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AIBU?

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Original poster

To have turned away this airbnb guest?

999 replies

Hiptrip · 07/01/2018 09:05

I have been doing airbnb for a while and have found it a great way to meet new people, and earn a little extra. That is until last Friday night.

Despite my house rule of no children, a woman wrote to me and asked if I could make an exception, promising that her two-year old son would be very well behaved. My house is not set up for children, and I simply don’t want toddlers here so I replied and said no.

She said that was okay and booked anyway, saying she had to come to my town for a wedding, and that she’d find someone to look after him.

Then she turned up with her child at 9.30pm saying she couldn’t find a sitter, and had hysterics as she pleaded with me on the doorstep, to allow him to stay. I refused and in the end called the police because she said she wouldn’t leave until I gave her, her money back in cash because she needed it to stay elsewhere. As she was starting to cause a nuisance, they got rid of her.

She’s taken this to airbnb. My argument is that she was told she couldn’t bring her child, and did anyway, so she should lose her money. Not unreasonable?

OP posts:
reallybadidea · 07/01/2018 11:26

I think it's fair enough not to allow children because your gone is unsafe for them. Not sure how it is considered acceptable to say you don't like children. It certainly wouldn't be acceptable to say that you don't like old people, so I wonder why people think saying it about children is ok.

lynzpynz · 07/01/2018 11:26

@iwasjustabouttosaythat ah the predictable response because you got called out for quoting and trying to antagonise me. First trying to insinuate I’m stupid enough to not know the difference between a child and a dog and now pathetically calling me ‘dear’ to patronise me because I didn’t meekly take it. It clearly does demonstrate that, everyone else can see it apart from you it appears!

ivykaty44 · 07/01/2018 11:27

It’s not the OPs responsibility for this woman and child.

The op had she given cash to the woman would have no proof she had done so and could have ended up out of pocket - agree with other was this the scam

Op is selling a product and it didn’t fit with what the customer purchased and then the customer made a fuss when she knew the product wasn’t what had been agreed - all a bit odd

DontCallMeCharlotte · 07/01/2018 11:27

I used to run a B&B. Depending on my "gut feeling", I would probably have let her stay but it doesn't make what the OP did wrong. I'm guessing the other guest would have been okay too with an apology and an explanation unless they were actually child-phobic!

Also it clearly wasn't down to the OP to refund her and I 'd be letting Airbnb make the decision which I think they'll be making in the OP's favour.

TheGoblinQueen2711 · 07/01/2018 11:28

BashStreetKid

Pengggwyn - from Airbnb's website:

If your guests get hurt or cause property damage, our Host Protection Insurance protects you from liability claims up to a million dollars, included free for every Airbnb host.

So OP will have been insured.

Surely that's if the contract hasn't been breached though?
If the contract had been breached by OP allowing the child to stay, and the child got hurt, surely that opens her up to being sued as her listing clearly states no children...?

FizzyGreenWater · 07/01/2018 11:29

Bit - but if you had someone on your doorstep literally screaming and crying to the extent that a neighbour says that he'll call the police if you don't - would you let that person in?!

And knowing that it was planned - that she decided she'd turn up and try and emotionally bully her way in?!

No! I'd find her quite frightening.

It would be totally different if she had acted normally and responsibly. She'd have called in advance and been told no. Maybe then OP may have refunded out of goodwill, at least partly.

None of this would have happened if she'd acted normally, and she really didn't. That's not a person I'd feel safe having in my home.

Johnnycomelately1 · 07/01/2018 11:29

SO obviously a scam. If she was just a CF she wouldn't have messaged you to ask for an exception, she'd have just tried to blag it on arrival and say she didn't see the T&C. She messaged to make sure that you'd enforce the policy to give her the opportunity to move onto stage 2 of the scam (getting the cash refund). She's probably got a dog at home to vary the model a bit.

But this is why scams work. The scammer puts you on the spot, creates a scene so you panic and can't think straight and then appeals to your emotions. At least 50% of people on the thread would have fallen for it in some way or other.

For those fretting about the 2 year old, don't worry. I'm sure he was tucked up in bed 20 mins later, at his own house, which was probably in the same town.

FizzyGreenWater · 07/01/2018 11:30

And certainly absolutely a flat no to giving her cash back there and then. The fact she asked may indeed make it a scam.

All really dodgy.

MyDcAreMarvel · 07/01/2018 11:33

Johnny it's hardly a scam to get the money refunded that you have paid. No prifit has been made.

MyDcAreMarvel · 07/01/2018 11:33

*profit.

theyoniwayisnorthwards · 07/01/2018 11:34

You were technically in the right in that you enforced rules that you’d made clear. I would not have done what you did and you don’t seem very concerned about the experience of that child.

BashStreetKid · 07/01/2018 11:35

If the contract had been breached by OP allowing the child to stay, and the child got hurt, surely that opens her up to being sued as her listing clearly states no children...

It the child got hurt she could be sued anyway, the point is that the insurance wouldn't be valid in that situation so she wouldn't be covered for liability.

TheGoblinQueen, my post was in response to one saying the poster bet that OP didn't have insurance: I was clarifying that she did.

Wdigin2this · 07/01/2018 11:35

What is airbnb?

Hadjab · 07/01/2018 11:36

I have no idea how Airbnb works, but shouldn't you have declined the booking, given that you'd already told her no when she contacted you initially?

nakedscientist · 07/01/2018 11:36

SO obviously a scam. If she was just a CF she wouldn't have messaged you to ask for an exception, she'd have just tried to blag it on arrival and say she didn't see the T&C. She messaged to make sure that you'd enforce the policy to give her the opportunity to move onto stage 2 of the scam (getting the cash refund)

Johnny she didn't message!

Johnnycomelately1 · 07/01/2018 11:36

Johnny it's hardly a scam to get the money refunded that you have paid. No prifit has been made.

RTFT- they use the double refund tactic. It's well known.

OnionKnight · 07/01/2018 11:37

Johnny it's hardly a scam to get the money refunded that you have paid. No prifit has been made.

Airbnb would refund the CF, not the OP.

BashStreetKid · 07/01/2018 11:37

MyDcAreMarvel, the scam is that she would get her cash back and also claim a refund from AirBnB.

Johnnycomelately1 · 07/01/2018 11:38

naked she did. She messaged the OP to ask if the OP would make an exception re. the child. The OP said no. The scammer can then be reasonably confident that the OP will refuse to admit her, she gets the cash refund and then applies to Air BnB for a refund as well.

TempusEejit · 07/01/2018 11:38

MyDC it's been explained that a scammer could get cash off the Airbnb host (unofficial procedure) then also get the official refund off Airbnb on top of that.

BashStreetKid · 07/01/2018 11:39

I would not have done what you did and you don’t seem very concerned about the experience of that child.

theonlywayisnorthwards, lucky you if you can just suck up a loss of £80 or more. It was the mother who wasn't concerned about her child's experience: she wouldn't have been subjected to it if her mother hadn't tried to pull a fast one, and if her mother hadn't chosen to shout and swear instead of just accepting that it hadn't worked this time.

AntiHop · 07/01/2018 11:39

I agree with pp that it was an attempt at a scam. I think she also would have claimed her money back from airbnb. Did she have reviews on her profile?

expatinscotland · 07/01/2018 11:39

Dear god, this place is full of CFers with huge entitlement. You are in no way BU. Hope Air B&B doesn't refund this piece of work chancer. LOL at people still thinking you should have handed her cash or let her in or claiming only 2% of MNers would have turned her away.

nakedscientist · 07/01/2018 11:40

Oh sorry! Johnny

BashStreetKid · 07/01/2018 11:40

Hadjab, OP accepted the booking for the mother alone when she said fair enough, she'd make alternative arrangements for her child.

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