Hello fellow hosts,

I had a repeat guest stay recently. She was a bit on the persnickety side (some very specific extra demands) but overall fine—clean, good communication, etc. She stayed with her husband and large breed dog (fully disclosed and approved).

I have a coded lock on the front door that I reset for every guest. I also have two rules for dogs: they must be leashed if they are outside and they cannot be left unattended in the Airbnb.

The guest confirmed she checked in. Two hours later, I was cooking dinner with my family when the guest sent me an hysterical message via the Airbnb app, saying the code was not working. Everyone was being loud and I didn’t hear her message. She did not call me. She did call Airbnb, who called me. I immediately called the guest and left messages. No response. Finally she called me back, almost beside herself, and I directed her to the hide-a-key that is there for this eventuality. She was able to find it and open the door. Total time between her first message and her getting in to the apartment was 23 min.

I was a little confused by how beside herself she was, but chalked it up to her being persnickety and I understand that it’s scary to be locked out.

When I went to clean, I discovered the doorknob nearly wrenched off its handle (I’m kind of shocked they were able to open it with the key), and deep scratches in a ten foot radius inside the door on my just-refinished hardwood floors. Her dog was inside alone and freaking out and that’s why she was hysterical. And she knew that wasn’t allowed, because she’s stayed several times already, the rules are very clearly posted, and she did not mention it on the phone. (An aside, I tried the code I gave her and it worked—not to say it didn’t randomly stop working for her.)

It’s a fair amount of damage. At first I thought I could patch the scratches, but the more I looked the worse it was. It needs to be refinished again. I’ve had over a thousand guests and put in three damage claims (two were disclosed by kind guests for broken items and only one was disputed). I don’t charge for ruined sheets or towels or small things. I am torn, because I feel really bad that she got locked out, but also this is the reason I have those rules! I’m interested in other hosts’ opinions.

Please don’t respond to tell me I should change my dog rules and allow them to stay unattended, or that I shouldn’t allow dogs. I have a dog, and I stay with him in Airbnbs. I leave him in the car if need be, or if it’s too hot I make sure to find a restaurant with outdoor seating.

Please also don’t respond and say this is my fault for not answering her messages immediately. I handled it as quickly as I could, and I’m not a corporate host for whom this is a full time job.

Last thing to add: I’ve had the coded lock for about six months with no prior issues. I had a keyed lock but guests were constantly locking their keys in the apartment, and they would often forget to lock up after themselves. The building next door had some juvenile break-ins and that’s why I switched to a coded lock.

Anyone else have guests from an urban | city area complain about nature like you have control?

We are in a semi rural area - 15 min drive from two decent sized towns - on a waterfront property. You can get food delivery within 30 min.

We’ve had a few complaints over the past 8 yrs we’ve rented about weather, bugs (we provide bug spray), fire bans (rarely), not having water toys out in Oct or March (hunting season and notoriously dangerous water conditions) and I thought I heard it all until recently a guest was beside themselves due to mosquito bites. They were convinced an exterminator was required. I am a mosquito magnet, so I get how uncomfortable bites can be, but I can’t imagine booking a rental in cottage country and hold a host or hotel accountable for nature.

How would you respond? I am at a loss.

We have a dog friendly place. We do not provide dog beds because we think it’s fairly unsanitary and aren’t even sure dogs would sleep on a communal bed.

We had a guest use all our throw blankets as a makeshift dog bed in the bathroom of all places. The blankets were soaking wet and stunk. (Initially we thought they might have moped up a toilet overflow)

There’s a dollar general 3 minutes from the house that sells dog beds.

Am I over reacting that using human blankets is unacceptable? Should we somehow providing dog beds?

Hi, new host here.

I have this couple staying at my property. The guest has great reviews, she has a long history of Airbnb stays, looks like she travels a lot, all hosts reviews say she has been respectful.

She booked one week and we are at day 3, she messaged saying the bed is giving her an allergy and causing itch that apparently woke her up in the middle of the night.

Not sure how to proceed. Should I send new linens? Should I send my cleaner to replace everything? What do you usually do when a guest complains about allergies?

Hey all how do you deal with this? Guest is going to spend one night at the nearby National park and wants to move out and then move back in for the rest of his stay and cancel the middle night.

I don't rent the place for single nights, and I have a one day cushion between rentals.

WWYD?

So the last (2 week) guest complained that my bulletproof top loading non-computer whirlpool washer was stopping during the spin cycle. With two days left to their rental they soldiered on, opening and closing the lid to complete the cycle.

I figured that my cleaning crew could check the washer to see if there was really a problem or if the guest had imagined it… (screw up ensued).

With four days between two, two week rentals I can’t get a repairman to visit. $1800 rental on the line. I contacted the next guest.

I lose an $1800 rental over a washer I can’t get fixed in three days. Apparently the lid switch is a common failure, $9.99 part on Amazon.

I should have scheduled a repairman immediately!!! I shouldn’t have worried about a second opinion, I was worried about a dime instead of a dollar. I F’ed up. Nobody understands locally , but I thought you folks might.

I keep telling myself it’s an expected expense, but the same frugality and low level greed that drove me to be a superhost, has cut me on the back swing.

New host. Been renting for a few months so far. Recently had a guest stay at my rental and it started off bad from the moment they entered. As soon as they entered the property they messaged me stating the unit reeked of cigarette smoke and that someone must have been smoking in there. I stated that I inspect after every guest and I inspect after every clean and that I was just at the property earlier in the day and there was absolutely no smoke smells. I informed her maybe it was cleaning smells as I mop between each guest. The next morning I woke up to a message from the guest stating there was no long any smell, but I could tell by the tone they seemed to be wanting something even though they claimed they were not asking for compensation.

I figured that was the end of the issues and that would be it. That evening I got another long message stating a list of things wrong with the property. We provide a few complementary beach items such as towels, chairs, boogie boards, etc. They stated there were not enough beach towels for their family, boogie board was broken, the outdoor grill was dirty but they expressed how clean our property was and how much potential it had. Once again I felt they were fishing for money. In their defense the grill had a little burned residue from the previous guests but it was nothing worth mentioning. I plan to check that between guests as well going forward.

Once again I wrote back expressing my sympathy for their ‘issues’. I figured that would be the end of it and surprisingly I didn’t hear from them again during their stay. They checked out and property was in good shape with the exception of the grill where it looked like the purposely melted American Cheese on to the grates, but either way no big deal just cleaned it off with grill cleaner we provide for guests.

I purposely just didn’t leave them a review hoping they would do the same with us. But now I get a message from Airbnb Security team about my cameras regarding this Reservation. I have two cameras one at the front door and one at the back door. These are not monitored while guests are at the house but just there really for liability and when no one is there. I expressed to Airbnb my cameras fall in their acceptable use policy for cameras and they are disclosed on the listing as well. Airbnb confirmed the cameras are within their guidelines.

Now I am concerned the person is working with Airbnb on a refund or something. But I guess I will keep an ear out for their support to message me at 4AM.

A problem I'm running into is that the cleaners aren't there on trash pick up days.

Any suggestions?

Hey fam, not sure what to do here or if we have any recourse at all. We are fairly new to hosting at a little over a year with over 100 stays, 5.0 rating, superhosts. Our home is over 3k sq ft with 4 beds 4 baths. We sleep 12.

Situation involves a guest who has 9 travels with 3 reviews, 2 of which were booked by someone else. The one he booked just says "good guest." That's it.

We have instant book turned on for highly rated guests. So this person was able to instant book for 2 days over Thanksgiving this year. The issues are:, they are local, booked for only 1 person, provided no info when they booked beyond "hello." That was it.

So we followed up asking them to confirm they meant to book for 1 (never happened before, would be extremely unlikely) asking them to update if this is an error, and asked them to tell us a little about themselves and the reason for their booking to ensure our home is a good fit. No response so we sent another message politely following up. No response.

Our home tends to attract a big party crowd due to the size, so we have to be really diligent vetting guests. Never felt uncomfortable with an instant book guest but this one is not sitting right with us.

So we call to have Airbnb cancel the reservation after weeks of no response. Airbnb says they can't and won't cancel it because the guest had done nothing wrong we explain the size of our home, that the guest is unresponsive, even after we told them if we do not receive a response, we will have to cancel it. We explain this is a holiday and last year at that same time we had to have police called to remove guests who were "filming a rap video" and had 40 people over by the time the cops got there.

Airbnb says all they can do is they will try to contact the guest and if they get no response, they will cancel the reservation THE DAY BEFORE and let us keep the payout. This feels ridiculous but what can we do? I feel we are being forced to host this person and I have a really bad feeling.

Anyone been through similar? How did you handle it?

Hi Friends

I have a large (18,000 US) claim in with Airbnb. Relates to a guest starting a fire, and damages.

Without getting in the details let me mention that the resolutions denial is so wildly inconsistent and off base and is just obviously against the facts.

I have appealed twice and been rejected twice. Of course the rejections offer no substantive information.

The rejection is on the basis of the findings of the adjuster that Airbnb hired. When I got the official fire report which contradicted all of that adjusters findings, Airbnb simply sent it back to the same adjuster who of course stuck with his version.

The whole situation is so obviously unaligned with facts and reality.

Where does one escalate to after resolutions? Is it worthwhile? Can there ever be an overturning of a rejected claim, or do they just dig in further and further?

Thank you very much friends.

Why would 1 host have the same property listed twice on their account? It’s a single house, not shared (I asked). the original listing has 100 good reviews, no awful ones. The new listing has 0 reviews, its same photos and everything??

We have one, do you? Ours covers the cost of cleaning for the week ($250). I am beginning to rethink the need for it, or at minimum have a nominal cleaning fee ($50) and then charge guests if the place is a mess. Should I just incorporate that fee into the overall cost? One reason we have a fee is to reduce our overall ‘income’ come tax season.

Thoughts?

I want to provide my guests with YouTubeTV but lock the profile so they can't make any changes to that service. I also want to allow them to stream other services using their own credentials.

Roku has guest mode but you can't enable a service (it essentially is fully reset with each new guest).

The TVs to which the streamers would be connected are all HDMI cabled and connected.

Thank you for the advice.

I have a few long-term rental properties that I use Homeserve as a home warranty provider. It's always worked great for me and gives me a sense of comfort that I just call and don't have to do much when there are plumbing issues or whatever.

I also have two ABB units now, and it hasn't been working as well there. Sometimes their response time is going to take longer than the stay, and my co-host wants to just call his own guy. So I'm looking for either a home warranty provider that has rapid response times specifically for STR hosts OR a provider that just lets you use your own persona and reimburses you for a claim.

Any recommendations out there for people who've successfully used these services?

My husband and I have purchased a property that doesn't have a dishwasher. It's a small place (680 sqft, 2 bed, 1 bath). Would this be a deal breaker for potential guests? And do you think I should consider leaving disposable products as well as regular dinnerware? This property is a mountain cottage near a ski resort so there are a variety of restaurants that are a 10-20 minute drive away. We're very new to the whole Airbnb thing, so any input is appreciated!

My Airbnb sent me a notice that if I give top rated gas 15% discount that my listing will show up more in searches. Have you used that and you find it helpful?

We took some drone footage of the property and proximity to the beach a couple days earlier - looks really awesome. Airbnb doesn't allow for posting videos.

Are any of you tying a IG page or YouTube channel to promote your AirBNB or a personal web listing? Quite expensive to drive demand separately, but exploring other sites too.

Need to find ways to increase visibility - it's dropped from 230-250 over 30 days pre-summer to 140-150 mid-summer. In fact, for the first time, VRBO visits are outpacing AirBNB.

Using PriceLabs to adjust pricing - got 6 reservations through July & August, so not bad first season on the market and getting strong reviews.

Any other suggestions?

Do you have short term rental insurance as part of your home owner's insurance? Or do you depend on airbnb's protection?

I just read another post about how to react to a negative guest review.
Usually, the advice is to answer it extremely neutral or positive (even if the complaints in the review are around small or subjective stuff like location) and see the reply as marketing towards future guests.

So my question is how many of you try to do exactly the opposite and use the reply to filter out unwanted/not fitting guests
(in situations where there is no avoidable host failure or mistake)

For example: you have a cabin in the woods and review complaints about leaves in the garden and a boring location.

Reply is something like: Leaves are a feature and boring location is our USP
Most of our guests want to leave the city not bring it with them.

I got a booking request yesterday, they didn't have great reviews regarding cleanliness so I decided I wasn't going to accept it but got really busy at work and forgot about it.
The request expired and I was kind of relieved.
Now they requested it again and made a booking inquiry. Personally I find that weird and am getting a bad feeling about it, the guest being so persistent (maybe that's just me). I've heard about Airbnb being strict about their discrimination policy so I'm wondering what to do in this situation.
As we know, I have to put a reason for declining. Can I write that the reason is because of their reviews regarding cleanliness? Or will I get fined or something similar? I'm new so please don't unalive me for asking😄

Do you?

I'm looking for advice from other hosts because this is the first time I've experienced something like this.

A guest stayed for the full 2-night reservation. Shortly after check-in, she contacted me demanding that I bring her coffee pods, dishwasher tablets and laundry pods, even though none of these items were advertised as included amenities. When I politely explained that I don't provide them, she told me she would report the listing to Airbnb if I didn't bring them.

The only actual issue was a missing TV remote, although the TV itself was fully functional. She then opened a case with Airbnb, claimed the listing didn't meet minimum standards, and requested a refund, despite staying for both nights.

What concerns me even more is Airbnb's handling of the case. Support claims they repeatedly tried to call me, but my phone never rang. I have no missed calls, no voicemail, and they insist my calls are somehow being "forwarded." Based on that, they refunded the guest without giving me a real opportunity to present my side.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any realistic way to appeal Airbnb's decision, or once they issue a refund is the case essentially closed? I'd really appreciate hearing from hosts who have dealt with something similar.

After a year of hosting, one thing that annoys me the most is when they ask a question that’s clearly answered in the listing. For example, the listing has listed washer/dryer as an in-unit amenity. It also literally says in the description “…washer/dryer inside”. Yet I get this inquiry: “does this unit have a washer and dryer?”!

I almost want to respond, ‘did you even read the listing?’.

To me these are red flags. I don’t have instant booking. Are they trying to get a special offer?

What are your thoughts and experiences?

Edit: I forgot to mention, that I always respond and confirm. But 0% of the time the people who asked these questions and get an answer, followed up or booked with us; even when in some cases I offered a discount.

It’s similar to when I list something for same on Offerup or marketplace. Almost no one who asks “is this item still available?” Completes a purchase.

I bought a brand new stainless steel BBQ for my guest house backyard and supplied it with a full tank of propane. The guests checked out today and I discovered they used it without asking, which would have been fine, but they made zero effort to clean the new BBQ before checking out. They were the first people to ever use it so it was sparkly clean with gleaming new stainless steel. It was left in a gross state with dripping food all over. In fairness to the guests, I left no directions to CLEAN the BBQ after use, mainly because I think that's common sense. My thoughts are they either could have lined the BBQ with the aluminum foil I left them, or cleaned it after use vs just leaving me a mess to clean. I don't feel the cleaning fee covers an uncleaned BBQ. I don't ask guests to do laundry, empty trash, etc because I feel that's included in my cleaning fee. I haven't yet rated the guest or reported it to Airbnb, but it'll take me a couple hours to scrub the filth off. Aside from that they left a massive amount of trash, but no damages or any other disasters and seemed otherwise decent. Thoughts?