monday.
I’d continue to try escalating this with Airbnb supervisor.

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An update on this. Customer advisor level agents have been opening tickets and immediately closing them, with no option to re-open the ticket, once they have had their say. Their responses have been a mix of complete misunderstandings of the ticket that had absolutely nothing to do with anything I said (some of them couldn’t even get the right booking or listing), to an agent claiming that it’s one of Airbnb’s rules that we have to completely redecorate between every booking and that I should read the requirements for hosts page, which of course doesn’t mention it as it isn’t true.

I was able to escalate on two occasions. The first was open for several days before it was mysteriously closed without any response at all.

On the second, which was responded to today, Airbnb has made yet another mistake and believes that I am claiming that the guest owes me money for damaging my property, when it’s actually Airbnb that owes me money due to an employee’s mistake.

I guess it’s no surprise at all that they made a mistake when dealing with a complaint about a mistake they made.

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I think Airbnb is solely focused on preserving their brand image against complaints by guests in the media. The other day a guest told me she wanted to check out early and could she get a refund. I told her to go through Airbnb. They contacted me to say the guest said I would refund her and did I want them to go ahead and process the refund? I literally told the CSR 3 or 4 times I was not agreeing to refunding them, and even made this point again at the end. I think they must have been reading off a screen as he kept repeating (in his poor English) that I agreed to refund them. I didn’t but they did it anyway! And to add insult to injury they don’t actually pay to refund their fee to the guest, that was added in to my repayment. I really can’t be bothered fighting them by this stage. I often get 2 CSRs communicating with me at the same time about the same issue and I tell one of them to stop and let the other deal with it. I think Airbnb is in a slow war of attrition having peed off hosts, guests and the people whose cities they have taken over the rental market. Not everything said about them is fair but they must deserve some sort of award for building a multi billion dollar brand and then trashing it in record time.

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Another update on this. I was sent a message this morning telling me that my case had been escalated and that it would take a while to resolve

They closed the ticket four hours later because I didn’t respond to that message. Now I have to try and get it reopened.

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As a final update, I had Airbnb’s last say on the matter. They have made it clear that it is their final decision.

The guest was unhappy that I hadn’t redecorated the entire flat for her prior to her arrival and I failed to resolve this.

Airbnb agreed with the guest that the two tiny specks of paint that were absent from the wall posed a health and safety risk to guests and that hosts should be completely redecorating between every booking.

Of course, they know they’re saying this just to try and get out of paying. Unfortunately though, this means that every guest has a simple way to get a full refund in future. Simply complaining that the place wasn’t redecorated between bookings will result in full refunds for guests and fines for hosts.

The only positive out of this is that I was able to leave a review for the guest, which will make it much harder for her to book anywhere else in future.

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Another way how honest reviews help other hosts!

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Ooh, please post your review, I can’t wait to read it. I hope you quote the guest directly on the repaint expectation!

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Can they respond to your review publicly? Like we can for guests’ reviews?

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Yes, guests can respond to reviews. All the review policies apply to both hosts and guests on Airbnb.

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I can only guess for how long that review about the guest will remain online. Surely, they will find a way to have it removed, based on the prior behaviour to get a full refund.

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GUEST initially expressed happiness with our property. However, on her third night, she reported that the flat had suddenly become unclean, while insisting that listings need to be completely redecorated between every booking. Despite my polite and professional attempts to address her concerns, she was uncooperative and hostile in response to every message I sent her. Future hosts should note that she may only be content with accommodations that are either newly built properties, or have seen no use at all since they were last decorated.

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Explain please.
…

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I find it beneficial to run my draft reviews by the hivemind on the forum, especially if the guest has gotten on my last nerve.

Attributing motivations such as “hostile” to your guest could be a basis for them getting the review removed, defeating your purpose of warning the rest of us! (Thanks by the way for posting negative reviews when warranted.)

"We do not recommend hosting GUEST. They initially expressed happiness with the condition of our property, but on the third day of their stay, sent a message saying “You are required to repaint the flat whenever a guest checks out,” citing “health and safety” concerns about imperfections in the wall paint. We offered a cleaning and/or touch up paint, which the guest refused, checking out early and requesting a refund.

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