A demanding guest violated my house rules by going into private spaces not for guests, flushing and pouring food down my bathroom drains, tried to reenter my property after checkout, asking for amenities I didn’t have listed. I called Airbnb after checkout to report the guest. The guest retaliated by filing a discrimination claim because he is a Latino man and I am a Black woman. The Airbnb rep sided with the guest and overlooked my violation claim that was already proven by another rep with compensation for damage of clogging up my bathroom drains. The guest is claiming there is no proof it was him because I had another guest but the other guest didnt checkin yet when I noticed the hairs and food in the bathroom drains. He entered into my private space and I received an alert from my motion sensor, I yelled out loud from my space to keep out and looked to see who it was. Now, Airbnb is refunding the guest. I will no longer host men in my homeshare. Women only. Without cameras in shared halls, it’s now difficult to prove which guest caused the damage or violated your house rules.
Sorry this happened to you. I think it’s a wise idea to report egregious behavior to Airbnb when it happens- i.e. get out in front of it so Airbnb has a report on file, rather than waiting til the guest checks out, or makes some bogus refund claim. Not something like clogging drains,but certainly entering your private space and violating house rules.
Just be aware that while female guests only may make you feel less physically vulnerable, there are also crazy, aggressive women out there who may also violate your privacy. It’s not behavior exclusive to men.
(I am also a single female homeshare host, and host both male and female guests, but only one guest at a time- I just have one private room rental. I’ve been very lucky, though, I’ve never had a bad guest and all the male guests have been very nice and gentlemanly.)
Thanks for responding. I feel like I am a target for some male guests because I am too independent for them. Culturally Misogynistic.
I tried to appeal their decision but they said it was final. I tried to also put in a discrimination report and a report to have the negative review removed due to the guest violating my house rules and their discrimination decision overrode it. This process is crazy. They will not tell you what proof they made their decision on. How do they expect hosts to be aware of future violations.
It’s reportedly extremely difficult to get Airbnb to remove a review. They certainly won’t do so because a guest broke house rules. You have to ask them to remove it based on their own review policies, which you should read if you haven’t, and even then they often refuse to.
This is actually a good review to leave up. It shows a hysterical guest; if all your other reviews are good, this will be seen as an ‘outlier’. For our airbnb, we have a similar kind of accusatory review, and we never heard from a potential guest about it. In fact, some folks are very wary of 100% 5 star reviews, as these folks think that the exception proves the rule.
The part where the guest came after checkout to try to get in the room, and the host making sure that the security of the airbnb was kept by not allowing the former guest back in, is actually a positive.
I’m a little confused about this. If I’m reading it correctly, the host was on the premises, is that right?
This is a great reminder to new hosts to ‘guest-proof’ the rental. If you have elderly plumbing (as I do) then it’s a good idea to mention this is the listing.
We’ve stayed several times in places where nothing except stuff that comes out of the lower part of the body can be flushed in the loo. (In other words, no loo paper. That takes some getting used to).
On each occasion this has been mentioned in the listing, plus on a discreet sign in the bathroom.
Why anyone would throw food down a loo or drain is beyond me, unless it was, umm, sorry, regurgitated.
Regarding private spaces, ideally they should be pointed out to the guest during the house tour.
Once or twice, I’ve had guests try to get back into a rental because they’ve forgotten something and it’s no big deal if the host is on the premises. (“Oh, hi Guest. What 's up? Can I help you with anything?”)
Okay now a small rant about hosting only women. (And I imagine there are people here will disagree). This implies that men are bad and women are wonderful; that every man will be badly behaved at best or a rapist at worst.
Many people in my life that I have loved deeply are or were men. Therefore this ‘women only’ thing gives out a bad impression - to me.
When I was hosting in my own home, I can count the number of female guests on one hand. Because of my location and local facilities most guest were men and there was never any trouble at all.
Throughout the 1800s and 1900s, women spent many, many years fighting for equality, some being imprisoned and even dying for the cause.
To regard female hosts as inferior to male hosts makes it seem that those struggles were in vain.
Although as a female homeshare host I host both men and women, I can understand some in my circumstances preferring to host only females.
Some women have been sexually or physically abused by men in the past, and be fearful or uncomfortable sharing a home with men who are strangers to them. In general, men are capable of physically overpowering a woman.
Even if there is no history of abuse, I have read of female hosts having male guests who paraded around the common spaces in the house only wrapped in a towel, or tried to hug or kiss a female host, or made sexually-charged comments, and female hosts might just want to not ever have to deal with that.
Here in Mexico, I have never run across any tradespeople who are female- all the plumbers, electricians, construction workers, etc. are male. Mexican men tend to ask women they are working for at some point, “Where’s your husband?” or “You live alone? Don’t you have a boyfriend?”
It’s usually quite innocent, even if they are hoping for chance- they aren’t aggressive or dangerous, and it’s a different culture- they don’t consider it an invasive, none-of-their-business question.
But it gets annoying to field those questions.
So I was sorry when a handyman who used to work for me and some of my neighbors moved from the area- he was gay, so there were never any of those questions or sexually charged vibes, which was refreshing.
I am a seasoned homeshare host.
I have it in my house rules about not flushing anything not toilet paper, poo and urine.There are signs in the bathroom too. I have it listed in my house rules what spaces are available to guests and I have motion sensors in shared spaces and non access areas. Also a sign on the door not for guests.I am a Black woman activist and I am a target in my town.My home decor is decked out with culture and social justice themes. This guest is a lawyer from Peru. He accused me of being racist toward him because I didn’t include other guests about the issues. I didn’t need to because he was the only guest in the spaces alone before the other guest arrived. I do not do in person tours, only self checkin. But I do ask all guests to reread my house rules and listing description.
I host many internationals and cultures they have different values and norms and so do I as a Black woman in America.In my state we have a 1 party rule for recording. I do not know why how Airbnb can override a state law. By not having cameras in shared halls are a huge problem for proof of issues. Most of my problem guests have been international men because of their expectations of the role of a woman. To cook, clean and converse.
With the greatest respect to female hosts, I personally feel that if a woman isn’t capable of handing advances, or is somehow threatened by a man wearing a towel, then in home hosting might not be ideal work for her.
I really don’t like it when I see posts here saying "hosting obviously isn’t for you’ or ‘you are not suited to this job’. Every situation is different and some people find that hosting is one of very few options (or the only option) they have to create an income.
I really don’t like to see it but I have to admit that very occasionally I agree. Note that I’m NOT saying this is the case with @Share or suggesting that she is a poor host in any way.
I tend to do this at the forum - I speak generally for readers rather than responding directly to posts. Note to self - try to improve. 
I very much disagree with jaquo on this. All hosts, regardless of gender or skin color or sexual orientation or whatever should feel safe in their own homes and AirBnB was founded on this principle. If a GUEST behaves in a way that violates that principle, it is on the guest, not the host, and it is not the host’s fault for feeling intimidated or unsafe. As a tall man I am very conscious of the image I give when answering the door for travelers, especially female travelers. I do everything I can to make sure my guests feel safe in my home because I know that many (most?) women have stories about real-life experiences of intimidation and fear. My point is that the onus is on everyone to behave themselves, and ill-behaved guests should not be given a free pass because women should expect that kind of behavior from men. As a man, I expect men to behave better!
I don’t think Jaquo was saying a host is to blame if they can’t deal with a guest behaving badly. Obviously the guest is to blame if they can’t be respectful.
But being a homeshare host means one is going to be dealing with a myriad of personality types and behaviors, so if a person feels intimidated by having to occassionally deal with an uncomfortable situation, maybe homesharing isn’t the best choice of occupation for them.
All occupations require certain skill sets, both innate, and learned. School and job guidance counselors’ work involves matching peoples’ personalities, interests and skills to occupations they would most be suited for. Just because someone has a spare room in their home they would like to make money renting out short term doesn’t mean it would necessarily be a good idea for that person to have a constant parade of strangers sharing their home, and in fact many entire home hosts say they would never feel comfortable sharing their own home with strangers.
Also, you get to respond to their review, so you can write everything you want to include in a reply with your side of the story. Always include something like, “the guest did not respect my house rules and I do not recommend them and would not host them again.”
The guests may read your reply and realize thing that other hosts can read it and consider they should have behaved better. This is in addition to your review of them which of course hosts can read.
Also, if you CALL airbnb CS and get a NEW representative and clearly document your timeline of events, you MAY get someone who can understand the whole picture and review everything. But for a small amount of money I would just move on and leave bad/honest review.
Have locking interior doors so guests can’t access off limits places. This is a MUST and would have prevented a major issue. Guests get lost and confused in new places.
Locking off-limits spaces isn’t a MUST for all homeshare hosts. I’ve been homeshare hosting since 2016 and my bedroom is accessed through an outside door onto the upstairs terrace, as is the guest room door. Not only do I not lock this door unless I leave the house (and it is usually left half open), there is also a door from the guest bathroom into my room, (the bathroom has doors on both sides, into each bedroom) which is locked from the guest side. A guest could open that door and be in my room, but as far as I’m aware, no guest has ever done so, and it’s not something I worry about at all.
I do agree however my kitchen door wasn’t lock that day. But there is a sign on the door and when I send self checkin instructions, its mentioned kitchen is off limits. I cannot speak for other home share hosts but as a Black host, I am a little bit on edge with male guests from past negative experiences. This guest received a full refund, which I feel is unfair. Especially since he made us feel unsafe by his actions. The guest is a lawyer, so I am sure he used legal talk while conversing with Airbnb reps.
Let me rephrase that:
As a man, I expect man to behave better!
Literally any human being has the opportunity to treat others with respect and courtesy.
We’ve had “bad” guests both men AND women. This has literally nothing to do with gender.
Two things I’d like to say:
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The screening process for in-home hosting has to be spot on - to help hosts (and guests) to have a pleasant STR experience. This should involve no IB and a proactive forth and back communication BEFORE booking. This is what I would expect - otherwise it would be a decline for me.
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As a man, I do have sympathy for female hosts (particularly in-home) to prefer having female guests. With exceptions to the rule, there IS a higher chance of having a significantly negative experience with a male guest rather with a female. Statistically, male violence towards women is much higher and only hosting women reduces the risk of being physically violated a lot. This does not prevent any violence from happening (even committed by women) but the chances of being seriously affected is greatly reduced. So to me this makes complete sense.
I understand that a number of female hosts do host other women in particular as there is a female demographic who also prefers a female host. It’s being appreciated from both the host’s and the guest’s side.
Any hosts mileage may vary which also has to do where you’re located and what time of accommodation and amenities you offer (sauna, Jacuzzi, pool etc.)
I am severely frustrated by AirBnBs newer policy of no cameras in the house in common areas. As you said, it is extremely difficult to prove anything when you have multiple guests. It becomes a he said she said.
I have had success removing multiple guests who break house rules by documenting with AirBnB as soon as it happens, messaging the guest the house rules again and telling them they are in violation and may be removed, then following up with documentation to AirBnB if any rules are broken again.
I agree with Muddy. I recently had a very difficult guest and was expecting a bad review or worse. I wrote to Airbnb halfway through the stay and just asked that they keep on record the things that were happening and the I was feeling uncomfortable with this guest. I made it clear that I did not wish to escalate it but just document it.