Our First AWFUL Experience With Disgusting Guests

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So I decided I am not going to be pursuing a claim with Airbnb. I spend 5 hours cleaning up after these disgusting slobs and was able to repair the damage they did. The mattress, though having the mattress protector removed, must have dried before I could get a clear picture of the moisture that was on it and I frankly don’t have the energy to try to recover money from this nightmare. Onward and upward, but not without leaving a review for them. I am guessing they will just close down the Airbnb account so this review won’t even matter but I am going to leave it anyway. I tried to be succinct and I hope you all think its OK to post. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks again for all your input, it certainly has made dealing with this much easier for me.

After having hosted literally hundreds of guests, our experience with Laura and Ed was the worst we have ever had. Our guest house was completely trashed, and none of our previous guests have taken advantage of our hospitality the way Laura and Ed did.

The issues began before they even booked, when I received an email from these guests outside of Airbnb (they had to have found our farm’s website by searching the internet) saying they were having trouble booking the reservation. I directed them to Airbnb’s phone number for support and informed them that we do not accept reservations outside of Airbnb.

Several days later, Ed suddenly showed up at our home without an invitation and asked to look around. It was then that he informed me that they actually weren’t having issues booking, but that they needed to be discreet and wanted privacy, asking if they could pay in cash instead of through Airbnb. Again, I said absolutely not and explained why we only accept reservations through Airbnb.

We were shocked that he somehow found our home address as we aren’t publicly listed, but several days later we finally received a booking request from Laura. They requested a 2 day stay and before we accepted, sensing that they might not be familiar with Airbnb etiquette (after having showed up to our property uninvited and ignored the private property sign), we asked that she read through and agreed to all our rules. We wanted to make sure they were aware of our policies before we accepted their booking request. She acknowledged reading everything and agreed to all of our house rules.

Because it was later in the evening when they arrived, we allowed them to check in without being greeted. We didn’t see them leave the house for 2 days, so we assumed they were enjoying the privacy that they were seeking.

Yesterday, about 30 minutes before they were supposed to check out I received a text asking permission to stay an extra hour so they could walk around in the snow for a little while. I allowed it because our house cleaner was coming later anyway, but firmly told them that they would have to leave by noon. Sure enough, they didn’t leave the house to go on the walk they requested. Instead they stayed an hour and a half past check out time, and then decided to take a walk around the property.

Upon entering the house after they left, it smelled stagnant and filthy. The living room curtains were hanging off of the pole and were apparently removed, only to be put back on incorrectly. The master bedroom was left in disarray with soaking wet towels wrapped in the bed sheets. The sheets themselves were covered in blood and some other bodily fluids, which soaked through and ruined our almost-new memory foam mattress.

The bathroom had 9 towels strewn about it, all wet. The bathroom walls were damp with water. There was food in the bath tub, and grape stems all over the bathroom floor.

The kitchen sink was left with filthy dishes in it, and the hand towels were all ruined and stained with food. There were food crumbs all over the kitchen counters and floor.

We have very clear house rules, which include strict check-out times, requesting guests to put their dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and putting their dirty towels in the washing machine. Despite confirming that they had read these rules, and others, Ed and Laura completely failed to adhere to them. We are going to be replacing the sheets, towels and mattress that they destroyed, and will have to scrub the guest house to clean up the filth left behind by these guests. These were completely disrespectful of us and have no concept of Airbnb etiquette. We would never allow them back, and strongly warn other hosts never to book with these two people.

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Make sure to leave this review at the very last minute if you can.

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I saw that Kona, but why wait until the end if they can’t see it until they write me one?

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Hi LegendsCreek,

Your review looks fine to me. I hope their spouses see it and they get in big trouble at home.

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@LegendsCreek I would still ask for $ because of the extra time you had to spend cleaning. Also, don’t mention the mattress if you’re not going to replace it.

Here’s my edit of your review, which was largely very well written but maybe too long:

Unfortunately, I can’t recommend Laura and Ed. They didn’t adhere to our house rules and left the place a mess.

The problems began when they wanted to book outside Airbnb. After I said no, Ed showed up at our home several days later. He said he needed to be discreet and wanted privacy, and asked to pay cash. Again, I said absolutely not. We accepted their request through the system only after making sure they agreed to our house rules. Laura agreed and acknowledged reading them.

We granted them a late check out, but they pushed that past the agreed-upon time. After they left, our house smelled stagnant and dirty. The master bedroom was left in disarray with soaking wet towels wrapped in the bed sheets. The sheets themselves were covered in fluids, ruining the memory foam mattress. The bathroom had 9 towels strewn about it, all wet. The bathroom walls were damp, there was food in the bathtub and grape stems all over the bathroom floor. They had removed and re-hung the living-room curtains. The kitchen was left dirty. We’ll be replacing sheets, towels and other items.

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This has been explained many times, but for you dear Legends, I will explain it again. :heart_eyes:

Both you and the guest know that the stay did not go well. They know that when they see the words, “Legends wrote you a review” chances are pretty good it will be terrible. They have nothing to lose and crack you back HARD. Just the mere act of writing one early will prompt them to write a bad review even though they cannot read yours.

The strategy is this. If they have not reviewed you within the two week period then it is best to try and wait until almost the end. Wait until about 11:59pm on the review day. Have this smackdown ready. Cut and pasted and ready to fire. At the last minute, paste and submit. Bam. They won’t have a second to write one back.

The timing can be a bit tricky. You would do well to call air and find out the exact minute the review period expires for the guest. Make sure you have accounted for time zone differences if any.

This technique was recommended by an Air rep and the one and only time I used it, the result was… In a word… PERFECTION.

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Thank you for the explanation Kona! :slight_smile: I appreciate it.

I do not think these guests are expecting a bad review. When they left they honked the horn to say goodbye and I am expecting them to simply not leave one at all because they were trying to be “discreet” when they stayed with us. I am probably going to just leave it and hope for the best. If they leave me a false negative review, we will just sue them. (Husband is an attorney and there is absolutely financial damages resulting from fake negative reviews and we will go after them). I will give it another night before I decide if I will leave it now or wait.

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I had a quest bleed on my bed, ruin the sheets and mattress. Airbnb ensured I was recouped my fees via the guest. I also charge a security deposit for just such occurrences.

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Yikes. That sucks.

Why would you need to replace the mattress? Am I being gross? Maybe so. I guess there’s always the chance that another person could also take the mattress cover off. Though why someone would do that is beyond me.

If they won’t pay for it, there are a lot of methods one can use to clean it. Yeah it might be distasteful, I know. But yeah I’d ding them hard in the review.