Dishonest guest - review?

1

Guest booked for 2. In correspondence before arriving it became clear that guest was bringing a 3rd person for 1 night. I charge extra for a 3rd person. Guest paid for the 1 night for the 3rd person. The 3rd person stayed 3 nights in total. Guest refused to pay for the extra 2 nights. Airbnb cannot take the owing amount without the guests authorisation. Guest wrote me an ugly, hostile email. Guest has written a review but it has not been posted yet as the 14 days are not up. I expect a really bad review. I have never had anything less than 5-star reviews. Guests behaviour was good and were pleasant - left the place spotless.

Should I write a review that will go public at the same time as his? Or should I wait and respond to his review?

If I do a review, this is what I am thinking of writing:
“Guests were very pleasant and left the apartment spotless. Their flight very unusually arrived an hour ahead of schedule. Unfortunately this resulted in them having to wait for us to collect them (free of charge) at the airport. They booked for 2 adults. It states clearly on our site that there is a charge per night for any more that 2 adults. An extra guest came with them and stayed 3 nights and only paid for one night. I would not recommend this guest and his family and would not have them back.”

2

I am a bit confused. As far as I understand your guest booked for 2 people for one night

3

Sorry, hit the wrong button! To continue;

then a third person appeared to be coming for one night but stayed for three? How was the third person able to stay for three nights if the other two had checked-out?

4

I think you should go ahead and post your review. If this group is traveling around to other places maybe some other hosts could be warned.

5

Skip the bit about flights and picking them up – it is NOT relevant.

“… Their flight very unusually arrived an hour ahead of schedule. Unfortunately this resulted in them having to wait for us to collect them (free of charge) at the airport.

DO Include " {However} They booked for 2 adults. It states clearly on our site that there is a charge per night for any more that 2 adults. An extra guest came with them and stayed 3 nights and only paid for one night. I would not recommend this guest and his family and would not have them back.”

1 Like
6

They booked for 5 nights in total. Sorry, I should have explained that properly.

7

Don’t bother saying they were clean and pleasant at the beginning, remember that’s the main thing other hosts will see. Start with the dishonesty and refusal to pay for the 3rd person. Mention the ugly email. These people are not pleasant!

3 Likes
8

I don’t understand either. Did they lie to you and say the third guest was only staying for one night.

How did you find out they stayed for three nights. Why didn’t you send a request for the extra money while the guests were still there so you had some leverage to kick them out early if they didn’t pay.

9

Helsi - It was in their ambiguous that it came to light that the 3rd person was staying with them. And just for one night. I found out because we live on the property so could see that the extra guest stayed over for 2 extra nights.

10

ambiguous correspondence

11

The guest deliberately cheated you and got ugly when you caught them. It was not an honest mistake. Think about it this way - does it excuse theft if the thief didn’t mess up your house while they were stealing? Give them a big thumbs down, please.

5 Likes
13

He said he paid but it is clear that he did not. Don’t know what he will say. I will be giving them a thumbs down.

3 Likes
14

And if he has admitted through Airbnb messaging that they unbooked guest stayed for three nights, there is no reason for Airbnb not to charge them.

15

Airbnb cannot charge a guests credit card without the guests authority and he refused to pay. In his first email he asked for a discount…I should have known better and cancelled his booking. I have IB on. He did leave a dishonest, nasty review. In future, anyone asking for a discount will be cancelled. So it has been a learning experience for me. He also damaged the rental car and refused to even acknowledge that there was damage but unfortunately I cannot put that in our review of him.

16

Of course they can @SunsetView

Guests give them permission when they sign up to their T&Cs for Airbnb to charge their card/payment system in these sorts of circumstances.

Airbnb can and do charge guests who refuse to pay for extra guests or where there is guest damage.

You can’t just cancel if people ask for a discount, if you keep doing this Airbnb will flag your account and can suspend or cancel it.

Far better to remove IB if you are a new host and manage bookings on a case by case basis only accepting bookings where there is a good fit.

17

Been hosting for over 2 years. Air told me that they cannot charge without guests authorisation. Have 5 star reviews from all guests until this guest. Gave him a thumbs down review. Anyway it is all in the past now.

18

Strange not what they say in their T&Cs and lots of evidence on this forum and others that they take funds from hosts and guest without their authorisation.

19

I think it’s a perfect narrative of the experience. I personally would leave out the last sentence, just in case they gave you a decent review. If their review of you is unfair, then I would add that sentence in your reply.

21

Oh dear. How dare you were late in giving them a free ride!

I would suggest you take this off your amenities. As you can see this causes nothing but headaches because now guests will expect you to be UBER as well as Airbnb!

I’m super confused by your first line in your review. In what way were they pleasant? They sound horrific.

1 Like