Hello! Looking for some advice on a situation.
The basics: My home is a bungalow in downtown Austin, TX. Fits 4 people. Limit clearly listed.
The situation: Last Saturday I received a day of request to book. Family fleeing hurricane IDA. This would be was my 2nd guest ever- listing went live two weeks ago. She didn’t have any reviews BUT she was identity verified so I thought it would be ok.
I approved the booking. Messaged her to confirm the number of guests(she had said 4 when she booked.
She says there are five. I tell her that’s ok. My insurance does cover up to 5 and the sofa converts to a queen.
They arrive in the dead of night bc of what I’m sure was hellish traffic from Louisiana. I did not check our doorbell cam at that point. HUGE mistake.
2 days later they check out. I go to the house and see as I pull in that our previously empty trash bin is packed with no less than 6 full bags of trash and is overflowing. Again this was supposed to be 5 people for 2 nights.
When I get inside I start to see more things. All of my toilet paper and paper towels are gone(now I know to lock that stuff up!) Our new white duvet had red juice spilled all over it
That’s when I go to the camera. They were a group of 7. I also saw them washing their cars with our towels. I’m so upset.
The reviews: I leave her a poor review(of course) and do not recommend. She leaves me a good review.
When she sees my review, she decides to retaliate and adds a comment to my review of her saying that the beds were dirty(literally brand new listing-only person that slept on that set ever was her) and that my house had graffiti and was “in the hood” yadada. Insanity.
Even though this nasty comment from her is on HER profile, I was really worried about it bc her good review of me is my ONLY review. I’m worried people my click her profile and see these insane lies and not book my place!
Airbnb gets involved: I call Airbnb and explain to them the situation. The agent escalates to his supervisor. They decide that the comment is a “retaliation” as it completely contradicts her review and her private message sent to me when submitting the1st review. They say the two reviews(mine and her original) will remain but the comment will be removed.
Today: I see that her comment is still there. I call Airbnb again and ask when it would be removed. He says it’s impossible to remove and that I was “given incorrect information” I tell him that the removal was even cleared by a supervisor. He says “oh, that’s interesting” but still sticks to “you were given incorrect information” He tells me to move on and to not take her comment personally. Gah! What the heck is going on at Airbnb?!
So if you’ve gotten this far… here are my questions
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Are guests like this common? I’ve only had two so far, the first was amazing and then this. I’m wondering what the hell have I gotten myself into?!
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Does ID verified mean ANYTHING? Or should I only accept people with reviews?
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Is it a common thing for Airbnb to give completely different answers depending on who you talk to when you call?
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Should I call Airbnb AGAIN and see what a third agent does? Or just let it go and let the comment remain and not push the issue anymore?
I’m feeling really down and really upset about even hosting my home now. Would love any advice.