This is a cautionary tale. I had a guest arrive on Thursday, and as soon as I met them I got a negative vibe. They were kind of demanding and asked lots of questions, but when I tried to go through my spiel with the house tour they weren't paying attention, just kept talking to each other and not really paying attention. Also, they showed up with three people, when they only booked for two. But she had come for the birth of a grandchild (her daughter was in and out of the hospital with false labor) and I figured it was probably a chaotic time for them so I let it slide. My husband saw them in passing a couple times and said hi. Then they contacted me this morning to tell me that they were leaving early, and asked if I could come down to chat. When I got there they said they were checking out because of an ant infestation, and they wanted all of their money back. This has never happened before so I was certainly freaked out. They stayed three nights, and didn't mention a word about it, but said it was a problem the whole time. I asked why she didn't let me know right away so I could do something about it (they were gone all day every day, would have been easy enough to do a bug bomb) or at the very least get them out as early as possible to take stronger measures. She said that she thought it would "get better". Then she said, "I don't want to ruin your reputation, so as long as everything goes well with the refund, I won't leave a bad review." Oh, and she also booked for two guests but showed up with three people. I called Airbnb to get the refund scheduled and they wanted to know every detail, were obviously VERY reluctant to issue a refund. I said I just wanted to refund the money and get them out of there so they wouldn't leave a bad review. She asked why I was so concerned about that and I told her, and she said that was extortion. The guest didn't actually say, "give me my money back or I'll leave a bad review", she said "As long as everything goes well with the refund I won't leave a bad review", so not sure if that counts as extortion or not, but it certainly made me worried. After they left I went in and there were quite a few ants (not "literally falling from the ceiling and crawling from every crack" as she had claimed) but there were crumbs EVERYWHERE! She specifically mentioned ants in the bed, and the bed was just FULL of crumbs. They had a four-year-old little girl and they obviously let her eat in the bed. We live in the country, and if you leave food mess everywhere, it's going to attract ants, especially in warm weather! Anyway, Airbnb said that they were not going to refund for the nights she stayed because she didn't give the host an opportunity to make things right, she showed up with an extra guest, and she made a comment about a review being contingent upon a refund. Apparently they are very, very reluctant to refund money for nights already stayed. Then Airbnb said that if she does end up leaving a bad review, to contact them so that they can assess it. Anyway, we'll see what happens but I have to say that I have learned, 9 times out of 10 when I get a vibe about a guest, it turns out to be right. I wonder if I will have the opportunity to leave a review about her, and if so, should I?
