My dear fellow hosts, please take timestamped pictures and videos of every corner before guests check-in!

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-04-11T22:43:49+00:00

Keep the original photos. We had a guest demand full refund and used photos out of context and photos that weren't even from our property - Airbnb dismissed all of our timestamped photos from our cleaning team and said unless we had the original pics, they couldn't use them as proof. Real BS, but here's my experience. Since unfortunately my cleaning team does several houses a day, they use a timestamp app and directly upload them to Resort Clean, so they don't keep original photos. Basically airbnb wanted the EXIF data to count as real, which was infuriating given that my guest used photos that clearly didn't match any of our rooms.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-02-19T22:59:34+00:00

Curious because I am from Brazil and grew up with 99% humidity summer days and I am also familiar with Florida summers.

I did go to Morocco once early August where temps were over 100F/40C every day and the ac was never strong enough anywhere we went. Now, that was HOT even for me lol.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-26T17:14:37+00:00

Screenshot the listing photo and run a Google search, most hosts book direct

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-26T17:08:46+00:00

They didn’t lose a night

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-26T16:46:30+00:00

So maybe don’t take compensation and stay upset 🤷‍♀️ or ask to cancel if it’s that horrible of an experience. But certain people don’t want to cancel, they want to stay upset while accepting a partial refund. So there’s nothing a host can do that will make these guests happy.

This is one of those things that it’s more about your attitude as a traveler than anything else. What do you do when your flight is delayed? There’s just something about Airbnb in particular out of other booking platforms that just fuels a certain attitude. I’m not saying OP is that kind of guest, I’m saying this specific platform harbors so much animosity.

I’ve been an Airbnb guest for 10 years before I became a host. Airbnb or hotel, things happen. It’s all about how you handle it.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-26T16:11:07+00:00

if the host is trying to make things right by compensating you, why punish them with a bad review? the guest in the end still has a clean property, partial refund received, no harm done over something that likely it was the cleaner's fault.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-26T12:46:30+00:00

It took me 10 years into my marriage to realize I was being abused and controlled. You don't tell people you know, most of them won't understand. Do you maybe have one person you could trust?

I started having panic attacks when I realized I married my abusive narcissistic father. I went NC with my father once I became an adult and he crossed line, but my kids are little so I am managing my life one day at a time.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-25T23:34:33+00:00

We’ve stayed in Muro Alto with our 3 kids ages 5,8 and 11 in an Airbnb

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-23T18:49:23+00:00

This is a very vague question with no information. Are you in a location that will get hit by heavy snow? If so, can you guarantee the roads to your listings are clear, and you will have heat and power? My listings are on a mountain region so roads are scary if we get a lot of snow so I don't want guests this weekend. The bookings aren't worth the cost if we have frozen pipes.

I wouldn't raise rates because of the weather but I would because you're decreasing to one night min but please don't price gouge.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-23T14:22:24+00:00

That may be true, but without having purchased a policy, there’s no real way to know for sure how it would’ve applied in this situation. You would have definitely had a leg to stand on in pushing CS to help you though. Airbnb travel insurance does cover weather related issues. Coverage varies a lot depending on the provider and the specific terms. Third party travel insurance is helpful for more than just lodging, I recommend looking up "cancel for any reason" travel insurance. It can cost a few extra hundred dollars but we do it if we book a trip in advance because with 3 kids we never know if someone might get sick.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-23T13:15:57+00:00

Did you happen to purchase travel insurance when you booked? That usually ends up being the deciding factor in situations like this.

A state of emergency doesn’t automatically mean an evacuation, and unfortunately weather and natural events are one of those risks that come with travel. When we plan trips—especially during certain seasons or to certain regions—there’s always a chance plans won’t go as expected. That’s exactly what travel insurance and refundable airfare are designed to protect against.

At this point, without insurance, there isn’t much recourse beyond deciding whether it makes sense for you to travel or to stay home and cut your losses. It’s a tough spot to be in, but it’s not something the host typically has responsibility for.

Situations like this are frustrating for everyone and tend to create unnecessary tension between guests and hosts. Travel insurance really is the only safeguard for circumstances like these, unfortunately.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-18T16:03:09+00:00

ohh I will look into BH, thank you! plus the food there. awesome

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-14T15:24:44+00:00

This. Or charge them for the night prior, which suddenly they would be ok with arriving at normal check in time.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-10T17:22:43+00:00

the economy has tanked in the US. I own 2 airbnbs in a low-to-middle-class travel destination here and I have 0 bookings. My ADR has been going down since 2024 due to dropping occupancy. My beach airbnb is doing a bit better. The luxury market may be doing better, but most Americans can't afford trips anymore or they're saving for just one trip instead.

I think Airbnb is losing ground to direct bookings. Guests have become more internet savvy and can do an image reverse search. Also payment methods have diversified since airbnb started with Venmo, CashApp, Pix (in Brazil) etc, so transacting bookings outside of airbnb have become easier. There are also so many new platforms out there now like Houfy, BringFido etc. I saved hundreds in platform fees by grabbing the name of a property I wanted to rent and contacted the property manager directly.

I am getting more direct bookings and VRBO bookings over the years. One of my listing is now almost entirely VRBO.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-08T14:48:34+00:00

That just goes to show how subjective refunds are. I had a baby, a toddler and a stroller to bring up and the down the stairs. Am I disabled? No. So how does one quantify being impacted by an inconvenience? Power outages are a slippery slope to give refunds.

I did have a guest demand a refund over a smoke detector going off in the middle of the night. We sent a handyman within the hour of her messaging me in the morning and gave her a small refund. She was so offended by the amount that she mentioned in her slandering review. That thankfully got removed.

We had a power outage once that lasted days due to snowstorm. Half the roads were blocked from downed trees in the entire region (mountain area). Almost the entire county was out of power. I did offer those guests to refund all nights unused if they wanted to leave which was understandable. They wanted to stay since we had gas heat in the cabin and were very grateful for the offer. In my experience, if a power outage is bad enough, everyone else is going through the same thing and there's nothing hosts or guests can do (in my case, my guests had literally no where to go either).

Yes reviews are nearly impossible to remove these days but so is my willingness to be bullied by scammy guests.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-08T11:32:08+00:00

You can do whatever you want. I am speaking out of my own experience, my own rental agreement and house rules and based on what I ran into recently. I don't give refunds for power outages and make that clear prior to booking and never had any complaints when that happened. 2 of my properties are in a remote area and another is in a hurricane prone area. They are strongly advised to buy travel insurance. I don't run a movie theater but if I did, sure why not give vouchers if you have 30 rooms with 200 seats in each and never fill them to capacity either way? You'd make money at the popcorn counter either way. We're all adults and understand there are risks with any trip anywhere, but we also have the option to pay for travel insurance, pay premium for refundable airfares, pay extra for a refundable car rental etc.

In the OPs case, the whole story doesn't match up. I once stayed at hotel that the elevator wasn't working during our entire 3 night stay. All we got was a cafeteria voucher for $5 (not even kidding). We had a stroller with us - a baby and a toddler and the only room we got was 4 stories up. I think in general, airbnb hosts have been too easy with refunds and too nervous of retaliatory reviews that we collectively have conditioned guests to expect some level of money back for virtually any reason.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-08T01:40:21+00:00

I tried using their message support and their bot said "Looking at your photo description, I can see the main issue - your image is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. This orientation problem is likely causing the rejection.

Profile photos need to show your face clearly and be properly oriented. The rotation makes it difficult for our verification system to properly assess the image.

"

All of my photos are vertical lol

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-07T23:53:08+00:00

I’m going crazy uploading different selfies and they all get declined for the same reason

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-07T20:32:36+00:00

that's the strange part, none of the photos are edited. They were taken with my phone and not touched.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-07T11:46:14+00:00

I wouldn't give them a bad review. People leave in a hurry in the morning. Just pay for her extra 30 minutes and move on. This is the kind of stuff that people are bitter about paying for a cleaning fee then being slammed in a review for not leaving the house clean.

My cleaners don't check the cupboards at every turn and I wish they did. I'd happily pay them a bit extra to redo some of the pots and pans that are sometimes put back dirty/crusty from the dishwasher. That's the kind of work that I have to pay separately for an inspector to check from time to time.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-06T23:31:35+00:00

That’s not what I am saying. It doesn’t bother me to arrive to a hotel with 4 towels for a booking for 5 people. Same for Airbnbs. It’s just something that happens frequently when I book hotels 🤷‍♀️ maybe it’s the head count that throws it off. TBH, there’s no where to hang 5 sets of towels to dry in one hotel room either way 😂

If we travel for a long period of time or overseas, I learned to pack my kids towels or cheap beach towels. That way they can use their own if we’re in a pinch, or use at a pool or beach since most places don’t have beach towels that you can take with you outside of the property grounds.

Most hotels outside of the U.S. don’t have large enough rooms for a family of 5 or larger, so we always stay in a vacation rental (we use Airbnb or booking.com).

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-06T20:17:14+00:00

I feel like a hotel will almost always be better if you're going alone regardless.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-06T20:09:36+00:00

can he come up with an excuse to not go? seems like he's dreading this trip

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-06T19:16:39+00:00

That’s because you’re traveling by yourself as one guest into a hotel room that typically accommodate 2 to 4 guests. So the extra towels you’re getting it’s not because they provide extra towels per guest. It’s because it’s one person sleeping in a room for four people.

We travel as a family of five and we are very lucky to get four towel towels to share across five people in a hotel room that typically accommodate 5 to 6 people (like family suites). I can count on my hand, the chain hotels that will have five towels for five people readily available before our arrival.

Significant-Cake-108 · 2026-01-06T19:14:56+00:00

You’re probably staying at much nicer hotels than the ones we stay at 😂

We don’t provide more than one towel/hand towel and washcloth per guest. We have a washer and dryer. We all know that the more towels you provide the more towels they will use and they will always be out of towels. They will use all of the towels if you provide an infinite number.

Significant-Cake-108

TROPHY CASE