How to Move on a Problem Airbnb Guest?

Someone please help me with some advice as how to address a guest who has kept the bedroom really dirty. He is a long-term tenant and the bedroom looks totally trashed. Fortunately he’s often out so he doesn’t use the kitchen very much.

He has told me he has never cooked in his life so when he cooks something he has burnt my frying pan and the things he’s washed are all grimy and oily feeling when I pick them up.

The bedroom is the main problem. It has been a month since he changed the sheets, doona cover, and pillow cases from his bed. It’s problematic in the hot Sydney summer. He’s also had a bad cold.

When I asked him to please change his sheets after a month, he agreed reluctantly and put the fresh sheets I’d given him over the bed. I noticed last week they had been pushed down and the mattress protector has also been pushed off; he’s sleeping on the bare mattress.

The room already smells really bad with empty biscuit and chip packets and a used jar of Nutella sitting open next to his bed. I know this because when he goes out he leaves his door open and I can smell the stench from the room.

I’ve had a similar problem in the past with a guest not changing their sheets during their stay in my spare room. After they left the sheets, doona, and pillows smelled of rancid sweat. The smell stayed on even after washing and I ended up having to throw it all out and buy a new set of everything.

I have even had problems with him using the bathroom. He left a soaking wet bathmat where he’s said he soaked the floor and had to mop up… so he used the mat, then left it scrunched in the corner. I’ve been repeatedly hanging the mat up to dry. When he couldn’t see where it was he used my personal hand towel to wipe the floor and then hung it back on the railing soaked and dirty.

I’ve tried talking to him but he’s often out. When I try to raise something he always says “yes” but keeps on with the same behavior. I feel like I’m living with a 15-year-old teenage son. Not a young man in his mid 20s. I get the distinct impression he has never had to clean up after himself. They are not necessarily big things but a series of little things that are incredibly frustrating.

I’ve tried ringing Airbnb and the assistant at the call center in the Philippines says I can’t do anything about it. They have discouraged me when I said I was considering asking him to leave. The latest is that he doesn’t flush the toilet properly after doing a number two. They discouraged me from asking him to leave, saying it would be negatively assessed by the organisation if I did so. They said if there is any damage to my property that I could only send them photos after he has vacated and then I’d have to submit a claim to their resolution center. I have another three weeks of this guest and I feel stuck. Any suggestions?

Cleaning Deposit Requested at Check-in

We booked an apartment near Benidorm as a base for climbing. The communication from the Ukrainian owner was minimal but we arrived successfully. On arrival, the cleaner tried to get 200 euros in cash from us as a ‘deposit’. I knew this was not part of the Airbnb rules, so I refused. This was accepted and we got on with our holiday.

We cleaned up at the end as always despite already being charged €50 to clean. I have a full set of photos to prove that we left the apartment clean and tidy as normal. I left a nice review despite this and the fact that the apartment wasn’t particularly clean when we arrived. There were a few other issues but I don’t like to be unkind in my reviews and bother hosts if all is generally fine.
The host’s review for us said: ‘they left the apartment in a terrible state’. I asked them why and the only factor to seemingly justify this, which was reported from her cleaner, as the host is in the Ukraine, was that we had left some small secure rubbish bags and that there were two small white marks on a towel.
I can’t explain these as we didn’t use bleach but could have been residue from the washing machine, but we certainly didn’t see this while in the apartment. We left the rubbish bags as we were leaving very early and it would have taken the cleaner a few minutes to take these out (all paid by myself anyway).
I don’t know whether this is a way for them trying to make a claim against me and I know I wouldn’t have got my €200 back had I given it to her. I have had excellent reviews prior to this. I would avoid this listing.

Dishes and Dirty Diapers Filled this Seattle Airbnb

I’ll try to keep this short and sweet. I booked a second floor apartment with a nice view of Seattle. The host switched us to the floor below because the nicer property wasn’t available. In exchange, he gave me a $30 refund (…so generous). All of the dishes were filthy with crusty food on them, even the wine glasses they had on display on the counter. My girlfriend went to look outside and saw a dirty diaper on the patio. When we ran the dishwasher, water immediately started pouring out of the bottom.

The best part is I tried to just leave them an honest review, highlighting the positives and the negatives, and they called me a liar. They said I stayed on the second floor and there was no patio. Therefore, there couldn’t have been a diaper (they didn’t mention that they downgraded us to the dungeon below it) and in general said I was cranky. I’m sorry for being unhappy about an uninhabitable filthy property at midnight after a five-hour flight. The smoke detector wasn’t even functioning.

When I contacted Airbnb support, someone who hardly understands the language I wrote in wanted me to send him videos of the property. I got there at midnight and it was filthy… I was so embarrassed in front of my girlfriend I started cleaning immediately. I guess that was my mistake; I should have documented it. Airbnb doesn’t hold hosts accountable. I’ve spent five grand through them in the past four months. I have requested my cleaning fee back for this location and am not expecting it. I’m also not planning any more Airbnb trips.

Terrible host was ready for us to check in at 11:08 PM

Our Airbnb host informed that he would be abroad during our booking dates but we did not need to be worried because he would have a friend who would come to give us a key and was in contact with the cleaner. When we got there, no one was around. We could not find his place following his directions. We had to text him so he gave us all the details and all the codes that he had not given to us. When we got in his place, it was dusty and dirty. There were even leftovers in the refrigerator. The check-out time on his profile was about noon and the check-in time was about 2:00 PM, giving him about two hours for cleaning.

He informed us that after the previous guest checked out, a cleaner had not come in to do the cleaning yet. He asked us to open the door for the cleaner at 3:00 PM. The cleaner spoke Russian; we did not. I texted him to send someone to stay with the cleaner so we could go out to do our travelling and come back when everything had done. He informed us that he had no one. Since there was nobody there, we had no choice but to become the cleaner’s supervisors.

When the bed sheets, pillow cases and blanket covers were done in the washing machine, I asked him for the dryer. He informed us that he had none so the cleaner hung them in the middle of the room to let them dry. They were soaking, with water dipping on the floor.

Time passed until 7:00 PM came around. Then the cleaner finished her work. The host informed us he wanted us to help him by paying the cleaner, and he would return the money to us later. We did not want to get involved, so we had to refuse. The cleaner looked at us with her sad eyes. It is one of the most terrible memories that we have to carry with us in our life.

It was about 7:30 PM. We informed him that we did not have clean and dry bed sheets, pillow cases and blanket covers to use for the night. I informed him that we cancelled the booking for his place and let him know that we would leave the room key at the same place that we got it. He asked for two more hours to solve the problem of the wet sheets.

When the two hours passed, we left the room. We did not get even one single contact from him between about 7:30 PM to about 9:30 PM. We looked for a hotel and checked in at about midnight. I found out later that at 11:08 PM, he texted us that there was clean and dry bedding in his place. He could provide us a proper place to sleep in at 11:08 PM, about nine hours after the about 2:00 PM informed check in time. He informed us that according to his cancellation period rules in his profile, we cancelled the booking on the check-in date, so we would get no refund.

The good, fair and prudent rules and regulations should not protect the one who did wrong. He made mistakes in his job as a host. He needs to take responsibility. While he was on his vacation abroad, we were suffering and being burdened during our vacation in Moscow because of him. We are contacting Airbnb and asking them to investigate the case for getting us a full refund.

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.

Case Closed, Reopened, and Cleaning Fees Deducted

My Airbnb guest arrived and found the house to be “beautiful.” Three days later she decided to leave. She complained about crumbs in the toaster. I offered eight separate times to send up the housekeeper but she refused. She stayed another four days. She wanted a refund for the last three days. A claim was made and the cleanliness issue was not found in favour of the guest as under the guest refund policy it states very clearly that the guest must try to resolve the problem. She refused to have the kitchen re-cleaned so under no circumstances did she try to do this. The case was closed. Two weeks later it was reopened and £500 was deducted from my account for a “cleanliness issue”. Airbnb meanwhile paid $900 to the guest. I sent in all of the texts with the guest as additional proof that she failed to comply. There has been no response from the case manager. The case has been closed. Four other Airbnb case managers have failed to provide an independent review. I suspect fraud.

Airbnb Changes Payment from 1300 to 221 Euro

On July 6th, 2018, I accepted an instant booking for travelers in distress in Paris. For two nights in high season fashion week for a group of eight people the price was high: 1300 euro. However, I accepted them under normal pricing guidelines due to the huge occupancy.

I had a group of eight people arriving and stayed one night of the two nights; the next day at 4:00 PM an email from Airbnb stated they had cancelled. I was paid 221 euro in the end. As the group left at 4:00 PM I could not manage a big cleaning of four hours immediately (it needs to be booked) and I had paid extra night service for keys. I also requested 150 euro, and nothing was paid when I needed to pay them a bonus and for a taxi and emergency service.

The only comment was that Airbnb decided to change the price to 221 euro. Whether this is low or high season, for eight people it’s a joke; even one night in a hostel one would pay 550 euro for eight people due to high season. I am beginning to file a claim with a lawyer as nobody was able to comment or give merit to that price adjustment and I even wonder if Airbnb did not get 1300 euro and paid me 221 euro.

I am happier on booking.com because sincerely they would not alter my price or cancel a booking or be silent. The insurance of Airbnb in another case is not working so there is no advantage at all dealing with Airbnb. If they banned me, I simply would not care because I am on another platform which is fair. Airbnb is a thief; no one should alter an agreed contract between the buyer and the seller making the price 1/8 of what it was.

Airbnb Guests Can Lie About Noise, Damages

Out of 30+ rentals I have had two issues with guests. The first issue was when a guest did some minor damage to the property and left an extraordinary mess for me to clean up and organize professionals to come to the house with cleaning equipment. For the extra four hours of work, I decided to charge $65. If this was a regular rental situation that money would have come out of the security deposit, no questions asked. Airbnb decided to modify the contract and I ended up getting $5, plus $165 which was reimbursed against the receipts of repairs made supported by pictures of damages.

The second guest had sent Airbnb eight videos about “my house” because they were complaining about a train noise and not being able to sleep. They also claimed the train went by every 30 minutes during the night (easy to check, not true). Three of those videos were not from my house. Out of the remaining five, one was at night time and the rest were during the day with the windows open because you could hear birds and the neighbor’s dog. Out of 30+ guests nobody has ever complained about the train before.

Airbnb decided to give the guests a refund against the contract when they would have only been entitled to 50%. If they would have spent any time checking the facts or called me prior to making a decision the facts could have been set straight. Airbnb is habitually taking money out of hosts’ pockets and expects them to work for free based on the decisions of some teenager in a call center. The first guest was a first time Airbnb user and the second guest had two prior reviews.

Absolutely Filthy and Unhygienic Flat in Edinburgh

I booked a stay for myself and my friend in a flat in Edinburgh hosted by a young couple. They were very nice in the messages exchanged, and when we got to the flat they were very friendly, kind, and accommodating. When we were shown to the bedroom, I could tell immediately that the floor wasn’t vacuumed because of the huge clump of brown hair in the middle of the floor plus all the lint everywhere. My friend and I tried to look past it because of how nice the hosts were.

Sadly, the immaturity of the hosts, and the filth of apartment making me physically ill caused us to check out two days early just to GTFO. As the days went by, things started becoming more and more distressing, but my friend and I really did our best to overlook the issues. First of all, the hosts are a Finnish woman and her much younger fiancé who is 23. I do not have any issues with age differences – in fact, I welcome them – but her spouse had all the maturity of a 15-year-old boy.

The first problem that came about from our stay was watching the terribly disrespectful dynamic between these two. The “Man Child” was exactly that; he refused to clean up after himself (he would leave his mess everywhere and wait for his girlfriend to clean once she got home from work), he somewhat proudly professed that he only eats chips (i.e. French fries), chicken nuggets, canned beans, and basically junk food, and he would stay at home all day on his days off or when he got home from work, sitting in the same spot in the living room, playing video games and yelling profanity at the TV screen.

I did not have much of a problem with the girlfriend because she was nice enough, though spineless. The Man Child completely ruined the stay because the apartment was absolutely filthy and it was mostly his doing. He expected his girlfriend to clean up after him, but she was only one person. He always left a perimeter of garbage (empty snack bags, take out bags, multitudes of empty Coke cans) and smelly dirty plates, bowls, and dishes around himself in the shared living room. What’s worse, is this guy expected guests to sit with him in the shared living room and socialize amongst his filth. The odor in the room was terrible. It smelled of whatever greasy food he ate, fart, feet, unwashed male, dog, and overall stagnation.

On their Airbnb profile, they asked that you clean up after yourself and respect their home. My friend and I did exactly that, but it’s difficult when the hosts themselves do not do the same. Man Child often left his cans of beans in the kitchen sink, and then he would emerge from his spot in the living room to greet you while being oblivious to the bean stains on his T-shirt. What’s more, the bathroom was always covered in brown hairs that obviously came from Man Child because he was the only person with brown hair. There were strands of brown hair all over the shower walls, and curly brown hairs scattered everywhere (which I sincerely hope were beard hairs) on the counter and bath tub.

Sometimes Man Child would mistakenly not close the door to their bedroom, and sadly we had to see the state of where they slept. It’s reminiscent of the bedroom of an angry and unhappy 13-year-old girl: piles of clothes literally everywhere, things and stuff strewn all over, and drawers that were broken and left like that. Holy slob, Batman. Watching the man child make his girlfriend do all the “woman’s work” was pretty unsettling. He straight up said that he would not do dishes. He did not do anything to help unless asked. I heard too many times his girlfriend asking “Man Child, come back and put the milk back in the fridge,” “Man Child, take out the rubbish,” “Man Child, put these away,” and so on.

The worst was one night when the girlfriend was making him dinner consisting of baked frozen French fries. When she had her back turned to Man Child (because she was doing the dishes) he took all the fries and left none for her. Her reaction was outraged yet restrained because we were sitting in the kitchen viewing the whole ordeal. I really liked this woman, but she allows herself to be blatantly disrespected like this, and of course, we cannot say anything to her; we are not friends, we are guests that paid to stay in their home.

Now, moving on to why we had to check out early, their apartment was so disgusting and dirty that I was getting progressively sicker. This apartment did have a big dog, and I do in fact have a pet allergy. Weeks before I got to Edinburgh I got in contact with the female host and asked if I would be okay in her home. She assured me that their dog was not allowed in the guest bedroom, so I made the booking falsely assuming what she said was true. I have stayed in other Airbnb’s with pets, and I managed just fine with one Claritin.

At this pig stein in Edinburgh, I found myself being consistently congested despite taking the meds, and I ended up developing a terrible and persistent dry barking cough that isn’t part of normal allergies. I was becoming more and more desperate to ask if I could vacuum their floors because I knew they were aggravating my allergies since who knows when they were last vacuumed. The carpets in the hall, the shared living room, and even the bedroom I was staying in seemed to have a thick layer of dust, dirt, hairs, and general filth. I kept telling the hosts that I am not allergic to dog hair, and I am allergic to dander. The hosts did not care.

For days I longed for the floors to be vacuumed because I knew it would make me feel better. Man Child kept saying “tomorrow I’m going to vacuum” and unfortunately I believed him. The false promise of cleaning started on a Thursday, and on Saturday I was so unwell that I was bedridden. My wheezing dry cough physically exhausted me, my eyes were red and swollen that they were nearly shut, and I ended up taking too much Claritin that it made me feel not like myself.

On Sunday morning I had had it. I went into the shared living room where the two hosts were hanging out, and I demanded that I (as in me, the person who paid to stay in their hovel) vacuum not only the guest bedroom, but their entire flat. The girlfriend immediately screeched “Man Child!” because he was supposed to do it. I insisted that I can do it, but the girlfriend firmly told me that she had asked Man Child to do it so therefore he has to do it. Man Child did vacuum then and there, but he also fed me the excuse that “I was too tired last night” several times despite me being very vocal about being so unwell.

Once the floors were vacuumed I miraculously recovered. I was better. No more coughing, no more wheezing, and I was myself again. I was so thankful, but then I faced the horrible realization that it was their general filth and squalor that was making me so sick, not their dog. In fact, the dramatic colour change of the carpets once vacuumed thoroughly disturbed me. At that point I was absolutely disgusted and appalled by the conditions they live in when they have paying guests. We only stayed at this apartment for three more days, and my friend and I decided to not be there as much as possible and to try and avoid socializing with Man Child.

That night I cooked a simple meal for my friend and I because I finally had the vigor to do that after being so sick. While we were eating, we had the misfortune of hearing both hosts doing some kind of lackluster sex game; the girlfriend was squealing loudly, and at one point Man Child had her over his shoulder and they came into the hall to display themselves. We did our very best to ignore them and try to enjoy our meal, but then the girlfriend called out to us to purposefully get our attention and ensure that we could see them. Gross.

The next morning came the final straw. I got out of bed at 10:00 AM and went to their bathroom. The toilet had shit all over the bowl, and flushing the toilet did nothing to remove the excrement. That was it; it was too much. Leaving a shit-encrusted toilet for your guests is just too disrespectful. What do they expect their paying guests to do? Clean their literal shit?

The hosts were not home. The flat is located 20 minutes walk away from a Tesco, and my friend and I actually walked to the public toilets there rather than use their unsanitary toilet. My friend and I decided to just book elsewhere and get out of this terrible flat. I tried to contact the hosts, and I really wanted to speak to the girlfriend because she had the maturity that Man Child obviously lacked. I left messages on Airbnb for them to contact me or my friend asap.

Unfortunately, Man Child called me, and I had to explain to them that we are checking out early because their flat is too disgusting with its filth and squalor, but the shit encrusted toilet is blatantly disrespectful to their paying guests. They cherry on top? My friend and I went into the shared living room that day and there were piles of dirty dishes, glasses, and empty ice cream containers everywhere, plus a pair of dirty panties on the floor that were obviously peeled off then and there. What were they doing in the living room? Not that it matters, but they obviously do not clean the couches after…. gross.

On the phone with Man Child I told him that we would come back at around 6:00 or 7:00 PM to return their keys and that we need to have a discussion. Both of the hosts were so nice in the beginning, and we did sit around and chat often enough. I decided that we owe them an explanation as to why we were checking out early, and also because I had a sliver of hope that if we confronted them about their unsanitary home they might change their ways.

We arrived promptly at 7:00 PM to find both hosts sitting in the living room surrounded by the same exact piles of dirty plates, glasses, and empty ice cream containers that we discovered that morning. Man Child left this situation entirely to his girlfriend and handled it like a 15-year-old boy in trouble; he sat there not making eye contact with us, and not contributing the conversation. The poor girlfriend sat there turning more and more red listening to us explain to her that her house is so filthy and unsanitary that it made me physically ill, therefore, we have to leave. She only averted her eyes when we mentioned the dirty panties. The most uncomfortable part of the whole confrontation is that neither of them apologized, nor offered an explanation or even defended themselves. We checked out early, and we did not receive a refund. It was worth losing money just to get out of the insult that is their home.

Waking up with Ants and Insults in the Room

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I had a terrible experience with my stay. We saw condiments and a drink left in the fridge and thought nothing of it. I saw two ants in the room upon arrival and thought it wouldn’t be a problem. We had left to explore the city of San Juan and then arrived back to the Airbnb at night and went to sleep. In the morning, the hotel room had ants all over the bed and night stand. We woke up in the morning with ants all over us. Then we knew something was up when there was mold on the shower curtain, the bed sheets had stains and someone had left their bathing suit on the balcony.

We were about to leave the hotel room in the morning and a man was trying to enter the room saying that he was housekeeping, even though he didn’t have any cleaning supplies. The area of old San Juan has not recovered at all. We hardly saw any guests or people in the area. The closest beach was closed due to the Hilton Caribe reconstruction. The nightlife in old San Juan is a 40-minute walk so nothing is really walkable distance like the post had said. I explained my situation to the host and the host immediately became aggressive. Then resorted to name calling. They called me a millennial. I thought it was pretty funny at first but it was pretty rude.