Thanks for the advice.
I donāt really think of Airbnb as just an advertising platform, but perhaps I should. How many advertising firms offer emergency support for hosts or offer 2 million dollars of coverage but ok.
Confronting 50 drugged and drunken possible gang members is not my definition of a prudent plan. Might have worked out, but maybe not. Note that this all happened their 2nd. night after I had gone to bed. The first night was quiet.
Emergency cleaning crew is a good idea but Iām having a hard time finding anyone to clean.
Not bad enough to turn into the insurance company. Iām a Realtor and you donāt want to play that card unless itās a big claim. Good chance theyāll cancel you or at least raise the rates. Iāve only found one insurance company here in California that will even cover an Airbnb.
If I had known that the police would show, I would have been there to meet them, but as others have noted here, they often donāt show at all.
So, the bottom line is, we are on our own in these situations. You canāt assume your guests will tell the truth but luckily 99% do in my experience. Most hosts here suggest confronting the guests, I donāt agree. Iād feel pretty bad if I made that suggestion to another guest and they ended up hurt or worse. Some suggest viewing surveillance cameras and stopping the party before it starts. In this case pretty much everyone showed up within about 30 minutes of each other. And that was after 10PM.
So while this may never happen to other hosts, if it does I wish you the best of luck.
Oh and note that at the time this happened, Airbnb did not allow get togethers of more than 16 people.
I have allowed small baby and wedding showers, and guests allowing a few friends over. I have also turned down many guests when I tell them I sometimes allow quiet get togethers with a maximum of 10 people. Theyāll typically say they want to have more people and I tell them no. All have been very understanding, thank me, and search for another place. People in general are good and honest.
When I first started, I allowed guests to stay a minimum of 1 night. That got me a lot of bookings but attracted young people that often didnāt respect my house. Moving to a 2 night minimum helped and hopefully moving to a 3 night minimum will help more, but I hope Iāll be able to attract enough bookings.
I do appreciate all of the suggestions and constructive criticism. Best of luck everyone. Iām hoping I can go another 2 years without this happening. And I hope none of you ever have to endure this hell.