Tag Archives: airbnb house rules

Blood and Feces in Bed: Airbnb Still Running the Gamut

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I am a point of contact for my neighbor’s property. He has been stranded in Puerto Rico for the past six months and needed an intervention on his home to generate income. One of the first guests to stay from Airbnb was from LA. After multiple requests to check in early and check out late, I explained to her we had guests checking out on her check in day and guests checking in on her checking out day. Despite illicit check out instructions with emphasis on punctuality, she took it upon herself to check out four hours late. The guests scheduled to check in had to be diverted to another property.

To add insult to injury, upon entering the property it was immediately evident that she had not bothered to lock any of the doors, failed to turn off any of the lights or AC, left all the windows open and garbage, cigarette butts (the property was listed as non-smoking) and refuse all over the house, lawn, landscaping, etc. There was human feces, human blood and food left in beds, bath towels had been used to mop the floor, and cough syrup/alcohol bottles were everywhere.

When she was confronted with the damages, she didn’t even deny she had done them. She stated:

“Not locking the doors and the smoking rules I do take responsibility for. I should’ve remembered to lock up. As far as the mess, you already said you had a cleaning crew coming so why would I take it upon myself to clean the house when the rate includes a cleaning service? Unfortunately being a female at times comes with unexpected surprises like a period. So I’m sorry that it happened but also can’t control Mother Nature.

You also did not have any paper towels in the house so when we did spill we had to use the towels there to clean up. The cleaning crew never came to knock on the door or came up. If they had come then we would’ve left immediately. Unfortunately, we couldn’t leave right at 11:00 AM. The car we parked we did move. We were told to park closest to the trash cans so we did. We were told that having the truck there would not be an issue. I did not check this thread for instructions on self check out. I feel the morning we were leaving is a little late to do that; I wouldn’t have thought to look here on how to check out. Usually hosts are a little more prompt with that information. I apologize for not locking up and forgetting to turn off the A/C.”

True to form, Airbnb diverted my calls to their call center mill abroad where ineptitude seems to be bred in a flurry. A “trust and safety” bot, ignoring dates, photos, and previous conversations with other agents responded:

“I’ve been notified of your recent call. I understand this is not the outcome you were hoping for. I want to reiterate that this decision was made after careful review of all documentation and communication from both parties, and is in alignment with our policies and procedures. Please be advised that, per our Terms of Service, Airbnb reserves the right to make the final determination with regard to these disputes.

We are unable to reconsider the decision made in this case — we’ve issued our final decision and will uphold it accordingly. As further communication will not change the outcome of this case, we must respectfully disengage from further discussion.”

Zero regard for facts, evidence or just simple common sense.

Airbnb Nightmare Host Goes to Extremes for Cash

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Just prior to my departure from Canada to the UK, the host cancelled the booking we had made ten months prior. Airbnb sent a few recommendations, and we selected one. The pictures on the Airbnb website showed a spacious environment, in which the French Door from the kitchen was open and I assumed led to a garden. I assumed it was a terrace house since that is the style of house I had originally booked.

The property was actually a former counsel flat. The French Doors opened onto a tiny deck measuring approximately two feet by two feet, a far cry from a private garden. The entranceway to the property was littered with garbage and the stairway smelt of urine. A large sign was posted outside the entrance way stating that the authorities were aware of all the violence in this building and surrounding grounds and will be increasing their surveillance of the area. I felt played. I was so terribly mislead. The homeowner told me the doors to the flat needed to be locked at all times due to the high crime rate in the building. Happy holidays.

Do not take Airbnb property recommendations. Do not rent properties that do not show the outside of the building from both the front and back. To protect yourself from bad hosts, I would strongly recommend you take pictures of the inside and outside of the property on arrival and again when you leave, so the condition in which you left a property can not be debated.

The second location I had the displeasure of staying at was in Somerset. The posting made it sound that the house was located in the townsite of Shepton Mallet, but it was in the district of Shepton Mallet, a 15-minute drive to the townsite and any amenities. The pictures on the Airbnb website made the dwelling look much larger than it was and showed lovely white leather furniture. In reality, the inside of the home looked more like a charity shop with all mismatched furniture. The pictures of the outside of the chapel style home showed a lovely manicured lawn, with a fence since the home was supposed to be dog-friendly. We chose this rental primary based on that picture. The garden actually belonged to the neighbour.

On the day of our arrival, we were treated to an extensive electronic rule book and all the additional fees, such as utilities, that could be added after our stay. All additional charges were at the discretion of the host after our departure. Before we left the home my daughter and I tidied up, mopped the floors, put away all the dishes, following the host’s instructions to the letter. The house lacked basic cleaning supplies, and the electronic rule book had stated if there were no cleaning supplies, it was up the guest to buy them.

After our departure, the host fined us for the recycling bin being full and then gave us a bad review for having a full recycling box. Looking for additional funds, they searched the contents of our sealed garbage bags. Potato chip packages were deemed party food, and were written into the review as evidence we were “extreme partiers.” Again, potato chip packages that were pilfered from trash bags. The dog’s adsorbent mats, which we had brought in case the dog had an accident and to protect the host’s home, were found in the garbage and we were billed for them.

These people dug though our garbage to find things to bill for. I find it sickening that the host went through our sealed garbage bags and wrote about us based on the contents. I felt violated. Once again, I felt like I had been played as a fool and was angry that I had spent so much time cleaning up the place and leaving it in much better condition than I found it. I am appalled that this type of host is allowed to continue with Airbnb; she is dishonest, a cheat, and vulgar. All I can assume based on her behaviour she must have a severe mental disorder that has been left untreated.

Ask your host for the square footage of the dwelling, since photographs can be very deceptive and misrepresent the size of the dwelling. Ask your host if the photos of the property are an accurate depiction, and when they were taken. Ask your host if there are additional fees that do not appear on the website. Ask your host about the rules for pets. Do not put dog mats in the property’s garbage bin. It can not be understated how much you need to protect yourself from dishonest hosts, by taking picture of the property on arrival and on departure, and time stamp them.

Crazy Airbnb Host in Miami with Unreasonable Rules

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I suffer from severe, excruciating menstrual cramps. During this period, I depend on ibuprofen to get through the day and I take hot showers of approximately 20-30 minutes to ease them at night. Girls who have this issue will know I am talking about.

Knowing that I would have this problem during my stay in Miami, I specifically booked a private room with a private bathroom so that I would be able to take these long hot showers without inconveniencing other guests. One night, my host and his mother came knocking on my room door while I was in the shower. They confronted me for taking an excessively long shower, telling me that as a result of my shower there was no more hot water in the rest of the house.

I was shocked and confused, because nowhere in the house rules or policy did he state any restriction on shower time. Of course, if he had stipulated such a rule in his listing, it would have been perfectly reasonable for him to stop me for exceeding the time limit. I probably would not have booked his place in the first place anyway. I had never encountered any other host, or anyone for that matter, whose house ran out of hot water as a result of someone taking a 20-30 minute hot shower. Furthermore, I was staying alone in a room that was meant for two guests, and I definitely wasn’t using more water or power than what two guests combined would have used.

Even after I explained my problem with cramps to him, he was not understanding or empathetic at all, insisting that I was inconsiderate and using up his water and power supplies excessively. One particular rule that this host had was that guests must not do laundry in his bathroom. Fair enough. I refrained from washing my jeans, pants, jackets, blouses, singlets, bras, and T-shirts. But this was Miami, where you go to the beach. When you go to the beach, your swimsuit gets soaked in seawater.

When I got back to my room after an evening of paddle boarding, I rinsed my swimsuit and shorts in the bathroom sink to get rid of the seawater. I also washed my panties every day for hygiene purposes. I hung these up to dry in the bathroom. The host and his mother inspected the room the moment I left for breakfast. He then came down and confronted me for doing laundry in his bathroom. I’m not sure what he expected… for me to leave my period panties and seawater-soaked swimsuit and shorts hanging in the room unwashed? Maybe that’s normal to him – but to me that’s just gross and unhygienic.

The worst thing was he later told me that he had taken photos of my “daily laundry” as evidence that I broke his no-laundry rule, i.e. he had taken photos of my panties and my bikini. How disturbing can that be? Finally, he accused me of being impolite and unfriendly to his elderly mother. His English is bad, but his mother’s English is worse. In fact, she cannot speak English at all – she cannot even understand something as basic as “how are you?”. All I could do was to smile and say “hi” when I saw her. There was no way I could have managed a conversation with her due to the language barrier.

My stay in Miami could have been perfect, but this host’s bizarre and unreasonable expectations and behaviour left me extremely distressed and uncomfortable.

Extortion Review, Airbnb Won’t Take it Down Even With Proof

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This guest used Instant Book for a month in advance for a weekend for 15 members of her family including herself. Note that she is a new member. From then on, there was no communication. She just wasn’t answering. A couple days before check-in, I finally got a hold of her and she informed me of some changes. I send her a price alteration, but time passed and she wouldn’t accept it. She kept ignoring me again. The day before check-in, I let her know since she was planning to break the house rules, I would cancel her reservation with Airbnb without a refund. Then she started responding. We finally got everything sorted out just before bedtime. One hour before checking in, she told me they were stuck in traffic and needed to push the time. Then again… and again. They finally arrived three hours late. We did strongly believe there were more than 15 people.

The first night, I got a noise complain from my neighbor. The entire group was outside, around the spa and had been screaming and very loud since their arrival. It was very late and dark, and my neighbor just couldn’t take it anymore. I tried to contact the guests, but my calls kept going to voicemail. I passed a message through Airbnb to warn her. I waited, and received no answer. I wrote to her again and made myself sound more serious. I got a response and from what my neighbor said, it took an additional 15 minutes, but the noise finally stopped. He still made it clear other neighbors wouldn’t have been as patient as him.

I arrived to check them out and found the upstairs hot faucet had been removed. How could this have happened? It was super noisy too. How could they have missed it? I continued my tour and a guest had decided to rip the lock off one of the closet to the point it ripped the door into two pieces. They forced open two other locked drawers too. They broke a large window frame probably by sitting on it or having a kid walk on it. They broke two parts of our spa and made a small tear in our spa cover. They were warned not to download anything because we didn’t have unlimited internet and they still used more than 85 BG in 40 hours. We have some decorative towels we asked the guests specifically not to touch because they already had a large number of perfectly usable towels at their disposal. Well, they decided not to listen and to only use our decorative ones. The BBQ was left in a horrific state; it was completely disgusting. This guest didn’t follow the house rules; she was truly disrespectful to me as well as the house.

I waited for her to reach out to me to apology about all the damages (my calls are still going straight to her voicemail each time) but she never did. She did text a week later inquiring about her security deposit where I finally was able to speak to her over the phone. She says she was unaware of everything. She didn’t do a tour of the house and wasn’t the last one to leave. She was not okay with everything I observed and was certainly not okay having any damaged charged to her. She said I better not charge her or she would give me a bad review. At the same time, I saw she just posted a review (a very bad one from what she said over the phone). I have some text messages exchanged that proves she indeed threatened me.

I called Airbnb and let them know immediately that she was violating their Terms of Service. They told me even if I had ”proof” and my story checked out, they couldn’t remove the review because in the text messages, she did not clearly say “don’t charge me or I will put you a bad review,” only “do not pursue or I will be obligated to take action.”

Because her review appeared at the same time, as she threatened me over the phone, customer service won’t budge. The facts speak for themselves. Airbnb guidelines strictly forbid reviews with content that is fraudulent, false and misleading, which is the case here. She had an amazing time and didn’t complain about anything. The review does not represent her personal experience. It is an attempt to use the review to force me to do something I’m not obligated to do (not charge her). They are not supposed to allow it, but they do. Thank you untrustworthy customer service at Airbnb.

Airbnb Evicted Guests, Then Let Them Leave 1-Star Review

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I’ll start off by saying that these were my first guests with Airbnb. We rent out a guest room in our house, with access to our sun room, kitchen and pool area. The guests were a father and son. The father did not speak English, but assured us that the son was fluent. They arrived and promptly began breaking all of our (very simple) house rules. They hung out constantly in areas that were not included in the listing, took our groceries, ruined a set of sheets and mattress pad with blood, talked loudly on FaceTime while wandering through the house, and were unsafe in the pool.

After a week of this activity, we sent a reminder email with the house rules, asking that they please follow them, and also slipped a copy under the door with a translation. The men apologized and said they would stop breaking the rules. They did not stop breaking the rules. The final straw came when the father returned to our home after visiting with friends, completely intoxicated. He was giggling and running around the house, trying to get me to swim with him in a pretty inappropriate way (my husband was at work, and I was working from home). I refused the swim.

My husband came home and we went out to dinner, only to return to find the man, still intoxicated, running around the house in his underwear. The next day I contacted Airbnb, and the representative escalated me to a higher up team member. The higher team member said, “Oh, no, we can’t have that,” and proceeded to terminate their stay with us and said they would contact the guests and have them placed elsewhere. She explained that we would lose out on the rest of the money from the listing, which I agreed to (just get these people out of my house).

When I returned home, the men were still there, not making any move to leave. When we spoke to them, they said their information on Airbnb was out of date and they had not heard from them. We explained the situation, and they became agitated and started arguing with us, saying that the underwear situation had “only happened once.” I had to threaten police intervention to get them to finally pack up and go.

Now, in an obviously retaliatory fashion, they have put up a one-star review with one sentence in their native language, but the listing is, obviously, ruined. When I contacted Airbnb to express my frustration, they said it was the guests’ chance to tell their side of the story. Except… they’re not telling their side of the story. They’re downrating our home so we will have trouble booking (as I mentioned, this was our first experience). I have been back and forth with Airbnb about the false nature of this “review” and the fact that it is defamatory. Supposedly my grievance has been forwarded to the legal team. I’m considering deleting our listing altogether and starting over. Shame on me, I suppose, for thinking they wouldn’t recommend eviction if they were going to allow these guests to ruin our listing.

Airbnb Host Melts Down After Negative Review

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This is what happens when you leave a bad review for this nightmare host in Athens, Georgia. We stayed at this listing. There were some maintenance issues: a completely clogged bathtub drain that was loaded with the entwined hair of previous guests, a mattress with no mattress pad that had a huge stain on it, and stained pillows. I let the host know before we left that these were some things that he might want to address. I would never stay there again but I was polite and just told him. No reply.

Upon returning home from a long road trip over a week later, I had an email from Airbnb reminding me to write a review. I wrote an honest but fair review three days before the deadline. Although the host had many positive reviews, I felt that being honest was the best thing to do. The host never reviewed me but I received this email from him last night. I did contact Airbnb to report it and had him blocked from contacting me again. They say that they are escalating it and will contact me… I’m not sure what that means. Keep in mind when you read it that I never met this guy and we wouldn’t even know each other if we passed on a sidewalk. I actually posted this doozy on Facebook and people were floored. It makes me wonder whether posting honest reviews are really worth it. I have never received anything like this from anyone. Ever. This is what I originally wrote to him, the message he never replied to:

We should be leaving soon though. We loved it here and wanted to let you know about a couple of maintenance things that you might want to address. The bathtub drain was completely clogged with hair and was not draining at all last night. My husband unclogged it but you might want to keep an eye on it because it was pretty gross. Also we stripped the bed this morning and there’s a huge stain on the mattress. You might want to think about a good mattress pad that’s waterproof. I want to say that they are under $100. The pillows have stains on them, as does the comforter cover. We’ve left it pretty clean for you and thank you again!

We have his response:

You seem pretty bent out of shape that I didn’t heed your advice or reply to your email so I thought I’d share the message I started to write on July 10th that I never sent:

Thanks for the feedback. I had my handyman over just now and he couldn’t find anything in the drain. He also said the drain cover hadn’t been removed so please thank him for using his magic skills! There’s a brand new stain-free Tempur-Pedic mattress in my garage just waiting to go into that bedroom, but I get consistent and overwhelmingly great feedback about the current bed so I’m afraid to rock the boat. I’m almost to 350 reviews! It’s a shame about the stains, though as I have a boatload of pillow and mattress protectors (I have to keep them for my Tempur-Pedic warranty!) I’ll alert my cleaners.

Thanks for stripping the sheets. No one has ever done that before. I’ve not inspected the duvet cover enough to notice a stain other than a small ink stain, and I can’t justify replacing it for that reason alone. I’ll be sure to check. It’s washed frequently so it must be permanent.

I never finished or sent that response because I didn’t feel your suggestions were offered genuinely, rather masked insults, and I don’t let things like that get to me if I can help it. You like to complain. That’s okay. It won’t matter; did you see I have 350 five-star reviews? The issue isn’t with me or my listing…. it’s time to soul search.

I’m very on top of things at my house and with my listing and I almost always make adjustments based on guest feedback. However, you didn’t have any positive comments of substance. I just didn’t value your opinion. I do want to remind you, however, that you received a house manual upon booking. I spend a lot of time maintaining that house manual to ensure every guest has what they need prior to visiting. Immediately upon booking you get a message from me with every single thing you need so there’s no need for me to send an additional message. Did you want me to ask your favorite color? I’m very communicative.

Again, it’s obvious you don’t like me and you don’t even know me. Whether I responded to your email of “suggestions” is pretty much irrelevant in reviewing your trip, but bringing it up in your review lets me (and the countless guests I will have in the future) know just what kind of person you are. Not hateful. Just strange. Perhaps entitled. Certainly one who thinks highly of her opinion and someone who lashes out when she feels ignored. Thanks so much for giving me two weeks to respond to your critique. Do you realize how it sounds that you “gave me a chance” to respond? I didn’t feel the need to review you. You have almost two dozen positive reviews. What good would it have done to say anything negative about you? Your issues aren’t specific to traveling. You’ll be who you are forever and that sucks for your husband and daughter.

Also… who cares whether I park in my driveway? I explained why I keep the area in front of my house available and that’s for my neighbors. I’m not sorry you had to walk 30 feet. You’re insane. And catty. And you mask negativity with exclamation points. Best of luck!!!!

The comment about the driveway is referring to the fact he wanted me to park in the street 2-3 houses away from his. It’s not a big deal – he has a thing about anyone parking in the driveway including him – but he claims that it’s only a few steps from the house and it isn’t. Since it’s a sketchy neighborhood, this might make a difference to some people.

Not Paying Attention to House Rules Can Cost You

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I had a flight to Zurich two weeks ago. When I was boarding, I made a booking on Airbnb at the last moment, like I always do. This is my travel life style; everything is booked at the last minute, and I thought no host would complain about it. Anyway, I booked it, they charged my card, and after a while this host in Zurich said that I could not check in at the time I wanted (1-2:00 PM) and I needed to wait for him until 9:00 PM. For me, after a long flight the last thing I want to do is wait seven hours with luggage, tired in the airport. Of course I wanted to arrive, take a shower, sleep, and then explore the city.

When I saw his reply that he only checks in guests at 9:00 PM and later, I said he could cancel my booking. He rudely said no, that this was my problem for not looking at the house rules on his profile page before I booked. I checked his page, and it was my mistake. I totally agreed with him and asked him what I could do now. I had already paid. Again, I was completely okay with this being my mistake, because I made the booking in a hurry before my departure. However, from the beginning I saw a rude attitude in his messages and honestly did not want to see his face. Even though I had already paid, self respect is more important than the fifty dollars I paid.

I arrived in Zurich, met my friends for coffee, and told them the story that I had to wait for host until 9:00, and that the host didn’t sound like a host. My friends told me I could stay with them, and forget about paying 50 USD for an Airbnb. I was very happy. That evening this rude host started asking me where I was, and why I was late. Really? I rented a room at his place, where he lives, not the entire home, and he wrote in his profile that checking in anytime from 9:00 PM until 3:00 AM was fine. Why should I hurry? He would be home all this time, waiting for me and his other guests, because this is somehow extra income for him. Why would he tell me he is not a hotel and I most arrive at the time which we agreed upon?

What is it, if not a hotel? The moment you start to get any money from a guest it’s called rent, and I’m his customer. I wanted to write a negative comment about him, but was busy with my travels. Now Airbnb is saying I can’t write a comment after 14 days, which is sad, because he wrote a comment about me. I don’t know how to remove it, or how to write and report about him.

Not the Beautiful View’s Fault for our Airbnb Experience

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A week into our 30-day prepaid Airbnb stay, the host began to exhibit some odd behavior. Two nights before that, he began to argue with his girlfriend (they met three weeks ago), slamming doors throughout the house. He said that she was detoxing and could not drink alcohol. We said we understood.

The next day he came in and told us we were using too much water. We understood that there were water restrictions; in nine day, two showers had been taken. The last night he came in and accused us of giving his girlfriend alchohol. We explained we had been gone all day and we had not given her anything. She expressed to us that she wanted to leave and needed to get out of the house; she looked very scared.

The host came back out and told us to get out of his house now; this was at 11:00 PM. He had never said that drinking was a problem. We even asked what they like to drink. He dumped out a bottle of vodka we had and then threatened to dump out other alcoholic beverages. We packed up our things in the morning and let him know we wanted a refund for the days left. He informed us he contacted Airbnb and we would have to get a refund from them. After speaking with Airbnb we were told that he had not contacted them.

The host then said that there were damages. Actually, there were none. He was in the process of fixing up the house for it to be sold. He was draging wood up the stairs and even painted a balcony during our stay. He told us not to use it so we obliged. We were already looking for a new place because of the hostile environment and didn’t feel safe. There was constant arguing and slamming of doors throughout our last night.

We had an extra guest come and asked the host beforehand; he said it would not be a problem if we just gave him $30 cash per night for the additional guest. I gave him $100 cash and he said he would give me $10 back as they only stayed three days. My daughter was coming into town and once again I asked if an additional guest could stay and we would pay for it; he said it was no problem. Today the host is stating we never gave him money and that it was going to be $40 a night for my daughter. Later on he stated that it would not be $40 and that he never said that. Read his latest text to me. See the tray of cannabis he served us daily from bottles hidden in our room. Do not rent from him.

Angry Owner Demands Guests Don’t Eat Seafood

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I originally booked this Chéticamp property in February. Since we were trying to get as much in during our time on the east coast, we changed our booking with this property a couple times, all in accordance with the change and cancellation policies. Early this week, the owner sent us an email stating that we cannot have any seafood at the cottage. When asked why, it was due to the next tenants having seafood allergies. I thought this was an odd request and so after consulting many people, agreed that this was indeed a ridiculous request. I replied to the host that this was a ridiculous request; that is why we booked a cottage where we would feel comfortable buying seafood and cooking it ourselves in the cottage. Since they were not willing to budge, I cancelled this reservation within the guidelines of the cancellation policy and luckily was able to find another place for the days we needed.

Once we cancelled, we received the following response from the host: “That’s good. Don’t book with me again – that’s even stranger.”

I responded that this restriction was not fair and they should have such restrictions listed on their website for people to be aware of. He responded: “Don’t bother me. Thank you. You can’t afford to go to a restaurant like everyone else.”

I stopped responding. I found this reaction disturbing and very unprofessional. When we complete our trip, our next step will be to provide his property with the appropriate feedback.