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I am very much disappointed in the lack of policies and protection for AIRBNB hosts and also, in relation to that, I am frustrated with the AIRBNB team’s extremely limited supports regarding dealing with problematic guests and their reviews on my listing. I demand more filtering on guests and modifications to the AIRBNB review policy in order to protect the host’s safety as well as potential financial loss.
In terms of the specific case, which I needed the AIRBNB 's support and assistant, it is about a female guest who violated the reservation contract and abused my kindness of taking additional guest at my place and treated my place as if it is a cheap motel where she could damage and trash the place no matter what.
The guest who arrived at my property on 12/30-Emily Ko- made a discrepancy in the guests that would stay in my property. She booked my place for one guest, for herself, and when I asked about the number of guests who would stay, a day before her arrival, she said it would be just her. I explained to her the different charges on different numbers of guests, etc, but she confirmed that it would be only her. When she arrived at my place and after she got the keys and brought her bags in the room, she knocked on my room door. When I opened it, there was another man with her, and she said he-her boyfriend-should stay with her in my room. I let them in as I was afraid of conflicts as well as I was worried that these young people would not be able to find a place during the holiday season. My making attempt to be kind and welcoming to my guests ended up with horrible disaster-they trashed my place, constantly knocked on my room door or called me when I was out for questions- left the entrance door, as well as doors of my fridge and refrigerator, open overnight. I felt very unsafe with their behaviors and discrepancies, and I suggested that I would give them a refund of two full nights if they check out early (she booked for three nights). Anyhow, the guest left a horrible rating and review on my listing later, which make my overall rating from 4.85 to 4.72. It would affect my host status- I am supposed to be a super host from this January, and I addressed these issues to the AIRBNB support team. But despite they say they understand the situation, they would not be able to remove or hide the review. It shows that the AIRBNB hosts would not be able to protect their safety and property for good reviews and ratings if the guests violate and harm the host’s safety.
I feel very underprotected by the AIRBNB’s policies and the review policy should change reflecting these legit concerns of hosts for their safety.
I share your concerns with other hosts, too. And yes, rude guests tend to leave sour reviews.
As soon as the boyfriend showed up, there should have been a polite but firm discussion. Where he stays is not your concern, because it clearly isn’t his.
I would suggest they call Airbnb to find them a new place, but your reservation with her stands.
Do this ON PLATFORM. This way Airbnb can clearly see what happened.
If your place has been trashed, take photos and send them to Airbnb. You may be compensated for extra cleaning. It’s worth a shot.
It is essential for other hosts that you write an impartial, brief but succinct review or rebuttal to this guest’s review. This warns other hosts and the community.
Don’t fret the loss of Superhost. It happened to me too after a 1 star from a horrible man. You will recover soon enough!
I’m sorry this happened, if only you had come to this forum and read a lot before this happened.
You can demand all you want, but Airbnb won’t change until they get bad publicity or their profits are affected.
I believe the main problem is that you let the guest stay without paying for the 2nd person. The guest realized that you broke your own rules in order to avoid conflict and then she knew she could take advantage of you with with more bad behavior.
I feel you! I too am upset at Airbnb policies where guests who violate agreements, house rules and the contracts set forth for staying get to leave reviews!?!
Guests who violate house rules should not have the privilege of leaving reviews. AirBnB places the burden on the hosts to demonstrate why the review needs to be removed, that’s ridiculous. It’s asking hosts to take responsibility and ownership for someone else’s bad behavior.
I say BOO, bad policy Airbnb! I feel that if enough hosts leave feedback for them to change their policy to— guests who violate house rules or cause damages should not be allowed to review, period. They should have consequences too, and honestly not being able to leave a review is a minor consequence for them but a huge support for hosts.
