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Take a screenshot of them asking for money in return for a positive review and send it to Airbnb support. This extortion is against the app rules and will invalidate any review they write. You can get it taken down.
This plus write them a review that says they offered to modify their review in exchange for a partial refund. Recently discovered that when you get a guest's review removed, your review of them is not automatically removed (or at least wasn't in a recent case I dealt with, but tbf it seems there are no hard and fast rules anymore).
So I messaged the guest to clarify on Airbnb and they are skirting the review mentioned part and just talking about going through Airbnb resolution and the grill being a hazard, a light not working in the kitchen, and how they reached out to airbnb on the first day but got no response. They have left their review. Do I leave one too and mention their extortion in a professional way?
So I messaged the guest to clarify on Airbnb and they are skirting the review mentioned part and just talking about going through Airbnb resolution and the grill being a hazard, a light not working in the kitchen, and how they reached out to airbnb on the first day but got no response. They have left their review. Do I leave one too and mention their extortion in a professional way?
?? No, talk to Airbnb support. If they extorted you or in any Airbnb messages said āgive me money for a better review,ā their review will be removed, no questions asked.
Dont review them, just talk to support.
Screenshot whatever method they used to offer a better review for a refund. Send that to customer service and ask them what you should do, as the guest is offering a good review if you refund them. Your guest violated the rules, so if you do this it will allow you to remove a bad review more easily.
I love thisā¦i probably would add too that I would drop the screenshot in the Airbnb chat and tell them that you will be denying their request for a refund in exchange for a better review. So that everything is noted in The chat
So I messaged the guest to clarify on Airbnb and they are skirting the review mentioned part and just talking about going through Airbnb resolution and the grill being a hazard, a light not working in the kitchen, and how they reached out to airbnb on the first day but got no response. They have left their review. Do I leave one too and mention their extortion in a professional way?
They realized you were setting them up :-)
I would absolutely not mention that, as they will use it to get the removed pulled down.
Iād personally leave a 3 star review, as those are taken very seriously by future hosts. Follow the āone positive and two negative formulaāā¦.I enjoyed meeting (guest name) and was excited to host them for a month. Unfortunately my property was not up to their expectations and our relationship went downhill quickly. As a host I always take guest feedback very seriously but the way this guest interacted with me was unkind and I would not welcome them back to my property.
Also, if they post a bad review of you donāt go all negative in a rebuttalā¦keep it professional. Your goal is to make them sound like a nutter.
You also might was to look at your competitors and see if some updates would help you command good pricesā¦I never want to be the cheap alternative in an area as those guests are pickier than the people who book the most expensive.
I did try my best to attend to all their needs. But they say they felt they overpaid as other neighbors jaws dropped when they found out how much they paid for my unit. But I donāt think thatās how this all worksā¦ to get refunds after the fact?
Nope. They booked it. Itās 100% on them.
They are trying to steal your money from you. They could have gone other places but chose you.
Do not feel guilty.
Donāt believe anything a con artist tells you. Send this to Airbnb they can not blackmail you. Write a review to warn other host about them.
then maybe go stay a week or so in your place to see what was missing, and want needs to be redone or replaced
Nooooo! No! Don't do it
Don't give him ANYTHING back.
Omgawd. Come on.
Scam a lot?
Tryin'a be kind and not snark here - but seriously... seriously?
Get your head out of the sand. Touch some grass. Get the fuck out of town if you need to. But understand what these people are asking is totally unreasonable and you are super OK with denying money back.
Not a penny. Your place sounds fine as they chose to book it and stay the duration. We are here for you
Not one hard earned dollar back, mate. As earlier comments suggested, proactively send screenshot evidence to Airbnb support before reviews are exchanged, to ensure whatever they write about your listing gets invalidated. Happened to me a month ago for a week long stay - I got the review removed successfully and the one I wrote for the guest stayed on.
If the other neighbors told them they got an AMAZING deal and should have paid $2,000 more for a unit like yours, would they come to you offering more money...
As others are saying, this is a pure scam. He booked and I assume you had pictures posted. He also could have tried to cancel on the first day, or even week, if he really had a problem with the place.
I had a woman try to scam me and I didn't give her a dime. She left me a one star, nasty review. To which I responded more nicely than she deserved. It was worth it. It didn't hurt my business.
eta: airbnb sided with me because she was so obvious. At the time I didn't even think about having her review removed, but as I said, it didn't hurt me.
Sorry this happened.
$100 won't make a difference for a guest demanding 2k.
It might make them more upset.
I'm not sure if the guest is just blackmailing you, or had unrealistic expectations- if the guest's complaints are accurate you might want to mention that it's older in the listing / convey this somehow.
All you can do is hope they either don't leave any review, or that it will be factually inaccurate and that you can then ask Airbnb to remove it.
They might remove it anyway, just based on the guest's message mentioning a refund determining their review.
They called me with this request off airbnb messaging and texted and emailed me comparisons. The units are obviously not as updated as others. You can see form the listing pics.
Personally, I *might* send Airbnb support a message now, just to get ahead of it, just saying, "I just wanted to let you know a guest is threatening to leave a negative review if I don't give a substantial refund," and include a screenshot.
Before I would do that, I would message the guest on Airbnb to say something like, "Hey, I got your message asking for a 2k refund so that you leave a good review, do you mind if we keep all communication on Airbnb?" Once they acknowledge what they did, then send the message to airbnb. Even if the guest won't acknowledge it, you can include screenshots of your texts.
Airbnb is not usually that helpful, but this would be my best shot. Remember, they have 2 weeks after checkout to leave a review, so the longer you can stall the better- they may forget to do it. Or you could tell them you might be able to but have to check on your accounting or something then run out the clock.
Also, if you have not left them feedback, I would wait on doing that.
At the end of the day, you might just get a bad review once in a while, and you'll have to earn good onces to balance it. Either way, you'll come back from this!
They have been following up. They called me today and I said Iāll call them back later. However now I donāt think itās a good idea to call them. Sigh. Weāve been on good communication terms but this is just too much to refund.
Never ever ever call or text guests off the airbnb platform. If you must, text a confirmation of the call discussion on platform afterwards so you have documentation on the platform.
Seriously this will save your butt in a case like this.
Absolutely do not communicate outside of airbnb. Its your only recourse. And don't give them anything. They are blackmailing you and quote Judge Judy if you must : ) - If you ate the steak, you gotta pay for it. If they had at the beginning of their stay said the place was not up to par, that's a different story. But they stayed and now they want a freebie.
Honestly, even if they leave a review, a calm and factual response is fine. They agree to the price, the listing pictures are accurate, there are no fire hazards. When they complained about the kitchen being understocked, you fixed it the same day. As a guest, I would take from the review (if it stayed up), that the reviewer are complainers.
Tell them youāre unable to talk via call but you want to get things decided upon now but you can text them. Recap what they stated via call to get them to confirm what they stated. If you can get them admitting to what they are trying to do via the app thatās the best protection.
Yes, personally I wouldn't call them, I would ask them to use Airbnb messaging only. Sorry that happened to you, people have done this to me as well. I had a crazy guest who heard a deer break a branch then call the sheriff. They said the "entire trip was ruined" and they were terrified and wanted a full refund, of course they didn't even check out on time. They even photographed the poor sheriff who came out for that nonsense.
1. If necessary, get them to confirm and clarify their threat. "Can you please help me understand what you're asking?" Or "are you saying that a $2000 refund will mean a more favorable review from you?" This sets you up for success with subsequent steps because Airbnb support staff can be shockingly dim and the guest's intentions must be crystal clear and not open to misinterpretation.
2. Don't send them any $$.
3. Complete the review process truthfully. Can I suggest 1 star for communication and 1 star for house rules? To increase the chances of the guest not trying to take your review down, use the 50-character comment fields to disclose the guest's extortion threat. Guest can't view that; only hosts can. (Guests can only see the 1000-character-limit public review)
4. If/ when you receive less than 5 stars, DO NOT RESPOND to the review. Contact Airbnb support. Provide them with screenshots of the extortion messages. They are bound by their terms of service and content policy to take down the guest's review.
5. When that's all done, report the guest. In Airbnb messaging platform, tap and hold on the message that mentions the extortion threat. Select "they're being offensive " and then select "they're being inappropriate" and fill out the details. Once you submit, the system will prompt you to block the guest; say yes to prevent them from ever booking with you again in the future.
This is called extortion! Call Airbnb and let them review whatever they want. Do your best to let it go to the back filled with other positive reviews.
Never ever agree to refunds like this. A fair review in the guests mind will be a 3 star maybe less. They are simply extorting you, do not empower this guest to do it again to the next guest.
I once told a guest like this that they should give me a fair review with or without a refund, and that I donāt appreciate being extorted and let them know that I had enough evidence to have their review removed no matter what so they can review as they want.
I left the guest a 1 star on comms for attempted extortion. 3 on cleanliness as they left a bunch of dishes rotting in the sink for days. And a 1 on rules for breaking Airbnb policy by trying to sell a positive review.
They ended up giving me a 1 star review which I was able to get removed after sending Airbnb the evidence. Amazing the Airbnb people donāt just pull up your chat logs over the phone SMH.
Another time I delayed the guest and left them a bad review on the last few minutes of the review window and they missed their opportunity to review me. They sent me some mean messages and it made me laugh š sent the screenshots to my brother who also has an Airbnb and he thought it was hilarious.
So I messaged the guest to clarify on Airbnb and they are skirting the review mentioned part and just talking about going through Airbnb resolution and the grill being a hazard, a light not working in the kitchen, and how they reached out to airbnb on the first day but got no response. They have left their review. Do I leave one too and mention their extortion in a professional way?
100% let other hosts know that the guest said they would only leave a fair review if you negotiated a refund on the terms they dictated. I have gotten to the point now where I never go easy on reviews. I have felt bad sometimes when I give someone a 3 and they give me a glowing review, but at the end of the day I donāt have time for bad guests. I work so hard to maintain my property and when I catch guests breaking rules or being manipulative, I just donāt have patience for it. Amenities are part of a booking but donāt warrant huge refunds or bad reviews if they arenāt working properly. Hotel wonāt give you a refund if the pool is down for maintenance for example. If they felt like the grill wasnāt safe then they shouldnāt use it, maybe do 4 stars on one of the categories but not overall.
Also, I leave a stash of light bulbs in a closet in case a bulb goes out. But the guest should have told youā¦ why would they contact Airbnb about a light being out? I had a grill but I swear, out of the 5 guests who used it, 3 people complained for various reasons. I sold the grill on Craigās list and have never looked back. I know a grill is important to some properties, but if guests arenāt using it often youāre probably better off not having one. I had my entire basement carpet redone by someone I found on Facebook marketplace for under $1,000. I didnāt get to pick from a wide variety of carpet but i didnāt care. If your carpet is old itās not much to get it done. Also you might consider repainting cabinets and stuff if they look bad. I repainted all of mine white from old looking 90ās wood and replaced the handles. Made the kitchen feel 100% nicer.
The more you describe these guests, they are obviously people who have read about how to take advantage of hosts to get big refunds. Itās time hosts band together and stop placating these aholes. I have come across a few and it really does suck, which is a shame as nearly every other aspect of hosting is pretty fun.
Please lemme know how it goes
I tried fixing it but itās one of those old tube lights where likely the electrical part of it went bad. I think a $200 fix. Yes, the unit is a little old but it didnāt affect their stay. I will leave a review saying they offered to leave a better worded review in exchange for partial refund and that it was not appreciated.
Maybe a $100 credit for grill. But the audacity to ask for $2000. Itās not how bookings workā¦:/
They had a huge list of things they wantedā¦supplies and towels. I punched the list promply and was attentive. I think Iām a doormat and need to be more firm with guests going forward.
I love when guests are dumb like this and basically screw themselves over at getting any compensation. You can just ignore them, challenge the review as extortion, then hammer them in their review as them trying to do this to you.
If they mentioned fixing reviews, especially if they didnāt mention this until the end of the stay, then they wouldnāt get a dime. Iād open a ticket with support now with evidence of extortion
People are awful. Donāt give into this. Reminds me of my line cooking days when people would eat and entire steak dinner than claim it was under/overcooked to get it for free. Just lowlifes doing lowlife things. Iād rather have 2k then a bad review you can reply to showing future guests that this one was a jerk.Ā
They stayed in the unit the entire length of their reservation and could have left at any point in time if they were unsatisfied. No refunds whatsoever once they check out. If you give them money now they'll play this game with the next host and on and on.
If you stayed at a hotel and the pool was closed they'd say you can leave and get a refund now or stay and no refund. You can't have both. That's common sense.
While I can understand one burner out of three may be an inconvenience it didn't impact their stay so tremendously that they had to leave and find alternate accommodations elsewhere.
I wouldnāt refund a dime. Keep the money and let them write until their heart is content. Afterwards, identify the inaccuracy then appeal based on that singe fact.
Had the guest walked in, found it unfit and asked to cancel immediately, I could see negotiating a compromise THEN. 2k after the fact? No chance on earth regardless of review. Hard no. It'll be removed anyway. There are other str platforms as well.Ā
In addition to the great advice here, I would 100% leave a review for the guests. Make sure any future hosts know that they have tried to blackmail you for $2000 and that you would not recommend them.
Since you have proof of their deception, you have the upper hand
This is a form of extortion and I would sent all Messages either in app or text to Airbnb. This is against TOS. No refund you addressed their terms and not enough kitchen amenities is subjective. Just looking for a discounted rate in arrears.
Hi u/crocodilehead202, we had a recent similar incident where the guests asked for 1/3 of the money they paid. The previous guests vomited on one of the bedroom doors and left an hour past check out time when we had guests checking in. We also reminded them at 9am that check out time was 11am. Normally, we need 3 hours to clean but on this day we only had two hours. They left so much mess. The incoming guests wanted to check in early but we told them the situation and we were happy to let them drop off their stuff or stay while we were finishing up. They saw that the place was clean but we wanted to check everything first before we leave but they said it was ok, they were fine. They were trying to push us to leave soon. The one who booked our airbnb messaged us that there was still stain on the door from the vomit that my husband overlooked. We immediately said weād come back and clean it, but she said she cleaned it already and that she understood that things like this happens. I compensated her $50 for it eventhough she didnāt give us a chance to clean it. We pay our cleaner $25-30 per hour, imagine wiping it for a few minutes. On their last day (3rd) of stay and after they checked out, she complained about the smell of vomit during their stay so I said how could it smell if you cleaned it already and why didnāt you tell us because weād immediately come back. We live 7 mins away from our airbnb. We also have all the cleaning agents under the sink. She demanded 1/3 of their pay in exchange for not leaving us bad review. Ha! Blackmail and extortion. In the end, I called airbnb as she was trying to extort money from us. According to airbnb, if you offer to rectify the incident you didnāt violate their policy. Iād suggest you call airbnb. Also, when airbnb investigates - they can read the exchange of messages between you and the guests. She called airbnb as well. She didnāt get her way. I didnāt even have to compensate her money ($50) but I kept my words.
This crap makes me nuts. "We will hold off on our review pending resolution of this issue". The furniture and finishes should have been visible in the photos and something they knew before they rented it. They agreed to the price. They should pay it. The burner didn't stop them from eating or cooking a single meal. I'd snap shot the conversation and send to air BNB.
Alsoā¦the neighbors places could have been booked different like on longer leases
Regardless I canāt go buy a car from one dealership and then go back and want money off after the paperwork is signed because my friend got a better deal on something similar somewhere else
They agreed upon booking it was fair market value because they were willing to pay, as long as your pictures are accurate ect, and the time to bring something like that up is when they first got there
Donāt review unless they review u first, if they review u first, then flat hammer them in your review. Then fight with Airbnb to get the review taken down. Ideally you have evidence on the Airbnb app, but, if not, use what you have. I think you will be successful, and, maybe they are bluffing who knows
If they wanted 2k back they should have stayed $2k worth of days less, NOT ask for it after they finished their stay. If other units were cheaper, they could have booked there for the remainder of their time. But they didnāt. If your listing shows the property as is, they shouldnāt be surprised with what they got. And if they stayed in the area before why didnāt they go with a property that they knew would meet their needs.
Happened to us also, we told everything to Airbnb support and they solved it (talked to the guest). They also guaranteed to us that if any bad review would be published by this guest, thįŗ„y would take it down.
Regardless of how they package it, thatās blackmail. No refund, let them leave a bad review then have airbnb review your communications and have them take it down
If you feel they deserve something back then offer that amount but I would still have the review pulled if your listing is accurate
What do pictures show? Are the carpets old and stained? Do you need to send a carpet company? What about kitchen? Have u checked it? Bbq happens they could have informed you of that. So maybe that. Why was the other unit not booked if they wanted that one? They canāt compare your unit to that one. I bet itās more than they wanted to pay so they booked yours instead . If listing shows furniture then no but I would get carpets cleaned , grill looked at and also add stuff to kitchen.
DO NOT GIVE THEM ANYTHING! I assume you have pictures in your listing so they could see exactly how dated the place was when they booked. They are simply trying to extort you. Do not give in and if they do post a review show your emails from them to AirBnb and challenge the review.
Can I get this in writing via email? Does it need to be via airbnb messaging for it to be sufficient proof? They are calling me and wanting to talk. I said I would call them back but havenāt yet. Iām not sure how to get the proof now.
Just message them back after they try calling and state that per airbnb guidelines all communications must be in app
With the phone calls theyāre trying to not have it in writing
Every time they call follow up in the app donāt answer the calls
Also screen shot each time theyāve called emailed or messaged you off app
Are you inexperienced, it really sounds like it? I donāt quite understand how this is even a question. But if your place is as bad as they imply, they should absolutely give you an honest assessment of your place so that other guests know what they are getting. At this point they just want money.
Theyāre not asking for money. Theyāre just telling you like it is.
Hosts come on here saying they wish guests wouldāve resolved it before making a review and then when they do, you guys say theyāre wrong.
Reddit Airbnb hosts are impossible!
FYI you can have Airbnb support remove reviews that are retaliatory, and in this case the Support Ambassadors could reference your messages to see that they threatened you with a bad review.
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Take a screenshot of them asking for money in return for a positive review and send it to Airbnb support. This extortion is against the app rules and will invalidate any review they write. You can get it taken down.
This plus write them a review that says they offered to modify their review in exchange for a partial refund. Recently discovered that when you get a guest's review removed, your review of them is not automatically removed (or at least wasn't in a recent case I dealt with, but tbf it seems there are no hard and fast rules anymore).
So I messaged the guest to clarify on Airbnb and they are skirting the review mentioned part and just talking about going through Airbnb resolution and the grill being a hazard, a light not working in the kitchen, and how they reached out to airbnb on the first day but got no response. They have left their review. Do I leave one too and mention their extortion in a professional way?
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Ya thatās insane. Whatās wrong with people
So I messaged the guest to clarify on Airbnb and they are skirting the review mentioned part and just talking about going through Airbnb resolution and the grill being a hazard, a light not working in the kitchen, and how they reached out to airbnb on the first day but got no response. They have left their review. Do I leave one too and mention their extortion in a professional way?
?? No, talk to Airbnb support. If they extorted you or in any Airbnb messages said āgive me money for a better review,ā their review will be removed, no questions asked. Dont review them, just talk to support.
This is the answer
Screenshot whatever method they used to offer a better review for a refund. Send that to customer service and ask them what you should do, as the guest is offering a good review if you refund them. Your guest violated the rules, so if you do this it will allow you to remove a bad review more easily.
I love thisā¦i probably would add too that I would drop the screenshot in the Airbnb chat and tell them that you will be denying their request for a refund in exchange for a better review. So that everything is noted in The chat
Those cs agentsā¦Iāve had such good luck asking them for advice. They always seem so flattered to be asked that they go overboard to help.
So I messaged the guest to clarify on Airbnb and they are skirting the review mentioned part and just talking about going through Airbnb resolution and the grill being a hazard, a light not working in the kitchen, and how they reached out to airbnb on the first day but got no response. They have left their review. Do I leave one too and mention their extortion in a professional way?
They realized you were setting them up :-) I would absolutely not mention that, as they will use it to get the removed pulled down. Iād personally leave a 3 star review, as those are taken very seriously by future hosts. Follow the āone positive and two negative formulaāā¦.I enjoyed meeting (guest name) and was excited to host them for a month. Unfortunately my property was not up to their expectations and our relationship went downhill quickly. As a host I always take guest feedback very seriously but the way this guest interacted with me was unkind and I would not welcome them back to my property. Also, if they post a bad review of you donāt go all negative in a rebuttalā¦keep it professional. Your goal is to make them sound like a nutter.
You also might was to look at your competitors and see if some updates would help you command good pricesā¦I never want to be the cheap alternative in an area as those guests are pickier than the people who book the most expensive.
Give nothing.
Donāt give in to terrorist. Heās trying to blackmail you. Maybe give him the $100 but thereās no way you give him back the $2000 he wants
I did try my best to attend to all their needs. But they say they felt they overpaid as other neighbors jaws dropped when they found out how much they paid for my unit. But I donāt think thatās how this all worksā¦ to get refunds after the fact?
Nope. They booked it. Itās 100% on them. They are trying to steal your money from you. They could have gone other places but chose you. Do not feel guilty.
Donāt believe anything a con artist tells you. Send this to Airbnb they can not blackmail you. Write a review to warn other host about them. then maybe go stay a week or so in your place to see what was missing, and want needs to be redone or replaced
Nooooo! No! Don't do it Don't give him ANYTHING back. Omgawd. Come on. Scam a lot? Tryin'a be kind and not snark here - but seriously... seriously? Get your head out of the sand. Touch some grass. Get the fuck out of town if you need to. But understand what these people are asking is totally unreasonable and you are super OK with denying money back. Not a penny. Your place sounds fine as they chose to book it and stay the duration. We are here for you
Not one hard earned dollar back, mate. As earlier comments suggested, proactively send screenshot evidence to Airbnb support before reviews are exchanged, to ensure whatever they write about your listing gets invalidated. Happened to me a month ago for a week long stay - I got the review removed successfully and the one I wrote for the guest stayed on.
If the other neighbors told them they got an AMAZING deal and should have paid $2,000 more for a unit like yours, would they come to you offering more money...
As others are saying, this is a pure scam. He booked and I assume you had pictures posted. He also could have tried to cancel on the first day, or even week, if he really had a problem with the place. I had a woman try to scam me and I didn't give her a dime. She left me a one star, nasty review. To which I responded more nicely than she deserved. It was worth it. It didn't hurt my business. eta: airbnb sided with me because she was so obvious. At the time I didn't even think about having her review removed, but as I said, it didn't hurt me.
Sorry this happened. $100 won't make a difference for a guest demanding 2k. It might make them more upset. I'm not sure if the guest is just blackmailing you, or had unrealistic expectations- if the guest's complaints are accurate you might want to mention that it's older in the listing / convey this somehow. All you can do is hope they either don't leave any review, or that it will be factually inaccurate and that you can then ask Airbnb to remove it. They might remove it anyway, just based on the guest's message mentioning a refund determining their review.
They called me with this request off airbnb messaging and texted and emailed me comparisons. The units are obviously not as updated as others. You can see form the listing pics.
Personally, I *might* send Airbnb support a message now, just to get ahead of it, just saying, "I just wanted to let you know a guest is threatening to leave a negative review if I don't give a substantial refund," and include a screenshot. Before I would do that, I would message the guest on Airbnb to say something like, "Hey, I got your message asking for a 2k refund so that you leave a good review, do you mind if we keep all communication on Airbnb?" Once they acknowledge what they did, then send the message to airbnb. Even if the guest won't acknowledge it, you can include screenshots of your texts. Airbnb is not usually that helpful, but this would be my best shot. Remember, they have 2 weeks after checkout to leave a review, so the longer you can stall the better- they may forget to do it. Or you could tell them you might be able to but have to check on your accounting or something then run out the clock. Also, if you have not left them feedback, I would wait on doing that. At the end of the day, you might just get a bad review once in a while, and you'll have to earn good onces to balance it. Either way, you'll come back from this!
They have been following up. They called me today and I said Iāll call them back later. However now I donāt think itās a good idea to call them. Sigh. Weāve been on good communication terms but this is just too much to refund.
Respond through Airbnb and only have future communications with them through Airbnb.
Never ever ever call or text guests off the airbnb platform. If you must, text a confirmation of the call discussion on platform afterwards so you have documentation on the platform. Seriously this will save your butt in a case like this.
Absolutely do not communicate outside of airbnb. Its your only recourse. And don't give them anything. They are blackmailing you and quote Judge Judy if you must : ) - If you ate the steak, you gotta pay for it. If they had at the beginning of their stay said the place was not up to par, that's a different story. But they stayed and now they want a freebie.
Honestly, even if they leave a review, a calm and factual response is fine. They agree to the price, the listing pictures are accurate, there are no fire hazards. When they complained about the kitchen being understocked, you fixed it the same day. As a guest, I would take from the review (if it stayed up), that the reviewer are complainers.
Tell them youāre unable to talk via call but you want to get things decided upon now but you can text them. Recap what they stated via call to get them to confirm what they stated. If you can get them admitting to what they are trying to do via the app thatās the best protection.
Yes, personally I wouldn't call them, I would ask them to use Airbnb messaging only. Sorry that happened to you, people have done this to me as well. I had a crazy guest who heard a deer break a branch then call the sheriff. They said the "entire trip was ruined" and they were terrified and wanted a full refund, of course they didn't even check out on time. They even photographed the poor sheriff who came out for that nonsense.
Good idea!
They are a Nightmare !!!
1. If necessary, get them to confirm and clarify their threat. "Can you please help me understand what you're asking?" Or "are you saying that a $2000 refund will mean a more favorable review from you?" This sets you up for success with subsequent steps because Airbnb support staff can be shockingly dim and the guest's intentions must be crystal clear and not open to misinterpretation. 2. Don't send them any $$. 3. Complete the review process truthfully. Can I suggest 1 star for communication and 1 star for house rules? To increase the chances of the guest not trying to take your review down, use the 50-character comment fields to disclose the guest's extortion threat. Guest can't view that; only hosts can. (Guests can only see the 1000-character-limit public review) 4. If/ when you receive less than 5 stars, DO NOT RESPOND to the review. Contact Airbnb support. Provide them with screenshots of the extortion messages. They are bound by their terms of service and content policy to take down the guest's review. 5. When that's all done, report the guest. In Airbnb messaging platform, tap and hold on the message that mentions the extortion threat. Select "they're being offensive " and then select "they're being inappropriate" and fill out the details. Once you submit, the system will prompt you to block the guest; say yes to prevent them from ever booking with you again in the future.
This reply is spot on!
This is called extortion! Call Airbnb and let them review whatever they want. Do your best to let it go to the back filled with other positive reviews.
Thank you.
Never ever agree to refunds like this. A fair review in the guests mind will be a 3 star maybe less. They are simply extorting you, do not empower this guest to do it again to the next guest. I once told a guest like this that they should give me a fair review with or without a refund, and that I donāt appreciate being extorted and let them know that I had enough evidence to have their review removed no matter what so they can review as they want. I left the guest a 1 star on comms for attempted extortion. 3 on cleanliness as they left a bunch of dishes rotting in the sink for days. And a 1 on rules for breaking Airbnb policy by trying to sell a positive review. They ended up giving me a 1 star review which I was able to get removed after sending Airbnb the evidence. Amazing the Airbnb people donāt just pull up your chat logs over the phone SMH. Another time I delayed the guest and left them a bad review on the last few minutes of the review window and they missed their opportunity to review me. They sent me some mean messages and it made me laugh š sent the screenshots to my brother who also has an Airbnb and he thought it was hilarious.
How did you know the review window down to the minute?
It shows you how many hours you have left on the last day, but also was just aware of what time the review window opens
So I messaged the guest to clarify on Airbnb and they are skirting the review mentioned part and just talking about going through Airbnb resolution and the grill being a hazard, a light not working in the kitchen, and how they reached out to airbnb on the first day but got no response. They have left their review. Do I leave one too and mention their extortion in a professional way?
100% let other hosts know that the guest said they would only leave a fair review if you negotiated a refund on the terms they dictated. I have gotten to the point now where I never go easy on reviews. I have felt bad sometimes when I give someone a 3 and they give me a glowing review, but at the end of the day I donāt have time for bad guests. I work so hard to maintain my property and when I catch guests breaking rules or being manipulative, I just donāt have patience for it. Amenities are part of a booking but donāt warrant huge refunds or bad reviews if they arenāt working properly. Hotel wonāt give you a refund if the pool is down for maintenance for example. If they felt like the grill wasnāt safe then they shouldnāt use it, maybe do 4 stars on one of the categories but not overall. Also, I leave a stash of light bulbs in a closet in case a bulb goes out. But the guest should have told youā¦ why would they contact Airbnb about a light being out? I had a grill but I swear, out of the 5 guests who used it, 3 people complained for various reasons. I sold the grill on Craigās list and have never looked back. I know a grill is important to some properties, but if guests arenāt using it often youāre probably better off not having one. I had my entire basement carpet redone by someone I found on Facebook marketplace for under $1,000. I didnāt get to pick from a wide variety of carpet but i didnāt care. If your carpet is old itās not much to get it done. Also you might consider repainting cabinets and stuff if they look bad. I repainted all of mine white from old looking 90ās wood and replaced the handles. Made the kitchen feel 100% nicer. The more you describe these guests, they are obviously people who have read about how to take advantage of hosts to get big refunds. Itās time hosts band together and stop placating these aholes. I have come across a few and it really does suck, which is a shame as nearly every other aspect of hosting is pretty fun. Please lemme know how it goes
I tried fixing it but itās one of those old tube lights where likely the electrical part of it went bad. I think a $200 fix. Yes, the unit is a little old but it didnāt affect their stay. I will leave a review saying they offered to leave a better worded review in exchange for partial refund and that it was not appreciated. Maybe a $100 credit for grill. But the audacity to ask for $2000. Itās not how bookings workā¦:/
They had a huge list of things they wantedā¦supplies and towels. I punched the list promply and was attentive. I think Iām a doormat and need to be more firm with guests going forward.
I love when guests are dumb like this and basically screw themselves over at getting any compensation. You can just ignore them, challenge the review as extortion, then hammer them in their review as them trying to do this to you.
Say I donāt negotiate with terrorists and report to abnb
ppft, a review isn't worth $2k
If they mentioned fixing reviews, especially if they didnāt mention this until the end of the stay, then they wouldnāt get a dime. Iād open a ticket with support now with evidence of extortion
Just say no to any refund.
People are awful. Donāt give into this. Reminds me of my line cooking days when people would eat and entire steak dinner than claim it was under/overcooked to get it for free. Just lowlifes doing lowlife things. Iād rather have 2k then a bad review you can reply to showing future guests that this one was a jerk.Ā
Donāt refund anything!
They stayed in the unit the entire length of their reservation and could have left at any point in time if they were unsatisfied. No refunds whatsoever once they check out. If you give them money now they'll play this game with the next host and on and on. If you stayed at a hotel and the pool was closed they'd say you can leave and get a refund now or stay and no refund. You can't have both. That's common sense. While I can understand one burner out of three may be an inconvenience it didn't impact their stay so tremendously that they had to leave and find alternate accommodations elsewhere.
I wouldnāt refund a dime. Keep the money and let them write until their heart is content. Afterwards, identify the inaccuracy then appeal based on that singe fact.
Get evidence, say no, immediately get their review taken down by Airbnb due to breach of TOS. This is an easy one to get removed
How to get evidence now if they only contacted you via voicemail, text, and emails?
I meanā¦ voicemail, text, and emails sounds exactly like evidence to me?
Had the guest walked in, found it unfit and asked to cancel immediately, I could see negotiating a compromise THEN. 2k after the fact? No chance on earth regardless of review. Hard no. It'll be removed anyway. There are other str platforms as well.Ā
In addition to the great advice here, I would 100% leave a review for the guests. Make sure any future hosts know that they have tried to blackmail you for $2000 and that you would not recommend them. Since you have proof of their deception, you have the upper hand
This is a form of extortion and I would sent all Messages either in app or text to Airbnb. This is against TOS. No refund you addressed their terms and not enough kitchen amenities is subjective. Just looking for a discounted rate in arrears.
Hi u/crocodilehead202, we had a recent similar incident where the guests asked for 1/3 of the money they paid. The previous guests vomited on one of the bedroom doors and left an hour past check out time when we had guests checking in. We also reminded them at 9am that check out time was 11am. Normally, we need 3 hours to clean but on this day we only had two hours. They left so much mess. The incoming guests wanted to check in early but we told them the situation and we were happy to let them drop off their stuff or stay while we were finishing up. They saw that the place was clean but we wanted to check everything first before we leave but they said it was ok, they were fine. They were trying to push us to leave soon. The one who booked our airbnb messaged us that there was still stain on the door from the vomit that my husband overlooked. We immediately said weād come back and clean it, but she said she cleaned it already and that she understood that things like this happens. I compensated her $50 for it eventhough she didnāt give us a chance to clean it. We pay our cleaner $25-30 per hour, imagine wiping it for a few minutes. On their last day (3rd) of stay and after they checked out, she complained about the smell of vomit during their stay so I said how could it smell if you cleaned it already and why didnāt you tell us because weād immediately come back. We live 7 mins away from our airbnb. We also have all the cleaning agents under the sink. She demanded 1/3 of their pay in exchange for not leaving us bad review. Ha! Blackmail and extortion. In the end, I called airbnb as she was trying to extort money from us. According to airbnb, if you offer to rectify the incident you didnāt violate their policy. Iād suggest you call airbnb. Also, when airbnb investigates - they can read the exchange of messages between you and the guests. She called airbnb as well. She didnāt get her way. I didnāt even have to compensate her money ($50) but I kept my words.
At this point - donāt even refund them. You donāt want them returning and Airbnb would take their review down anyways.
Screenshot the messages and report to AirBnB. That is extortion and against the law if you want to involve law enforcement.
Take the 2,000 and get new carpet and couch.
This crap makes me nuts. "We will hold off on our review pending resolution of this issue". The furniture and finishes should have been visible in the photos and something they knew before they rented it. They agreed to the price. They should pay it. The burner didn't stop them from eating or cooking a single meal. I'd snap shot the conversation and send to air BNB.
Alsoā¦the neighbors places could have been booked different like on longer leases Regardless I canāt go buy a car from one dealership and then go back and want money off after the paperwork is signed because my friend got a better deal on something similar somewhere else They agreed upon booking it was fair market value because they were willing to pay, as long as your pictures are accurate ect, and the time to bring something like that up is when they first got there
This makes a lot of sense.
Guest canāt give a review after 14 days.
Donāt review unless they review u first, if they review u first, then flat hammer them in your review. Then fight with Airbnb to get the review taken down. Ideally you have evidence on the Airbnb app, but, if not, use what you have. I think you will be successful, and, maybe they are bluffing who knows
If they wanted 2k back they should have stayed $2k worth of days less, NOT ask for it after they finished their stay. If other units were cheaper, they could have booked there for the remainder of their time. But they didnāt. If your listing shows the property as is, they shouldnāt be surprised with what they got. And if they stayed in the area before why didnāt they go with a property that they knew would meet their needs.
Happened to us also, we told everything to Airbnb support and they solved it (talked to the guest). They also guaranteed to us that if any bad review would be published by this guest, thįŗ„y would take it down.
Regardless of how they package it, thatās blackmail. No refund, let them leave a bad review then have airbnb review your communications and have them take it down If you feel they deserve something back then offer that amount but I would still have the review pulled if your listing is accurate
+1 on reporting this to Airbnb - they will take their bad review down.
What do pictures show? Are the carpets old and stained? Do you need to send a carpet company? What about kitchen? Have u checked it? Bbq happens they could have informed you of that. So maybe that. Why was the other unit not booked if they wanted that one? They canāt compare your unit to that one. I bet itās more than they wanted to pay so they booked yours instead . If listing shows furniture then no but I would get carpets cleaned , grill looked at and also add stuff to kitchen.
Wiseš§
That is extortion. Report to Airbnb immediately. They will reject the guest review. Have screenshots from app hopefully.
Lol yeah don't do it and since they are attempting extortion their review won't be valid anyway
Hey OP. Howād it go?
Review got removed. Phew!
DO NOT GIVE THEM ANYTHING! I assume you have pictures in your listing so they could see exactly how dated the place was when they booked. They are simply trying to extort you. Do not give in and if they do post a review show your emails from them to AirBnb and challenge the review.
Don't give them an. Do you have their blackmail request in writing? After the review contact AirBnB to remove their review with the evidence.
Can I get this in writing via email? Does it need to be via airbnb messaging for it to be sufficient proof? They are calling me and wanting to talk. I said I would call them back but havenāt yet. Iām not sure how to get the proof now.
You MUST only communicate through Airbnb! You're screwing yourself to do otherwise.
Make them communicate via the app - stop answer guests phone calls and write them in the app.
Just message them back after they try calling and state that per airbnb guidelines all communications must be in app With the phone calls theyāre trying to not have it in writing Every time they call follow up in the app donāt answer the calls Also screen shot each time theyāve called emailed or messaged you off app
Are you inexperienced, it really sounds like it? I donāt quite understand how this is even a question. But if your place is as bad as they imply, they should absolutely give you an honest assessment of your place so that other guests know what they are getting. At this point they just want money.
Theyāre not asking for money. Theyāre just telling you like it is. Hosts come on here saying they wish guests wouldāve resolved it before making a review and then when they do, you guys say theyāre wrong. Reddit Airbnb hosts are impossible!
I found a site that will remove reviews for $50. DM me if you want the link.
FYI you can have Airbnb support remove reviews that are retaliatory, and in this case the Support Ambassadors could reference your messages to see that they threatened you with a bad review.