When you ask a guest to be removed

Since being active on this forum, really starting about two months ago, I have read enough that I have changed my detailed description to make it sound like I am on-site – to (hopefully) discourage scammers. When I greet my guests, I name off the neighbors in the closest units, which I think gives them the sense that my neighbors are my eyes and ears. Still haven’t gotten the security cameras – I was waiting for the outdoor Nest ones to become available, which they now are as of this week. I will put them in as soon as the current guests leave.

@azreala – please keep us posted on this topic as we are all vulnerable to the same plight. What an absolute bummer.

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Anyone feel free to borrow anything from my house rules…especially the video surveillance - even if you don’t have them, but want to pretend to have them - he he he :smile:

I am perfectly okay with scaring off 50% of travelers.

No smoking

Not suitable for pets

No parties or eventsCheck-in time is 4PM - 12AM (midnight).

We ask that guests are respectful of the home and treat it kindly with care.

Absolutely no smoking allowed inside. Do not smoke outside near open windows. If any smoking odor is found indoors, guest agrees to forfeit the damage deposit and pay for an additional night to relocate the next guests checking in.

Towels and linens must be respected. Plenty of separate towels are provided for make up removal, muddy shoes, spills, etc. If any bed linens/nice bath towels cannot be salvaged, guest agrees to be responsible for replacement cost. Guests are not to wash any laundry belonging to the cabin in order to try to hide stains. Houskeeping will wash all laundry.

Guest agrees that all members of the party will have read the house notes document and departure checklist that is sent after booking. The person making the reservation is responsible for all actions and damages caused by any member of their group.

The property has outdoor surveillance facing the front deck/parking lot area, front of the waterfall, and zipline. This video footage is not shared and is recorded for liability reasons in the cases of a break-in, death, injury, guests sneaking in pets, guests disregarding the maximum occupancy allowed, and in no way infringes upon the guests’ expectations of privacy in these public areas of the property. Any attempt at disabling or obscuring the cameras is prohibited and may result in the guest being evicted without refund. The full deposit will be forfeited if any of the above are found. You will also be asked to leave the property immediately without any money returned. The swinging bench, grill area, and outdoor dining area outside dining room doors has no surveillance. There is no audio.

Guest agrees to not arrive on the property before Check in time (4 p.m.) and agrees to have all vehicles/people off of the property no later than Check out time (11 a.m.) unless there is prior written approval from owner.

Guest agrees to not remain on the property taking photos after check out time. Housekeeping MUST begin cleaning on schedule in order to prepare the cabin properly for the next guests.

Guest agrees to inform owner of any damages/repairs during the stay immediately so that owner has ample time to repair anything for current or next guests. You will not be charged for minor accidents and most likely the owner can repair things himself.

Please acknowledge you have read this (when booking) if you have children: Airbnb’s definition of “infant-friendly” and “child - friendly” only means that the host allows little ones. The cabin is not child proofed and does not cater to children, nor does it provide baby gear.

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The only problem here is that about half your rules can be over-ruled by the pro-guest AirBNB folks. YOU don’t get to decide if you get to keep the damage deposit or if there is a refund; only AirBNB does. I don’t think that these rules would deter any experienced scammer. They know how the system works, and are taking advantage of it.

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Well of course they can be overruled by Air. But not all guests who plan to break the rules are scammers trying to get a refund with a free stay. I am more concerned with guests thinking they can sneak in other guests. I don’t have any neighbors that can look outside their door and see the property. It is secluded. And that is one reason why the property attracts so many honeymooners, anniversary guests, etc.

But, the rules do at least imply that you are serious about what will and what will not be tolerated. They definitely don’t “hurt” in preventing bad guests.

I also do not accept a booking until the guest has confirmed they have read all house rules and the entire listing description. They must disclose the ages of all children/infants. And they must answer the question of “will there be any visitors?”

Sorry! I thought that this thread had moved into how to deter scammers! Totally misunderstood your point which is well made.

Stealing this! :kissing_smiling_eyes:

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No apologies. The strict house rules do deter scammers to an extent. Of course it will not prevent all scammers. Many scammers book and don’t even read the house rules. But confirming they have read them before accepting booking…does give them an opportunity to move onto another property.

And then there are always those who don’t think the rules apply to them anyway.

This is my worst nightmare and while I think there is nothing Air can do that shocks me anymore, even I am shocked at their lack of support. I wish you would go to the media with this.

@azreala . I have not commented since I am in total shock by how little support you received from AirBNB. I don’t have enough experience with AirBNB to offer anything of value to this discussion. I just wanted you to know how appalled I am that this has happened to you and your home.

To be fully honest, I don’t completely understand the whole story and what the IRS had to do with any of this! What I do know is that your home was violated, police were involved, and airBNB was of no assistance. These stories give me pause.

Has AirBNB taken the money back? Will these guests be allowed to review? How are you feeling about this today?

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@KKC I was referring to disagreeing about the legality issue falling somewhat on the guests and I was absolutely not implying any victim shaming.

@sandy2 I will absolutely update. I’m working on crafting my email today.

@CatskillsGrrl Maybe, I’m not sure I want to rehash this.

@anon67190644 I lived through and I still don’t completely understand :joy:
The IRS had NOTHING to with it, except my guests thought if the threatened to report me to numerous authorities, including the IRS, I would refund them. I believe this was some sort of scam they had used in the past to get a host to refund them all or parts of their stay. We are above the board with all taxes and my guess is they had stayed somewhere that the hosts weren’t, they threatened reporting and the guest gave them a refund.

I have no idea what ABB has done, I still have my payout, and am going to charge them for re-keying bc they took a set of keys with them. I was told two different stories about the ‘reviews’. One was reviews were turned off for both of us (not fair but fine) and the second story was that ABB case manager didn’t think it was necessary to turn off reviews.

I’m feeling disappointed, exhausted, drained, etc. We have 5 reservations now through November, and I’ve turned the listing on pause for awhile. I’m not sure we will take anymore guests until 2017, and I’m just burned out on this property and the headaches.

Some food for thought…ABB makes roughly 15% off this listing, this property generates close to five figures monthly. By not sticking up for the host in this scenario, they are loosing their guaranteed 15% if I quit hosting. They instead are sticking up for first time guests, who will probably never use the platform again. Boggles my mind.

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What would anybody expect. YOU brought this trouble into the street by renting to 6 young ones.
What did you THINK was going to happen?

I expect people to behave.

Over Labor Day weekend I rented to 20-something couples who were here for a EDM (Electronic Dance Music) festival. The headline act at these take the stage near midnight and the whole thing doesn’t shut down until the wee hours of the morning. I had one couple on Sat. night and a different one on Sun. night. Both were quiet, clean, checked out before 11 am despite coming in between 2 and 3, and both left 5 star reviews.

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“Dave,” Your name calling and hostility is really unwarranted. And definitely not in the spirit of this forum community.

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Thank you @dave. I just had one of those “Eureka” moments. If I am willing to take virtually all guests that gives me a competitive advantage. Instead of trying to enlighten bigots (which is a waste of time anyway) I should just try to reinforce their narrow views.

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A couple of days ago our UK national TV Channel 4 aired 'Airbnb Dream or Nightmare '. Several cases just like this were shown. Attention was drawn to Airbnb’s £600,000 (UK) owner protection promise that had given some hosts the confidence to let to strangers in the first place.

Reality is that in every case hosts were stonewalled for months by Airbnb until… their plights got publicised by the media. Only then did ABB finally cough up with proper compensation against clearly provable damage. And also only then, were the guests put on the banned list. Notable also was the unwillingness of ABB to cooperate with the police in one theft case, again until that publicity got out. And by then it was far to late for the police to help.

Hey Sis, I couldn’t post from the island, but was dying to. These are not ‘idiots’, they are hoodlums, and nothing but thieves, and I could just imagine of your disappointment to discover that the ‘system’ allows these scoundrels to run their scam with little impunity, and perhaps there lies the real disappointment.

(Send you a pm).

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Yeah name calling is what people do when they are incapable of a sensible debate. If you behave irresponsible dont try to complain 6 20 yearold say no more–

They came back??? As in after the police removed them they returned?

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Yup, took a set of keys and came back through the side door. They didn’t cause any damage, it was like they forgot something.

Just to clear up any confusion it was 3 couples in their late 20s, not barely 20 something group of party kids.

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I can’t even wrap my head around this. That’s so ballsy. I have a keyless lock for my door. I change it after every guest leaves.

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