Unconfirmed Additional Guests Issues, Owner loses, Guest wins

1

Hello all,

I recently rented my house to a person who reserved for 5 people. Our house has a maximum occupancy of 8 (by city short-term permit law), and we charge $50 per guest, per night for each person after 5.
We discovered via our Nest outdoor camera, that 15 people stayed at our house. That is 10 over agreed reservation, and 7 over law limit.
We contacted the Resolution Center, provided proof, time-stamped video, and pictures.

We received the following resolution:

"Unfortunately, S— is not willing to pay the extra Guest fee and I cannot just take the money out of her pocket.

But, with that being said, I have talked to my team, and we have agreed that you are entitled to that money from S—. But since she is not willing to pay it we have agreed to give you the maximum our system will allow us to issue of $300USD."

Here is my issue… Airbnb is allowing the renter to NOT pay additional fees and have us the homeowner eat the cost? How is this even possible? The renter blatantly disregarded Airbnb policy and ours, and yet she has the right to say, I don’t want to pay and walk away? We are not allowed to use the security deposit for this either…

Has anyone else had this happen before?
Any advice would be appreciated as I am about to flip my lid…

Thanks in advance.

2

Welcome to the forum where we help hosts shut the barn door after the mule has escaped.

If you peruse the posts here you will see that there are many complaints like yours. What it boils down to is that Airbnb is a booking platform, nothing more. Their guarantees are hardly that and there’s nothing you can do about it if you read all the small print carefully.

What you need to know is this: You have to control your own property. When you saw all those guests arriving you should have contacted them via the platform ASAP and told them they would have to pay the extra charges or vacate the premises (with no refund). And followed that path of calling Airbnb ASAP if they didn’t accept the charge and so on.

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3

Thanks @KKC unfortunately, we did not realize until they were checking out as they hid when checking in (would drive into the garage, unload go through the side door). I guess since we didn’t say anything the felt confident upon check out…
I will definitely use your suggestion for the next time!!!

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If there is more than one way in and out you need more than one camera. Also make sure the cameras are pictured and disclosed. Not only is this required by Airbnb policy but helps to act as a deterrent. Be sure and check/monitor when it’s check in time. You might also consider monitoring how many devices are logged onto your wireless. If you have say, 10 things on it when the house is unoccupied, and then a group of “5” checks in and you have 30 devices connected you know something is up.

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Thanks @KKC Our camera is disclosed in our Airbnb profile and is placed in an obvious location right over the garage door… Great tip re: the wifi and connected devices!!! Thank you!

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6

Yep apparently the Baader Meinhof gang were caught because the utility bills were too high!

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Disgusting guests. You really need CCTV in the garage.

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And please rate this guest a huge thumbs-down!

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10

Hi everyone, I have a problem with a guest. today, after 3 days of stay, the guest was supposed to leave the apartment, at 11 o’clock he checked out, but after I sent a message that he should leave the apartment, he ignored me, I came and knocked on the door to ask him to leave. After he opened the door, I saw that he had lit the fireplace, which was strictly stated not to be used due to danger and which was not stated in the apartment advertisement. Then he broke the shelf in the refrigerator for which there is no replacement, he also smoked and left cigarette butts under the bed, which is a disaster because of the possibility of fire. After I confronted him with this, he became aggressive and rude. After the preliminary calculation for the mentioned works and damaged things, I asked for 450 euros compensation for all these problems. However, now the guest is asking me for compensation of 75 euros because he didn’t have internet for 1 day (the whole city didn’t have internet because of the snow that caused the malfunction), when it happened he didn’t mind, but now he “remembered” to ask for compensation. I have a correspondence with the internet company that I can confirm my statements. What should I do? PS. I have a very good rating on Airbnb and I have never had a case like this with this much damage, and I have been a host for 13 years.

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With guests like this, I think it’s sort of pointless to do anything but leave them a scathing review and report them to Airbnb for ignoring house rules and causing a fire hazard.

You can pretty much anticipate that guests like this will refuse to pay for damages, will come up with some bogus complaint or complaint about something they never complained about at the time, and will leave a bad review if you ask them for $ or otherwise give them a clue that they are going to get a bad review.

I not sure what you are trying to charge him the 450 euros “compensation” for- you can’t charge guests for ignoring house rules and aside from some extra cleaning of the cig butts and fireplace, it sounds like the only actual damage he caused was breaking a fridge shelf, which you say you can’t get a replacement for anyway, and Airbnb won’t enforce a damage charge without receipts for replacement or repair.

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Just to make things clear, I’m a bit muddled, when you say that he checked out but he was still there. Can you explain? Thanks.

@muddy is correct in that telling the guest that you’d charge him 450 euros (about 490 US) seems excessive.

Have you ever had guests overstay before? What is your usual checkout system to make sure they leave on time?

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As a host for 13 years, you know that compensation for damage is done thru airbnb - it is foolish to stand there in a hallway and negotiate ‘payment’ as airbnb has specific safeguards in place for hosts who have issues like this. Aircover will respond and you will be made whole.

Document the issues and make your claim with airbnb. Stop talking with this ‘guest’.

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14

It sounded to me like she sent him a message after he left and after assessing the damage, rather than in the hallway, but that’s not really clear.

And hosts are supposed to send the guest a request to pay for damages first, before asking Airbnb for it, unless something has changed. Although I think you can and should notify Airbnb of the damages, along with photos, right away.

Definitely agree that “talking” with a guest like this, beyond notifying them of the damage and cost, is pointless.

15

The chek out is untill 11:00, I have video survaliene in the yard, his car was still parked after 11, he stayed 1 hour longer. Since my chek in is fro. 13:00 I had new guest coming, and the xleaning lady could have not come to clean since he was still inside. I have sended him a message around 11:30 to chek out but he ignored me. Also i have sended him a meessage tru Airbnb the night before chek out to ask was everything fine with his stay, whishing a good trip and let him know that the chek out is untill 11:00 the next day.

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I have done that tru Airbnb, with all the photos, invoices and aditional documentation, my problem is his request for thr 75 euros for wi fi problems. The wi fi was out for the entire city, I have told him that and he was ok withbit at that time, he had his mobile internet and had no problem with it. I sended the covesation to Airbnb too

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Yea that is tru I sended the request later after I have seen the demadge and got the invoices for it.

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I have got the invoices for all the demage and its all together 450 euros. He made me a huge problem with the chimney and now is has to be fixed. In this price is also the smoke cleaning fee, for wich I also have sended the invoice to Airbnb. About the fridge, he broke the self inside and now its usuless, the fridge is an older model and no spare parts, I have try to find them, also have have sended the email from the company explaining this to me.

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This is a valid loss of amenity and a guest can claim compensation. I suggest that you not fight this but negotiate for a fair amount.

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Make sure for future guests that the chimney has a barrier or screen so that it is not possible to be used - a common problem with guests is lack of reading comprehension and arrogance.

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Again, I’m confused. You say that you have invoices for the damage and then that it has to be fixed. I appreciate that English isn’t your first language so I wonder if you mean you have ‘estimates’ and not ‘invoices’?

I doubt that you can claim from the guest, from Airbnb or from your STR insurance for a broken shelf on an old fridge. The smoking is something we all have to deal with at some time and the fireplace should be blocked or screened as @Rolf suggests. I don’t see therefore that you have much hope in claiming, I’m afraid.