AirBnB exposing hosts to potential fraud/scams

[Andrew890]

I've been a host for over a year and have a perfect guest review history (5 star average). I'm writing this post to warn of a loophole that guest are taking advantage of. Airbnb policy states that if a guest takes a picture of any condition of your home during their stay or even after they have stayed but prior to check out, they can take a picture of mess that they caused/created and airbnb will hold the host responsible if they (guest) makes a cleanliness complaint.

Airbnb will offer the guest between 50% to 100% refund, which means guests now know how to stay at your home for free. I'm considering litigating the matter based on principle even though i'd lose either way due to court cost.

Please also do NOT anger any of the resolution/ customer service agent that resolves disputes due to the fact that they are all powerful and can decide by themself to offer guest full refund without providing you with evidence of why this was done. What about escalating to a supervisor? well unlike most professional business where the supervisor or higher ups are independent of their subordinates, at Airbnb my experience has been very diffferent.

The precedent has been set and is well documented. Any guest can use your home, get it dirty and then take pictures and submit for a cleaniness claim, airbnb will then issue a 50%-100% refund to that guest.

Customer Service/ resolution agent name was ** and her supervisor was **.

Good Luck to my fellow Hosts.

Host for over 1 year.

**[Name hidden due to privacy concerns - Community Center Guidelines]

[Denise80]

@Andrew890 @Lisa-And-Amanda1 @Debra48 @Trude0 @Mike2212 

I've been targeted by these sort o f scammers, and thanks to this forum I'd like to think I got the better of them!

It all started with getting an email from some guests who had just arrived. This is our holiday home that we rent out when not using it., and they assumed we would not be in the area. The woman said the place was dirty and so they would need a full refund of their money, so I rang our cleaner and she was so horrified that she went to the house immediately to find out what was wrong as she had only finished cleaning a few hours previously. The only thing that the guest could fault was that the remote control for the TV was sticky (it wasn't)

Meanwhile I was on the phone to Airbnb and told them that the guest wanted to cancel so Air contacted the guest to confirm.

Our cleaner said that they had pulled back all the bedding looking for goodness know what and moved furniture to look under/behind it but that they were still unpacking and loading their food into the fridge preparing for their stay.

 I rang the guest and said there was a full refund, but that they had to leave immediately.  Right now!

So they left.

Now here is where I laughed....during all of this,  I looked up our town to see what other Airbnbs were available as this was 2 days before Christmas! There were several, but all much more than twice my price. 

After they left, one of the Airbnbs was booked! 

So I'd like to think that they had to pay a lot more for their Christmas accommodation, and maybe even learnt a lesson!

And we were booked by a lovely family within an hour!

[Laurel150]

Hey.  Our guests FLOODED our downstairs.   They partied and left water on, then broke the toilet handle to make it look like it was a “plumbing issue.”   Airbnb is not covering the severe water damage. Having to replace floorboards, drywall, and flooring at our own costs.  Unbelievable!!!!!!

[Eileen462]

@Laurel150  Laurel I am so very sorry for you.  This is one reason I am going to be getting business insurance on my place..  I will be praying for you to recover from this without alot of expense... Eileen

[Kim3205]

Can anyone tell me how they handle their Rental Agreement?  The reason I'm asking is you apparently must have it posted for the guests to read before booking.  But within a Rental Agreement you must put the address of the property.  I don't want everyone knowing the address unless they book.

Also, the Rental Agreement must be signed by both us (the owners) and the guests.  I don't see a platform for that on airbnb.

[Holly704]

This has happened to us twice this summer. Guests have figured out how to get free or discounted vacations by fabricating evidence. What protections do we have?

[Jenna421]

Have the cleaner take before and after videos every single time!  

[Eileen462]

@Jenna421  Great idea Jenna!

[Eileen462]

@Andrew890   Wow Andrew I would DEFINITELY be in court for that one!  What a shame people are so dishonest and lawless.   

[Richard3129]

This has happened to us at least 4x. Airbnb has their script. 

[Wendy1780]

Not sure if I’ll ever be where you have your AirBNB..but as a guest…I would never pull that **bleep** on you or anyone. That is low

of low. So sorry that is happening.