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We are new hosts so a LOT to learn… I think it it because we are renting such a big place that we have groups that come party there, but we have had some really strange experiences.
The latest one really baffled us though and I was wondering if anyone has had similar experience and maybe some guidance on what we should do about this.
We had a group of people come over on Friday and the first thing they did was put tape over our doorbell camera and moved another outdoor camera to point at the roof. We called them after a while and asked them to remove the tapes, because that was just very suspicious. We have said in our add and the guide to the house that we have security cameras in the house. I have even specified where and what they point at.
After the weekend our cleaner went to clean the house and what she found was very odd.
We have an area of the house, which is still under renovation. It is a completely separate side of the house and behind closed doors. When you enter the house, you would have to specifically go that “wing”.
In our guide I have written in bold letters several times that this area is empty and should not be used for anything. I also mention that the bathroom is not in use as there is not even lights there and the toilet is not functional.
Anyway, our cleaner checked that area as the door had been opened and to our surprise the guests had UNBOXED a bed we had bought from IKEA and built the bed in there. They had also unwrapped the mattrace and very obviously used the room. They had plugged in a fridge in there (which we had there but all was unplugged as this annex was not supposed to be used) and they had used the toilet, which we now have to manually empty.
We are very baffled about this because who would want to do that… unless they of course had more people staying in the house than what they booked.
What is a little frustrating about this is that we were actually planning to swap this bed frame to a different one from IKEA and this is the reason why we had not built it.
To make matters worse, we found out that the guests had brought a dog with them, that had not been booked in, they had left the doors unlocked and open when they left, they left rubbish bags to our balcony, they had vomited on our hot tub and not cleaned it, they had spilled candle wax on our wooden floor and they had broken steps from our pier to the river…
I seriously don’t know where to begin with asking money from these people. I am very disheartened because this is actually our home we are renting while we are away from the country. We have had lovely guests but we have also now had a few not so nice guests that is really putting me off from Airbnb.
First of sorry to to hear this… This is a terrible and violating experience.
In the first instance, please add the following or something similar to your house rules
By booking our listing guests agree that any removal, tampering, disabling or obstructing of our security equipment will result in security deposit loss or X fee charge and the guests stay will be cancelled without refund.
A fee of X amount will be charged If evidence is found that a pet was brought into our home by the guest.
I could go on and on and on and what I would do… But I will leave others to chime in.
Also, whatever you do, do not give up. My first guest was terrible (threw a party)… I lived and learned.
As you gain experience, you’ll learn how to sniff the bad guests from a mile away.
hosts who know what they have… A large house enticing to partiers… must take additional steps to prevent parties. A house like yours requires a signed contract, along with a security deposit. You can accomplish stronger controls by using all the tools available through a channel management system such as owner Rez. Otherwise this will happen again due to the lack of oversight and Hands on management. They obviously stuffed people in. Ask for whatever you want… you won’t get anything anyway. You now own that bed and have a gross cleanup, you have been given a message loud and clear. Listen, learn, and make changes in how the house is operated.
I hope everything you describe about the toilet and any other messes are documented with pictures. I encourage you to file with Air Cover and try to get money for the extra cleaning. If you have an extra guest charge, ask for that as well. Even if you don’t get it, 1000 of hosts have been paid by Airbnb and you need to be familiar with all their processes and policies so if this happens again you have a better chance of being paid. As for the furniture I doubt you have any documentation that would prove that they unboxed and assemble the furniture but if you do then I’d try to claim something for that as well. I can’t help with that because I’ve never had any problem getting paid through the resolution center and I’ve filed under their supposedly new AirCover program.
You may have people advise you to check with your insurance for short term rentals. This is a way of saying they don’t expect that you actually have any and are trying to scold in an indirect way. If you have insurance on this home covering it while you do short term rentals, you should check with them. If you don’t and you just check with your regular insurance, they may cancel your policy so I wouldn’t advise that you do that.
You need a lock on any rooms that are not to be accessed. But it sounds like they would have broken in.
When guests cover the cameras you need a co-host who can immediately go to the house and remedy the situation.
I’m guessing they didn’t have a high number of great reviews, maybe none at all so when you give them the honest, scathing review they deserve they will simply delete that account and start over. But give the review anyway. Others may advise you about timing vis a vis the request for money. I am not knowledgeable about that aspect.
They had a party! Only God knows how many people were in your house. The minute they taped the door camera and moved your other camera to face the roof, you should have contacted Airbnb to cancel their stay and sent someone over to evict them.
Did you vet these guests prior to their arrival? Do you have instant booking or do they have to make a request ? What is your min of guests? What is the min. stay? How come the door to the room being renovated wasn’t locked? You’ll need to take some steps to avoid this from happening again. Do you mention that you’re out of the country?
For now, take pictures and send them to Airbnb. Also send a request for payment from guests through the resolution center. Write them a honest review, factual and not emotional. Be prepared for them to give you a bad review because you’re asking them for money.
Moving forward, lock that door. Increase the min days and decrease the min of guests. If you have a four bedroom house, lock one of those bedrooms and list the home as a 3 bedroom (less beds). Mention that you live nearby (lie) and if they need anything, to contact you and you’ll gladly drop it off. I’m an hour away from my rental, but guests think I live in the next town.
In your house rules, write that Airbnb bans parties and if there is a party, they’ll be asked to leave. Deactivate instant booking if you have it activated. Change the min of guests to six and increase the min stay to 5 nights.
When I first started there were college kids that rented my home to party. I had instant booking and a min of 2 nights stay and had beds to accommodate 8 guests. After having the same issue you had, I took away 2 twin beds, increase the stay to a 5 min nights and decrease from 8 to 6 guests.
In my house rules it states that guests must be 25+ yrs of age to rent. In addition, I vet them. Once I get their names, I look for them on social media. If I see that they’re high school or college kids, I call Airbnb and cancel their reservation. Those small changes really helped.
Hi, I am so sorry to hear this. I think the first step you should take is collect all the evidence, contact Airbnb support to understand what you can and cannot, then decide your options.
I have this in my house rules and same on my property notes about security cameras:
…Any attempt at disabling or obscuring the cameras is prohibited and may result in the guest being evicted without refund. The full deposit will be forfeited if any of the above are found. You will also be asked to leave the property immediately without any money returned…
Please add similar to your list. My first language is not English, I am sure your words will be better. But the purpose is the same, protect your property!
Best luck!
Please write a scathing review - less wordy than your post - and be honest - “Guests broke into locked area of house that’s off limits, vomited in hot tub and didn’t clean it up, covered security cameras, slept in area under construction, snuck a pet in. Would NOT host again, do NOT recommend.” Give them 1 stars across the board, contact ABB before posting, and add any photos.
Get them to pay for the bed you were going to return, pay for the used mattress, pay for the extra cleaning, and get them thrown off the platform.
We all go through a learning curve when we start hosting – and the (hindsight) lesson I would take from this if I was in your shoes is to take some of the Airbnb revenue and invest in a secure dead-bolt lock on that door and install a camera inside the room.
You don’t need to report the camera because it is not located actually in the footprint of the rental property, but it will allow you to instantly determine if there is a break-in.
I think a loud alarm that can be disabled remotely by an app would be a great idea. Just a sign on the door saying “Locked and alarm activated private room.” Booby traps are illegal but wouldn’t a bucket of red paint on their head be fun, with cameras to record it?
This won’t be much help, but stories like this make me glad we’ve always lived onsite when we’ve had Airbnb’s- that way you basically attract only people who understand that the owners are RIGHT THERE, and are less likely to pull stupid stunts like this!
I would also never want to list an entire place if I didn’t live onsite or next door.
Certainly not through Airbnb or platforms where you couldn’t hold a security deposit, and deal with guests as you saw fit, without the fear of the dreaded 1* review, getting suspended for bogus complaints, or Airbnb refunding the guests over BS.
As a homeshare host,I have never once had problems with guests that amounted to more than a bit of annoyance, and that only twice.
Airbnb wasn’t designed for entire place, off-site host rentals. It was about home-sharing and “live like a local”. If they wanted to change it to self-check-in, never meet your host, you’ll have total privacy, faceless rentals, they needed to change their basic structure and policies to give much better protections to hosts and much stricter vetting of new guests, which they haven’t.
I agree, Muddy. Although I’m no longer a homeshare host these days, I am right on the premises, I work from home and I can keep my eye on guests. I can do the meet-and-greet. I can tell guests to just knock on my door if they need something. I can develop great relationships with guests that mean great reviews.
I wouldn’t use Airbnb for an entire house (both our apartments are one-bedroom) that could attract large groups particularly if it was my own home.
People today are wary of letting anyone borrow their car but yet will let complete strangers take over their own home - their most valuable possession.
Many people doing so would have the same mentality I do - 'I’m paying for the house so I can use everything in it. ’
Omg!! Very disheartening. I am so sorry that you experienced this. My first guest was terrible. He threw a large party. I cannot even begin to describe the state of the house when the guest checked out. I was sad and almost quit. I started to research. A total novice. I came across yhis group and joined. I took time, went to old conversations and just read through. I learned a lot. I bring my challenges and dilemma to this group. A lot of people here are very experienced and love to help. I suggest a very detailed house rules like someone suggested. You also should have a co-host who can check in on guests during their stay.
One important thing I learned in this group is that this is your business and your home. Airbnb is just a platform. You have to do whats best for you and your home.
I have attached locks in all the doors and only provide the code as needed.
Our experience with these guests was incredibly disappointing. They showed a complete disregard for our property and rules. They tampered with security cameras, entered a restricted area, unboxed and used furniture we explicitly stated was off-limits, brought an unauthorized pet, left doors unlocked, and caused significant damage to our home. We strongly advise against hosting them in the future.
It’s not about what I suspect, it’s about giving a fair and honest review.
Unfair reviews is something that we hosts talk a lot about, so surely it goes both ways?
If comms and check in were fine, for example, then that shouldn’t be one star just because they were messy?
I don’t see any evidence that it was fine. The OP didn’t make it clear what happened after they called and asked that the tape on the cameras be removed. I’m assuming they ignored them because if the tape had been removed they would have seen the extra guests or party people leaving on the cameras and the cleaner wouldn’t have been so surprised.
Hosts don’t rate guests on check in. Guests are rated on Cleanliness (these guests clearly get a 1), House Rules (a clear 1) an Communication (maybe not a 1, it depends on if they took and or responded to the host’s call.)
Tank their scores? They should be banned from ever renting an Airbnb again.
“Just because they were messy?” It doesn’t sound like you even read the original post here. Taping over the cameras, entering an off-limits area, unboxing the hosts’s stuff, using it, sneaking in a dog and extra people, vomiting in the hot tub and breaking the stairs is just “messy” to you?
