Last Updated on August 22, 2020 by Lucienne
We have recently hosted absolute nightmare guests in our Cosy Garden Cottage. The horror story kind of guests. Fortunately we did have a happy ending. In this 3 part post I share how to deal with the worst guests ever. In part 2 I share the 6 lessons I learnt and part 3 a guide to the Airbnb Resolution Centre. Hopefully none of you are unlucky enough to get horror guests like we have recently had. But if you do, at least you will be armed after this story.
The Drama of The Worst Guests Ever
Thursday – The booking request is made
It was a Thursday and my phone gave that delightful ping when a booking request comes through from Airbnb. ‘Good day, I look forward to staying at your place. It is my birthday weekend and my fiance and I just want to have a chilled weekend away from home.’ Awww, how sweet. ACCEPT.
Friday – The guest arrival and my suspicion starts
The guest let themselves in on Friday afternoon using the key from our lockbox. I went over to give my usual welcome and to give a demonstration on how some things work. To my dismay the guest didn’t open the door for me but rather spoke to me through the glass door while on the telephone to someone else. I am not accustomed to being treated with such indifference and said I’d rather come back a little later to which the response was ‘No thanks’.
That evening I sat watching the moon rise and realised it was Friday the 13th! Call me dramatic but I couldn’t help noticing an uneasy feeling coming over me…. Little did I know what lay ahead.
Later that evening while my husband and I were putting the children to bed the friends started to arrive…. The volume on our driveway was incredible. Just as I thought we would never get our girls to settle the guests and their entourage left. Relief!… or not. 2:30am we are woken as guests and entourage return from their evening out and set the house alarm off. Hmmm… One of those demonstrations I didn’t get to do through my glass door welcome.
Saturday – The nightmare gains momentum
Saturday. Guest and friends are going out for a late breakfast. I try to catch them to finish the demonstration that I started the day before to avoid having the alarm go off again. This time I am not treated with indifference but rather I am just bluntly ignored! Trying to hide my obvious annoyance I turn to go back into my house. My three year old (Ponono) however, is not going to have anyone treating her mummy like that.
‘Excuse me’ she says while tugging on the guest’s shirtsleeve, ‘my mummy is trying to talk to you’. Bless her. Thanks to Ponono I get the message about the alarm across to a less than interested recipient. Hopefully this means we have sorted the alarm issue out.
Saturday afternoon. More friends arrive. Are you serious?! Are they here to stay or just visit? There are now five people crammed into our little cottage that only takes two. My husband and I are sitting in our garden trying to enjoy our usual Saturday afternoon barbecue. Not only can we hear the ‘nts nts nts’ beat of the music but we can also see the music vibrations rattling our knives and forks on our lunch table.
In hindsight, I should have kicked these people out then and there but I was way too soft and frightened of a bad review. Instead, we retreated into our house early to remove ourselves from the less than tasteful music of the party going on in my dear little cottage. Fortunately, at some stage before midnight, we hear a car leaving the premises. Some of the extra friends leaving at last.
Sunday – Can’t get rid of the guests fast enough
Barely Sunday morning. 5:20am and guests and friends are leaving in their car… how do we know? Because they are HOOTING! I just can’t believe my ears. Five minutes later the guest returns with only one friend. I am seething as they re-enter our cottage to sleep off their heavy night. Sleep in our house is over as the ridiculous 5:20 am hooting has woken our two bunnies and they want to play.
Sunday morning. 8:00 am. Checkout day. I can’t wait! I am sitting with my finger on the Airbnb App waiting for the clock to turn to 8 am to send my friendly checkout reminder. My heart drops to my toe as I realise that the booking is only for one. How could I have been so stupid! Ahhh! Not only was there more than one guest staying in the cottage but there were three which is one more than our maximum of two! I quickly update my message to let them know that they owe me money for the extra two people for the two nights.
Five minutes later my phone rings. ‘Umm Luci… there must be a mistake as there was only one person staying.’ My thoughts: You have got to be kidding me! They have quite some nerve to try that trick when the cottage front door is 20 meters away from my own front door. I can clearly see who is coming and going. At this point I have had enough and I decide to phone Airbnb for help.
Getting Airbnb to mediate
I explain our dreadful weekend to a very nice gentleman called John. I also explain how I stupidly didn’t review the booking for the number of pax until the checkout day. John gives me direction on how I can put in a request for additional money as I am no longer able to adjust the pax on the booking as it is checkout day. Damn!
When the guest and friend finally emerge from the cottage to leave (one hour after our check out time), I try to recover the additional funds. The guest and friend are no longer trying to hide the fact that they were three. Now they just don’t have any money. I explain how I am going to put in a request for additional funds through Airbnb and they agree to accept. Wanting them gone as soon as possible we open the gate and off they go. Good riddance!
The cottage has been trashed
Sunday noon. Still feeling uneasy I go into the cottage, my heart sinks. I now understand what someone means when they say ‘trashed’. Our beautiful Cosy Garden Cottage has been trashed. The white percale linen is black on the corners. The sheets are brown and covered in spots of oil. There is not a clean plate left in the cupboard. The floor is black. Five of the eight glasses we provide have been broken. How could someone do this?
Airbnb has a million dollar insurance fund and I am really hoping this is the reason why they have it. I phone Airbnb again and explain the state that our cottage has been left in. A very kind person called Maud advises me to take as many pictures as I can for evidence (these are the pictures above) and to put in another request for additional money from the guest. She also said my pictures should include the slips for items that needed to be replaced.
I block off the next few dates on the cottage as I realise it is going to take more than one day to get the cottage clean again. Thank goodness we didn’t have any guests checking in on the Sunday evening. Fuming I start to think about the stinking review I am going to be leaving these people.
Follow The Rest Of The Story…
Please pick-up the rest of the story in part 2 of The Worst Guests Ever. I share what happened the week that followed our horror guests and the 6 lessons I learnt from these bad Airbnb Guests.
In part 3 I share a guide to the Airbnb Resolution Centre which is a step by step guide on how I lodged my claim against these guests.
Here are links to other posts you may be interested in:
5 ways to make money with Airbnb without owning property
Oh gosh, how I share your horrible experience. I’ve just gone through a very similar one. Booking request comes through for 47 days. Check profile etc, happy with everything so accept the booking. Get a message that this is for a colleague of hers. Respond that third party bookings are not accepted by AirBnB. At this stage I’m curious as to why there isn’t a flag from AirBnB regarding this booking. Assuming their policy might have changed, I continue with the booking. Guest arrives. Very polite and traveling light. Announces that he needs an ashtray. I remind him this is a no smoking zone. Tells me he smokes cannabis every night and needs an ashtray. I tell him no smoking in the premises – smoke outside in the garden. Next morning a request to help him clean up a spill. I walk into flooded premises! He went to sleep and forgot to turn off the tap. Next evening he requests a basis – he forgot 18 beers in the freezer! Has two pals around to watch a soccer match. Out in the garden there are cigarettes stompies and bottle tops everywhere. I remind them to clean it all up. Then comes the coupe de ta: Monday the suite is being served when I get called in by the char who shows me the curtain, wall, ceiling and armchair all splattered with red wine. I message the guest requesting an explanation: there’s no corkscrew in the suite so he used a knife to open the bottle. I responded that the corkscrew was on top of the bar counter for all and sundry to see. Managed to clean most of the damage but the curtains needed to be professionally cleaned. Presented the bill to him. He’s not paying. This is part of my cleaning bill (AirBnB paid R350 once off for the whole stay). I was livid. Went to the AirBnB site to claim. The firm he worked for accepted and paid. Now starts the verbal abuse that I’m trying to get rid of him . . . I keep his company informed. They take the decision to relocate him elsewhere. They want the refund for the last three weeks paid out to them. I’m saying it should be 50/50 as I’m suffering a loss of income. Back and forth with the Resource Centre ending up with a Consultant who thumps the desk saying “You accepted a third party booking”. He left the place looking like a tip. I’ve changed all the locks and remotes. But yes, the whole incidence was just the most appalling experience I have ever had. I’m still wondering why AirBnB did not intercede when the initial booking was made and was clearly a third party booking indicated on their messenger for all to see. Would have spared me all this very, very unpleasantness. Share your concerns hugely.
Hi Alison,
Oh my goodness what a dreadful experience you had! I hope you have recovered from the ordeal!
Do you have instant book set-up? I do, but there is as setting where you can specify certain minimum criteria for the person wanting to instant book. I have set mine that the person must have had at least two five star ratings before they can instant book, otherwise I get the opportunity to ask questions and gauge for myself if I will accept the booking.
Third party bookings are just a no-no as it does take your power as a host away. Make no mistake, I have also accepted third party bookings in the past to get my booking rate up, but I do it less and less.
Sometimes you would have no idea that it is a third party booking, in these cases I would contact Airbnb immediately and let them resolve the issue. Especially if it is clear you have trouble on your hands.They are able to see all your correspondence with the guest so it will be clear to them too that there was no sign of it being a third party. They will resolve the issue without any damage to your rating.
I hope you left a dreadful review even though it was not the person staying…. at least then other hosts will know to ask questions. I wish you many kind and conscientious guests to make up for the bad egg:)
Thank you for your support.
Lucienne
Can’t wait for Part 2!
Thanks for reading Deborah.
Can you leave a link of part 2?
Hi Marina, I certainly will, thanks for reading.
I am absolutely gobsmacked! Disgraceful, disrespectful and unacceptable behaviour. Please let us know what happens.
Hi Kathy, Fortunately this is the only time this has happened in my three and a half years as an Airbnb host. I will be sure to let you know how it all ended in Part 2.