Unregistered guest. Seen in person, but guest denying it through the message thread

Just as a FYI most Southern Hemisphere Universities start in February as obviously that’s after summer has finished but yeah not in March.

I’m in Perth, and traffic has been horrendous since unis went back a couple of weeks ago. Also, at 37C today, has summer really finished? :wink:

lol technically. It’s snowed here and it’s meant to be spring so!

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I don’t feel a bit sorry for these low life students. I hope they get a couple of flat tires the minute they pull into the hotel that Air paid for them :smile:

I think one of my LTR students is exactly that, somewhat privileged. Faheem, you are very astute - you even nailed his country of origin.

Having raised two kids that went to college, and now that we rent rooms to 5 university boys, I can say that sometimes kids do stupid things, sometimes out of fear, sometimes through poor judgement. I have a heart for these kids. Perhaps their eviction from this ABB will be a good life lesson for them.

The second half of the year is now starting in Japan, where my son is an exchange student at a Kyoto university. But I dunno… Something about the OPs story makes me not believe or trust these guests.

I think most of us can say we have had our share of doing some really dumb things and making poor judgement.calls in our youth. I know I have!

In my experience most “good natured” people who make a “stupid” mistake…will at least try to make an attempt to rectify the situation after they realize they screwed up. These guests still had the opportunity to save face after they were caught the final time.

You would think that at least one of the three would have said “just tell the host that we’ll pay the additional fee for all nights even though the female didn’t stay.” - yes, it’d still be a lie. But who cares? At least they were finally paying up their debt. But noooo…what they chose to do was basically stick their middle finger up in the OP’s face and say “F%&* you! What are you going to do about it?”

Air is rewarding them since they now won’t have any negative review. Air likely is refunding them out of Air’s pocket, and possibly paying for a hotel. Who knows?

But I think the only lesson they will learn is “next time look for a listing where the host doesn’t live on site.”

The more I read the more angry I get. To continue to lie after it was revealed is completely unacceptable. Now to have caught them red-handed and them to use the excuse that her lease was up and the were doing her a favor - at your expense - as a viable reason to lie about something is SO wrong. There is not excuse.

It should be YOUR decision whether you want to be generous to this girl. Perhaps if they had explained the situation the outcome could have been positive. But continuing to lie reveals their hearts - they would rather be deceptive than allow you to be generous (or not… but that’s YOUR choice). I hope they’ve learned their lesson.

@cabinhost inquired about their ages… I’m curious, too.

Their story was definitely not consistent.

They emphasised that they were new to the state. We are in Australia, and university did start in February, however their reservation began in March. At best, they must have been staying somewhere else for a few weeks. They also had an enormous amount of personal belongings with them. Every room in the house was filled with piles and piles of their clothes and other items, including the hallway and their bedrooms. This included a large television, which I doubt they decided to buy whilst waiting to move into permanent accommodation. Both of the young men also owned cars. They seemed very established here.

I am unsure of their ages, however they definitely weren’t teens or even in their very early twenties. They were graduate students. I would estimate mid-to-late twenties

My daughter is an international undergraduate student in England. I know how difficult it would have been if she had brought a similar amount of belongings with her. It’s impossible that these students are new to the state as they claim to be. I imagine they have been here for a while, and are continuing their degrees. It’s possible that something happened that required them to find for accommodation for a week, whilst they looked for somewhere to stay.

When I spoke to them, I emphasised that I understood that people make mistakes, and that they may have made a poor choice by lying to me. However, I had seen a young woman with them on multiple occasions, and I knew there were three people staying there. I said it was only going to make things more difficult for them if they continued to be dishonest with me, as they would have to constantly worry about being caught. I asked them to please be upfront with me now so we could move forward. If they did, I could modify their booking. They continued to lie. I stressed this repeatedly in person and in writing, and they continued to lie until they were caught, at which point they would only admit to what they had been caught for: one night. :expressionless:

I’m not unreasonable. If they had told me upfront, I would have amended their booking. Instead, when I went over, they hid in the toilet for over half an hour to avoid being caught, despite how obvious it was. If they had been honest with me then, I probably would have allowed them to stay, as I understand that they might have panicked and made a poor decision without thinking (the review would have mentioned this, though).

I don’t really have much sympathy for people who behave like this, particularly when I’ve let them know I’m more than willing to be accommodating and forgiving. They caused me stress, wasted my time, and showed little regard for the fact that they were taking advantage of me. They were more than capable of paying the additional person fee, they just didn’t want to.

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So, a final update, which I think might be of interest to everyone:

I just received a call from my Case Manager. He was unable to contact my guests by phone, and gave them notice by email that their reservation was being terminated and that they had to vacate my listing. They never responded to this email, or follow up emails, despite requests to do so. Essentially, while they left my home as instructed, they ignored all communication from Airbnb. My Case Manager said that Airbnb did not refund these guests for their booking, and they did not receive assistance finding new accommodation through Airbnb, or a hotel in the interim. So they’ve ultimately lost quite a lot of money as a result of their actions, have been inconvenienced, and hopefully learned their lesson.

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That’s good to know!

I just wanted to ask a question about the photograph thing though. As far as I’m aware - and correct me please if I’m wrong - it is perfectly legal to photograph anyone if they are on public property. This is why the paparazzi get away with photographing celebrities.Once a guest leaves their private room/apartment isn’t that public property?

So showing guests outside the rental should be OK even if they are accessing the door?

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@jaquo. hmmmm. perhaps you didn’t get the memo. AirBNB has a different set of laws that they employ as needed. I do not have access to this secret set of laws at the moment since I am not on a secure VPN. :smirk:

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Do you really believe this? Do you really believe your dishonest guests all of a sudden became honest without any coaxing from Airbnb? They lied straight to your face and all of a sudden asked God for forgiveness of their sins? No way…Jose.

Loosing your own money can be a powerful lesson. But in all likelihood these guys will be devising a way not to get caught next time.

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I don’t doubt that they just file a chargeback with their bank.

No way are these guys going to willingly forfeit money on nights they already paid for. They put so much effort into weasling out of an additional guest fee.

They aren’t just going to all of a sudden get up and leave money just because some Air rep.left a voicmail and asked them to leave.

or, maybe they just don’t care - I think I read somewhere above these guests were from Saudi Arabia or similar. One of the richest countries on earth. Or maybe their parents paid for it all so they just don’t care.

Dont’ fret to much about it. They’ve gone and you’ve got your money!

We have two 90lb dogs on our property. Very helpful deterrents.

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Huh< I did not see that. Touching on racism id say. And from a “leader” no less

Gary