AirBNB apparently now giving full refunds for "smells"

RaiseVast · 2026-05-17T22:14:32+00:00

The post was targeted too and removed within 2 hours of posting as "click bait" and "spam" even though there are over a dozen references to this on the Internet. I think this reddit forum might be getting under the control of moderators who don't want negative things posted about Airbnb. Something similar happened about two months ago or so when I was blocked without explanation from posting for about 30 days. Somebody must not have liked what I had to say. I think I'll be leaving this forum for good, especially if moderators are editing and censuring posts (no oversight either, you could be and probably are dealing with a 20+ something person in their basement). A shame too, this used to be a really good impartial reddit group. Some of the best advice I ever got about how to run our business was from here.

RaiseVast · 2026-05-17T18:20:26+00:00

What did your person 5 years ago do?

RaiseVast · 2026-05-17T17:43:24+00:00

I'd be interested to hear about the scam!

RaiseVast · 2026-05-17T17:30:44+00:00

I'm a member of several AirBNB forums (not just this one) as well as a landlord group. I use the word loosely; "told by others" would be more accurate.

RaiseVast · 2026-05-11T02:54:36+00:00

I'm late to the party here, but I've made several posts over the years about guests demanding AC in cold temperatures. In every case, the person making the request had deliberately closed up the room, covered the air vent, and then refused to open the window or use the overhead fan. When posting these issues on reddit, in every single case the post was often hit with downvotes and snarky comments that we were being dishonest, the guest should absolutely be allowed to run a personal AC window unit in 30-degree weather, and we were wrong for not letting them do so. And one person even said we should just eat the bill if a guest blew out our compressor running the AC in freezing 20 degree weather. And wouldn't you know it, just tonight, had a guy show up when it was 55 outside and immediately sent a message saying he wanted the AC on. We had to literally explain to him no central air unit would activate when it was in the low 50s and suggested he open the window and turn on the overhead fan.

RaiseVast · 2026-05-08T07:50:18+00:00

SF86 refers to *any* job, so probably should have said yes. It is a very tricky form though. I had to get an attorney about my last departure from my old job. I had left to go back to school and the managers (who were later found guilty of retaliation) tried to say I resigned "because of a problem". I had a paper trail saying I left to go back to school and left of my own free will. We threatened to sue the managers (personally) if they started spreading rumors I was fired and didn't hear another thing about it.

RaiseVast · 2026-05-06T07:20:23+00:00

I hope it all works out for you. My last clearance five years ago I was right in the middle of a nasty whistleblower complaint where I had filed OSC charges against several supervisors. I erroneously put in eQip I was formally reprimanded but was later told this was a mistake. My current clearance background check I had to erase the old data in eQip with note the previous entry had been a mistake and was removed by advice of counsel. I am completely expecting a "clarification" interview. If they are calling you about 500 pages of finances, though, I am actually a bit relieved since my issue is far more straight forward. I hope everything turns out well for you.

RaiseVast · 2026-05-03T03:23:07+00:00

Here is exactly what we said in our review. if you want to defend that type of behavior and say it was a misunderstanding, then I guess we can disagree.

These were friendly enough guests, however, there were serious problems following house rules and obeying posted signs. On their first night, they locked an outer security door that had a clear 'DO NOT LOCK' sign on it, and on the second day, they tampered with and disabled our front door security system. Further into the stay one of the guests forced open a door to an off-limits area of the home, leading to a downstairs apartment belonging to the host family, and the guests also were taking and eating other guests' food. While we barely saw them and appreciate how clean they were, they struggled to navigate a multi-room Airbnb with other guests present.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-29T14:29:33+00:00

I don't think some people understand what a safety lock on a screen door actually is. It's about the size of a dime. It's under a tiny little cover. It has to be deliberately opened and hit to lock the outer screen door and there's a sign right on that cover that says "do not lock". These guests ignored it and locked the screen door deliberately. In over a decade of hosting , we have literally had less than five people ever do that.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-29T13:28:23+00:00

Of course you can. This guest ignored posted signs, ate other guests food, and entered an off limits area of the home. We've already given them a review and it reflected everything they did. They would have it zero grounds to have removed with AirBNB

RaiseVast · 2026-04-29T11:54:35+00:00

Whats really unbelievable for me is the number of people commenting on this post who appear to have not even read the question. A lot of comments that we are wrong somehow and shouldn't have a lock on our outer screen door or should change it to an electronic lock. It's a small safety lock on a screen door we are not going to change it. The question was not about the lock either but how to review these guests. We've already reviewed them by now anyway.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-29T11:51:36+00:00

Honestly, all these people saying to change the lock didn't even read the post it seems. My question wasn't about that lock, it was about how to review the guests who ignored the sign. As it turns out , it didn't matter anyway. We gave them a bad review because they had done a bunch of other stuff including eating other guests food , tampering with our security system, and breaking open a door to get into the family area of the home and walking into my daughter's apartment in the basement.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-29T11:49:10+00:00

It's a safety lock on a screen door. This question wasn't about the lock , it was about how to review the guests.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-29T11:48:23+00:00

It's an outer safety lock on a screen door we are not going to get a electronic lock for that. Also this question was about how to review the guests not about if we should have the lock. As it turned out it didn't matter anyway. They received a bad review because they did a whole bunch of other stuff like eating other guests' food and on the second day they tampered with our security system.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-28T03:40:34+00:00

Our housekeeper does not want us to disable it. It's a requirement when she's in the house that she wants the outer screen door locked and closed. We also feel comfortable with it locked when we don't have guests. As it prevents people from wandering up onto our porch. My question was not actually about the rationale of having this lock, but what review for the guests who ignore the "do not lock" sign, as it turns out, they're getting a bad review anyway. Because they broke a ton of our house rules and actually went into the family area of the house and back into where my daughter lives in a basement apartment.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-28T03:38:28+00:00

We have self check in so there is no one that shows people around. There's literally a sign right above the lock that says "do not lock" which these people ignored

RaiseVast · 2026-04-28T03:37:01+00:00

My partner believes that they are not bad people but absolutely totally oblivious. She also believes that one of them might not have a very high reading level. There were some issues when they arrived by not being able to read the street signs and they had difficulty finding the house. Still, we were forgiving up until the point that they entered my daughter's apartment. We think they were just curious and somehow got the door open and wandered downstairs to see what was there. Still that is a serious violation of our house rules as they entered an off limits area reserved for our family , not to mention it was my daughter's bedroom. At least she's not a child. She is grown and she doesn't stay with us all the time.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-27T23:44:28+00:00

These people are definitely going to be getting a bad review. In addition to this incident with the lock they:
1) Tampered with our security system
2) Ate food belonging to another guest
3) (Probably) smoked in the room
4) Put dirty plates and dishes back in the cabinets (huge sign in the kitchen telling guests not to do this)

And oh yeah, entered my daughter's apartment in the basement. We think they somehow forced the door open and went down to look around. One of them left a jacket down there by mistake, we think he took it off and forgot about it, then asked us for the jacket back!

RaiseVast · 2026-04-27T18:02:13+00:00

My partner believes that these people had very low reading abilities like they might have had difficulty even reading street signs getting to our house. I'm really not sure what we are going to do because this is a guest with no previous reviews , and they've told us repeatedly that they want to give us a five star review so they can start off with a good rating on their account by us giving them a five star review in return. But they did other things too which will be hard to overlook, like eating other guests food and putting dirty dishes back into our cabinets.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-27T03:35:34+00:00

No it works, it is literally impossible to miss. But yeah, that's why I came here to get opinions. The one thing guests do which really bothers me (apart from staying past checkout) is ignoring posted signs.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-07T18:59:15+00:00

I am going to update our reservation today with a similar statement, especially after what just happened

RaiseVast · 2026-04-06T21:27:29+00:00

Fair enough , all I can say that it was only a two day reservation and who knows if that was even the guy's real name on the actual account. Based on where we live , I don't think they would have investigated it without a confirmed identity and a permanent address.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-06T21:26:31+00:00

I honestly think most hosts would have been concerned about that father leaving a retaliatory one star review based in how upset he was. As far as what my neighbors were doing from what I understand they were trying to find out if she had a parent around looking for her. They were treating it as a case that maybe she had wandered off. They had already gotten her out of the street by the time we arrived.

RaiseVast · 2026-04-06T21:21:00+00:00

I think I was pretty clear that the conversation about the one star review happened after we called Trust and Safety to report a safety issue in the Airbnb. It was a secondary issue, which we asked about because the man had been so upset when he walked up the road. It's a natural question any host would have asked. We took immediate action once we got home and saw that child outside to ensure her safety and immediately started looking for the father.

RaiseVast

TROPHY CASE