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That place looks amazing! Love the hot tub especially. I know those aren’t cheap. It almost looks like you’re losing money on this place…
The bears are a perfect touch to the woodland theme. Very cute. Too bad about the vomit encrusted special guests.
Thanks!! We try to make everything nice… And always handle any customer complaints right away and fix every item the moment we know it’s broken. I don’t think we make any money during the week but do make some on the weekend…
Which is why you should always contact them about these problems via AirBnB instead of phoning them. That way his threats would be on the record and case closed.
Yeah lesson learned…
This is why shitty guests get away with murder.
Don’t be held ransom to reviews. 1 star guest 1 star review
I totally agree. Especially when the guest is clearly some powerful bully. We aren’t making so much money that we can just give away close to $100.
I saw your post on the FB vent forum too and I know their replies can be harsher. What I have learned from the other forum is
a) Just send in the resolution request and wait the 72 hours. Don’t confront the guest. Then get aibnb involved.
b) Expect a bad review so think abut if $83 was worth the bad review.
c) I would definitely give them an honest bad review.
Absolutely DON’T bother going to his company. Nothing will come of that except wasting your time. He’s the CFO and you are who? They’ll just hang up on you.
But don’t be intimidated, either. Either open a case in resolution center, or just forget it and eviscerate him in the review. (Oh, the review part can be done even if you open the case).
$83 ? 5 night booking… Hmm IDK how serious it is. As hosts we get in to the trap of taking things personally and then get worked up over the principle of the thing. I try and look through the lense of what is the best business decision? For me 5 nights is about $1500 I would not make an $83 claim and suffer the review associated with the entitled brat ceo. Clean it up, fix the screen and move on. Too late here though.
RR
Good point. I thought the damages would’ve been a lot more than $83. As someone else here recently experienced though, apparently you can’t charge for vomit.
Lord take me if I ever quit caring about “the principle of the thing.” I understand it’s not a lot of money given the booking but I agree with flyboy that this is the kind of sense of entitlement that is especially odious in a home sharing platform. When we peons just keep cleaning up after these entitled guests without calling them out and asking for our due then they just keep renting places, tearing things up and puking wherever they please.
I don’t agree with calling his boss or suing in small claims court. I don’t agree with getting too emotionally invested. I just say be calm, ask for what is appropriate, escalate. Keep in mind we pay fees to Airbnb and this is one of their jobs. And if the guest doesn’t pay, Airbnb probably will. (“Because this is a small amount and you don’t have other claims…”) Then give the guy low stars and move on. Don’t be held hostage to the bad review fear.
It wasn’t a good thing to call him, but since the “damage” has already been done, I would send him a message through the message center along the following lines:
Dear XXX,
As I told you yesterday on the phone, after checking our cabin after your group checked out we came across the following damages not there before:
- A
- B
- C
We take note that in our phone call yesterday you denied these damages being caused by your group.
We also take note that in our phone call, at first you said to have fully enjoyed your stay, but after I confronted you with the damages caused, you immediately changed your stance and treatened us with a 1-star review and a lawsuit for … .
Since these damages were not present when you checked in, they can only have been caused by your group. Therefor we will put in a claim through the resolution center, for the total amount of…
We hope you can agree with paying these damages.
Best regards,
Happilytorn
In my professional life I always use the “message/email after phone tactic”, for all those who want to tell me something on the phone, but don’t want to put it in writing. Based on this message, you can try and ask AirBnB afterwards to remove his 1star review.
And of course put in your official request for your money, if you think the US$ 83 are worth the hassle.
In all fairness, I do believe most other hosts would have charged a LOT more than $83. I try my hardest to shop around and save and pass the savings onto the guest. I don’t charge for the extra time it takes me to deal with all of this or the extra time it takes my cleaners to deal with all of this. I don’t charge anything for the extra time taken to deal with all the throw up. So for $83 I wish he would see it as a Godsend instead of trying to threaten me with my reputation.
Sent! Thanks!! I took out the part about resolution since I already sent that in and he already denied it.
That’s exactly why you SHOULD charge fully!
I would definitely do as @GutHend suggests and send a recap message. If you’re lucky, it might provoke him to respond with threats and bullying, which would help your case if you want to try to have the review removed.
@GardenGnome I did. Although he may have sensed something by now… I’m sure quite a few people have landed on his linkedin page as well (i released his name on the blacklist forum) and he does have the type of linkedin that allows him to know who visited (and a unique last name that there’s no other). Not sure if that’s helping me but it gives me a little satisfaction to think that he may start to feel a little uneasy.
A screen repair and a showerhead I would do myself, is it worth the bad review? $83 of a 5 day booking…
The damage is already done to you as far as the review goes so it is what it is. At this point I hope you get your $83
RR
I admit this is a newbie mistake. But the 5 night rental was only an average of $240 a night after remitting taxes. I don’t think I really make that much where I’d want to just let $83 of damage go. But in the future I certainly would fish for that 5 star review first before mentioning damages.
A blacklist? Where’s that?