Hello!
I am a Chicago Airbnb Superhost who recently had her first negative hosting experience. My space allows for three guests and there is a base fee for the first guest and $25/night for each additional guest. A woman from Mexico booked my home for 4 nights for one person. It appeared her written English was strong and she listed English as a language that she speaks. She had positive reviews as both a guest and an Airbnb host.
I contacted her a few days prior to the booking to ask about her arrival. She said her brother would arrive before her. I stated I would change the booking for 2 people and she accepted this request. On the day of her arrival her flight was late and I was out to dinner when she arrived in my home. My listing clearly states the arrival procedure if I am not home but she did not receive this information and was very upset and angry when I was not there to let her in. My neighbor assisted and she entered my home and got the guest set of keys.
When I met the guest and her brother later that night, I saw there was a young child (approximately 5 years old) asleep on the guest bed. I noted the reservation was for 2 people when they had 3 people. She stated that due to the language barrier she did not understand the booking process and that she would not pay any more money because it was already "too expensive" to stay in my home. The group stayed overnight but in the morning I contacted Airbnb and the reservation was canceled. Ultimately I felt that the guest manipulated me as she is an Airbnb host (plus she already increased the number of guests once) and I did not believe that she didn't understand the booking process. I was also frustrated that she refused to properly remedy the situation by paying my listed rate. I did not trust having her in my home.
Airbnb was fantastic in their assistance. They canceled my reservation (so it did not reflect upon my Superhost status) and helped find the guest a new place to stay. Because the reservation was canceled I could not publicly review the guest nor could she review me.
My question is: are there 'behind-the-scenes' consequences for such guest behavior? I fear that this guest will be free to make future bookings without there being any protection for future hosts to know that she has shown herself to be manipulative in the past. I also fear that there are similar guests who might book with me and I will need to handle negative behaviors that had been present in previous stays (yet there was no review to record the situation).
Thanks!
