What is the Airbnb bed bug policy?
I don’t know, because we have never had bedbugs.
But this happened: A young couple stayed here. All good. Then three days later, the young man called us, panicking, to say that he had body lice and they must have come from our house. (He turned out to be unsure whether it was bedbugs or body lice. And he had whatever it was, but his girlfriend didn’t.)
I called Airbnb to ask what to do. They said to get an exterminator to check, and Airbnb would pay for the inspection.
We did that (the inspection was free). The exterminator faxed Airbnb saying we had no bedbugs or body lice in the guest room where they stayed. Even though we had already stripped and remade the bed, the exterminator said if bugs had been there, they would have still been there.
So Airbnb made sure that the young man didn’t post a review accusing us of bugs. We didn’t see a review from him at all (perhaps Airbnb deleted it).
It was all well-handled by Airbnb. I doubt that we’ll see those two guests again, but we’re good with that.
And we suspect that that young man has some explaining to do to his girlfriend.
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I think it is possible to get lice from sheets etc. When I was in the Navy I worked a week in the ships laundry and ended up with crabs in my chest hair. I attributed it to carrying armloads of laundry. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.
RR
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They only allow union bed bugs.
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They don’t have a ‘bed-bug policy’. However loads of stuff about their approach on Airbnb community.
I believe you have to ask them to cancel upcoming bookings and then have your house treated professionally and demonstrate that it is clear before you can host again.
How many of your places are affected @O_Apartments?
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If a guest accuses a host of having bedbugs, Air usually re-homes them and holds upcoming reservations until the host has an all-clear from a licensed exterminator.
They can also be a reason for host cancellation under the extenuating circumstances policy.
I had a young man from an ashram accuse me of bedbugs because 3 of his pimples were in alignment. You know. Orion’s belt, right there on his bare back.
This was pre-PTSD treatment and I burst into tears after an hour of explaining the lengths we go to. I defy any hotel to do better.
Back then Air consoled me with the exterminator comment. Yeah, I have all the time and money in the world to shut down because of some attention-seeking teenager.
Two words: prove it. And out you go.
Never had a problem before or since.
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