I am an Airbnb Superhost with two huge houses that cost a fortune to clean, and have rented them with 5 star reviews more than 50 times in the past year and a half with stellar feedback… and suddenly, the last two months, it is as if something in the universe has shifted, and every Airbnb GUEST has realized they have the power (with their ability to complain to Airbnb and threaten you with bad reviews) to make you jump through hoops and trash your place in the process. In the last few months, more than HALF of my guests have had good reviews by hosts but turned out to be chronic complainers, scammers, and pigs. They now have the dreaded HOTEL mentality instead of guest mentality–NO respect. They break all hose rules, leave the house in shambles (especially the kitchen, you can’t believe the grease storms and dirty dishes they generate) so my cleaning costs have nearly tripled. Cum stains all over the dry-cleanable velvet comforters… you get the idea. What happened?!
I just cancelled my Airbnb hosting account. I just started hosting late December and had 10 5 star reviews. Airbnb treated me like a P.O.S. We had horrible guests that Airbnb sided with. They hid my negative reviews. They tried to use a right of offset to reduce my rental income so they could compensate the pig guests for their “damages”.
After a few rentals I began to wonder who worked for who. I felt like I was working for Airbnb.
I hate Airbnb.
I feel your pain, I had a guest that checked in a couple of days ago that I was glad to see the back of.
To start with she sent a message at 3am inquiring about the room, then another message at 7am (about the time I woke up) asking if I had processed her ID verification (um… what?) she then wants to check in before 11am (our normal CHECK OUT time) which because the room was empty I decided to allow.
When she arrived she first complained that the room was cold (the heater had not had time to bring the room up to temperature), then she complained the bath was dirty (it’s an old cast iron tub, the porcelain is thin in places) then complained the room was still cold so I brought in another heater for her.
After this I didn’t hear from her until 6pm when she informed me that the room was too cold and she was checking out (the room was warmer than the rest of the house at the time and the house wasn’t cold), she told me she would cancel and I didn’t think anything of it.
The next day I received a call from Airbnb telling me that she was demanding a full refund, I told them my side of the story but decided not to fight as I would rather be rid of the entitled idiot.
So, all up this woman had the use of the room, our house, our wifi and used my phone a few times for about 9 hours, didn’t pay a cent for it, and made it so we were unable to rent the room to anyone else!
The room is not perfect, put the price is fair for what it is and that’s reflected in the fact that it has a five star average rating. I’m definitely going to ask Airbnb to block this woman from contacting or booking with us in future as I don’t need “guests” like her!
I agree! No problem with my European guests, but I’m getting middle age Americans who are condescending and entitled.
They expect 5* hotel service and send demanding texts for specific coffee requests, more pillows, towels and clean Ups!. I think they need to be better educated about staying in someone’s home. They aren’t paying hotel prices!