I stopped doing Airbnb room rental as a result of an incident with a guest which some sort of mental issue. The guest lied about her identity. I had to call the police to try to escort her out because I caught her going through my other guests bedroom and stuff. She was still allowed to write a review. In her review, she said that I was dangerous and that she had to call the police on me. It was the other way around. Airbnb saw all of this in the messaging system because prior to contacting police, I contacted them. I was pregnant so this was a scary situation. Since Airbnb allowed that negative review. Thry removed my review on her because I mentioned her real name. I was trying to warn other hosts. I canceled all the future bookings, which were about 23 total. I lost my superhost status that I had maintained for two years. Airbnb seems more interested in guests no matter what they do more than Host safety.
You had the evidence and the CSR believed the GUEST! Far out!
I doubt it. It is only because they are the guest in your situation, in my opinion.
Have only had 2 bad reviews (so far). One was from a host, and I thought that odd. His reasons were:
1 - he wasnât sure if the furniture on the deck was available for him to use since it was covered. The listing and house rules make it clear that guests are welcome to use all deck furniture, and everybody else figured that out.
2 - the neighbour was working on his deck and made some noise. I agree that is annoying, and can kind of see a mention of that, but it was a very temporary situation that was out of my control. Not like we live next to a factory or something!
This was not long after I started hosting so did drop the overall rating a bit. His review was not totally negative, and actually he gave me 4 starsâŚso not a huge issue. I was just surprised that a host would give me a lower review for something they didnât understand and never asked me about, and something else that was temporary and external.
I had a lady book about week before her stay, for a 2 day stay. (just joined and no reviews) Never asked any questions and showed about 15 min after the beginning of check in time (5:00). Rang the door bell instead of following check in instructions to use the keypad (no big deal) and when i answered the door she was all like âyaâall people live here?â I said yes, i do. Would you like me to show you to your room? she had a disgusted look on her face and said âi thought i was getting the whole houseâ I responded, you booked a âPrivate room in a houseâ as it states under the title of the room. It also states multiple times in my description and listing that you are renting a room in a house and that there are shared spaces⌠Her response " i didnât bother to read all that. I thought all Airbnbs were the whole house" I responded, âMost all listings around here are just a room in a houseâ. Her: âWell i knew i was getting a room but i thought id get the whole house alsoâ i said, why would you think that? it doesnt state that anywhere plus why would i rent my entire 6 bedroom 3500 sq foot house out for just $30 a night? âthatâs just what i thoughtâ youâre welcome to cancel and i showed her how to cancel. âit says i donât get my money backâ yes thatâs true because you did not cancel 24 hours before the check in time. Shes left upset and i pointed out to her how to filter for entire house and where it says on the listing room or house.
Later that night i get a request for more money than i would have even made on the room, with her stating i lied and it was deceiving that she didnât get the whole house and wants money. I repeated what i said earlier to her in person, and said that that room was blocked out for her for a week and now thatâs the night of you cancel, so i would lose money as its pretty late to get another guest. Thatâs why there is a 24 hour window. She then leaves me a review, 1 star overall and 1 star on all categories, stating I lied to her, stole money from her, and that my house was nasty.
Sooooo what are my odds of getting it removed? I reported it and her to Airbnb and I left a follow up comment on her review, but id still like it gone. I have over 200 reviews and an average of 4.91 so im not super worried about it hurting my number.
I got a guy who refused to flush.
Ok, Iâll bite.
Why not?
Waiting on a good punchlines BTW.
JG
Yep, I get a lot of those too lately. The quality of the guests went down. Itâs different people now. They all think theyâre getting the entire house for cheap and donât read.
So sorry! Best of luck getting the review tossed!
I am getting more first timers with larger groups staying for longer periods, in general.
Iâd say your odds are very good. Iâve had two removed because they were incorrect.
From a psychology perspective, I believe thatâs because most of the ârule followersâ are not traveling and staying home. Weâre all left with those who donât care about COVID exposure or following guidelines. This tends to also carry over in their daily habits such as respectfulness of property and following property rules, etc.
Luckily, that didnât seem to follow for me. I have been seemingly getting better quality guests, and those willing to pay a lot more too. In fact I just got a literal last minute guest last night (in her message she said she could be there immediately upon bookingâŚI had visions of her sitting in my driveway waiting to hit submit) to stay in the private bedroom w private bathroom in my house who paid more than double my usual rate. She told me she paid $250 for 2 nights with me and she is soooo glad she did! I increase rates for close in bookings (within 3 days) and for bookings close to another booking (up to 5 days before and after).
I never would have expected to be able to get $95 for a day of booking and $75 for the following night with $23 cleaning fee for a room but it happened. This Guest just finished up a week camping by herself in a tent on abandoned properties and wanted a hot shower, insect free room, and the interaction with the horses and dogs and cats that I advertise might be possible (and apparently she wanted to spend the afternoon and evening with me tonight As she really needed a sympathetic ear. She is currently 7 months pregnant and on her ownâŚ
No Refund 1-Stars me too
I am Trying to report Quarantine fraud using Airbnb hosts
Guest, where greeted, stayed for an hour and left without notice, and asked for a refund on day 29 of their month reservation. We refused to refund and they left a bad review and a 1-star review.
From the information that we got, they came back from a foreign country and had to be in quarantine for 14 days.
Here are a few facts:
- Our guests stated that they had to rent a place for a month because they could not access their home for the next month.
-According to the Tennant downstairs, they left at 1 am with their 2 infants of 2 and 24 months, probably caused by jet-lagged.
-They have a house close by but could not go there immediately, so they need a transfer place.
-they only came in for a few hours and left without advising us
-A family of 4 came âwithout luggageâ to pick up the keys they âleft on the table.â
-we have provided the internet codes after their departure, and they only replied, ââThanks.ââ Without telling us that they were already gone for good.
-oddly enough, they ask for a refund ONLY at the end of the tenancy agreement
As required with new travel restrictions upon entry to Canada, they were only looking for the required documents for âsuitable for quarantine or isolationâ for the 14 days when entering Canada, and Airbnb was the ideal and easy way to offer this. They had no real intention of using the facility. They only wanted to have a proof of reservation for the month to come. They also thought they would easily get a refund a month later if the reservation would go through Airbnb, because of the excellent reputation with customer service. They didnât ask for a refund before the end of the month because they needed the government to think they were still using our place until then.
A Violation of the Canadian Quarantine act was committed, and we were an accessory to this felony. As the border restrictions continue to be enforced, this could be an ongoing problem for our Airbnb community.
We will certainly not encourage this type of illicit activity in our home business and will not tolerate being an accomplice and do not wish to have this type of guess through the Airbnb platform. I still do not understand why it is encouraged by the platform.
Airbnb refused to remove the bad review, I lost my 100% 5-star rating, and downgraded from super host. I offered Airbnb to prove that there was, in fact, a federal offense committed wich can result in fines and possible prison time under the Quarantine Act. They said they will not touch reviews.
I am thinking of contacting the RCMP Quarantine unit or the news to get the word out there. They will probably get in touch with Airbnb to have a system in place for this type of reservation.
Any recommendations?
@daniel I sure as hell would report them to whatever govt. body is enforcing these quarantine regulations. Itâs a-holes like this who ensure that the virus keeps spreading. They need to be reported so they can be contact traced. And I hope theyâd get fined. Little help for your 1* review, though.
I donât know if they would then contact Airbnb.
The first thing that comes to mind here, and correct me if Iâm wrong, is that youâd a guest for a month long booking and, other than sending them the internet code, had no contact whatsoever during that stay?
Is this your normal style of hosting, where once youâve sent internet codes you just forget about the guests until check out?
JF
I am only the owner of the property, I take care of the maintenance of the buildings and talked to guest in person. My wife takes care of the communications and the tenants.
When they were greeted for about 1 hour, they were asked if they needed anything else, and mentioned they had a baby, so the next day, I brought a large carpet for playing on the ground, a crib, and a diaper basket and left it on their balcony to not disturb them. They were later that they needed the internet codes that were in the logbook and it was late, I answered the next days while they were gone already and she only said thanks.
I only rent for 2 weeks or more and usually months. I have workers most of the time. I usually talk to them when I am around, but they were never there. I was waiting for them to be there and ask if they have any questions and if they are satisfied, I usually wait for the guest to actually be there before asking if they are comfortable. I never thought people rated placed they have never been to. But in this case I should have checked before.
After 2 weeks, I was then suspecting something weird and just wanted a receipt, or moving between houses and needed a steady place for the kids, which I donât mind. I had guests that reserved and go to their mistress instead. But never thought they were using for quarantine and asking to be refunded after.
I did not believe it is my business to ask around customerâs lives and inâs and outâs. I am not in the business playing the police with my guests. It becomes my business when they donât pay or are not satisfied. I usually ask a few questions about who they are and the reason for their stay. In this case, they were very evasive on the questions, but they were a small family, so I did not push it.
Since they did not get refunded, they left a 1-star rating everywhere. What do you think I should do?
Are you aware of cases that Airbnb removed ratings when there were criminal activities in the rental?
I believe itâs a whole new type of loop hole and Airbnb should take measures to prevent being a part of this illicit activity.
I am in Canada; there is a mandatory 14 days quarantine for everyone entering Canada regardless of the reason why they have entered. For foreigners, only immediate family members of Canadian citizens are granted entry. There are very few exemptions and only for essential workers.
Not an accessory. You had no knowledge, before or during. What you THINK you know about the after is technically an educated guess.
Sorry about the guests. You can try to fight the review and good luck. Daily posting to Airâs Twitter and FB pages will hopefully make you the âsqueaky wheel that needs the oilâ.
At least you got paid. Hope that you have outside cameras too, just in case. But at least there is no damage and right now you have the money and so-far they have not called Air to try and force a partial or full refund.
As far as the Quarantine act goes. It seems that you may be obligated to report them? Not sure.
In your shoes, I would not hesitate to at least call some agency. This may or may not be helpful:
Yes, Iâm Canadian as well, though Iâm living in Mexico right now. Iâm well aware of the quarantine regs in Canada and it kiboshed my usual summer trip to Canada, as I no longer have a house there and none of my friends or family have a suitable place for me to quarantine without also exposing them. And airports and airplanes seem like way too much of a risk to take unless absolutely necessary.