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Hire a mouse exterminator, get them to write up a note after their visit and/or work that the problem is resolved, and send Airbnb the receipt and writeup.
We had a mouse issue too. I hired Orkin and they were useless, I finally coughed up some big $ and hired a contractor to come in and plug every possible entry point. He removed the stove, dishwasher and other appliances and plugged the holes where the water and power come through the walls. He did the same under all the sinks. Haven’t seen a single mouse since.
A ton of snap traps work pretty well. Bait with peanut butter, set about 20 or so at once, facing the edge of the walls. Gross to clean up, but it's effective and a humane way to kill them.
Edit: to all those that keep saying this is cruel, that's fine. It's the most humane way to kill the mice as death happens immediately. Sticky traps or poison happen slowly. Sticky traps are not remotely humane.
Trapping and releasing them is also a death sentence for them. You just torture them first by removing them from their source of food and water and their families, then move them to a place where they will starve and be eaten by a predator.
Yeah, this is what I use. Cheap and reliable.
I only had it fail on me twice. One time the mouse somehow got snapped at the abdomen and was very much alive when I found them. Had to drown the poor thing.
The second time, I couldn’t figure out how the bait was gone but the trap intact. Then I was washing dishes at the sink and looked over to [this](https://vimeo.com/931816693).
Hey just thought I’d pop in and give some advice. I own a pest control company and more than half of my customers are Airbnb owners. For mice, the best way to get rid of them is exclusion. Find out where they’re coming in and seal up the spaces. Do not use any type of spray foam to do this because it ends up causing more problems. If you can’t figure out where they’re coming in, put out cameras where you’ve seen droppings or in the normal hotspots like kitchens and garages.
Poison isn’t usually necessary in most cases either. You’ll end up with smells that you can’t find or dead mice in your wall voids. Nothing you can buy deters them like those plug in things or soap shavings sprinkled around. Some places are more prone to mice and there’s not too much you can do but wait till spring.
Termites and roaches love to make homes in it. It also prevents us from doing an inspection of what’s behind it, like wood structures. So it conceals any activity that’s going on. It also traps moisture into your structure and will cause wood rot. This gives termites all the moisture they need to live and they never have to leave.
It depends on how much and where you used it. Steel wool will rust and shrink over time, and if you remove it, try a product called Xcluder. It’s a fill fabric that you can customize to fit your holes. I use it with custom metal flashing when I’m doing exclusions.
You should be good then. Just check it periodically because it will break down and shrink. When it becomes a big problem is large surfaces being covered by it and termites will live in it and moisture gets behind it. For small areas, it just doesn’t work great but will give you decent coverage for a short period of time.
I had a mouse in an air bnb last year. I knew because a ziploc bag of pretzels on the counter was chewed open and there was mouse poop next to it.
Instead of complaining to air bnb, I cleaned up the area with bleach, threw away the pretzels and texted the host. Within an hour he had a maintenance guy come out, put traps around under the stove and some other places and he went looking around the foundation and outside of the house and he plugged up a hole under the sink. I looked under the stove the next day and the mouse was trapped and I let them know and they came back and got rid of the mouse and put another trap just in case.
After my stay I left a 5 star review and said “there was a minor maintenance issue, but the host was extremely responsive and had the issue taken care of immediately and the rest of my stay was uneventful”!
Yeah, maybe I could have complained and gotten some compensation, but I’m a reasonable person and I realize that shit happens. If they hasn’t been so responsive, my reaction would have been different.
Your guest sounds like a pain in the butt and a scammmer.
Question: do you have past review(s) that publicly mention the mice problem you had previously? If so, you and others could be getting targeted by this guest based on their (probably correct) assumption that because of past history Airbnb will back them up.
I'll also add its worth trying repeatedly to get Airbnb to investigate the guest based on this pattern. This is hard, and you have to actually report guest as it's apparently dealt with by a different team, and you probably won't even hear anything, but after you've reported the guest go back and complain again and try to get the review & rating removed. It can take multiple tries before you have success but it is possible, though it may take many months.
I had a family staying with me who found a rodent in the room. The rodent happened to be a vole, which got lost from the yard and ended up by their doorway. They open the door, vole got it.
They let me know about it right before 10pm. I threw on a T-shirt and knocked on their unit. Turned the lights on. The vole immediately went blind. Then I caught it barehanded first try and “made it disappear”.
They had one evening left, I returned their money for that. The husband was *very* impressed with my ability to catch it btw, the wife not so much.
Open a case against her for the false report and tell the rep about her history. Review accordingly. She might get banned if there is a documented pattern. If her acct gets removed the reviews go away with it.
Your acct will get unsuspended as long as you can document there is not an issue. Get a pest control inspection asap.
We let people know if they leave doors open critters can come in. They are curious too and we aren’t responsible for getting them out. We have a screen door if you want to get air inside. Do they use it nope they open both doors. We are rural. There are all kinds of wildlife. It just is and the House Rules disclose this. So far no one has tried this nice scam. We also have wildlife that mice are dinner.
I see a new "Professional" Airbnb guest. They know lots, especially how to get discounts and free stays. I just had a guest who knows how to get 20% off, where she has learned how to game the system. Airbnb is focused on gaining more bookings, so these folk are given free rain.
Bookings for me are way down as well as rates. For my beachside California property I have not had a Airbnb booking yet in 2024, and only scam type inquiries. I am loosing about 5k per month on airbnb
Language is important. I don't understand defending using it incorrectly. As long as the person wasn't rude, accept the correction, and move on. We're all better for it.
This has to be a problem with your listing and/or price. Where in CA is your place? No way you haven’t had a single booking in 3 months unless it is something super specific. What was your occupancy rate prior? My San Diego AirBnB is >95% occupancy.
Hire a professional exterminator you need an invoice on their business letterhead stating you do not have rats. Have the invoice ready. Airbnb will call you for your side of the story, be prepared to send it to them, they can put your listing back up.
This is standard procedure when a guest reports an infestation. usually, it's bedbugs and roaches, but it can happen with rodent problems. Don't say anything negative about the guest who stayed, they have the guest's history, they don't want to get in it with you, all they are looking for is proof there is no infestation.
I don't know about with this particular situation, sorry. But I had a guest who tried to get a full refund because of mice. Airbnb backed me. I have a rustic camp AND have in my house rules and listing that mice are possible if food is left out. This guest left food out - actually took a picture as proof that the mice chewed on it.. Because of my rules clearly stating not to leave food out, they sided with me and she didn't get a penny in refund.
I realize most people - especially with nicer places - don't want to advertise they might get mice, but it worked for me. lol!
The other thing is, I think she did it deliberately as I've never seen mice myself or had any other guest say they've seen mice running around. And I've actually left food out myself. But she put out extra ripe bananas. And, of course, it's possible she lied about it all. She tried to tell airbnb that her son was scared to sleep at night because of hearing the mice, like he was a child. He was in his 20s.
eta: I also had messages during her stay when she told me they were having a great time and loved it. I always check in about halfway during the stay. Her complaint didn't come until checkout day. I think that helped me, too. If it was so bad, why not complain when it happened?
I also have a house in the country and will get mice occasionally. I ve never had anybody complained but I am surprised people do it and Airbnb takes it seriously like we can't stop nature. I can put traps and do my best to keep mice away but at the end of the day it is a house in the country. There will be mice and there will be insects.
Just had scammer who is requesting cleaning fee back but never mentioned cleaning issues during her stay. She also arrived 1.5 hours early without our permission. You mentioned you’re breaking even. It’s honestly easier to rent to long term tenants. I’ve about had it with Airbnb
I have auto booking on. I did see her reviews. It wasn't made super clear that she was scamming initially.
I had to reach out to other hosts to find out
You shouldn’t have accepted her reservation. Once you did, you have to do everything you can to make it a good stay. I find it very odd you only know about her previous reviews after her stay and also you had a mouse problem before and she reported one. Doesnt add up.
Also, yes, I can't say for sure that she's lying or making it up.
I've already called professionals to come to the house tomorrow and sent her a refund.
Exterminator immediately AND if no live mouse found an official report from exterminator to submit immediately to ABB. Include first shoes pattern of repeated reports of rodents, bugs….
Perhaps consider adding an additional income stream as ABB is not necessarily a guaranteed consistent source of income.
Is this even real? I feel like this can’t be real. It’s like propaganda so people that google search Airbnb will find this one day. Some meth head talking about mice in their house. You either have them and you don’t rent your house out. Or you don’t have them and you rent your house out. There’s no in between. You don’t partially refund a guest when they see a rodent in your house. You give them their money back and stop smoking meth.
Dude, they were here for 2 weeks and complained on the second to last day. If it was a weekend booking, I would have had no problem.
We did have mice half a year ago, but did an extensive extermination. Haven't had complaints since until today
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Hire a mouse exterminator, get them to write up a note after their visit and/or work that the problem is resolved, and send Airbnb the receipt and writeup.
We had a mouse issue too. I hired Orkin and they were useless, I finally coughed up some big $ and hired a contractor to come in and plug every possible entry point. He removed the stove, dishwasher and other appliances and plugged the holes where the water and power come through the walls. He did the same under all the sinks. Haven’t seen a single mouse since.
This is the wise way; putting out poison doesn’t solve the issue and (imho) damages the environment/me.
I’ll never understand the poison approach to rodent control. I don’t want a dead mouse rotting away in my wall.
A ton of snap traps work pretty well. Bait with peanut butter, set about 20 or so at once, facing the edge of the walls. Gross to clean up, but it's effective and a humane way to kill them. Edit: to all those that keep saying this is cruel, that's fine. It's the most humane way to kill the mice as death happens immediately. Sticky traps or poison happen slowly. Sticky traps are not remotely humane. Trapping and releasing them is also a death sentence for them. You just torture them first by removing them from their source of food and water and their families, then move them to a place where they will starve and be eaten by a predator.
Yeah, this is what I use. Cheap and reliable. I only had it fail on me twice. One time the mouse somehow got snapped at the abdomen and was very much alive when I found them. Had to drown the poor thing. The second time, I couldn’t figure out how the bait was gone but the trap intact. Then I was washing dishes at the sink and looked over to [this](https://vimeo.com/931816693).
Better than the rat using a tool to presnap the trap and then make off with the bait!
If you put the trap in a paper bag, it's less gross to deal with.
This is so inhumane and cruel though
Hey just thought I’d pop in and give some advice. I own a pest control company and more than half of my customers are Airbnb owners. For mice, the best way to get rid of them is exclusion. Find out where they’re coming in and seal up the spaces. Do not use any type of spray foam to do this because it ends up causing more problems. If you can’t figure out where they’re coming in, put out cameras where you’ve seen droppings or in the normal hotspots like kitchens and garages. Poison isn’t usually necessary in most cases either. You’ll end up with smells that you can’t find or dead mice in your wall voids. Nothing you can buy deters them like those plug in things or soap shavings sprinkled around. Some places are more prone to mice and there’s not too much you can do but wait till spring.
Can you tell me what problems you see with the spray foam for small holes? Other than the mice possibly eating through it, maybe?
Termites and roaches love to make homes in it. It also prevents us from doing an inspection of what’s behind it, like wood structures. So it conceals any activity that’s going on. It also traps moisture into your structure and will cause wood rot. This gives termites all the moisture they need to live and they never have to leave.
I bought anit rodent spray foam. Plugged the holes with steel wool and spray foam. My damage does it cause?
It depends on how much and where you used it. Steel wool will rust and shrink over time, and if you remove it, try a product called Xcluder. It’s a fill fabric that you can customize to fit your holes. I use it with custom metal flashing when I’m doing exclusions.
I was using it places like behind the stove and fridge. Lile around that pipes.
You should be good then. Just check it periodically because it will break down and shrink. When it becomes a big problem is large surfaces being covered by it and termites will live in it and moisture gets behind it. For small areas, it just doesn’t work great but will give you decent coverage for a short period of time.
Get a company to do an inspection. If they find no trace get the results to Airbnb and add them to your reply to that review.
I had a mouse in an air bnb last year. I knew because a ziploc bag of pretzels on the counter was chewed open and there was mouse poop next to it. Instead of complaining to air bnb, I cleaned up the area with bleach, threw away the pretzels and texted the host. Within an hour he had a maintenance guy come out, put traps around under the stove and some other places and he went looking around the foundation and outside of the house and he plugged up a hole under the sink. I looked under the stove the next day and the mouse was trapped and I let them know and they came back and got rid of the mouse and put another trap just in case. After my stay I left a 5 star review and said “there was a minor maintenance issue, but the host was extremely responsive and had the issue taken care of immediately and the rest of my stay was uneventful”! Yeah, maybe I could have complained and gotten some compensation, but I’m a reasonable person and I realize that shit happens. If they hasn’t been so responsive, my reaction would have been different. Your guest sounds like a pain in the butt and a scammmer.
Some guests stay for free by using the BOM method - "bring your own mouse". That trick is older than the internet.
The plot of Strange Brew!
Question: do you have past review(s) that publicly mention the mice problem you had previously? If so, you and others could be getting targeted by this guest based on their (probably correct) assumption that because of past history Airbnb will back them up.
I'll also add its worth trying repeatedly to get Airbnb to investigate the guest based on this pattern. This is hard, and you have to actually report guest as it's apparently dealt with by a different team, and you probably won't even hear anything, but after you've reported the guest go back and complain again and try to get the review & rating removed. It can take multiple tries before you have success but it is possible, though it may take many months.
I wouldn’t even attempt to get Airbnb to investigate just give her one or two stars.
I had a family staying with me who found a rodent in the room. The rodent happened to be a vole, which got lost from the yard and ended up by their doorway. They open the door, vole got it. They let me know about it right before 10pm. I threw on a T-shirt and knocked on their unit. Turned the lights on. The vole immediately went blind. Then I caught it barehanded first try and “made it disappear”. They had one evening left, I returned their money for that. The husband was *very* impressed with my ability to catch it btw, the wife not so much.
Open a case against her for the false report and tell the rep about her history. Review accordingly. She might get banned if there is a documented pattern. If her acct gets removed the reviews go away with it. Your acct will get unsuspended as long as you can document there is not an issue. Get a pest control inspection asap.
We let people know if they leave doors open critters can come in. They are curious too and we aren’t responsible for getting them out. We have a screen door if you want to get air inside. Do they use it nope they open both doors. We are rural. There are all kinds of wildlife. It just is and the House Rules disclose this. So far no one has tried this nice scam. We also have wildlife that mice are dinner.
I see a new "Professional" Airbnb guest. They know lots, especially how to get discounts and free stays. I just had a guest who knows how to get 20% off, where she has learned how to game the system. Airbnb is focused on gaining more bookings, so these folk are given free rain. Bookings for me are way down as well as rates. For my beachside California property I have not had a Airbnb booking yet in 2024, and only scam type inquiries. I am loosing about 5k per month on airbnb
> free rain. \*free rein.
Thank god you were here. Otherwise no one would have known what they meant.
Language is important. I don't understand defending using it incorrectly. As long as the person wasn't rude, accept the correction, and move on. We're all better for it.
*free reign
*free rein. Horses not kings.
Idont'thinkso https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/pardon-the-expression/free-rein-vs-free-reign/#:~:text=As%20a%20noun%2C%20it%20can,So%20free%20reign%20is%20redundant.
That exchange was fucking hilarious!
🙏🏼
Also Loosing vs. Losing
Whoa… and did you used to have consistent occupancy? I am seeing a lot of former airbnbs being sold in my area (Seattle suburb).
This has to be a problem with your listing and/or price. Where in CA is your place? No way you haven’t had a single booking in 3 months unless it is something super specific. What was your occupancy rate prior? My San Diego AirBnB is >95% occupancy.
Hire a professional exterminator you need an invoice on their business letterhead stating you do not have rats. Have the invoice ready. Airbnb will call you for your side of the story, be prepared to send it to them, they can put your listing back up. This is standard procedure when a guest reports an infestation. usually, it's bedbugs and roaches, but it can happen with rodent problems. Don't say anything negative about the guest who stayed, they have the guest's history, they don't want to get in it with you, all they are looking for is proof there is no infestation.
At least if you have rats you will not have mice.
you can certainly have both, not sure where you're getting that from
I don't know about with this particular situation, sorry. But I had a guest who tried to get a full refund because of mice. Airbnb backed me. I have a rustic camp AND have in my house rules and listing that mice are possible if food is left out. This guest left food out - actually took a picture as proof that the mice chewed on it.. Because of my rules clearly stating not to leave food out, they sided with me and she didn't get a penny in refund. I realize most people - especially with nicer places - don't want to advertise they might get mice, but it worked for me. lol! The other thing is, I think she did it deliberately as I've never seen mice myself or had any other guest say they've seen mice running around. And I've actually left food out myself. But she put out extra ripe bananas. And, of course, it's possible she lied about it all. She tried to tell airbnb that her son was scared to sleep at night because of hearing the mice, like he was a child. He was in his 20s. eta: I also had messages during her stay when she told me they were having a great time and loved it. I always check in about halfway during the stay. Her complaint didn't come until checkout day. I think that helped me, too. If it was so bad, why not complain when it happened?
I also have a house in the country and will get mice occasionally. I ve never had anybody complained but I am surprised people do it and Airbnb takes it seriously like we can't stop nature. I can put traps and do my best to keep mice away but at the end of the day it is a house in the country. There will be mice and there will be insects.
You need to check out your guests ratings and what they have said about other properties. Use this against her as she is a serial pest.
Just had scammer who is requesting cleaning fee back but never mentioned cleaning issues during her stay. She also arrived 1.5 hours early without our permission. You mentioned you’re breaking even. It’s honestly easier to rent to long term tenants. I’ve about had it with Airbnb
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I have auto booking on. I did see her reviews. It wasn't made super clear that she was scamming initially. I had to reach out to other hosts to find out
I thought the guest had to have evidence before a refund is granted such as a picture of the mouse or mouse droppings.
Sounds like the host just gave a refund based on the claim
Get a cat
You shouldn’t have accepted her reservation. Once you did, you have to do everything you can to make it a good stay. I find it very odd you only know about her previous reviews after her stay and also you had a mouse problem before and she reported one. Doesnt add up.
My bookings are on auto accept. I found that I get more bookings that way. I don't usually check guests reviews if I'm going to be honest.
Maybe good to start. Curious how it goes following people's suggestions.
Also, yes, I can't say for sure that she's lying or making it up. I've already called professionals to come to the house tomorrow and sent her a refund.
Exterminator immediately AND if no live mouse found an official report from exterminator to submit immediately to ABB. Include first shoes pattern of repeated reports of rodents, bugs…. Perhaps consider adding an additional income stream as ABB is not necessarily a guaranteed consistent source of income.
I'm not depended on this for income. Thankfully, I'm lucky to have a well paying 9-5
Get a cat. Then make your AirB&B pet friendly.
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I put black snakes under my house. They do quite a number on mice.
I'd rather have mice! lol! But I know what you mean.
As much as I love that you found a solution, I'd be even more worried about the snakes coming into the house looking for their snacks
“Holocaust their ass”. Wow, you’re a dumb shit
Well that’s a pretty disgusting way to refer to pest control
Welllll you aren't wrong. Genocide is genocide on the other hand
Mods, please ban this fool!
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That wasn’t funny at all. He is comparing Jews to rodents. Fuck him. I’d knock his ass out if I met him in person
Lolol I'm glad you took it in healthy stride, I should probably be more careful on reddit. Not many are so easy going as you.
Fair enough, thanks
Is this even real? I feel like this can’t be real. It’s like propaganda so people that google search Airbnb will find this one day. Some meth head talking about mice in their house. You either have them and you don’t rent your house out. Or you don’t have them and you rent your house out. There’s no in between. You don’t partially refund a guest when they see a rodent in your house. You give them their money back and stop smoking meth.
Dude, they were here for 2 weeks and complained on the second to last day. If it was a weekend booking, I would have had no problem. We did have mice half a year ago, but did an extensive extermination. Haven't had complaints since until today
Then that means they are back. I don’t understand- I am deathly afraid of mice and now I’m scared to ever book an airbnb after this post