Guest tries to commit fraud-makes up crazy story to airbnb CS

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I had guests who booked a 7 day stay and checked in on 6th Sept, on 7th at 9 pm they told my staff that they will leave my villa and go for a trip to an island nearby but will return next day.

Yesterday on 9th September I received a message from Airbnb CS claiming that the guest never stayed in my villa because he saw a spider on the bed and he actually got an allergic reaction from seeing it (no bite, I don’t joke, he just saw it) and then had to be book an emergency flight back home to seek medical attention.

They never mention anything to me or to my staff about any problem during their stay, nothing on airbnb messaging also.

I had 3 different CS contact me all day yesterday, first one just wanted my version of story, second one asking me to refund the guest, and finally the third one said the guest showed no proof for the claim.

Luckily I had a WhatsApp message from the guest to my staff that proved they left next day 9 pm so their whole story fell apart there.

Funny thing is the reservation is still active they didn’t even cancel it still, but I did request airbnb suspend this account, and response was that their special team is investigating it.

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Glad it worked out well. Why are you communicating with guests on what’s app. Always on the platform for important issues like this.

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Although I have thankfully never experienced scammer guests, it astounds me how many people these days think nothing of lying and scheming, even posting blogs explaining how to do so. If you referred to them as criminals (which indeed they are- skipping out on their booking and expecting a full refund when the host has no hope to rebook because they haven’t even bothered to cancel is essentially no different from taking money out of your wallet), I’m sure they’d be hugely offended.

An allergic reaction to seeing a spider- that’s a new one for the annals of medicine.

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I never communicate with them by WhatsApp, but I have staff that take care of the villa, they have to have communication with the guests somehow.

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He said they whatsapped someone on his staff.

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absolutely h i l a r i o u s! I see a spider pretty much every day, I must have super powers to avoid hospitalisation.

This reminds me of the “my child took a cold shower and then caught a cold”

You handled this well @balivilla and asking for the guest to be suspended from the platform is good move too.

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If your staff are helping manage your listing you can add them as a cohost @balivilla

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Helsi, my staff barely speaks English, its like yes, no, ok, and they use goggle translate when guests ask something complicated. I don’t think its necessary my cleaners and drivers have to be cohost on airbnb. Bcs of one insane guest I will not change the way I run my business.

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I have found that it is best if guests do not communicate at all with the hire help, could add to ‘confusion’, especially when it comes to policy and keeping conversations strictly within the Airbnb message system. Just a thought.

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And your experience with that fruitcake is not so uncommon, in fact it is a classic ruse.

  1. Stay the entire length
  2. Then file for an exorbitant refund
  3. Settle for 10%-20% ‘discount’.
  4. Leave a scathing review because Airbnb allows it.

Removing a review from this type of hustle then requires a lot of skill and effort.

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If you had multiple rentals you would be willing to answer 50 messages a day for simple stuff like bring me towel, take my laundry, clean my villa, etc. No thanks for me!

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but they got nothing, and I bet their account will get suspended

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Fair enough in which case it’s better if complicated guest liaison is done by yourself - sorry for the horrible guest .

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Sorry I meant ‘you’ in terms of his business operations

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You bet I am not running multiple units and I make it so I rarely hear from my guests - by design.
And their account, unless is fraudulent, won’t be suspended, even if they are certifiably insane by claiming they go into convulsions by just seeing a spider. In today’s world all lunatics, no matter how unbelievable are covered, especially by a woke entity like Airbnb.
You are right, no need to change.

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One of the things that bothers me in the communication I had with the CS is that they gave me a deadline of 2 hours to respond or they might decide to refund the guests if I don’t respond in that time.

Last time when I had a real emergency with a guest and begged them for help I had to wait more than 72 hours for their response .

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We’ll see if the account gets suspended, I had one previous guest suspended for less.
Its not just about their fake allergies bcs of seeing a spider, they fraudulently claimed they never stayed in my villa, when in fact they slept a night and stayed till next day till 9 pm, they cannot deny it.

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We have staff, too, and I decided against adding our housekeeper/property manager as a co-host on AirBnB. She’s not that tech savvy, and it’s not her responsibility to run the business side of the business. If we have guests that do something wrong or tell her they are leaving early, she WhatsApps me and lets me handle it over the AirBnB messaging system.

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When a guest tries to use What’s App or my personal text to contact me, I retype their message into the AirBnB platform and then reply there.

This is why my Instant Book requires guests to send me a message. I ask them to tell me a little about their trip, and their dog’s names. This way I know for sure the guest knows how to use the messaging on the platform.

I do not accept phone calls from guests. I let them go to voice mail and then either reply on the AirBnB platform or call them back if it’s something safe, like a pizza place recommendation.

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Good luck getting them booted, they deserve it.