But how does that not damage your home if they smoke inside it? Never mind cigarette burns, the smell of smoke lingers for a long time and can permeate the walls and fibres in the place. I’m very sensitive to the smell and I can guarantee that if I was a guest checking into your place after a guest who had smoked indoors, I would notice it, and I would comment on it. If the smell was strong, I might leave and seek a refund. I don’t pay to stay in a place that reeks of cigarette smoke. I’m usually a generous reviewer, but if I commented to the host that it smelled like cigarette smoke and they waved it off as inconsequential, I would not review the place well. If the host did take it seriously, they would have a remediation problem. I once had a house guest who smoked in the bathroom and the place smelled so strongly of cigarette smoke that it wouldn’t go away even after scrubbing every wall and ceiling and I ended up having to repaint the entire room. So these are several ways that a guest who breaks rules and smokes inside your house is literally causing damage to your business.
While I agree that indoor smoking would leave a lingering odor in most places that certainly non-smokers would object to (and even smokers- believe it or not, stale cigarette smoke odor is not the same to smokers as smoking a cigarette- one stop-smoking technique is to save a bunch of butts in a jar and take a whiff of it every time you get the urge to light up), not all places retain odors.
Living in the tropics, all my doors and windows are open pretty much all the time. I lock the doors if I go out, but the windows all have security bars, so are left open. I have no carpets and no upholstered furniture to absorb odors. Curtains are on clip rings and can be easily taken down and washed, as can the small throw rugs and throw pillow covers. I wash that stuff often, even in spaces that aren’t shared with guests, because it is so dusty in the dry season here and the prolific insect population also leave evidence. (And my cat favors the living room throw rug under the coffee table as her chosen spot to eat her rodent and lizard victims, usually leaving the heads, tails and guts behind 
)
I’m a smoker and if I don’t have guests in my private room listing, I occasionally smoke inside. I have asked non-smoking friends and family if they can detect any cigarette smoke odor in my home and they have all said no. My daughter, who was here for 2 weeks for Xmas, and who detests the smell of cigarette smoke and has a keen sense of smell, so I had to walk down the road to light up when she was here, sat in the living room, where I sometimes smoke when alone, daily and never said it smelled like cigarettes, which she would not be the least bit reticent to complain about if she detected that.
Firstly, I’m really sorry to hear this bad experience, especially as a new host. If you recorded video outside (not inside) of the unit, then you should be fine. Be sure to leave them a review to let other hosts know about this issue. If the guest is being blatant on your property, you can call the police to deal with the matter, especially if you’re also on the property. Don’t give into begging and pleading, if you don’t want a guest on your property, you need to take every action to get them off. Really sorry to hear this.
So update:
Airbnb locked my account and deleted my profile. I can’t leave a review to warn other hosts and Airbnb never even gave me an explanation. I can’t log into my account anymore. All my bookings were canceled. Airbnb didn’t call me to give me an explaination.
Unbelievable… I’m shocked that marijuana cigarette smoking guests got away with damaging my place and I get shut down because I took video evidence of them smoking outside my house.
That’s Airbnb !!! I feel sorry for all the other hosts that will be affected by these guys that hop from Airbnb to Airbnb because they are homeless.
FYI I’m in Florida if anyone is wondering. I’m not in Massachusetts. I had 5 star ratings and now my profile is deleted.
That’s so horrible and wrong. You should go to the press with this one.
Worst part is the reservations that people made were canceled and they had already made plans. They bought flight tickets, car rentals, made plans, and Airbnb didn’t care. Just canceled everything.
I’m sorry that this happened to you.
Florida, like MA, is a two-party consent state where it’s actually a felony to record a conversation without the consent of all the parties.
I’m not going to get into whether guests (not tenants) had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the driveway of an STR you own but rented out. My guess is that that lawyer wrote a persuasive letter to Airbnb that led them to conclude that you had violated the agreement, terms, etc. or the laws of FL. It seems to me that you should have an opportunity to rebut those claims unless Airbnb feels that you inadvertently have admitted such violations through your correspondence.
Under 13.3 Member Violations the Terms of Service does say “You may appeal actions taken by us under this Section by contacting customer service” although it’s not clear to me if that pertains only to ‘minor violations.’ It does say ‘actions taken by us under this section’ and that section includes cancelling reservations and suspending your account.
You may want to consult with a lawyer for advice.
I don’t know whether you’d want to (or should) share correspondence you’ve had with and from Airbnb on this forum in the hope of getting guidance that you could then discuss with your lawyer.
Without seeing the correspondence, my preliminary draft (subject to review by your lawyer) of a communication to Airbnb would be something like:
"I am surprised, disappointed and damaged by your canceling my reservations and suspending my account. Under 13.3 of your terms of service I’d like to:
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Understand what terms of our agreement, additional legal terms, policies, standards or applicable laws, regulations or third party rights you believe I violated,
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Understand and receive all evidence and correspondence you have for concluding I committed any violation, and
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I wish to preserve any rights I have to appeal your decision, which I will consider after receiving your response to #1 and #2.
I am a new Host with Airbnb, have operated my rental in good faith compliance with Airbnb policies and local laws and desirous of continuing my association with Airbnb as Host. I am sorry that my guests were so inconvenienced by your canceling their reservations and am hopeful we can resolve any misunderstanding on an urgent basis.
I wouldn’t go to the press without advice from my lawyer in this situation.
Let’s see how Airbnb responds to your request for understanding what they believe you violated and their evidence for such.
If the allegation is a violation of FL law on recording, which is a felony, and given that this group does not have all the facts and none of us is @Dscubasteve00 's lawyer, I would not go to the press without Steve having his own licensed lawyer knowledgeable in this area of FL law.
Why would you think that? The guest complained to Airbnb that the host violated his privacy and Airbnb responded by deleting the host’s account. It’s one on Airbnb’s MOs.
This is why it is really important to make a note of guests’ phone numbers and any other contact info they have given you. Then you just explain to the guests what happened, get them to pay you directly if they still want to come, their plans are not ruined and you deprive Airbnb of screwing with you or the guests.
As I said, it’s a guess. Alternatively, as I said, Airbnb felt the Host made an admission. There are other possibilities.
I don’t know that. I’ve heard of suspending the account from making additional reservations.
Are you saying that based on a mere allegation by a guest of invasion of privacy (outside) that Airbnb’s MO is to cancel all the Host’s reservations and delete the profile?
Yes, they have been known to do that. There was a long-time, successful host that used to post on another forum. Airbnb notified him that there had been a complaint, refused to tell him what the complaint was, and deleted his account. Unlike this host, he had zero idea what it could possibly have been about, as he wasn’t aware of having had any issues with his guests. He’s not the only one that’s happened to.
I’m done with Airbnb. They allowed drug use in my home. I don’t want anything to do with them.
They ‘have been known to do that’ is different from this being Airbnb’s MO.
I wonder whether Airbnb’s rationale here is that the cell phone was a ‘monitoring device’ that was not disclosed. I addressed this earlier as what I thought was a weak argument but perhaps Airbnb feels differently.
Airbnb might feel that the driveway is not a public place. The driveway might indeed be in the back yard, which doesn’t seem like a public place to me. Regardless, the driveway is part of the property that the guests rented. I’m not defending Airbnb, just trying to understand what its rationale might be and whether there is any helpful takeaway for the rest of us.
It might be that Airbnb feels that there was a monitoring device (i.e., the cell phone) and it was not disclosed. Perhaps Airbnb feels the Host admitted to that monitoring device in the correspondence. This is one reason why my House Rules state that if there is an apparent violation of certain rules the Host may view and enter the property with a video and audio recording device running .
Whether we think Airbnb is being ridiculous or unfair I think it behooves us all to include in our House Rules when we might enter the property or otherwise record audio and video of guests.
I can well understand why you are done with Airbnb. However, Airbnb did not “allow drug use” in your home. They don’t have a swat team to come to people’s homes to boot out guests or make them stop what they are doing. They are just a listing service. You allowed the guests to stay when you were well aware they were already violating your rules. It’s up to hosts to get rid of guests who are not respecting you, your property, or your rules.
I don’t know why you keep talking about the host recording a conversation. The host never said there was any audio nor that the guest was conversing with anyone else. They just said they took video of the guest smoking.
I say that because my understanding is that cell phones record both audio and video.
I don’t know whether there was a conversation. I asked about this.
But, as I also pointed out Airbnb’s rationale might have nothing to do with recording a conversation but having an undisclosed monitoring device, the cell phone.
I can assure you that there is no smell of smoke in my house, no customer has ever complained about it because there is no smell, this is because the few times I happened to find cigarette ash, it was exactly in front of the window, which means they smoked in front of the open window. There are also civilized and polite smokers, they are not all barbarians. If a customer suffering from non-existent smoking hysteria arrives, he will surely be able to find another accommodation.
I forgot to specify that if I smell smoke in the house after a stay, this is definitely a reason why I would enforce my house rules, but if there is no smell because they smoked in the window and there is no damage , I can’t find any valid reason to quarrel with a guest for a purely ideological question.