Why airbnb can kiss my butt
Ok, so I understand that everyone's situation, property, location is different and thus I'm stressing that this was just my own personal experience and I'm over it - after only 2 weeks ;-)
Beginning of the year I decided that I wanted to do airbnb on some properties that I was renovating. I was so excited and read every discussion thread on various websites and joined local airbnb meetup etc. I had so much fun coming up with themes and decorating and finding all of the item to fit the themes etc. and was looking forward to interacting with travelers from all over the world.
Now, my 3 properties are in a transitional neighborhood, but within a fenced block that is an artist community. We are incredibly central (2 miles from downtown) to everything in Atlanta, that's intown. I have explained that all in my listings, as well as in the welcome email with details of codes etc.
First I did everything you were supposed to do to get as much exposure as possible: Instant booking , smart pricing . I had a professional photographer. Smart pricing was very low and I think that attracted the people that soured this for me. 1 bedroom apartment for $ 35 and 3 bedroom for $ 65. Well, I went with it, because I knew that I needed good reviews.
First booking was for 1 week. Person had no prior reviews, told me that he was in between apartments and has several service animals (sorry, but nobody has more than 1 service dog, because it costs about 10K to train one0. I actually allow dogs, so this obvious lie set up a huge red flag for me. I Did some research and found a bunch of evictions for him. His profile says that he's in Missouri, but he's been living in Atlanta for years, so obviously not a traveler. I got really worried, as I didn't want someone that would turn into a squatter and called airbnb and they agreed to cancel the reservation. The guy then threatened to have me thrown off airbnb.
Had my first guests arrive Friday, 2 weeks ago. It was raining and she texted 'we're here'. I looked out the window and didn't see anyone. Went outside of our compound and see their car further down the road, facing me. I'm standing in the middle of the street, in the pouring rain, waving my arms. There's no way they didn't see me. They turned right, away from me and towards the main street again. I'm running after them, yelling, waving my arms, but they don't stop. They get stuck at the main road, because there are cars and they can't turn. I finally catch up with them and they agree to turn around (only hit me later that they really were leaving and were not lost) . Anyway, I walked them through and then they said that they'd go to dinner. 30 minutes later they called and said that they wouldn't be back. I told them that I'll get them a refund. Was my first guest and I didn't want to start off as a bad host. They cancelled and I made the mistake of after canceling them on my end, thinking that that was the process for them to get their money back. Turns out that I was then being penalized, because this cancellation on my end would have made it impossible for me to become super host for at least a year. I called airbnb and they said 'don't worry, everything's fine'. But I could see on my stats that because of this cancellation I was at 75%, when I would have required 100%.
2nd guests were awesome. They loved it so much that they came back the 2nd week and rented my other unit. And they just came back for the 3rd time.
3rd guests was a young couple, that seemed to fit right in. He's a musician, she had dreadlocks and they both worked as bartenders. Both told everyone there how much they loved it. They actually contacted me at 2pm and asked, if they could check in at 3pm. I told them that I didn't expect anyone and would have to clean first and that the unit wouldn't be ready until 5 or 6 earliest. Would that still work for them? They said that that was fine, but would there be any way for them to just stop by at 3 and drop off their stuff and come back at 6? I agreed. So, the boyfriend came with his things and then went into the bedroom and closed the door and stayed. Ok, no big deal, we cleaned the rest of the apartment, as we had had a plumber there earlier. And since these were the first guests in this unit, the sheets were new.
Being bartenders, they worked nights, so, we didn't see them much. Check out was 10am on July 5th. Sent a message, asking if they had checked out at 10.10. No answer....Tried calling at 10.45...phone turned off. Tried several more times to call..off. At 11.30 I finally knocked on the door. They had still been sleeping and were clearly upset. I told them that check out was at 10, they insisted that it was 11. I pointed out that it was 11.30 now and that they had still been sleeping and that I had another guest coming at 3pm and needed to clean. I was still on the property when they left around noon. I waved good bye and they didn't acknowledge me. Got a scathing review how terrible it was and how there was noise all night long and they couldn't sleep and that this was a dangerous neighborhood (I did describe that this is not a neighborhood for walking around in and they didn't have a car and walked around in the middle of the night, coming from their bartending jobs), that I was late and wouldn't let them check in until 6pm, instead of 3pm, that I loudly woke them up at 10am, when check out was at 11 and so on and that they wouldn't recommend anyone to stay here. I had given them a 5* review, because it wasn't such a big deal with the check out - even though in retrospect I Wished I hadn't. Guests in the neighboring unit told me that they didn't come home until 5am, when their dogs loudly welcomed them, so, they hadn't even been there when there was supposedly all of this noise. Besides, even if they had, it was 4th of July and I'm sure there were fireworks and parties all over the U.S.
I contacted airbnb in tears, told them that I have other airbnb guests that are willing to vouch that these people hadn't been there at the time they claimed and that my email trail through airbnb shows that I told her ahead of time that she couldn't check in at 3pm...they opened a case, but never did anything.
Then I had this couple with 4 children that booked for 4 days over July 4th. I tried to explain to her that our artist community property is for common use for everyone, but that it's somewhat raw, with walls and places where children could get hurt, if not supervised etc. She said that was fine. Again, the neighborhood was explained in text and email. No problem. 2 days before she writes that they had a death in the family and whether they could cancel. I told her to just go ahead and cancel through airbnb (I had the easiest cancellation policy). Next day the reservation was still there. I asked her to please go ahead and cancel, as I was now in limbo land. She then changed her trip to 2 days. Came on the 3rd. She and her husband walked through the main area of the house and walked back out. She came back and said that her husband didn't like it and they were going to leave. That she had no problem with anything, but that she had only shown him the pictures and he didn't like the area. She wanted a full refund. I said that that really wasn't fair to me, but that she needed to contact airbnb. She never cancelled, so I could never open it up again to anyone else.
A few days ago she asked for the refund and gave me a scathing review: the pictures must have been 10 years old (were taken 1 week before by a professional photographer, no editing and nothing was changed since) and all of the walls and floors were dirty. That there was a man on the front porch (this is a duplex and I have a painter living in the other unit) that must have been the community bum. That I didn't look like my picture (sorry, but I was cleaning the unit all day and didn't wear make-up and had my hair in a ponytail).
Then I had some great guests, who didn't write a review, so, I couldn't balance it out. Got a few good or great reviews.
Yesterday morning I got a letter that said that I was suspended, but that I still needed to host the current reservations and if I got my average back up above 4 stars they would reconsider. I was going to hang in there, but then I got a call from a guest, that had come the night before, who told me that she couldn't stay there, because the lighting wasn't bright enough for her to put on her make-up and that she found a piece of trash under the sofa and why I wouldn't check the place before I let guests in.
That was it. I sort of had a break-down and called airbnb and told me that I was done. Those past 2 weeks were so stressful. Every guest I was worried that they'd find something wrong. I felt I was being held hostage by potential good or bad reviews. You're not allowed to turn down too many inquires or you get penalized. Almost everyone I booked had no reviews. You can only put a contingency of having had good reviews, if you do instant booking.
I met every guest myself, even those arriving at midnight. I had water and snacks in the fridge. I walked them through everything and told me to call me if there's anything wrong, missing, even if it's 2am, since I just live 2 blocks away.
Basically, I feel really relieved today. I'm a great landlord, but I don't want to feel that I'm held hostage by guests like this. This was not for me. But at least I don't have to look back some day and wished that I had.....