I am a new host, I just started this month, my third guest was terrible. She started off fine but turned into a nightmare. First she brought a cat even though I have a no pet policy. I did state on my profile, "No pets unless asking first." This was so I could discuss it with them, but she didn't even ask. She ended up booking two more stays (extending her initial 2 days to 7). She gave me a really hard time paying, she stayed a couple nights for free then ended up paying for them 2 days later. Then she stayed 2 more days without paying again, and she ignored all my messages and calls and left my house after not paying for the last two nights. Okay, so I called Airbnb and told them I was having issues before she left. I requested payment for those two nights, have not heard back from her.
When I went home it was a mess, cat litter everywhere, spilled all over the carpet, cat food all over the floor downstairs. The WORST part was the house smelled like cigarrette smoke!!! I had one night to clean before my next guest arrived and I was worried that smell wouldnt go away. Oh, and she gave me a 4 star review with a 3 on cleanliness and value. My place is the cheapest on this side of town, and it was clean. I catered to her hand and foot, she had nothing but good things to say when she arrived and when we talked. I think she got mad when I didn't flirt back with her, that's when her tone changed with me. So I have two good reviews and one bad one, that's fine as long as the next ones are good right? Well...My other guest arrived tonight, I was speaking with her on the phone while she was getting in. The first thing she said was about the smoke smell, she complained that it smelt bad. I apologized and told her my last guest must have smoked inside, and I told her where the febreze was, and the candles. I apologized and asked if there was anything else I could do. I'm thinking of taking more candles tomorrow???
My concerns and questions. My concern is this new guest is going to leave a bad review because nobody wants that nasty smell. Then i'm going to have two bad reviews and my listing is going to suffer since it's new...
My question. Can I do anything about this? Can I charge my horrible guest a cleaning fee or a fee of some sort, if so how much? $10, $400? Or is my only option to leave her a respectful bad review and suffer through this hopefully temporary dilemma?
Very discouraging start to my Airbnb hosting experience. Please help 😞